Audience-metric continuity? : Approaching the meaning of measurement in the digital everyday

This article argues for an expansion of existing studies on the meaning of metrics in digital environments by evaluating a methodology tested in a pilot study to analyse audience responses to metrics of social media profiles. The pilot study used the software tool Facebook Demetricator by artist Ben Grosser in combination with follow-up interviews. In line with Grosser's intentions, the software indeed provoked reflection among the users. In this article, we reflect on three kinds of disorientations that users expressed, linked to temporality, sociality and value. Relating these to the history of audience measurement in mass media, we argue that there is merit in using this methodology for further analysis of continuities in audience responses to metrics, in order to better understand the ways in which metrics work to create the 'audience commodity'.Peer reviewe

A nação mediatizada. Identidade, agência e audiência em campanhas de nation branding

Nation branding is a dynamic and rapidly developing practice and a subprocess under the wider process of mediatization for promoting or readjusting images of a nation-state for tourists or investors. Especially young nation states have a felt need to build new images of themselves in the eyes of the surrounding world, but since thesenation states also have a short history of sovereignty, they simultaneously need to build the social solidarity and community inwards, to form the basis needed for the building of a nation. This article takes its departure in this tension and addresses three themes –agency, audience and identity– that we consider needs further theorizing due to the fact that the practice is yet trying to find its form. These themes are discussed in relation to the branding efforts in the new Eastern European state of Ukraine over the past decade. It is concluded that the nation branding campaigns are today orchestrated also by domestic PR agencies (to the contrary of the previous dominance of British agencies), that the domestic audience is taken into consideration in other ways than in previous branding campaigns, and that the questions of identity construction is more complex than what is previously accounted for. The Ukrainian case thus illustrates the mediatization of national symbols in contemporary society.Nation branding es una práctica dinámica que se desenvuelve de manera rápida, es un subproceso de un proceso de mediatización más amplio, utilizada para promover o reajustar imágenes de un Estado-Nación para turistas o inversores. Especialmente, los Estadios-Naciones jóvenes, sienten la necesidad de crear nuevas imágenes de sí mismos a los ojos del mundo, pero, como esos Estados-Nación también tienen una historia de soberanía aún breve, precisan simultáneamente, construir una solidaridadsocial y una comunidad interna a fin de formar una base necesaria para la construcción de una Nación. Este artículo parte de esa tensión y abordar tres temas: agencia, audiencia e identidad, que consideramos es necesario de una mayor teorización debido a que la práctica está intentando aún encontrar su forma. Estos temas son discutidos en relación a los esfuerzos de creación de marca del nuevo Estado de Ucrania, en Europa oriental, en la última década. Se concluye que hoy las campañas de Nation branding, son orquestadas también por agencias de relaciones públicas internas (a lo contrario del dominio anterior de las agencias británicas) que tienen en consideración el público interno de otras maneras, diferentes de las campañas de branding anterior, y que traen cuestiones de construcción de identidad mucho más complejas de las que fueron utilizadas anteriormente. El caso ucraniano ilustra, así, la mediatización de símbolos nacionales en la sociedad contemporánea.Nation branding é uma prática dinâmica de rápido desenvolvimento, é um subprocesso do processo de midiatização mais amplo, utilizada para promover ou reajustar imagens de um estado-nação para turistas ou investidores. Especialmente os estados-nação jovens, sentem a necessidade de criar novas imagens de si mesmos aos olhos do mundo, mas, como esses estados-nação também têm uma história de soberania ainda breve, precisam simultaneamente, construir a solidariedade social e a comunidade interna, para formar a base necessária para a construção de uma nação. Este artigo parte dessa tensão e aborda três temas –agência, audiência e identidade– que consideramos necessitar de mais teorização devido ao fato de a prática ainda estar tentando encontrar sua forma. Esses temas são discutidos em relação aos esforços de criação de marca do novo estado da Ucrânia, no leste europeu, na última década. Conclui-se que as campanhas de nation branding, hoje, são orquestradas também por agências de relações públicas internas (ao contrário do domínio anterior das agências britânicas) que levam em consideração o público interno de outras maneiras, diferentes das campanhas de branding anteriores, e que trazem questões de construção de identidade mais complexas do que as que foram utilizadas anteriormente. O caso ucraniano ilustra, assim, a midiatização de símbolos nacionais na sociedade contemporânea

Who is afraid of dataveillance? Attitudes toward online surveillance in a cross-cultural and generational perspective

