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Resilience of Public Spheres in a Global Health Crisis
Get PDFThe Covid-19 pandemic disrupted “normal” modes of public sphere functioning and activated an experimental mode of coping, reinventing forms of publicness and communicative exchanges. We conceptualize the social responses triggered by the crisis as particular forms of public sphere resilience and assess the role of digitalisation and digital spaces in the emergence of distinct modes and dynamics of resilience. Four areas of enhanced public sphere experimentation are the basis of our conceptualisation: political consumerism, digital modes of solidarity, political protest mobilisation, and news consumption. We discuss overarching features of public sphere resilience across societal sub-spheres and highlight the dynamics and hybridities which structure the emerging public spaces. Resilience practices are accompanied by dynamics of politicisation and depoliticisation coupled with shifting boundaries of publicness and privateness. Our observations likewise reveal the dynamic interplay between resilience and resistance.This work has been funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germany (BMBF) (grant no.: 16DII111, 16DII112, 16DII113, 16DII114, 16DII115, 16DII116, 16DII117 – „Deutsches Internet-Institut“
Quantification 2.0? Bibliometric Infrastructures in Academic Evaluation
Get PDFDue to developments recently termed as ‘audit,’ ‘evaluation,’ or ‘metric society,’ universities have become subject to rat- ings and rankings and researchers are evaluated according to standardized quantitative indicators such as their publication output and their personal citation scores. Yet, this development is not only based on the rise of new public management and ideas on ‘the return on public or private investment.’ It has also profited from ongoing technological developments. Due to a massive increase in digital publishing corresponding with the growing availability of related data bibliometric infrastructures for evaluating science are continuously becoming more differentiated and elaborate. They allow for new ways of using bibliometric data through various easily applicable tools. Furthermore, they also produce new quantities of data due to new possibilities in following the digital traces of scientific publications. In this article, I discuss this develop- ment as quantification 2.0. The rise of digital infrastructures for publishing, indexing, and managing scientific publications has not only made bibliometric data become a valuable source for performance assessment. It has triggered an unprece- dented growth in bibliometric data production turning freely accessible data about scientific work into edited databases and producing competition for its users. The production of bibliometric data has thus become decoupled from their appli- cation. Bibliometric data have turned into a self-serving end while their providers are constantly seeking for new tools to make use of them
Avoiding the news to participate in society? The longitudinal relationship between news avoidance and civic engagement
Get PDFLower levels of news use are generally understood to be associated with less political engagement among citizens. But while some people simply have a low preference for news, others avoid the news intentionally. So far little is known about the relationship between active news avoidance and civic engagement in society, a void this study has set out to fill. Based on a four-wave general population panel survey in the Netherlands, conducted between April and July 2020 (N = 1,084) during a crisis situation, this research-in-brief investigates the development of news avoidance and pro-social civic engagement over time. Results suggest that higher news topic avoidance results in higher levels of civic engagement. The study discusses different explanations for why less news can mean more engagement
Exploring the Facebook Networks of German Anti-Immigration Groups
Get PDFThis dissertation investigates the role of digital media for contentious collective action. More precisely, it focuses on German anti-asylum-shelter (AAS) groups on Facebook and the way these organizations’ usage of platform affordances can be read from an adaptation of the framework of Modes of Coordination (MoC) of collective action. To do so, the thesis starts with an inquiry of the theoretical debate on the role of information and communication technology for social movements and collective action and highlights some misconceptions and discrepancies, especially on the role of formal organizations (chapter II). It argues to carefully explore the different interorganizational ties that form between AAS-groups and the networks that emerge from these in light of the two dimensions of resource exchange and boundary definition. After that, chapter III provides detailed accounts of case selection and data collection and of the research questions that structure the subsequent analyses. To answer these, chapter IV-i explores the temporal and spatial activity patterns of AAS-groups both on- and offline, finding a clear correspondence between the two. Chapter IV-ii uses topic modelling to explore the content of groups’ communication, identifying a narrative of the reasonable and peaceful in-group and a combination of criminal (asylum-seekers), treacherous (politicians) and lying (press) outgroups. This clearly debunks a narrative of centrist “concerned citizens” and shows the deeply racist and right-wing extremist nature of AAS activity. The third empirical part (chapter IV-iii) discusses five types of networks that emerge from groups’ activities and combines these into four different MoC. We can identify a prevalence of the organizational mode of coordination, that involves limited exchange in terms of both resource exchange and boundary definition. However, a small but dense network also emerges from those ties that are defined by the social movement mode. Exponential Random Graph Modelling shows that while spatial proximity is a key determinant for tie formation across all modes, the role of formal organizations (right-wing parties) must not be dismissed. In fact, it differs both by party and by MoC in question. Overall, as chapter V sums up, the dissertation proves the relevance of a relational perspective to the study of digitally mediated collective action in general, as well as of an adapted framework of MoC in particular
