COMS203 Final

new media

new media

composed of the 3 c’s

• computing and information technology

• communications networks

• content and digitized media

socio-technical/social shaping of technology

technology embedded within society

• user-created functions that are incorporated by platforms

• production, distribution, and consumption is non-linear and unpredictable

political economy

focuses on politics and power relations embedded in technological development

cultural studies

tech is designed with desire for community

hype

positive perceptions of developments in media

counterhype

criticisms of new media and technology

technological determinism

tech progresses and evolves in a linear direction - better and better

commodification

turning things into commodities that can be bought and sold

audience commodity

consumerism, using audience data as selling point - users are told what to do by commercial systems

monopoly

global media industries, user labour - media giants + ownership

consolidation

strengthening of technology

infrastructure

technological hard and software that continually is built upon and improved

high-level affordances

• social and communicative

• what does tech mean for people’s lives

low-level affordances

• percieved - how is tech intended to be used

• relationship between tech and person

self-presentation

we are performers who craft an ideal version of ourselves - social media

disintermediation

manufacturers → consumers

reintermediation

manufacturers → electronic intermediaries → consumers

echo chamber

when people are only exposed to their own ideals so they are not open to other viewpoints and their beliefs are strengthened

misinformation

false content not intended to cause harm

disinformation

false content intended to cause harm

mal-information

true content intended to cause harm

networked publics

public spaces restructured by technology for a sense of community

governance

information freedom, net neutrality - control of what citizens access

regulation

relationship between users, internet, and government - how much can government allow citizens to see as users of a free internet?

network neutrality

ensure that all data on the internet is treated equally by regulatory powers regardless of content, user, platform, application, or device

copyright

ownership of creative expression - intellectual property cannot be stolen, but can be interpreted and changed by other parties. copyrighted products are a major part of pop culture

free culture

distribute and modify other’s creative content within limits of free/open use without compensation to original owner

content moderation

differences between protection vs censorship; restrictions of hate speech and objectionable content. creation of guidelines for what can and cannot be said

privacy

• informed consent, transparency, knowledge of data retention, control

• policies + law

social production

• non market, collaborative, distributed

• modularity (properties of a project that determine extent to which it can be broken down into “modules” that can be independently produced) + granularity (size of modules - determines smallest possible individual investment into project)

artificial intelligence (AI)

• machine learning - algorithm can self-optimize based on labelled inputs

• neural network - set of layers in machine learning algorithm

• deep learning - many layered neural network that can process raw data

ai ethics

• inequitable and immoral training data from flawed human data sets

• removing human experiences, like sexuality, from ai

• inputs may not be diverse or true

• biases in machine learning

• jobs taken by ai

ludology

players as actors

narratology

game as narrative story

gamification

desire to learn or achieve something is turned into a game

moral panics

feeling of fear spread among a large number of people that some evil threatens the wellbeing of society

technological leapfrogging

small and incremental innovations lead a dominant firm to stay ahead

apps

• “walled gardens”

• enclosure online

• phones become platforms for new development, applications, and uses

moore’s law

computing power doubles approx. every 2 years at same size and same cost

• microchips get smallar AND more powerful

creative industries

• political economy - follow the money

• ownership, regulation, advertising, labour

creative cities

• diverse and tolerant cities will outperform others

• investing money into local creativity to boost economy

• commodification of art

mass surveillance

• social control

• recording of private conversations

• targets created by FBI based on previous info

surveillance society

• pervasive technology

• databases

• data used for identifying risky populations