Just Here For the Comments: Lurking as Digital Literacy Practice
We all sometimes ‘lurk’ in online spaces without posting or engaging, just reading the posts and comments. But neither reading nor lurking are ever passive acts. In fact, readers of social media are making decisions and taking grassroots actions on multiple dimensions. Unpacking this understudied phenomenon, this book challenges the conventional perspective of what counts as participatory online culture. Presenting lurking as a communication and literacy practice that resists dominant power structures, it offers an innovative approach to digital qualitative methods.
Unique and original in its subject, this is a call for internet researchers to broaden their methods to include lurkers’ participation and presence.
Available For Purchase
NCC Book Launch Link
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NCC Book Launch Link 〰️
Resources for Academics, K-12 Teachers, and Book Clubs
More free resources are in the works with Bristol University Press, including Research Methods for Recruiting Lurkers, Curriculum for Teaching Lurker Literacies, and a Discussion Guide for Book Clubs. Sign up to be the first to know when they become available.
Book Trailer
Brief overview of the thesis and main points.
Meme Guide
A free visual reference for the lurker memes discussed in Just Here For The Comments.
Introduction
A free excerpt of the introduction to Just Here For The Comments.
Podcast
Detailed, chapter by chapter, analysis of why lurking is a valuable and participatory act with host Dr. Micahel LaMagna of the New Books Network.
Thomas Poell, University of Amsterdam
“Lively and relatable, sprinkled with discussions of popular lurker memes, but also thoroughly researched and theorized, this book provides a deeply insightful, much-needed analysis of lurking.”
Brooke Erin Duffy, Cornell University