Publications

Book

Language(s): English

Abstract:
This open access book outlines how the digital platforms that mediate so many aspects of commercial and personal life have begun to transform everyday family existence. It presents theory and research methods to enable students and scholars to investigate the changes that platformization has brought to the routines and interactions of family life including intergenerational communication, interpersonal relationships, forms of care and togetherness. The book emerged from a seminar jointly funded by the Collaboration of Humanities and Social Sciences in Europe project, the Norwegian Research Council and The Australian Centre of Excellence for the Study of the Digital Child.

Book

Abstract:
This book introduces a new theory of national identity, arguing that the nation does not only represent an abstract “imagined community” but also represents embodied cultural and discursive practices. Drawing upon a detailed case study of Serbian Londoners, this truly interdisciplinary study positions media as constitutive of national identities. The author contends that nations come into being and are sustained through everyday interpersonal communication practices that have increasingly become mediated, especially for migrants. She develops the concept of "doing nation" to argue that we should think of the nation as a dynamic process. Situated first within a particular migration context, the concept is then applied more broadly as everyday communication practices are becoming increasingly mediated worldwide. Covering a breadth of key theories and concepts in this field, including diaspora, ethnicity, nationalism, cosmopolitanism, social media affordances and polymedia, this book will appeal to scholars and students researching digital media, migration, identities, nationalism and cosmopolitanism in the social science disciplines.

Article / Journal

Language(s): English

Abstract:
Digital gaming has evolved from a peripheral activity to a central aspect of mediatized lifeworlds, significantly impacting media culture and society. Despite its pervasive influence, digital gaming research often occupies a marginalized status within broader academic disciplines. This article advocates for recognizing digital gaming as an integral part of the media landscape and understanding its role within a deeply mediatized society. By adopting a holistic perspective, this study emphasizes the interconnectedness of digital gaming with other media forms and cultural practices, highlighting its significance in driving digital transformation. Therefore, we argue for a dual development: one that removes gaming from its segregated special status and recognizes it as an integral part of the media landscape, and another that situates the unique aspects of gaming within the broader context of a society deeply transformed and shaped by media; capturing both its significance and its role as part of the whole. We elaborate on the concept of gamevironments bridging deep mediatization research and communicative figurations to comprehend change brought about by the transformative power of digital gaming in deeply mediatized societies. Gamevironments encompass transmedia figurations and narratives, cross‐media adaptations, social interactions, user‐generated content, and the cultural and educational impacts of gaming. We discuss the analytical potential of gamevironments along five distinct yet interrelated areas (making of gamevironments, values in and of gamevironments, governance of gamevironments, education in and for gamevironments, and researching gamevironments) to provide a comprehensive view of digital gaming’s transformative impact on digital society.

Book

Language(s): English

Abstract:
Bringing together leading scholars from media studies and digital sociology, this edited volume provides a comprehensive introduction to digital media metaphors, unpacking their power and limitations. Digital technologies have reshaped our way of life. To grasp their dynamics and implications, people often rely on metaphors to provide a shared frame of reference. Scholars, journalists, tech companies, and policymakers alike speak of digital clouds, bubbles, frontiers, platforms, trolls, and rabbit holes. Some of these metaphors distort the workings of the digital realm and neglect key consequences. This collection, structured in three parts, explores metaphors across digital infrastructures, content, and users. Within these parts, each chapter examines a specific metaphor that has become near-ubiquitous in public debate. Doing so, the book engages not only with the technological, but also the social, political, and environmental implications of digital technologies and relations. This unique collection will interest students and scholars of digital media and the broader fields of media and communication studies, sociology, and science and technology studies.

Article / Journal

Language(s): English

Abstract:
This paper proposes a concept of infrastructures of feeling, building on Raymond Williams’ work on structures of feeling and contributing to current work on digital media/tion, affect and time. It draws on empirical research conducted over the past decade on these themes, including art-making workshops with young people and interviews with digital media professionals. In the first part of the paper, I introduce the concept of infrastructures of feeling and what it might offer to understandings of the contemporary period. In the second part, I develop its affective and temporal dimensions. I suggest that today’s digitally mediated feelings are non-unified, contested, ambiguous and ambivalent and that they indicate a condition of middleness, or being in midst of form/ation and transformation. In the third part, I consider some of the implications of this argument for cultural politics, including for rethinking distance/presence and what resistance might look and feel like.

