The author examines consequences of expansion strategies of commercial network media, and compares them to ideals of open and accessible public communication. These strategies level out the falling ...rates of profits that the increased productivity of labour is bringing. Counter-measures of media industries manipulate the amounts of variable and constant capital (outsourcing of labour, shifting of depreciation costs on users, and specialisation). These processes, which are specific to platform business models, ultimately give rise to fragmentation, individualisation and ideological homogenisation of the peripheral public. The public becomes ideologically similar to the centres of power, whereas its critical potential and, consequently, its effective political freedom decreases. While both the political and the economic subsystems and the public alike use network communication to organise their activities, interaction between the two social domains (the system and the lifeworld) resembles an ‘interactive top-down communication structure’. Inclusion of citizens-consumers into the productivity race renders interactivity similar to one-way communication.
Media event theory examines how viewers take part in live televised events despite lack of physical presence. The media event scholarship has rarely considered how technologies like the Internet ...reconfigure the dynamics of such events. Drawing on Chinese language users’ Twitter discussion about Under the Dome, a high‐profile 2015 documentary about air pollution in China, this article uses social network and content analyses to examine the mechanisms of media events in the networked digital space. Diverse actors engaged in the distribution and interpretation of this media event, most of whom were individual actors. Two subnetworks are revealed on Twitter: the disengaged one mainly distributed links to the documentary, and the engaged one actively discussed the documentary. While Twitter discussion of Under the Dome lacked broad and sophisticated discourse, we still find promising signs of public discussion on the smog issue and public policy in the long run. Theoretically, this study underscores the potential of integrating media event and framing theories to tackle the refashioned nature of media events. Empirically, the findings allow us to better understand how a wide range of individual and institutional actors co‐stage and co‐interpret media events by leveraging the technological and communicative affordances of Twitter.
抽象
媒体事件理论检验观众如何在不亲临现场的情况下参与电视直播活动。关于媒体事件的学术研究很少考量到诸如互联网这样的科技如何重新设定电视直播等活动在互联网上的动态。本文取材于中文用户在推特上对 《穹顶之下》 这一于2015年获得高知名度的中国空气污染纪录片的探讨, 使用社交网络和内容分析, 检验媒体事件在网络化数字空间中的机制。不同行为者参与了此次媒体事件的传播和诠释, 其中大多数参与者都是个人用户。研究结果展示，推特上有两个子网络: 其中一个脱离的子网络主要对该纪录片的链接进行了转发, 另一个处于联系状态的子网络则活跃地探讨了这部纪录片。尽管关于 ⟪穹顶之下⟫ 的推特讨论缺少广泛和精密的论述, 但这对于关于雾霾问题和长期公共政策的公共讨论具有积极的意义。理论上, 本文提出将媒体事件和框架理论整合, 进而关照媒体事件的新内涵与特性。实证上, 研究结果显示，通过充分利用推特的技术性和传播性承担特质(affordance),进而让公众更好地理解一系列个人行为者和机构行为者如何共同举办、共同诠释媒体事件。
Resumen
La teoría de los eventos mediáticos examina cómo la audiencia participa en eventos en vivo a pesar de no estar presentes físicamente. La investigación de eventos mediáticos rara vez ha considerado cómo tecnologías tales como Internet reconfiguran la dinámica de tales eventos. Basándose en la discusión en Twitter de los usuarios chinos sobre “Bajo el domo“, un documental de alto perfil de 2015 sobre la contaminación del aire en China, este artículo utiliza redes sociales y análisis de contenido para examinar los mecanismos de los eventos mediáticos en el espacio digital en la red. Varias partes participaron en la distribución e interpretación de este evento mediático, la mayoría de las cuales eran individuos. Dos subredes se revelan en Twitter: la de baja participación distribuyó principalmente enlaces al documental, y la que participa activamente discutió el documental. A pesar de que la discusión de Twitter de “Bajo el domo” carecía de un discurso amplio y sofisticado, encontramos señales prometedoras de discusión pública en el tema del smog y la política pública a largo plazo. Teóricamente, este estudio resalta el potencial de integrar las teorías de marco del evento mediático para enfrentar la naturaleza remodelada de los eventos mediáticos. Empíricamente, los hallazgos nos permiten comprender mejor cómo una amplia gama de individuos e instituciones coescenifican y cointerpretan eventos mediáticos al aprovechar las posibilidades tecnológicas y comunicativas de Twitter.
Propósito – Este artigo sintetiza os principais achados de um projeto de pesquisa de três anos para investigar o impacto da Internet sobre a política, a mídia e a sociedade russa.
...Metodologia/abordagem/design – Empregamos múltiplos métodos para estudar atividades online: o mapeamento e estudo da estrutura, das comunidades e do conteúdo da blogosfera; um análogo mapeamento e estudo do Twitter; a análise de conteúdo de diferentes fontes midiáticas, utilizando tanto abordagens automatizadas quanto abordagens baseadas em avaliação humana; e uma enquete com blogueiros; métodos esses expandidos por mapeamento de infraestrutura, por entrevistas e por investigações de contexto.
Resultados – Constatamos a emergência de uma vibrante e diversa esfera pública interconectada, que constitui uma alternativa independente ao mais rigidamente controlado espaço midiático e político offline, e verificamos o uso crescente de plataformas digitais na mobilização social e na ação cívica.
