| 1. |
-
Media Backends : Digital Infrastructures and Sociotechnical Relations
- 2023
-
Samlingsverk (redaktörskap) (refereegranskat)abstract
- Media backends--the electronics, labor, and operations behind our screens--significantly influence our understanding of the sociotechnical relations, economies, and operations of media. Lisa Parks, Julia Velkova, and Sander De Ridder assemble essays that delve into the evolving politics of the media infrastructural landscape. Throughout, the contributors draw on feminist, queer, and intersectional criticisms to engage with infrastructural and industrial issues. This focus reflects a concern about the systemic inequalities that emerge when tech companies and designers fail to address workplace discrimination and algorithmic violence and exclusions. Moving from smart phones to smart dust, the essayists examine topics like artificial intelligence, human-machine communication, and links between digital infrastructures and public service media alongside investigations into the algorithmic backends at Netflix and Spotify, Google’s hyperscale data centers, and video-on-demand services in India. A fascinating foray into an expanding landscape of media studies, Media Backends illuminates the behind-the-screen processes influencing our digital lives. Contributors: Mark Andrejevic, Philippe Bouquillion, Jonathan Cohn, Faithe J. Day, Sander De Ridder, Fatima Gaw, Christine Ithurbide, Anne Kaun, Amanda Lagerkvist, Alexis Logsdon, Stine Lomborg, Tim Markham, Vicki Mayer, Rahul Mukherjee, Kaarina Nikunen, Lisa Parks, Vibodh Parthasarathi, Philipp Seuferling, Ranjit Singh, Jacek Smolicki, Fredrik Stiernstedt, Matilda Tudor, Julia Velkova, and Zala Volcic
|
|
| 2. |
- Bonazzi, Riccardo, et al.
(författare)
-
Discussing blockchain applications in TED Talks: A fashion wave approach to understanding the blockchain phenomenon
- 2023
-
Ingår i: PLOS ONE. - : PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE. - 1932-6203. ; 18:7
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Since its first appearance as the infrastructure supporting Bitcoin, blockchain has received different waves of attention from practitioners and academics. Besides the degree of interest, the attention to blockchain has often focused not merely on its own potential and characteristics but on its applications field. However, looking at its application and deployment in domains other than cryptocurrency or the nascent non-fungible tokens (NFTs), blockchain technology does not seem to be widely adopted or is still in its early stages. Given this, we are interested in how managers and the general public are informed about new technology other than through academic papers or the specialized press. In this paper, we analyze how blockchain has been presented by speakers invited to give TED and TEDx Talks to identify the most common terms used to present blockchain in these talks using a multi-methods approach (qualitative analysis and big data analysis) and see if the discourse surrounding blockchain has shifted over time. The results of this study show how the different perspectives brought by broadcasters like TED often overshadow a technological innovation like the blockchain in its evolution and application by the fact that the focus is instead shifted to products and services built on it. Also, this study shows how different degrees of attention and expertise are associated with each fashion wave of new or emergent technology innovations.
|
|
| 3. |
- Smolicki, Jacek, 1982-
(författare)
-
Minuting. Rethinking the Ordinary Through the Ritual of Transversal Listening
- 2021
-
Ingår i: VIS – Nordic Journal for Artistic Research. - : Society for Artistic Research. - 2003-024X. ; :5
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This exploratory essay introduces selected sound recordings along with notes and observations from Minuting – a practice of sonic journaling I have performed daily since July 2010 in numerous locations and settings. I weave these observations together in a way that resonates closely with the idea of repetition, in multiple forms: protest, automation, cycle, and ritual, as well as the repetition inherent to my acts of recording. While introducing sounds from the archive of Minuting, I reflect on how this constrained and systematically enacted form of listening, recording, and re-listening leads to a transversal type of sonic reflexivity. It is a form of alertness to sound that stretches beyond the immediate resonance of the 'now' – towards spatially and temporarily distant, yet to some extent intertwined, objects, subjects, events, and environments. The text evolves across three interrelated layers: annotated recordings from the project's archive, a set of thoughts and associations triggered by re-listening to the material, and a discursive analysis that opens up the project to a dialogue with other thematically resonant debates and practices. Drawing on perspectives from media studies, the philosophy of technology, sound studies and durational art, I discuss Minuting as an art work, a creative constraint and a transversal listening practice. Lastly, I propose it as an existential media technique for composing critical and reflective positions towards one's surrounding space, experience of time, and use of sound technologies.
|
|
| 4. |
- Olsson, Lisa, et al.