Article / Journal

Language(s): English

Abstract:
Emojis are a ubiquitous form of online expression. In this paper, we explore emojis as affordances that enact and sustain discursive violence via toxic content. We take a case study approach by focusing on Chismes Frescos Medellin (Fresh Gossip Medellin), a Colombian Telegram group with over 125,676 members. Relying on Communalytic, we collected 98,729 publicly accessible posts. Next, we subdivided the posts into 3,155 toxic and 95,574 non-toxic posts using Detoxify, a popular machine-learning classifier . We explored and compared the two subsets through statistical analysis and thematic analysis. Our findings show that emojis— and specifically, emojis suggesting positive emotions such as 👍 and 😁 — are often used to accompany toxic speech in ways that indicate the approval and normalization of toxic speech. Overall, our study points to the need to pay closer attention to how affordances can enable symbolic forms of violence on digital platforms in unexpected ways.

Article / Journal

Abstract:
Social networks are simultaneously information and media platforms, but Blackness becomes understood differently depending upon which frame is deployed. While Black media creators have been lauded for their inventive enlivening of digital and social media technologies, Black information users are often considered as lacking technical, written, or mainstream cultural literacies. Mills’ works – from “Alternative Epistemologies” to The Racial Contract to one of his last “The Illumination of Blackness” – go beyond philosophy to inform media theory and science and technology studies. For example, Black Twitter shattered deficit models of Black digital expertise through discourse, affordances, and networked culture. I contend that Black Twitter illuminates the “racialized optics of modernity” (Mills 2021: 18) and of computation through Black standpoint epistemologies mediated by digital practices and discourses. I find that Mills anticipated that Black aesthetics and philosophy are well-suited for alternative visions of digital practice, design, and use.

Book

Language(s): English

Abstract:
Today's young people find themselves at the center of widespread debates about their online safety, and they are often told that social media platforms affect their mental health and body image by exposing them to cyberbullying and distressing images. Foregrounding their voices and experiences, The Kids Are Online explores how they navigate their identities across platforms and how they really feel about their young digital lives. Ysabel Gerrard talked to more than a hundred teens to unpack the myths and realities of their social media use. Instead of framing today's big platforms as either good or bad, she identifies moments when young people encounter social apps in paradoxical ways—both good and bad at the same time. Using the concepts of stigma, secrecy, safety, and social comparison, she helps readers understand young people's experiences. The Kids Are Online proposes a series of recommendations for parents, families, schools, technology companies, and policymakers to imagine how we might build safer social media systems.

Book

Language(s): English

Abstract:
This highly original and stimulating edited volume focuses on ways of un‑writing the polysemous, controversial and highly political notion of interculturality in research and education. The authors argue that no ‘critical’ perspective on interculturality can do without revising, exploring and creating ways of engaging with different and potentially new aspects and forms of inquiry of the notion in writing. They also claim that un‑writing interculturality can serve an emancipatory function towards an epistemic re‑appraisal of the mainstream(s) and the dominant(s). While critiquing problematic perspectives, as well as the ‘taken‑for‑granted’ and ‘things as usual’ within interculturality scholarship, writing about interculturality is epistemically significant and indicative of change in the ways the notion is used. Each chapter reflects on how to un‑write, un‑do and un‑learn interculturality in research and aims to provide some answers to the following questions: What could un‑writing interculturality mean? What are the pros and cons of un‑writing in research on intercultural communication education? and How does constant work on languaging around interculturality contribute to enriching the notion globally? The book is aimed at students and scholars who wish to push the boundaries of scholarly engagement with interculturality, especially in relation to their modalities of writing, reasoning and critiquing.

