"How is society being reshaped by the continued diffusion and increasing centrality of the Internet in everyday life and work? Society and the Internet provides key readings for students, scholars, and anyone with a serious interest in understanding the interactions of the Internet and society. Spaw
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ned from a series of lectures at the University of Oxford, this multidisciplinary set of theoretically and empirically anchored chapters address the big questions about perhaps the most significant technological transformation of the 21st century. The authors employ a diversity of data, methods, and approaches to address these questions in creative ways. Internet research needs to keep learning from the past, ground itself in a diversity of disciplinary perspectives, and continue to look to the future. In doing so, Internet Studies can address core questions about equality, voice, knowledge, participation, and power; and provide a better understanding of what the ever-changing configurations of technology and society mean not only for everyday life, but also for major developments in the politics, economic, and cultural development of societies across the world. Understanding the role of the Internet in society is critical to addressing the major issues of policy and practice, from the nature of democracy and freedom of expression to how we learn, work and play in everyday life." (Publisher description)
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"WhatsApp und Facebook werden auch in Lateinamerika massiv genutzt, vor allem aufgrund ihres vermeintlich kostenlosen Charakters. Auch dort wird das Problem der rechten Meinungsmache und der Fake News diskutiert, denn die Tatsache, dass sich die Leute heute vor allem über Werbeplattformen informier
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en, die unzutreffend „soziale Medien“ genannt werden, hat handfeste politische Auswirkungen. In Brasilien und El Salvador wurden die jüngsten Wahlen nicht über Präsenz und Debatten in den traditionellen Medien gewonnen, sondern über gut vorbereitete und teure WhatsApp-Kampagnen. In Brasilien siegt so der Rechtsextremist Jair Bolsonaro, in El Salvador der politische Wende-hals und PR-Profi Nayib Bukele. Die brasilianischen WhatsApp-Nutzer*innen wurden während des Wahlkampfs mit gefälschtem, häufig explizit sexuellem Inhalt geflutet, wie etwa der Meldung, dass die Arbeiterpartei plane, Babyfläschchen mit Nuckel in Penisform zu verteilen, um die Homosexualisierung der Kleinkinder voranzutreiben.
Haarsträubendes postfaktisches Zeitalter – warum fallen Fake News auf fruchtbaren Boden? Klar ist: Klassische Medien haben ihre Funktion als „Gatekeeper“, als Instanzen, die sortieren und filtern, längst eingebüßt. Die Gesellschaften werden vielfältiger und unübersichtlicher: mehr Pluralität auf der einen Seite, andererseits immer tiefere Gräben, die sich durch die Gesellschaften ziehen. Die mediale Öffentlichkeit und die Zugangsbedingungen zu ihr wandeln sich. Die Menschen misstrauen „denen da oben“ durchaus zu Recht. Aber die kommerziellen Global Tech Player beherrschen die Räume für Kommunikation, Information und Meinungsbildung mit Algorithmen. Das hat Folgen. Das Geschäftsmodell basiert auf Datenschürfen, kombiniert mit persönlich zugeschnittener Werbung. Du bekommst das, was du sehen und hören willst, nicht was wahr ist und den Tatsachen entspricht. Und davon profitieren vor allem rechtspopulistische Akteure.
Gibt es dazu einen funktionierenden linken Gegenentwurf? Wir, die Macher*innen der ila und ähnlich Gesinnte, wollten eigentlich schon immer zur Bildung einer Gegenöffentlichkeit beitragen, positionierten uns gegen den „bürgerlichen Journalismus als Stellvertreterjournalismus“, wollten „Betroffenenberichterstattung“. Heute haben Rechte und Rechtsextreme den Begriff „Gegenöffentlichkeit“ für sich gekapert. Und jetzt haben wir den Salat.
Aktuell existiert eine Öffentlichkeit jenseits der Dichotomie „staatlich geregelt oder privat“. Wir haben kein Problem mehr damit, unsere eigenen Inhalte zu verbreiten und eigene Medien zu schaffen. Das stellt allerdings noch längst nicht sicher, dass wir auch gehört werden. Der springende Punkt ist nicht mehr der Zugang, sondern die Reichweite. Wir konkurrieren mit allen anderen Anbietern von welcher Information auch immer um Aufmerksamkeit. Und dabei verfügen wir, kaum anders als früher, immer noch über die schwächeren Möglichkeiten.