Implicações práticas – Apesar da existência de vários esforços indiretos para conformar o ciberespaço como um ambiente mais amigável ao governo, constatamos que a Internet russa permanece, em geral, aberta e livre, embora o atual grau de liberdade na Internet de forma alguma possa representar previsão acerca do futuro desse espaço contestado.
Adopting
Friedland, Hove, and Rojas's (2006
) concept of the networked public sphere, we set out to achieve two key objectives: identify the key players concerned with Singapore politics in the ...cyberspace and examine the nature of the social network comprising these players. In spite of Singapore's recognized success in deploying information communication technologies for economic progress, the liberalizing effects of the Internet have been limited. Using a descriptive social network analysis approach, we explore the dynamics that are taking place online and argue for their implications on the evolving political discourse. The study reveals that political bloggers and political parties dominate the cyberspace, while issue-based advocacy groups and media agencies are relegated to less important positions. In addition, high levels of interactivity are observed among political bloggers. These findings are of significant relevance to countries where media systems are stringently regulated by the government, as they point to the existence of possible networking structures that may exist in the online world. There lies a potential for the creation of an alternative and viable sphere of discourse for individuals and marginalized groups to circumvent offline media regulations and disseminate their perspectives online.
Many scholars argue that digital technologies are creating unprecedented opportunities for democratic expression, but fear that the networked public sphere is threatened by overly broad intellectual ...property rights. Focusing on journalism, we argue that this literature too narrowly emphasizes legal and technical restrictions on the fair use of cultural goods, and that more attention needs to be paid to whether expression in public spheres is inclusive, diverse, and of sufficient quality to meet the needs of democratic publics. Drawing on the underlying principle of copyright-as a public subsidy to promote and protect access to social expression-and positive interpretations of the First Amendment, we propose a two-tiered, content-neutral, opt-in system of state-funded incentives for journalism. Our first tier reverses the mechanism of copyright and subsidizes journalistic content produced for the public domain. Drawing on the "public journalism" tradition, we define a second tier of state-support for journalistic producers engaging in practices-transparency, accountability, dialogue, reliability, and collaboration- that can increase the quality of content. We conclude by suggesting a preliminary institutional model for administering these state incentives.
What are the prospects for the Web enhancing the local governance process by providing a networked public sphere? This article addresses this question by researching online local civic activity ...associated with a case study of a UK local government referendum. Drawing upon social network analysis theory, this research first of all applies relational hyperlink analysis to map and structurally analyze the hyperlinked network. Second, it draws upon a network ethnography approach to identify and then interview key actors associated with this network. The results suggest a need for policy intervention to counter the distinct homophily effects and "politics as usual" scenario uncovered in the local online network.
This essay examines the significance of a particular metaphor, flooding the zone, which gained prominence as an account of bloggers' argumentative prowess in the wake of Senator Trent Lott's toast at ...Strom Thurmond's centennial birthday party. I situate the growth of the blogosphere in the context of the political economy of the institutional mass media at the time and argue that the blogosphere is an alternative site for the invention of public argument. By providing an account of how the blogosphere serves as a site of invention by flooding the zone with densely interlinked coverage of a controversy, this essay theorizes how the networked public sphere facilitates invention with speed, agonism, and copiousness. The essay then identifies how flooding the zone has been adopted by corporations and the state in order to blunt spontaneous argumentation emerging from the periphery of communication networks.
This study examines the potential for the Internet, or more specifically the World Wide Web, to enhance local democracy and local governance by providing a networked public sphere. It is located in ...post-industrial theories of social and political transformation, which see a new, uncertain and complex society emerging which may transform the political significance of the 'local'. Whilst a number of causes are identified as culpable in this process, it is the ICT revolution and the development of the Web in particular, that is seen as possessing a democratising potential that, if realised, may bring greater resilience to geographic localities. The potential of the Web to provide a new networked public sphere is based upon contested views that its topography, its hyperlinked structure, can enable the ordinary citizen's voice to be heard above those that traditionally dominate political discourse. However, there has been no attention paid to this potential being realised at a local governance level within which, this study argues, a favourable environment should exist for a local online networked public sphere to prosper. Accordingly, this prospect is empirically explored here through a case study of the use made of the Web by a variety of local civic, political and institutional actors during a 2008 local (Manchester, UK) referendum on introducing the largest traffic congestion charging scheme in the country. This research applies a distinctive mixed method approach within a conceptually defined internet mediated domain of local governance. Relational Hyperlink Analysis is used to analyse the structural significance of the captured congestion charge. This analysis uses Social Network Analysis (SNA) and an associated statistical technique, Exponential Random Graph Modelling (ERGM) to render the network visible and understandable. To further illuminate how the network was used by local civic and institutional actors involved in the referendum the research draws upon a network ethnography approach which uses SNA to identify subjects for qualitative investigation. The study offers some evidence of the Web providing 'just enough' links in this local context to suggest the structural existence of a networked public sphere. However, further evidence from the narratives and the statistical model paint an alternative picture. This suggests that, in the main, hyperlinking behaviour and use made of the network corresponds to a 'politics as usual' scenario where cliques are more likely to proliferate and powerful economic and media interests dominate online as they do offline. If the ordinary citizen's voice is to be heard in this context then there is a requirement for policy intervention to establish a trusted local networked public sphere or online civic space, independent of vested interests but linked to the local governance decision making process. In addition to this there is a requirement for greater education, particularly aimed at senior local governance policy makers, in the culture of online engagement.
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