UNESCO renews its ‘knowledge societies’ vision

This week, UNESCO is hosting its WSIS+10 Review Meeting: Towards Knowledge Societies for Peace and Sustainable Development. LSE’s Robin Mansell, Professor of New Media and the Internet, has been invited to present her report, co-authored with Professor Gaëtan Tremblay, UQAM, entitled Renewing the Knowledge Societies Vision: Towards Knowledge Societies for Peace and Sustainable Development. In an interview with the Media Policy Project, Professor Mansell discusses some of the Report’s key recommendations for the WSIS Review process, calling for a vision of Knowledge Societies that more strongly emphasizes participation and empowerment in the media and communications sector

Are we losing control?

The current path of digital technology innovation is seen as inevitable and good for the economy and citizens. But as ROBIN MANSELL writes, there are looming and profound questions about digital divides we cannot ignor

Open collaboration for social problem solving:converging or diverging norms of governance authority?

This paper examines the potential for collaboration between formal science professionals and loosely connected online groups that employ crowdsourcing to generate digital information resources. What are the differences between scientists’ and other online groups’ preferred modes of governing knowledge creation? A distinction is drawn between constituted and adaptive modes of governance and similarities and differences between the two groups’ understandings of information curation and verification and openness are considered. It is suggested that open science will need to become more flexible if it is to build collaborations with loosely connected groups on equitable terms that respect their respective values and in ways that maximise the contributions of these groups to social problem solving

Recognizing ‘ourselves’ in media and communications research

In this article, I argue that interdisciplinarity in the media and communication field encourages a focus on why the media and communication matter. It helps to draw scholarly attention to the need for theory development and critical analysis of the material and symbolic facets of mediated communication. Interdisciplinarity offers a pathway for resisting the hegemony of disciplinary projects and this approach encourages reflexive engagement among scholars within the media and communication field and beyond. The interdisciplinary pathway differs from a disciplinary approach because it can be open and responsive to the lived problems and experiences of social actors, examined from a variety of theoretical standpoints. For this reason, the interdisciplinary approach to the field means that while there is a need for an orientation to the problems to be investigated, it does not need to own a set of ‘disciplinary’ problems

The public’s interest in intermediaries

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine recent developments in European policy debates concerned with whether governments should intervene in the digital intermediary marketplace to protect the public’s interest. Design/methodology/approach – The paper discusses the public’s interest in the evolution of the digital intermediary marketplace, considers the economics and policy literature on the case for policy intervention in the market dynamics of digital platforms and examines the extent to which policy makers in Europe are catching up with changes in the market for digital platform services. Findings – It is argued that policy-makers need to broaden the evidence base upon which they consider whether policy intervention is needed beyond economic analysis. This is essential to ensure that the European digital intermediary marketplace develops in line with economic, social and cultural goals. Research limitations/implications – The case is made for measures to ensure continuous and integrated monitoring of developments in the digital marketplace based on economic indicators and evidence on the diversity of media content. Practical implications – Suggestions are made about the need for innovations in the way policy makers develop the required evidence base for their decisions. Social implications – The paper draws attention to the need for proactive policy making based on a consideration of economic, social and cultural goals to ensure that digital intermediaries are held accountable. Originality/value – The paper provides a multidisciplinary perspective on the dynamics of the digital intermediary ecology and assesses the extent to which the European digital market strategy provides an integrated initiative that is likely to be implemented

Les imaginaires du numérique: ambiguïté, pouvoir et la question de l’agentivité

Cette contribution s’intéresse à la fois aux dimensions de l’environnement numérique accordant du pouvoir et à celles limitant la capacité d’agir de l’agentivité individuelle et collective à façonner l’environnement médiatisé. La plupart du temps, la vie médiée par les technologies numériques diminue la capacité d’agir (disempowering) des citoyennes et citoyens en raison des asymétries de pouvoir attribuables au capitalisme global. Il serait cependant erroné de suggérer que la communication numériquement médiatisée les exploite toujours. En effet, les dynamiques de pouvoir dans le régime de gouvernance numérique en vigueur demeurent à comprendre. L’analyse de ces dynamiques suggère souvent que la participation en ligne coïncide avec une détérioration des choix offerts aux citoyennes et citoyens, mais des dynamiques contradictoires peuvent néanmoins donner lieu à des possibilités de prise de pouvoir, d’autonomisation et de choix des citoyennes et citoyen