Wie sieht also das Überleben im „Plattformkapitalismus“ aus, wie sich darin bewegen, schützen, informieren, seine Meinung bilden und als politisch Aktive oder alternative Medienschaffende die eigenen Inhalte verbreiten? Dazu ein paar Ideen, die sich aus der Auseinandersetzung mit dem Thema und lateinamerikanischen Gesprächspartner*innen herauskristallisieren: Versteht, die Technik zu verstehen (in Lateinamerika ist die Rede von hackear la tecnología, also die Technologie für die eigenen Zwecke zu nutzen wissen), wahrt eine kritische Distanz, haltet eure Informationsquellen vielfältig (was vor allem auch Kindern und Jugendlichen vermittelt werden sollte), schafft und nutzt alternative Plattformen. Manchmal kann auch digitales Fasten das Gebot der Stunde sein. Handy aus und raus auf die Straße – oder in den Wald." (Editorial)
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"En République démocratique du Congo (RDC), le Web constitue, depuis le dernier mandat constitutionnel du président Joseph Kabila au pouvoir depuis 2001, un espace d’affrontements politiques par le biais des discours religieux, ou par leaders religieux interposés. Alors que le président Kabil
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a a épuisé son dernier mandat constitutionnel, les discours religieux sur Internet sont devenus un outil de mobilisation, si bien qu’ils permettent de distinguer les partisans de l’alternance ou du maintien du gouvernement en place. Les médias numériques ont démontré leur capacité à mobiliser la rue lors des manifestations contre le maintien au pouvoir du président Joseph Kabila entre 2015 et 2017. Les discours religieux sur le Web peuvent jouer, quant à eux, une fonction d’atténuation de la contestation." (Résumé)
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"O livro é uma coletânea que reúne especialistas em Democracia Digital de diversas áreas (comunicação, administração, ciência política, sociologia etc.) para discutir questões conceituais e práticas que envolvem este campo. Temas como participação política e Internet, mídias sociais
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e engajamento político, cidadania online, transparência digital, consultas públicas e accountability são algumas das principais abordagens que constituem a obra. Tais temáticas, hoje fundamentais para se compreender a relação entre comunicação digital e democracias contemporâneas, são debatidas por pesquisadores atuantes nos principais grupos de pesquisas na área de diversas universidades brasileiras." (Contracapa)
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"This book probes the vitality, potentiality and ability of new communication and technological changes to drive online-based civil action across Africa. In a continent booming with mobile innovation and a plethora of social networking sites, the Internet is considered a powerful platform used by pr
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o-democracy activists to negotiate and sometimes push for reform-based political and social changes in Africa. The book discusses and theorizes digital activism within social and geo-political realms, analysing cases such as the #FeesMustFall and #BringBackOurGirls campaigns in South Africa and Nigeria respectively to question the extent to which they have changed the dynamics of digital activism in sub-Saharan Africa. Comparative case study reflections in eight African countries identify and critique digital concepts questioning what impact they have had on the civil society. Cases also explore the African LGBT community as a social movement while discussing opportunities and challenges faced by online activists fighting for LGBT equality. Finally, gender-based activists using digital tools to gain attention and facilitate social changes are also appraised." (Publisher description)
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"We analyzed more than 13,000 statements during the project. This report primarily builds on the statements that were collected between 24 February and 24 June 2015, three months before and one month after the parliamentary elections that took place in Ethiopia on 24 May 2015. FINDING 1 - Hate and d
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angerous speech are marginal forms of speech in social media. Only 0.4% of statements in our sample have been classified as hate speech (i.e. speech that incites others to discriminate or act against individuals or groups based on their ethnicity, religion, or gender) and 0.3% as dangerous speech (i.e. speech that builds the bases for or directly calls for widespread violence against a particular group) [...] FINDING 2 - The elections on Facebook were a “non-event” - they were broadly discussed, but there was widespread disillusionment. Most Ethiopian Facebook pages discussed the elections, but many statements either directly referred to, or seemed informed by, the perception that the outcome of the elections was already predetermined, with low levels of suspense and low expectations on the part of online users [...] FINDING 3 - Dangerous speech is a distinctive and more deliberate form of attacking other groups or individuals. When compared to hate speech, as well as to other types of messages, dangerous speech reflects a more deliberate strategy to attack individuals and groups. Almost all dangerous statements in our sample are uttered by individuals seeking to hide their identity (92%). This proportion is significantly lower for statements classified as hate speech (33%) and offensive speech (31%) [...] FINDING 4 - The political, social and cultural views reflected in social media in Ethiopia are less polarized than might be expected ..." (Executive summary)
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"Mechachal is a collaborative project developed by the University of Oxford and Addis Ababa University to understand the nature and potential of online debates in Ethiopia. Mechachal can be translated from Amharic as “tolerance”, or as one’s awareness of their own social sphere and willingness
