Open Access and Bakhtinian Dialogism

The article explores Open Access in the context of recent contributions in communication and public relations theory, notably Bakhtinian dialogism. Increasingly since the 1960s communication and public relations theory have shifted their focus away from one-way, asymmetrical to two-way, symmetrical models, thereby progressing to more equitable and interactive, multi-level conceptual models of dialogic and polyphonic communication [1]. It is in this context that Bakhtinian dialogism becomes highly relevant. The influence exerted today by the Russian literary theoretician Mikhail M. Bakhtin (1895-1975) extends far beyond literary theory into fields such as philosophy of language, linguistics, musicology, anthropology, culture studies, classic studies, history, political science and theology, communication and public relations theory, including new media [2]. Open Access is interpreted by using the Bakhtinian concepts of dialogue, polyphony and carnival, which in combination view Open Ac...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2006
• Where: ELPUB
• Authors: Robert W. Vaagan
• Keywords: Bakhtinian Dialogism, ELPUB 2006, Information Management, Open Access, Public Relations Theory