This article compares surveillance-related experiences and attitudes of two generations of media users in countries with different historical surveillance regimes (Estonia, Portugal, and Sweden) and analyzes the predictors of the attitudes toward contemporary surveillance. A large-scale online survey (N = 3221) reveals that attitudes toward online state and corporate surveillance are interrelated; the two attitudinal components are, however, generation-specific, having different predictors. Tolerance toward state surveillance is more characteristic of the older group, being predicted by trustful and obedient attitudes toward state authorities and institutions. Tolerance toward corporate dataveillance is more characteristic of the younger group, being predicted by active and self-confident media use. While the socio-historical context molds the intergenerational gaps in surveillance-related experiences and attitudes, individual-level experiences of state surveillance do not predict tolerance toward either type of contemporary surveillance, suggesting that global techno-cultural developments are probably more powerful factors than past experiences in forming generation-specific attitudes.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The soft power of commercialised nationalist symbols: Using media analysis to understand nation branding campaigns

Since the late 1990s, nation branding has attracted a lot of attention from academics, professional consultants and government actors. The ideas and practices of nation branding are frequently presented by branding advocates as necessary and even inevitable in the light of changing dynamics of political power and influence in a globalised and media-saturated world. In this context, some have argued that nation branding is a way to reduce international conflict and supplant ethno-nationalism with a new form of market-based, national image management. However, a growing body of critical studies has documented that branding campaigns tend to produce ahistorical and exclusionary representations of the nation and advance a form of ‘commercial nationalism’ that is problematic. Importantly, the critical scholarship on nation branding has relied primarily on sociological and anthropological theories of nationhood, identities and markets. By contrast, the role of the media – as institutions, systems and societal storytellers – has been undertheorised in relation to nation branding. The majority of the existing literature tends to treat the media as ‘neutral’ vehicles for the delivery of branding messages to various audiences. This is the guest editors’ introduction to the Special Issue ‘Theorizing Media in Nation Branding’, which seeks to problematise this overly simplistic view of ‘the media’ and aims to articulate the various ways in which specific media are an integral part of nation branding. It adopts an interdisciplinary approach and problematises both the enabling and the inhibiting potentialities of different types of media as they perpetuate nation branding ideas, images, ideologies, discourses and practices

Why “intergenerational feminist media studies”?

Feminism and generation are live and ideologically freighted issues that are subject to a substantial amount of media engagement. The figure of the millennial and the baby boomer, for example, regularly circulate in mainstream media, often accompanied by hyperbolic and vitriolic discourses and affects of intergenerational feminist conflict. In addition, theories of feminist generation and waves have been and continue to be extensively critiqued within feminist theory. Given the compelling criticisms directed at these categories, we ask: why bother examining and foregrounding issues of generation, intergeneration, and transgeneration in feminist media studies? Whilst remaining sceptical of linearity and familial metaphors and of repeating reductive, heteronormative, and racist versions of feminist movements, we believe that the concept of generation does have critical purchase for feminist media scholars. Indeed, precisely because of the problematic ways that is it used, and the prevalence of it as a volatile, yet only too palpable, organizing category, generation is both in need of continual critical analysis, and is an important tool to be used—with care and nuance—when examining the multiple routes through which power functions in order to marginalize, reward, and oppress. Exploring both diachronic and synchronic understandings of generation, this article emphasizes the use of conjunctural analysis to excavate the specific historical conditions that impact upon and create generation. This special issue of Feminist Media Studies covers a range of media forms—film, games, digital media, television, print media, as well as practices of media production, intervention, and representation. The articles also explore how figures at particular lifestages—particularly the girl and the aging woman—are constructed relationally, and circulate, within media, with particular attention to sexuality. Throughout the issue there is an emphasis on exploring the ways in which the category of generation is mobilized in order to gloss sexism, racism, ageism, class oppression, and the effects of neoliberalism

Inequality and Communicative Struggles in Digital Times: A Global Report on Communication for Social Progress

Originally the “Media and Communication” chapter of the International Panel on Social Progress, published by Cambridge University Press, we hope this version as a CARGC Press book will expand the reach of the authors’ vision of communication for social progress.https://repository.upenn.edu/cargc_strategicdocuments/1001/thumbnail.jp

Media, communication and the struggle for social progress

This article discusses the role of media and communications in contributing to social progress, as elaborated in a landmark international project ? the International Panel on Social Progress. First, it analyses how media and digital platforms have contributed to global inequality by examining media access and infrastructure across world regions. Second, it looks at media governance and the different mechanisms of corporatized control over media platforms, algorithms and content. Third, the article examines how the democratization of media is a key element in the struggle for social justice. It argues that effective media access ? in terms of distribution of media resources, even relations between spaces of connection and the design and operation of spaces that foster dialogue, free speech and respectful cultural exchange ? is a core component of social progress