The datafication of Public Service Media: Dreams, Dilemmas and Practical Problems A Case Study of the Implementation of Personalized Recommendations at the Danish Public Service Media ‘DR’

Historically, public service broadcasting had no quantifiable knowledge about audiences, nor a great interest in knowing them. Today, the competitive logic of the media markets encourage public service media (PSM) organizations to increase datafication. In this paper we examine how a PSM organization interprets the classic public service obligations of creating societal cohesion and diversity in the new world of key performance indicators, business rules and algorithmic parameters.The paper presents a case study of the implementation of a personalization system for the video on demand service of the Danish PSM ‘DR’. Our empirical findings, based on longitudinal in-depth interviewing, indicate a long and difficult process of datafication of PSM, shaped by both the organizational path dependencies of broadcasting production and the expectations of public service broadcasting

Personalised Universalism in the Age of Algorithms

In this chapter, I address a complex relationship in linking the principles of universalism and personalisation as a tension of considerable importance in contemporary media use. The paradoxical aspects of this relationship are especially evident when treated in the light of ideal types and praxis in legacy public service broadcasting (PSB) and digital public service media (PSM). The relationship is viewed from five angles, culminating in discussion about the materiality produced by shifting technologies in the digital environment and its bearing on the ideological concept of public service in media. The author introduces a new orientation for PSM: personalised enlightenment.Go to the full book to find a version of this chapter tagged for accessibility

The Datafication of Public Service Media Dreams, Dilemmas and Practical Problems:A Case Study of the Implementation of Personalized Recommendations at the Danish Public Service Media ‘DR’

Historically, public service broadcasting had no quantifiable knowledge about audiences, nor a great interest in knowing them. Today, the competitive logic of the media markets encourage public service media (PSM) organizations to increase datafication. In this paper we examine how a PSM organization interprets the classic public service obligations of creating societal cohesion and diversity in the new world of key performance indicators, business rules and algorithmic parameters.The paper presents a case study of the implementation of a personalization system for the video on demand service of the Danish PSM ‘DR’. Our empirical findings, based on longitudinal in-depth interviewing, indicate a long and difficult process of datafication of PSM, shaped by both the organizational path dependencies of broadcasting production and the expectations of public service broadcasting

Algorithms and Public Service Media

Algorithms increasingly shape the flow of information in societies. Recently, public service media organisations have begun to develop algorithmic recommender systems and automated systems in their internet services, which makes sense given their importance as mediators of information. In the emerging era of big data and growing personalisation, this makes sense strategically and can have instrumental importance for networked societies. This chapter draws on relevant development projects in European and Australian public service media organisations. In relation to the core principles of public service media, five challenges in operationalising automated rulebased systems are identified: 1) balancing popularity and distinctiveness, 2) diversity of exposure to programming, 3) transparency of the logic underlying recommendations, 4) user sovereignty and, 5) the issue of dependence on or independence from commercial intermediaries. The chapter examines a new set of conditions that affect provision public service provision in societies that feature growing use and reliance on networked media