NEW MEDIA STUDIES
Inhoudsopgave
1 INTRODUCTION TO NEW MEDIA STUDIES.......................................................................................3
1.1 INTRODUCTION..............................................................................................................................3
1.2 THEORIES OF TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY (FEENBERG, 1999)....................................................................4
1.3 CASE STUDY: “WE DON’T DESERVE THIS”, DIGITAL SURVEILLANCE..............................................................5
2 NETWORKED SOCIETY AND SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS (PART 1)........................................................7
2.1 SITUATING THE NETWORKED SOCIETY..................................................................................................7
2.2 INDIVIDUALISM..............................................................................................................................8
2.3 NEW MEDIA & SOCIALITY................................................................................................................9
2.4 NETWORKED INDIVIDUALISM...........................................................................................................11
2.5 CONCLUSION...............................................................................................................................13
3 NETWORKED SOCIETY AND SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS (PART 2) – VANDEN ABEELE.........................15
3.1 NETWORK LOGIC..........................................................................................................................15
3.1.1 SOCIETAL CHANGE............................................................................................................................15
3.1.2 IMPLICATIONS..................................................................................................................................16
3.2 THE SOCIAL LOGIC.........................................................................................................................18
3.2.1 SOCIETAL CHANGE.............................................................................................................................18
3.2.2 IMPLICATIONS.............................................................................................................................19
3.3 THE PERSONAL LOGIC.....................................................................................................................20
3.4 CONCLUSION...............................................................................................................................21
4 PRIVACY AND SURVEILLANCE, PART 1..........................................................................................22
4.1 PRIVACY: A CONCEPTUALIZATION.....................................................................................................22
4.2 SURVEILLANCE.............................................................................................................................24
5 PRIVACY AND SURVEILLANCE, PART 2..........................................................................................27
5.1 (YOUNG) PEOPLE’S PRIVACY PRACTICES: THE YOUNG AND THE RECKLESS?.................................................27
5.2 PRIVACY & INNOVATION: MOVING BEYOND CONTROL OPTIONS & TRANSPARENCY......................................28
5.3 FACIAL RECOGNITION IS THE PLUTONIUM OF AI...................................................................................29
1
,5.4 USING CONTEXTUAL INTEGRITY TO EVALUATE THE LONG-TERM RISKS FROM COVID-19 SURVEILLANCE
TECHNOLOGIES..................................................................................................................................29
6 MEDIA LITERACY AND INEQUALITY...............................................................................................31
6.1 CONCEPTUALIZING MEDIA LITERACY..................................................................................................31
6.2 MEDIA LITERACY POLICY.................................................................................................................32
6.3 CASE STUDY: ADVERTISING LITERACY.................................................................................................33
6.4 MEDIA LITERACY AS THE SILVER BULLET SOLUTION................................................................................34
7 POLITICAL ECONOMY AND NEW MEDIA.......................................................................................35
7.1 FROM PRACTICES TO PLATFORM.......................................................................................................35
7.2 FROM PLATFORM TO PRACTICES.......................................................................................................36
8 DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP AND ACTIVISM............................................................................................38
8.1 DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP AND PUBLIC SPHERE...........................................................................................38
8.2 DIGITAL ACTIVISM........................................................................................................................39
9 ALGORITHMIC SYSTEMS IN OUR EVERYDAY LIFE..........................................................................41
9.1 VIEWPOINTS ON ALGORITHMS.........................................................................................................41
9.2 ISSUES WITH DATA COLLECTION.......................................................................................................41
9.3 ISSUES WITH DATA ANALYSIS..........................................................................................................43
9.4 TOWARDS A CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................44
10 GUEST LECTURE: CATO WAETERLOOS.........................................................................................45
10.1 POLITICAL PARTICIPATION?...........................................................................................................45
10.2 POLITICAL PARTICIPATION ON SOCIAL MEDIA.....................................................................................45
10.3 IS IT ANY GOOD?........................................................................................................................46
10.4 TAKE AWAYS.............................................................................................................................46
11 GUEST LECTURE: MARIJN MARTENS...........................................................................................47
11.1 ALGORITHMS VS. AI....................................................................................................................47
11.2 THE EMBEDDING OF ALGORITHMS..................................................................................................47
11.3 PERCEPTIONS OF ALGORITHMIC SYSTEMS..........................................................................................48
11.4 CONTEXTUALIZING TRUST IN ALGORITHMIC SYSTEMS...........................................................................49
2
,1 INTRODUCTION TO NEW MEDIA STUDIES
1.1 INTRODUCTION
1833-1933: A century of progress “Science finds, industry applies and man adapts”.
