(New) Media and the Circulation of Knowledge: A Historical Framework for The Conversation Canada

New media and new applications of existing media are typically seen as ways of distributing knowledge more effectively, often with hopes that this process will strengthen democracy. Adopting a history-of-knowledge approach, the authors analyze methods of knowledge circulation attending early print, nineteenth-century mechanics’ institutes and public libraries, early radio broadcasting, and explanatory journalism, providing a comparative historical framework for a recent new-media platform for distributing knowledge, The Conversation network. Appealing to a socially broad audience has consistently been a challenge. Efforts to distribute knowledge also reflected differences in prevailing media ecosystems, national systems of political economy, and contemporary social/political concerns.