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to accommodate other social spheres that are different from a cultural and religious standpoint [...] Mechachal’s team developed methodology to analyse online debates that are emerging from and targeting Ethiopians in Ethiopia and in the Diaspora. This report is the first of a series of three and examines some key aspects of this approach. In particular, it offers an empirically grounded illustration of how, despite the polarization that has characterized the political environment in Ethiopia, online debates tend to favour engagement across divides, rather than exacerbating existing tensions." (Introduction)
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"How is the adoption of digital media in the Arab world affecting the relationship between the state and its subjects? What new forms of online engagement and strategies of resistance have emerged from the aspirations of digitally empowered citizens? This book tells the compelling story of the concu
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rrent evolution of technology and society in the Middle East and North Africa region. It brings into focus the intricate relationship between Internet development, youth activism, cyber resistance, and political participation. Taking Tunisia—the birthplace of the Arab uprisings—as a case study, it offers an ethnographically nuanced and theoretically grounded analysis of the digital culture of contention that developed in an authoritarian context. It broadens the focus from narrow debates about the role that social media played in the Arab uprisings toward a fresh understanding of how changes in media affect existing power relations." (Publisher description)
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"Internet Studies has been one of the most dynamic and rapidly expanding interdisciplinary fields to emerge over the last decade. The Oxford Handbook of Internet Studies has been designed to provide a resource in this area, bringing together scholarly perspectives on how the Internet has been studie
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d and how the research agenda should be pursued in the future. The book aims to focus on Internet Studies as an emerging field, each chapter seeking to provide a synthesis and critical assessment of the research in a particular area. Topics covered include social perspectives on the technology of the Internet; the Internet's role in everyday life and work; implications for communication, power, and influence; and the governance and regulation of the Internet. The book aims not only to help to strengthen research on the key questions, but also to shape research, policy, and practice across many disciplines that are finding the Internet and its political, economic, cultural, and other societal implications increasingly central to their own key areas of inquiry." (Publisher description)
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"Ruling elites often try to co-opt civil society groups, and in times of political or military crises they can attempt to control the national information infrastructure. But a defining feature of civil society is independence from the authority of the state, even in countries such as Saudi Arabia a
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nd Egypt. And in important ways, digital communication networks are also independent of any particular state authority. What has been the impact of digital media on political communication in Muslim media systems? How have tools such as mobile phones and the internet affected the process of forming political identity, particularly for the young? When do such tools change the opportunity for civic action, and when do they simply empower ruling elites to be more effective censors? In this chapter, we analyze the best available micro-level data on technology use and changing patterns of political identity and macro-level data on networks of civil society actors." (Introduction)
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"Tres son los principales objetivos de la presente obra: 1. El primero consiste en poner al alcance de los ciudadanos de América Latin a los conocimientos y herramientas indispensables para que comprendan de mejor manera la forma en que la Comunicación Política incide, en mayor o menor medida, en
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su elección de representantes y funcionarios. 2. El segundo es fungir como un texto de orientación y referencia para todas aquellas personas vinculadas con la política o con la promoción y difusión de candidatos, campañas y mensajes. 3. Por último, el tercer objetivo perseguido mediante su elaboración y difusión consiste en que todas las personas que participan directa- o indirectamente en campañas de Comunicación Política logren identificar la necesidad real de prepararse teórica y técnicamente, para poder tomar las mejores decisiones, con base en análisis metódicos y objetivos del contexto y las coyunturas en los que se verifican las campañas electorales. Con lo cual, contarán con elementos para profesionalizar su labor y dejar de una vez por todas en el "baúl de los recuerdos" los mitos, tradiciones y descarriadas intuiciones con base en las que, desgraciadamente, aún se implementan muchos de los esfuerzos en materia de Comunicación Política de la región." (Presentación, página 8-9)
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"The rise of new media in Thailand has occurred during one of the toughest periods in Thailand’s recent political history. A political crisis since 2005 has created an increasingly divided society. Whilst Thailand’s press freedom was previously considered “free,” existing political challenge
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s are immense and challenge directly Thailand’s taboo topic - the monarchy. The state controlled and anti-competitive nature of Thailand’s traditional media has meant a siding with the status quo. State censorship and even self-censorship in the media is common. New media seems to be the only way people can discuss freely their political beliefs. Or is that really so? This report is an investigation into the political usage of new media in Thailand from varying viewpoints of politicians, activists and Thai internet users." (Abstract)