Examples in slides:
Arab Spring: rebellions protest on Twitter, social media gives opportunity to protest
Zuckerberg sees Facebook really idealistic vs. Facebook is destroying democracy
Smart home technology: suggests how to use it in everyday life, not just describing how you can use
different technologies
o E.g. based on movement of children, system can send notifications to parents
TECHNOLOGICAL VS. SOCIAL DETERMINISM
Technological determinism: proposes that tech is driving force in developing structure of society and
culture
Social determinism: proposes that factors in society create specific uses of technology
o Social norms, attitudes, cultural practices, and religious beliefs are directly impacting how
technology is used and what its social consequences are
o E.g. Facebook is not an open system that makes us more social and open, rather it is a
manifestation of a neo-liberal system that exploits its users (= social deterministic, dystopian)
Truth is somewhere in the middle
o Technology influences society, society influences technology
o = mutual shaping
STRUCTURE VS. AGENCY
Structural tradition: society seen as an independent entity that influences how humans act, think and feel
(politics, social structures,… influence decisions)
Agency perspective: more emphasis on humans, their actions and especially the meaning they assign to
those actions
3
, EXAMPLE SOCIAL MEDIA
Social media as ‘networked publics’
o “Spaces constructed through networked technologies; and imagined communities that emerge as
a result of the intersection of people, technology and practice” (Marwick & boyd, 2014 p.1052)
o Interactionist perspective: made possible by interaction between people
o Emphasis on identity (e.g. how people are presenting themselves)
o Affordances & dynamics: features of an object that allow you to do something, how you can use it
and how it can shape your everyday practices without shaping these practices
Social media as “extensive commodification”
o “Social networking sites are especially suited for targeted advertising because they store and
communicate a vast amount of personal likes and dislikes of users that allow surveillance of these
data for economic purposes, finding out which products the users are likely to buy. This explains
why targeted advertising is the main source of income and the business model of most profit-
oriented social networking sites” (Fuchs, 2011 p.148)
o Political economic perspective
o Emphasis on economic aspects
o Double commodification
Networked publics vs commodification
o Social media as networked publics What about structure?
o Social media as commodification What about agency?
1.2 THEORIES OF TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY (FEENBERG, 1999)
Classic vision on technological innovation linearity!
o Fundamental research Applied research Technological development Product
development Production Usage
o Image of a ‘genius’ inventor in social vacuum
4
Inhoudsopgave
1 INTRODUCTION TO NEW MEDIA STUDIES.......................................................................................3
1.1 INTRODUCTION..............................................................................................................................3
1.2 THEORIES OF TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY (FEENBERG, 1999)....................................................................4
1.3 CASE STUDY: “WE DON’T DESERVE THIS”, DIGITAL SURVEILLANCE..............................................................5
2 NETWORKED SOCIETY AND SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS (PART 1)........................................................7
2.1 SITUATING THE NETWORKED SOCIETY..................................................................................................7
2.2 INDIVIDUALISM..............................................................................................................................8
2.3 NEW MEDIA & SOCIALITY................................................................................................................9
2.4 NETWORKED INDIVIDUALISM...........................................................................................................11
2.5 CONCLUSION...............................................................................................................................13
3 NETWORKED SOCIETY AND SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS (PART 2) – VANDEN ABEELE.........................15
3.1 NETWORK LOGIC..........................................................................................................................15
3.1.1 SOCIETAL CHANGE............................................................................................................................15
3.1.2 IMPLICATIONS..................................................................................................................................16
3.2 THE SOCIAL LOGIC.........................................................................................................................18
3.2.1 SOCIETAL CHANGE.............................................................................................................................18
3.2.2 IMPLICATIONS.............................................................................................................................19
3.3 THE PERSONAL LOGIC.....................................................................................................................20
3.4 CONCLUSION...............................................................................................................................21
4 PRIVACY AND SURVEILLANCE, PART 1..........................................................................................22
4.1 PRIVACY: A CONCEPTUALIZATION.....................................................................................................22
4.2 SURVEILLANCE.............................................................................................................................24
5 PRIVACY AND SURVEILLANCE, PART 2..........................................................................................27
5.1 (YOUNG) PEOPLE’S PRIVACY PRACTICES: THE YOUNG AND THE RECKLESS?.................................................27
5.2 PRIVACY & INNOVATION: MOVING BEYOND CONTROL OPTIONS & TRANSPARENCY......................................28
5.3 FACIAL RECOGNITION IS THE PLUTONIUM OF AI...................................................................................29
1
,5.4 USING CONTEXTUAL INTEGRITY TO EVALUATE THE LONG-TERM RISKS FROM COVID-19 SURVEILLANCE
