"Most scholars focus on the prevalence and democratic effects of (partisan) news exposure. This focus misses large parts of online activities of a majority of politically disinterested citizens. Although political content also appears outside of news outlets and may profoundly shape public opinion,
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its prevalence and effects are understudied at scale. This project combines three-wave panel survey data from three countries (total N = 7,266) with online behavioral data from the same participants (over 106M visits). We create a multi-lingual classifier to identify political content both in news and outside (e.g. in shopping or entertainment sites). We find that news consumption is infrequent: just 3.4% of participants’ online browsing comprised visits to news sites. Only between 14% (NL) and 36% (US) of these visits were to news about politics. The overwhelming majority of participants' visits were to non-news sites. Although only 1.6% of those visits related to politics, in absolute terms, citizens encounter politics more frequently outside of news than within news. Out of every 10 visits to political content, 3.4 come from news and 6.6 from non-news sites. Furthermore, exposure to political content outside news domains had the same – and in some cases stronger - associations with key democratic attitudes and behaviors as news exposure. These findings offer a comprehensive analysis of the online political (not solely news) ecosystem and demonstrate the importance of assessing the prevalence and effects of political content in non-news sources." (Abstract)
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"Drawing from rich ethnographic materials and perspectives from both the Global North and South, authors Tiziano Bonini and Emiliano Treré explore how people appropriate and reconfigure algorithms to pursue their objectives in three domains of everyday life: gig work, cultural industries, and polit
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ics. They reveal how forms of algorithmic agency and resistance are endemic and mundane and how the platform society is a contested battleground of contrasting forces. Bonini and Treré begin by outlining their key theoretical framework of moral economies. This framework argues that algorithms exist on a continuum. At its two extremes are two competing moral economies: the user moral economy and the platform moral economy. From here, Algorithms of Resistance chronicles the various inventive ways that individuals can work to achieve agency and resist the ubiquitous power of algorithms." (Publisher description)
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"Drawing on years of experience across 45 counties, as well as extensive original academic research, Willem van Eekelen situates the evolving role of ICT in wider development patterns in the Global South. He discusses the effects of ICT on agriculture, trade, financial flows, resource management and
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governmental performance. He then considers the associated risks of financial insecurity, online gambling, exclusion, misinformation and the effects of ICT on people’s freedom. The book concludes with six recommendations to maximise the usefulness of rural ICT investments and minimise the risk of them causing harm." (Publisher description)
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"With a special focus on the impact of the COVID-19, the collection is based on the 2021 Digital Inclusion, Policy and Research Conference, with chapters from both academia and civic organizations. The COVID-19 pandemic has changed citizens' relationship with digital technologies for the foreseeable
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future. Many people's main channels of communication were transferred to digital services, platforms, and apps. Everything 'went online': our families, friends, partners, health, work, news, politics, culture, arts and protesting. Yet access to digital technologies remained highly unequal. This brought digital inclusion policy and research to the fore, highlighting to policymakers and the public the 'hidden' challenges and impacts of digital exclusion and inequalities. The cutting-edge volume offers research findings and policy case studies that explore digital inclusion from the provision of basic access to digital, via education and digital literacy, and on to issues of gender and technology. Case studies are drawn from varied sources including the UK, Australia, South America, and Eastern Europe, providing a valuable resource in the pursuit of social equity and justice." (Publisher description)
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"The new series Digital Progress and Trends Report adopts a holistic framework of digitalization, with selective topics examined in depth in each edition. The framework [...] includes both the production and the adoption sides of digital technologies and their interactions. Box ES.1 explains how the
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series supports global efforts to study the progress, gaps, benefits, and risks of digitalization. The benefits and risks are also interconnected and reflect the trade-offs and complexity of digitalization: innovation and growth can be accompanied by high concentration and reduced market contestability. Efficiency gains and lower costs for large businesses may mean higher inequality and polarization. Digitalization can create jobs and improve inclusion, but it also results in power asymmetry and makes it easier for governments and companies to monitor and control individuals. Digital innovation creates new possibilities for climate change mitigation and adaptation but expands the carbon footprint of the information and communication technology (ICT) sector. Cybersecurity, privacy, and misinformation are also major risks that can undermine trust in the digital space and circumvent the gains from digitalization. Countries need to maximize the benefits while minimizing the risks of digitalization." (Executive summary)
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"Plattformen konstruieren kulturelle Räume aus Kanälen, Memes, Videos, ‚lo-fi‘ Remixen, Cumbias und ‚piñatas‘. Diese Räume werden in der vorliegenden Studie literatur-, kultur- und medienwissenschaftlich betrachtet, wodurch sich transkulturelle und -mediale Perspektiven auf Konzepte wie
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Kultur und Nation eröffnen. Es werden Dynamiken und Akteure analysiert, welche die Räume der Plattformen auf der Ebene der Infrastruktur gestalten, und solche, die (web)-sprachlich-kulturell Communities und Genres produzieren. Sie reichen von bekannten Politikern und YouTubern bis hin zu indigenen Bewegungen in Mexiko. Die Akteure werden über die Figur des ‚señor YouTube‘, als anthropomorphisierter Uploadfilter, gefasst und als Repräsentationsformen untersucht. Die verschiedenen Dimensionen konvergieren in dieser Figur als gesellschaftliche Diskurse, soziokulturelle Räume und informationstechnische Systeme sowie lokalisieren Mexiko in den Welten der Plattformen." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
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"The progress of artificial intelligence, particularly with generative AI models, has provoked intense reactions, regardless of whether they are based on the logic and functioning of the technology. Unlike predictive AI, generative AI produces original content by synthesizing texts, images, voices,
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videos, and code from large databases and may significantly impact the creative economy. This study introduces the basic concepts of AI and generative AI (including a taxonomy of generative models) and outlines the distinction between image or video and text production techniques. The central argument of this study claims that the cultural fuss is not accidental, defending the hypothesis that the advent of generative AI places humanity amidst the crossing of its fourth narcissistic wound."(Abstract)
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"This 'Digital Ethics' handbook emphasises ethics in the digital era, targeting educators in higher education. It comprises three main chapters: “Digital Ethics” covers technology-society dynamics, a range of ethical approaches and tools, and contemporary issues such as data ethics, AI ethics, a
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nd corporate digital responsibility ; “Teaching Digital Ethics” focuses on a range of teaching methods to foster ethical literacy, encouraging reflection on personal and societal values ; “Ethical Decision Making” explores professional ethics, offering a structured decision-making template and comparing human and AI decision-making. In conclusion, the text recognises the dynamic nature of digital ethics." (Publisher description)
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"Over the past decade, digital technologies have profoundly reshaped the Chinese cultural landscape. With a focus on the creative agency of new media and online communities, this volume examines this development through the notion of the Sinocybersphere - the networked spaces across the globe that n
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ot only operate on the Chinese script, but also imaginatively negotiate the meanings of Chinese culture in the digital age. Instead of asking what makes the internet or new media "Chinese," the chapters situate contemporary entanglements of cultural and digital practices within specific historical, social, and discursive contexts. Covering topics as diverse as live-streaming, AI poetry, online literature, poetry memes, cyberpunk fiction, virtual art exhibitions, cooking videos, censorship, and viral translations, the collection as a whole not only engages with a wide range of Chinese new media phenomena, but also demonstrates their relevance to our understanding of contemporary digital culture." (Publisher description)
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