In a time of deep mediatization, cross-media approaches to investigating media practices are becoming increasingly relevant. In this respect, we have to consider cross-media from at least two different perspectives. The first perspective...
moreIn a time of deep mediatization, cross-media approaches to investigating media practices are
becoming increasingly relevant. In this respect, we have to consider cross-media from at least two
different perspectives. The first perspective considers the ‘individual’ whose cross-media use can be
characterized as a particular ‘media repertoire’. The second refers to ‘social domains’ (collectivities
and organizations) that can be analysed as communicative figurations characterized by a particular
‘media ensemble’. We propose to interlace both perspectives to help clarify the conceptual and
empirical relationship between media use by individuals, on the one hand, and as part of the figuration
of a social domain, on the other. From the perspective of the individual, media repertoires are
composed of media-related communicative practices that individuals use to relate themselves to the
figurations that they are involved in. From the perspective of these figurations, media ensembles are
characterized by the media-related communicative practices of the actors involved in them. We
argue that a methodological triangulation of media diaries, (group) interviews and sorting techniques
is a productive way forward to qualitatively investigate both these perspectives.