Article / Journal

Language(s): Deutsch

Abstract:
In der internationalen Kulturpolitik steht derzeit die Restitution afrikanischer Kulturgüter kolonialer Herkunft im Zentrum der Debatten. Die Praxis des Sammelns ‚exotischer‘ Objekte in Europa begann bereits in der Renaissance, doch erst im 19. Jahrhundert intensivierte sich das europäische ‚Interesse‘ an afrikanischen Kulturen, verbunden mit der gewaltvollen Kolonialisierung großer Teile des Kontinents. Die systematische Entwendung afrikanischer Kulturobjekte durch europäische Kolonialmächte diente daraufhin der Legitimierung kolonialer Unterwerfungsstrategien. Trotz vereinzelter Rückführungsprojekte in den vergangenen Jahren protestieren viele Kritiker:innen gegen eine beobachtete Trägheit bei den Bemühungen um Restitution auf europäischer Seite. Ein Beispiel für den militanten Protest gegen diese Entwicklungen ist Mwazulu Diyabanza. Der kongolesische Aktivist versuchte im Jahr 2020, eine afrikanische Statue aus dem Musée du Quai Branly in Paris zu stehlen, und veröffentlichte seine Performance auf der online-Plattform YouTube, um auf die unrechtmäßige Aneignung von afrikanischen Kulturgütern aufmerksam zu machen. Nach einer Einführung in den Stand der anhaltenden Restitutionsdebatte analysiert dieser Artikel Diyabanzas YouTube-Video als postkolonialen Protest vor dem Hintergrund der anhaltenden Restitutionsdebatte sowie der kulturpolitischen Herausforderungen im Umgang mit kolonialen Kulturgütern.

Book

Language(s): English

Abstract:
This book unpacks key concepts and methods relevant for a critical and reflective framing of futures in postdigital education. The compiled chapters explore concepts and methods that have pertinence for contemporary debates about the emergence of data-driven education and scrutinize implicit or explicit ethical and normative implications. The book provides in-depth critical reflections and perspectives to engage and analyze data-driven education as an educational and cultural phenomenon. It focuses on the value-laden and ethical aspects reflected in educational imaginaries (discourses and practices) regarding emerging data-driven sociotechnical practices in education. The book is the result of scholarly exchanges between disciplines at a symposium held at VIA University College in Denmark in May 2022.

Book

Language(s): English

Abstract:
The World White Web provides an interdisciplinary analysis of far-right radicalisation in the digital age, drawing from criminology, history, and computer science to explore how technology and imagery accelerate extremist recruitment. The book examines 20,000 internet memes to reveal white supremacy’s deep historical roots. It demonstrates how far-right propagandists leverage historical narratives and symbols to influence modern-day recruitment, bridging fringe and mainstream ideas across diverse time periods, countries and contexts, amid technological and social changes. Topics include racism and xenophobia in Greek and Roman antiquity, antisemitism in the Middle Ages, anti-Black racism rooted in the Antebellum South, the weaponisation of the Reconquista in Spain, the memeification of the Rurik Dynasty in Russia, Crusader iconography in the United States, Australia and New Zealand, eco-fascist propaganda in the Balkans, neo-Nazi mythology in India, and Völkisch ideology in Germany and Austria. The book emphasises the importance of interdisciplinary, socio-technical and multi-stakeholder approaches to truly comprehend and address the contemporary manifestations and threats posed by the global interconnectedness of the far right online.

Article / Journal

Language(s): English

Abstract:
Virtual collaborations via video-conferencing applications may enable international groups to develop ideas and explore synergies in creative ways. This article presents a case study that unveils how students in a group involved in a virtual simulation game, in which English as a lingua franca was used, navigate a highly intercultural environment, orient to team building through cooperative practices, and gradually develop their own team culture. The game was inserted in two online university courses in tertiary institutions in Germany and Finland. In the game, students performed several tasks that require collaborative work in the development plan of a fictitious city. The data for the study comprise video-recorded game interactions and students’ learning journal entries. This article is centered on the multimodal analysis of the interactions taking place during the kick-off session of the game and showcases successful multimodal strategies that aided the development of an inclusive and positive atmosphere in the group.