TECHNOLOGIES..................................................................................................................................29
6 MEDIA LITERACY AND INEQUALITY...............................................................................................31
6.1 CONCEPTUALIZING MEDIA LITERACY..................................................................................................31
6.2 MEDIA LITERACY POLICY.................................................................................................................32
6.3 CASE STUDY: ADVERTISING LITERACY.................................................................................................33
6.4 MEDIA LITERACY AS THE SILVER BULLET SOLUTION................................................................................34
7 POLITICAL ECONOMY AND NEW MEDIA.......................................................................................35
7.1 FROM PRACTICES TO PLATFORM.......................................................................................................35
7.2 FROM PLATFORM TO PRACTICES.......................................................................................................36
8 DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP AND ACTIVISM............................................................................................38
8.1 DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP AND PUBLIC SPHERE...........................................................................................38
8.2 DIGITAL ACTIVISM........................................................................................................................39
9 ALGORITHMIC SYSTEMS IN OUR EVERYDAY LIFE..........................................................................41
9.1 VIEWPOINTS ON ALGORITHMS.........................................................................................................41
9.2 ISSUES WITH DATA COLLECTION.......................................................................................................41
9.3 ISSUES WITH DATA ANALYSIS..........................................................................................................43
9.4 TOWARDS A CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................44
10 GUEST LECTURE: CATO WAETERLOOS.........................................................................................45
10.1 POLITICAL PARTICIPATION?...........................................................................................................45
10.2 POLITICAL PARTICIPATION ON SOCIAL MEDIA.....................................................................................45
10.3 IS IT ANY GOOD?........................................................................................................................46
10.4 TAKE AWAYS.............................................................................................................................46
11 GUEST LECTURE: MARIJN MARTENS...........................................................................................47
11.1 ALGORITHMS VS. AI....................................................................................................................47
11.2 THE EMBEDDING OF ALGORITHMS..................................................................................................47
11.3 PERCEPTIONS OF ALGORITHMIC SYSTEMS..........................................................................................48
11.4 CONTEXTUALIZING TRUST IN ALGORITHMIC SYSTEMS...........................................................................49
2
,1 INTRODUCTION TO NEW MEDIA STUDIES
1.1 INTRODUCTION
1833-1933: A century of progress “Science finds, industry applies and man adapts”.
Examples in slides:
Arab Spring: rebellions protest on Twitter, social media gives opportunity to protest
Zuckerberg sees Facebook really idealistic vs. Facebook is destroying democracy
Smart home technology: suggests how to use it in everyday life, not just describing how you can use
different technologies
o E.g. based on movement of children, system can send notifications to parents
TECHNOLOGICAL VS. SOCIAL DETERMINISM
Technological determinism: proposes that tech is driving force in developing structure of society and
culture
Social determinism: proposes that factors in society create specific uses of technology
o Social norms, attitudes, cultural practices, and religious beliefs are directly impacting how
technology is used and what its social consequences are
o E.g. Facebook is not an open system that makes us more social and open, rather it is a
manifestation of a neo-liberal system that exploits its users (= social deterministic, dystopian)
Truth is somewhere in the middle
o Technology influences society, society influences technology
o = mutual shaping
STRUCTURE VS. AGENCY
Structural tradition: society seen as an independent entity that influences how humans act, think and feel
(politics, social structures,… influence decisions)
Agency perspective: more emphasis on humans, their actions and especially the meaning they assign to
those actions
3
, EXAMPLE SOCIAL MEDIA
Social media as ‘networked publics’
o “Spaces constructed through networked technologies; and imagined communities that emerge as
a result of the intersection of people, technology and practice” (Marwick & boyd, 2014 p.1052)
o Interactionist perspective: made possible by interaction between people
o Emphasis on identity (e.g. how people are presenting themselves)
o Affordances & dynamics: features of an object that allow you to do something, how you can use it
and how it can shape your everyday practices without shaping these practices
Social media as “extensive commodification”
o “Social networking sites are especially suited for targeted advertising because they store and
communicate a vast amount of personal likes and dislikes of users that allow surveillance of these
data for economic purposes, finding out which products the users are likely to buy. This explains
why targeted advertising is the main source of income and the business model of most profit-
oriented social networking sites” (Fuchs, 2011 p.148)
o Political economic perspective
o Emphasis on economic aspects
o Double commodification
Networked publics vs commodification
o Social media as networked publics What about structure?
o Social media as commodification What about agency?
1.2 THEORIES OF TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY (FEENBERG, 1999)
Classic vision on technological innovation linearity!
o Fundamental research Applied research Technological development Product
development Production Usage
o Image of a ‘genius’ inventor in social vacuum
4