Towards platform observability
Get PDFThe growing power of digital platforms raises the question of democratic control or at least containment. In light of the transforming impact of platforms on markets, the public sphere, elections, and employment conditions, governments, and civil society alike are demanding more transparency and accountability. Shedding light on the principles and practices of algorithmic ordering promises to limit the power of platforms by subjecting their hidden operations to regulatory inspection. This article questions the popular image of an openable ‘black box’. Based on a critical reflection on transparency as a panacea for curtailing platform power, we propose the concept of observability to deal more systematically with the problem of studying complex algorithmic systems. We set out three broad principles as regulatory guidelines for making platforms more accountable. These principles concern the normative and analytical scope, the empirical and temporal dimension, and the necessary capacities for learning and knowledge generation
Politik in der digitalen Gesellschaft. Zentrale Problemfelder und Forschungsperspektiven
No full textDie Bedeutung der Digitalisierung für Politik und Gesellschaft ist ein hoch aktuelles Themenfeld, das immer stärker auch politikwissenschaftlich beforscht und gelehrt wird. Die Beiträge des Bandes versammeln dazu programmatische Positionen, welche zentrale Aspekte und Perspektiven der sozialwissenschaftlichen Digitalisierungsforschung darstellen und diskutieren. Hierzu zählen u.a. Forschungsfelder aus den Bereichen Partizipations- und Parteienforschung, Governance der Digitalisierung, methodische Reflexionen über Computational Social Science und die Analyse von Demokratie und Öffentlichkeit unter den Bedingungen der Digitalisierung
Umstrittene Expertise im Falle einer neuen Technologie. Eine explorative Untersuchung der Online-Konsultation zur Blockchain-Strategie der Bundesregierung
Get PDFThis work has been funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germany (BMBF) (grant no.: 16DII111, 16DII112, 16DII113, 16DII114, 16DII115, 16DII116, 16DII117 – „Deutsches Internet-Institut“
Digidem Digest - Issue 29 (August 2020)
No full textThe Digidem Digest literature radar was a monthly curated overview of the latest publications with relevance to the research group "Democracy and Digitalization" at the Weizenbaum Institute. Their research focused around the interrelation of digitalization and democratic self-determination, asking how liberal-democratic societies appropriate digital technologies and how democracy is changing within the digital configuration. The present articles and publications were chosen by observation of leading journals within the field - a list can be found at the end of each newsletter
Wer ist #MeToo? Eine netzwerkanalytische Untersuchung (anti-)feministischen Protests auf Twitter
Get PDFFeministischer Aktivismus auf digitalen Plattformen geht einher mit Chancen ebenso wie mit neuen Gefahren – vom Vernetzungspotenzial und der Organisation feministischer Öffentlich‐ keiten auf der einen Seite, zu neuen Formen des Hasses gegen Aktivist*innen und des Aus‐ schlusses bestimmter Personengruppen auf der anderen Seite. Mithilfe von Netzwerkund Inhaltsanalysen untersucht diese Studie den deutschsprachigen #MeToo-Protest auf Twitter und geht der Frage nach, welche Akteure hier einflussreich und sichtbar waren und Twitter als Plattform für sich nutzen konnten. Es wird gezeigt, dass neben privaten Nutzer*innen vor allem traditionelle Massenmedien auf Twitter eine zentrale Rolle spielen. Gleichzeitig lässt sich innerhalb des #MeToo-Protests ein dichtes Netzwerk antifeministischer und rassistischer Stimmen finden, die strategisch für eigene Anliegen mobilisieren wollen. Daraus kann ge‐ schlossen werden, dass sich auch auf Twitter hierarchische Strukturen und qualitative Un‐ terschiede der Vernetzung herausbilden, welche Barrieren für die öffentliche Artikulation feministischer Anliegen darstellen
Tweeting in the Time of Coronavirus: How Social Media Use and Academic Research Evolve during Times of Global Uncertainty
Get PDFOur international research team was in the midst of a comparative study about the day-to-day experience of Twitter users in Berlin and Jerusalem through a series of daily short surveys, when our Jerusalem data were becoming increasingly “compromised” by the growing public concern, and tightening government measures, around the spread of the Coronavirus in Israel. During the two waves of our 10-day survey of salient Twitter users in Jerusalem (March 9–March 19, N = 34; March 23–April 2, N = 25), Israel shifted from 50 confirmed Coronavirus cases to over 6,800 and from relative routine to almost full stay-at-home orders. This essay presents two intersecting narratives. First, we consider the methodological challenges of adapting ongoing academic survey studies to changing conditions. We then offer a mixed-methods analysis of the experiences of our Twitter users and how they saw the Coronavirus crisis shaping their use of Twitter. The essay thus offers a unique methodological and empirical vantage point on how social media use—and academic research—evolve during times of global uncertainty