Article / Journal

Language(s): English

Abstract:
Samanta Schweblin is one of the most prominent figures in the contemporary Latin American panorama. Her narrative works Distancia de Rescate, Pájaros en la boca and Siete Casas Vacías explore the quiet horrors of family life and the looming menaces of industrialization and ecological disaster. In her novel Kentukis (2018), she peers into a dystopian world of human relationships mediated by technological artifacts that, under the disguise of innocent toys, create a global network of vigilance, dependency and interpersonal abuse. Challenging the boundaries of the novel, this kaleidoscopic work is organized in a fragmentary structure that shifts from one narrative capsule to another, offering a collection of narratives that span across the globe. The purpose of this article is to read Kentukis as a projection of the cosmopolitan ethical anxieties in a hyperconnected technological world. Drawing from the field of Experimental Ethics, I propose to interpret the collection of fictional narratives in this book as a series of ethical thought experiments. I contend that each one of the episodes presents the reader with an ethical puzzle aimed at testing the fabric of the ethical commitments towards strangers in the context of what can be called “digital cosmopolitanism.” Conceptually, this article is in close dialogue with Martha Nussbaum’s and Kwame Anthony Appiah’s theories of cosmopolitanism, Emmanuel Levinas’s ethical meditations, as well as with the concept of “digital cosmopolitanism” coined by Ethan Zuckerman.

Article / Journal

Abstract:
#BamaRushTok is a yearly viral event in which young women at the University of Alabama audition for spots in gender-specific social clubs (sororities). As a researcher working at the University of Alabama, I was uniquely situated in this viral phenomenon. I quickly became the expert called upon to explain this trend. However, being on the periphery of a viral event from my standpoint—social media researcher, lifelong resident of the U.S. South, tenure-track academic education—problematized everything I knew about the self and the research as I became subject, object, and spectator. Through this highly personal and reflexive digital autoethnography, I explore how I experienced context collisions—something normally thought of as collapsed audiences but invoked by me to explore what happens when researchers become physically entangled in the digital worlds they study. I experienced being subject, object, and spectator of these context collisions in three ways: At times I was in control; at times I was used; and at times I could only stand back and watch. My experience mirrored the visibility and precarity experienced by the girls of #BamaRushTok and the creators I have made a career out of studying. This speaks to the broader neoliberal conditions that structure platforms and American higher education. This work also underscores the importance of autoethnography as a valuable but underutilized method in Internet Studies research, as it is a way for those studying digital spaces to reach inside of themselves and understand vulnerable and liminal social media experiences.

Article / Journal

Language(s): English

Abstract:
This article explores the influence of digital culture on Holocaust commemoration through the test case of Anne Frank. By carrying out a comprehensive visual and multimodal analysis of three contemporary representations of Frank, I identify three new characteristics of her commemoration: performative engagement, media reconstruction, and narrative adaptation. While performative engagement introduces a new position for commemoration, media reconstruction focuses on the appropriation and use of media for Frank’s remembrance. Narrative adaptation represents a shift from linear storytelling, reiterating established narratives traditionally associated with Frank to new interpretations favoring heightened engagement and non-linearity. Altogether, these characteristics illuminate and address changes in three key aspects of Holocaust commemoration and the remembrance of Frank: subjectivity, media, and storytelling. I conclude by showing how the focus on Frank’s figure brings forward a burgeoning trend in Holocaust commemoration, which offers an alternative perspective to the mainstream promotion of immersive experiences in digital media. In doing so, I advocate a moderate approach to media use for memory work in digital culture.

Article / Journal

Language(s): English

Article / Journal

Language(s): English

Abstract:
This study advances the field of disconnection studies by examining how digital (dis)connective practices intersect with diasporic identity construction and the articulation of belonging, focusing on the experiences of Turkish migrant women in Rome. Based on in‐depth interviews and participant observation with 10 Turkish women, the research highlights the central role of social class in the emergence of a “diasporic cosmopolitan” identity that is culturally and socially detached from, or even opposed to, their national identity. It further shows how this “cosmopolitan” identity intersects with the performance of specific digital (dis)connective practices and explores the cultural, political, and social dimensions of these dynamics. Particular attention is given to the influence of contemporary Turkish politics on online and offline diasporic sociality, which fosters tensions and segmented solidarities. Through this lens, the study identifies emergent forms of digital (dis)connective practices among Turkish women in Rome, which shape transnational and local social alliances and disruptions.

Book

Abstract:
This book provides a critical introduction to the ways in which digital technologies have enabled new types of interactions, experiences and collaborations across a range of platforms and media, profoundly shaping our socio-cultural landscapes. These discussions are grounded in classical sociological concepts; community, the self, gender, consumption, power and exclusion and inequality, to demonstrate the continuities that exist between sociological studies of ‘real’ world phenomena and their digital counterparts. Examining the various debates around methods in digital sociology in recent years, this book provides an accessible and engaging guide to using methodologies to study digital technology. From the moment we wake up until we go to bed, many of us constantly use digital technologies. Our mobile phones have become our maps, banks, newspapers and entertainment consoles. What's more, they allow us to be constantly connected with the people in our lives. This book will equip you to analyse digital media in your own work. The book offers a broad guide to the various areas of our lives that are impacted by digital technology, from the virtual communities that we form on social media to the impact that digital technology has on our identity through a 'sociology of selfies'. With chapters on leisure, work, privacy and methods, this is an essential introduction for students in the areas of sociology, digital media, and cultural studies.

