Over at the Center for Social Media’s site, I’ve detailed a number of ways that striking writers and their allies are using Web 2.0 tools to make their case against the studios. Not just another “add technology and stir” story, the strike is revealing how user-generated media has begun to persistently replace some of the functions that progressive and independent media served in the past.

In a print and broadcast world, media and labor activists would have been banging their heads against the blockade, complaining bitterly about the lack (or bias) of coverage. Alternative newsweeklies, independent magazines, community radio stations and labor publications would have picked up the slack, generally reaching only a niche audience. Now, activists just bypass those outlets, generating their own media, which in turn sparks both alternative and mainstream coverage and commentary. Nonprofits and advocacy groups serve as their own publishers and filmmakers, pumping content out on the Web that is quoted, repurposed and attached to calls for action. Buzz no longer just just jumps up or dies; it builds and cycles, sometimes resurfacing unexpectedly.

Where does this shift leave progressive media-makers? What roles can independent political projects effectively play in tandem with or addition to user-generated media? That’s what Tracy and I hope to discover as we continue our book research. Stay tuned!