The Impact of Media Algorithms on The Habermassian Public Sphere and Discourse

Media algorithms are increasing in use among popular social networking sites (Geiger, 2009).Algorithms are used to sort a users’ social media feed based on relevance and interest rather than content publish time (Geiger, 2009). Widely accepted and recognized as influential in the media sector, algorithms create a highly personalized experience for the individual viewer. However, some scholars argue the specified curation of media based on a user’s personal preferences leads to a “filter bubble,” an online-based self-fulfilling prophecy in which users’ pre-existing opinions are continually reaffirmed. Because of this, this thesis will examine the intersection of algorithms and media theory. A survey will explore if media algorithms play a role in diminishing public discourse within public sphere theory as outlined by Jürgen Habermas. Under the Habermassian ideal, the public sphere works as a place for open and unrestricted discourse of all individuals. However, connecting like-minded users and creating highly specified social media feeds through algorithms “…amplify and systematically move…talking points into the mainstream political discourse” (Daniels, 2018). These talking points are then discussed among social media users who likely view the same content based on their similar interests and algorithms. Other media theorists such as Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann (1974) argue that individuals feel a “spiral of silence” when they express a minority opinion. This silence is placed in an interesting position as individuals rarely face a minority opinion in the hands of algorithm technology. Though sophisticated algorithms, public discourse is limited to a select few topics for like-minded users, which I argue leads to a lack of diversity in political discourse

Rethinking the digital democratic affordance and its impact on political representation: Toward a new framework

This article advances a new theory of the digital democratic affordance, a concept first introduced by Lincoln Dahlberg to devise a taxonomy of the democratic capacities of digital media applications. Whereas Dahlberg classifies digital media affordances on the basis of preexisting democratic positions, the article argues that the primary affordance of digital media is to abate the costs of political participation. This cost-reducing logic of digital media has diverging effects on political participation. On an institutional level, digital democracy applications allow elected representatives to monitor and consult their constituents, closing some gaps in the circuits of representation. On a societal level, digital media allow constituents to organize and represent their own interests directly. In the former case, digital affordances work instrumentally in the service of representative democracy; in the latter, digital democratic affordances provide a mobilized public with emerging tools that put pressure on the autonomy of representatives

Public Scrutiny of Automated Decisions: Early Lessons and Emerging Methods

Automated decisions are increasingly part of everyday life, but how can the public scrutinize, understand, and govern them? To begin to explore this, Omidyar Network has, in partnership with Upturn, published Public Scrutiny of Automated Decisions: Early Lessons and Emerging Methods.The report is based on an extensive review of computer and social science literature, a broad array of real-world attempts to study automated systems, and dozens of conversations with global digital rights advocates, regulators, technologists, and industry representatives. It maps out the landscape of public scrutiny of automated decision-making, both in terms of what civil society was or was not doing in this nascent sector and what laws and regulations were or were not in place to help regulate it.Our aim in exploring this is three-fold:1) We hope it will help civil society actors consider how much they have to gain in empowering the public to effectively scrutinize, understand, and help govern automated decisions; 2) We think it can start laying a policy framework for this governance, adding to the growing literature on the social and economic impact of such decisions; and3) We're optimistic that the report's findings and analysis will inform other funders' decisions in this important and growing field

Alarm. The evolutionary jump of global political economy needed

This paper is a reaction on the last four global crisis of the human species: the global financial crisis, the migration crisis, the climate crisis, and the corona crisis. It argues that a global crisis needs a revolution in global governance necessitating a global change of the mode of production. In part 1 essential features - a vision - of a world we want to live in are proposed, while in part 2 an update of the dynamics of global class structures is used to identify coalitions for the global revolution needed to get closer to that vision