Article / Journal

Language(s): English

Abstract:
This article examines the influence of Mormon mommy bloggers (MMBs), as key web architects and content creators starting in the early 2010s. MMBs, referring here to Mormon content creators whose blogs focused on topics such as childrearing, domesticity, and lifestyle themes, were significant players during Web 2.0 through their usage of the longform blog. MMBs transformed the invisibilized domestic labor of mothering and housekeeping into monetizable content within the Mormon blogosphere or “Bloggernacle.” The aspirational monetization and professionalization of the blog offered a tangible occupation for Mormon stay-at-home mothers in a religious culture where working outside the home was discouraged. MMBs, through blogging, attempted to situate themselves not simply as caretakers but enterprising, digital cultural creators aligning themselves with a (neo)liberal feminist ethos of entrepreneurialism and individualistic influencing. Using a corpus of web archives from Brigham Young University’s digital collections, this article enlists the Archives Research Compute Hub (ARCH) to process archival data into derivatives to illuminate this underexplored period of web history, employing the methods of feminist thematic and social network analysis. By combining cultural and quantitative analysis of MMBs, this article highlights how MMBs were crucial creators who paved the way for contemporary trends of feminized influencing and the uneasy blending of feminist and commercial content which has increasingly defined contemporary mother-influencers.

Book

Language(s): German

Abstract:
Die Warnung von Eltern, aufzupassen, was man online teilt, ist allgegenwärtig. Dem schließen sich Datenschützer*innen an und gebieten einen bewussten und sparsamen Umgang mit Diensten und Daten. Eine digitale Desökonomie widersetzt sich diesen Warnungen und sucht den kritischen Umgang mit der digitalen Gegenwartskultur nicht in der Askese, sondern im Exzess. Kunstwerke, Bilder und Daten sind »zu viel«, türmen sich auf und wiederholen sich ständig. Mit Bezug auf Ansätze der Gouvernementalität, der Queer Theory und auf Theorien von Georges Bataille und Roger Caillois analysiert Sebastian Althoff diese unproduktive Produktionsweise des Digitalen und zeigt eine Praxis auf, die Trägheit statt flow schafft.

Article / Journal

Language(s): English

Abstract:
This thematic issue examines disconnectivity in a world where connectivity is often assumed to be the norm. Drawing on multiple areas of research, such as political unfriending, digital disconnection, migration studies, and media censorship, it delves into the complexities of disconnectivity, moving beyond its framing as voluntary choice and individual practice. Collectively, studies in this issue highlight disconnection as a compelled act for self-protection and a collective strategy to tackle systemic problems. By examining enforced and coerced disconnection, they also reveal disconnection’s dual role as control and resistance. Through a multi-contextual and interdisciplinary lens, this issue challenges the normative assumptions implicit in our current understandings of disconnection, and, in doing so, advances the field.

Article / Journal

Language(s): English

Abstract:
This article argues for a Digital Interculturality Studies by bringing together a variety of theories including postdigitality, platformisation, Jürgen Bolten’s concept of interculturality, agency theory and Foucaultian media archaeology. It is argued that the internet should be viewed as a postdigital patchwork of bordered platforms, in which human agents drift between digital culturality and interculturality in a type of digital cultural fuzziness. It also centres digital agentive fragments: pieces of human ‘doing’ ‘within’, ‘above’ and ‘around’ the internet, which are often embedded in systematic agency. It lastly argues that a Digital Interculturality Studies should be centred on the materiality of contacts, exclusions and also incorporate digital intercultural contacts which have not been realised or not allowed to be realised. A methodological sketch is proffered in relation to how this could be undertaken, combining a post-qualitative perspective with the philosophical area of counterfactual theories of causation.