(författare)
-
Swedish researchers' responses to the cancellation of the big deal with Elsevier
- 2020
-
Ingår i: Insights: the UKSG journal. - : Ubiquity Press, Ltd.. - 2048-7754. ; 33
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In 2018, the Swedish library consortium, Bibsam, decided to cancel big deal subscriptions with Elsevier. Many researchers (n = 4,221) let their voices be heard in a survey on the consequences of the cancellation. Almost a third of them (n = 1,241) chose to leave free-text responses to the survey question 'Is there anything you would like to add?'. A content analysis on these responses resulted in six themes and from these, three main conclusions are drawn. First, there is no consensus among researchers on whether the cancellation was for good or evil. The most common argument in favour of the cancellation was the principle. The most common argument against cancellation was that it harms researchers and research. A third of the free-text responses expressed ambivalence towards the cancellation, typically as a conflict between wanting to change the current publishing system and simultaneously suffering from the consequences of the cancellation. The general support for open access in principle reveals a flawed publishing system, as most feel the pressure to publish in prestigious journals behind paywalls in practice. Second, it was difficult for researchers to take a position for or against cancellation due to their limited knowledge of the ongoing work of higher education institutions and library consortia. Finally, there are indications that the cancellation made researchers reflect on open access and to some extent alter their publication pattern through their choice of copyright licence and publication channel.
|
|
| 5. |
- Nilsson, Johan
(författare)
-
Producing consumers : market researchers' selection and conception of focus group participants
- 2020
-
Ingår i: Consumption, markets & culture. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1025-3866 .- 1477-223X. ; 23:4, s. 376-389
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article inquires into how market researchers produce a relationship between subjects of study and objects of knowledge in consumer research. The relationship is explored through the routines that a group of market researchers use to select and exclude research subjects. Adding to studies of how market research and other marketing activities establish their objects of knowledge in terms of performing and construction, the article draws attention to how recruitment shapes respondents: research participants are selected through principles beyond clients' recognition of their customers, issues of representativity or resemblance to targeted groups. Selection practices are explored through notes from participant observation and interviews at the research firm studied, as well as the recruitment forms that are used to undertake selection. The assessed recruitment shows researcher concern over identifying respondents useful for producing descriptions of consumers and how common features of a targeted group may be excluded in this production.
|
|
| 6. |
- Parks, Lisa, et al.
(författare)
-
Introduction
- 2023
-
Ingår i: Media Backends. - : University of Illinois Press. - 9780252045349 - 9780252087462 - 9780252054877
-
Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)
|
|
| 7. |
- Velkova, Julia, et al.
(författare)
-
Smart Thermostats and the Algorithmic Control of Thermal Comfort
- 2022
-
Ingår i: Everyday Automation. - London : Routledge. - 9780367773380 ; , s. 171-183
-
Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Automated decision-making (ADM) tends to be discussed as a process of delegating and automating decisions from people to machines in the context of automation. This chapter shows instead how ADM can function as a mediating algorithmic logic that manages and generates new relationships between actors, and economies of value that may not pre-exist or are in the process of being automated. We develop this argument drawing on empirical work from an experiment with ADM in Sweden that sought to optimise and steer heat provision in everyday life through ‘smart’ thermostats. Our approach is informed by science and technology studies and perspectives on socio-technical experiments, considering them as generative of new environments and social relationships. We show how experiments with ADM where algorithms take decisions about the steering of thermal provision in everyday life can redefine the understanding of control, and power relationships between energy companies, data-driven economies, and people brought together through a common concern about temperature.
|
|
| 8. |
- Xu, Wenqian, 1992-, et al.