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"The May 2011 general election has been the most contested and most discussed in Singapore’s history. Prior to the polls, the government relaxed the rules on election campaigning in the Internet. For the first time in the highly wired city-state with its tech-savvy population of 5 million people,
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opposition parties had the chance to mobilize supporters via social-networking media like Facebook and Twitter. Bloggers used cyberspace extensively for political debate and comment. While the ever-ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) posted its worst result in decades, the opposition gained historical victories, at least by Singapore standards. Observers were quick to label the polls as an “Internet election”, implying that media activism in the city-state’s cyberspace had a decisive impact on the ballot. A more measured reading of the election outcome, however, suggests that the polls were not decided in Singapore’s web. The voters’ choice was largely influenced by bread-and-butter issues as well as a call for divergent voices in politics and more control of the government. Although online political expression since the mid-1990s has challenged the PAP’s authoritarian rule and has changed Singapore’s political culture, its impact in electoral terms has so far been limited. The PAP still keeps the city-state tightly under control, online and offline, and is likely to continue its dominance in the foreseeable future. It remains to be seen if Internet media activism can push the city-state towards an open democracy." (Abstract)
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"This book focuses on the impact of digital media use for political engagement across varied geographic and political contexts, using a diversity of methodological approaches and datasets. The book addresses an important gap in the contemporary literature on digital politics, identifying context dep
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endent and transcendent political consequences of digital media use. While the majority of the empirical work in this field has been based on studies from the United States and United Kingdom, this volume seeks to place those results into comparative relief with other regions of the world. It moves debates in this field of study forward by identifying system-level attributes that shape digital political engagement across a wide variety of contexts. The evidence analyzed across the fifteen cases considered in the book suggests that engagement with digital environments influences users' political orientations and that contextual features play a significant role in shaping digital politics." (Publisher description)
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"Social media, particularly blogging, Facebook and Twitter, have played a key role in instigating, accelerating and even organizing some of the uprisings and revolutions that have been taking place all over the Middle East. This role has been effective in galvanizing the youth and empowering them in
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their fights against repressive regimes and their plight for more freedom and independence. This study looks into the social media role in the so-called “Facebook revolution”, which took place in Egypt in January 2011 and the so-called “Twitter uprising”, which took place in Iran in June 2009. The Egyptian revolution did succeed in toppling the regime, while the Iranian uprising failed. Why did the calls for political change that started in the virtual world lead to actual change in the real world in Egypt but not in Iran? This study addresses this question by providing a critical analysis of the available literature and interviews with online activists in Egypt and Iran. The authors used the SPIN model (Segmentation, polycentrism, integration and networking) as a theoretical framework and concluded that the model helped social media succeed in Egypt, but not in Iran." (Abstract)
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"This investigation is about how Chinese overseas online commentators (COOCs) respond to political discourses on China. COOCs present the ideological heterogeneity of Chinese overseas. Their diverse responses to different ideological debates show patterns that manifest how the Chinese diaspora enact
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their positional cultural identification. The analysis of the data showed that on both sides of the divide, the debate leads commentators to assume positions of attachment to, or detachment from, their Chinese cultural affiliations not in a set of binary oppositions but as a continuum with varying degrees. Along this division line, internal fragmentation can be further identified by different views of China’s external tension with other world powers. The notable internal complexity can arguably represent the nation’s maturation." (Abstract)
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"In Zeiten der Globalisierung, in denen Komplexität und Vernetzung immer mehr zunehmen, sind politische Inhalte und politische Prozesse kaum noch zu durchschauen und die Schwierigkeiten "der Politik" diese zu vermitteln, scheinen zunehmend größer zu werden. Gelingt die Politikvermittlung jedoch n
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icht, besteht die Gefahr, dass die Politikverdrossenheit oder die Politikdistanz der Bürgerinnen und Bürger zunimmt und die Legitimation der Demokratie gefährdet. In diesem Band setzen sich namhafte Autoren mit der Frage auseinander, was sich in demokratischen Systemen geändert hat, so dass die Legitimation der Demokratie durch Politikvermittlung kaum noch bewältigt werden kann. Dabei wird deutlich, dass Politikvermittlung kein einseitiger kommunikativer Vorgang, sondern ein reziproker Prozess ist, an dem eine Vielzahl von Akteuren des politisch-administrativen Systems und des intermediären Systems beteiligt sind. Im Zentrum stehen dabei die Parteien, die Massenmedien einschließlich des Internets und Fragen des Verhältnisses von Politikvermittlung und internationale Beziehungen." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
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