(författare)
-
Communication officers in local authorities meeting social media : On the production of social media photos of older adults
- 2021
-
Ingår i: Journal of Aging Studies. - : Elsevier. - 0890-4065 .- 1879-193X. ; 58
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- European local authorities increasingly use social media to present services and activities organized for citizens living in the particular area. Previous studies found that authority-managed social media visually depicted older adults as being active, sociable, happy, and physically capable, reflecting the normative “third age” representation. Yet few studies to date have examined how local authorities produce the photos of older adults for social media posting. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with communication officers in a Swedish municipality, the purpose of this study is to investigate the production process for social media photos of older adults within local authorities from an institutional logics perspective. The analysis illustrates that communication officers strive to create a good image of the municipality and its services, follow municipal policy and EU law on data protection, seek photos through particular sources, adjust to and develop photographic standards of good photos, and endeavor to promote social media engagement in the photos. These motives and work practices of communication officers contribute to the visual representations of older adults as engaging in municipal services, being socially active, and staying physically capable. The analysis also indicates that both social media and bureaucratic logics encourage officers to produce photos of older adults that highlight the bright side of later life. The findings contribute to previous studies on online representations of older adults generated by local authorities, by showing how the third age representation may come about in practice, and which logics may influence officers to generate such representation. Furthermore, the knowledge provided could be used as a basis for assessment and improvement on authorities' production for social media photos of older adults, which in turn contributes to more diverse and thoughtful representations of older adults and later life in authority-managed social media.
|
|
| 9. |
- Xu, Wenqian, 1992-
(författare)
-
Online representations of older people generated by public sector organizations
- 2021
-
Ingår i: Human aspects of IT for the aged population. - Cham : Springer. - 9783030781071 - 9783030781088 ; , s. 459-470
-
Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article investigates the generation of online representations of older people by institutions. Specifically, it discusses the ways in which public sector organizations generate online representations of older people from a production perspective. This article uses the following questions to frame its analysis: What do we know about online representations of older people generated by public sector organizations? What do we know about the way in which public sector organizations generate online representations of older people? And, how can public sector organizations improve online representations of older people from a production perspective? The analysis primarily draws on secondary data (i.e., existing literature and examples of public sector organizations) to address these questions. After summarizing existing research examining online representations of older people generated by public sector organizations, this article offers a specific example of a public sector organization generating online representations of older people (i.e., a Swedish municipality). A discussion of the approaches public sector organizations takes to generating online representations of older people is provided, and the argument is made that public sector organizations have a convergent position where they must take care of older people while presenting this care online. Moreover, this article discusses the generation of online representations of older people in the public sector concerning accountability, calling for greater accountability in representations of older people online.
|
|
| 10. |
- Xu, Wenqian, 1992-
(författare)
-
The stigma of dementia and the media : An analysis of reality shows about older people with dementia running a pop-up restaurant
- 2021
-
Ingår i: Journal of Aging Studies. - : Elsevier. - 0890-4065 .- 1879-193X. ; 59:Dec
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- It has been argued that older people living with dementia often experience stigma. Several media interventions have been designed to raise public awareness about dementia, as well as to de-stigmatise the condition and people living with it; however, few studies have investigated how media interventions may serve to reduce stigma. The present study focused on a Chinese reality show, Forget Me Not Café, which brought together five older people (aged 65 and older) living with dementia to run a pop-up restaurant and intended to reduce the stigma of dementia. The study aimed to explore how the reality show cast talk (or write) about dementia in older people. This study performed a thematic analysis on the written and spoken content about how the show presented dementia in older people. Four discursive themes were identified, including: age as a risk factor for dementia; early signs and symptoms of dementia in older people; the pressure on the family of people with dementia; and expectations of people living with dementia. The findings of this study show that the views of the reality show cast highlight the capability of older people with dementia to communicate effectively and live with the condition, their personal goals of sustaining a happy, meaningful, and sociable life, and the actions they took to positively influence personal circumstances. The findings also indicate that this reality show might help reduce the stigma of dementia and empower older people living with dementia, while it also tends to stress the responsibility for care on family carers and shift the responsibility of managing the dementia-related challenges to older people living with dementia. These suggest a neoliberal tenet of personal responsibility for health in China. Given the media's role in reflecting and shaping perceptions and attitudes towards dementia and people living with it, this study contributes to a greater understanding of the ways in which reality shows can be used to promote awareness and challenge the stigma of dementia and arguably other conditions.
|
|