Article / Journal

Language(s): English

Abstract:
AI is not new. What is new, however, is the speed and depth of its expansion in almost every aspect of our lives. This discussion forum is dedicated to exploring new frontiers and agendas for language and intercultural communication research. In this concluding piece, we invite the contributors to share insights on five key questions: their experiences (Question 1), the challenges and opportunities that we face (Question 2), the strengths and skills afforded by intercultural communication and applied linguistics (Question 3), considerations when collaborating with AI developers and user groups (Question 4) and the future landscape of intercultural communication (Question 5). Through these inquiries, we hope to amplify the contributors’ voices and experiences, often difficult to fit in academic writing, but crucial for contextualizing their epistemological stances in their work. We seek to broaden the discussion, drawing out a bigger picture of pressing issues, and exploring future prospects.

Chapter

Abstract:
Lifewide learning encompasses all forms of learning and personal development in formal, non-formal and informal modalities. This article discusses the relationship be- tween Lifewide Learning, Social Network Sites (SNSs) and migration by reflecting on the role of SNSs as a resource for informal learning in the context of migration and its im- pact on the postdigital field of action. This article argues that SNSs are fields of action that are ubiquitously used and are deeply interwoven in everyday life, especially for peo- ple who wish to/or have already relocated. In these fields of action, interaction, emotional support and constant learning take place, impacting the lives and experiences of people undergoing migration. Therefore, this article considers that SNSs are highly relevant re- sources for learning ‘informally’, where sharing personal experiences not only provides concrete information regarding a situation but perhaps, more importantly, people who share or seek information find companionship in the realization that they are not alone with their doubts or situations in their new location.

Article / Journal

Abstract:
Climate policies pose serious challenges for the operations of energy companies, especially those strongly dependent on fossil fuels. This study explores the case of one such company, Poland’s PGE Group. In 2021, PGE was instructed by the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) to close its Turów lignite mine for contravening EU decarbonization policy. The company refused to comply and launched a public affairs campaign in support of its efforts to prevent the mine’s closure. Methodologically, the study relies on a linguistically-informed combination of content and frame analysis and shows that strategic frames are more likely to leverage their persuasive potential when they align with the existing cultural frames, resulting in cultural and discursive resonance. In the public campaign, PGE (re-)framed the EU’s Green Deal in highly negative terms and the CJEU’s instruction so as to delegitimize it and the Court itself. In doing so, PGE employed frames used globally by the energy industry, adapting them to tie in with anti-EU sentiment among Polish opinion and decision-makers. This study thus contributes to the body of literature on strategic framing of energy transition and provides relevant insights into the localization of global energy frames.

Report

Language(s): English

Abstract:
The ‘digital divide’ has been traditionally defined as the gap between different socio-economic groups in relation to their ability to access information and communication technologies (ICT). During recent years, however, a new stream of literature has focused on the socio-economic impact of the digital divide, looking especially at vulnerable social groups. The present study falls within such emerging stream of literature. In particular, the report looks at impact of digitalization on vulnerable social groups in terms of lower income and education, age (i.e. children v. older people), as well as people affected by disabilities, minority ethnic groups and people living in remote/isolated geographic areas. The study includes a review of the relevant academic literature, secondary data analysis, as well as three case studies focused on digital inequality in e-commerce, digital financial services and the information sphere. Furthermore, the study reviews the EU legislations relevant in the policy areas that are the object of the case studies. Finally, the study elaborates some recommendations on the actions that the EU could undertake to tackle the digital divide affecting vulnerable social groups.

Article / Journal

Language(s): English

Abstract:
Digital spaces offer individuals the opportunity to interact and connect with others, to engage with more perspectives, and to develop intercultural competence. In this chapter, we explore processes of learning and participation by newcomers in a team, pur- suing the goal of becoming fully-fledged members of that community. We observed the behaviour of a team consisting of four students from a German university and two stu- dents from a Finnish university, all participating in a number of sessions of an online simulation game. Particular attention was given to the participation development of the two students from the Finnish university, positioned as newcomers in the already-estab- lished team from the German university. We describe interactional practices adopted by the two newcomers and by the other members which foster participation and inclusion. Our findings show two learning paths by the newcomers, one in which legitimate par- ticipation became connected with performing a specific role in the group and another in which participation meant sharing the interactional routines established in the team. This case study, based on successful experiences of a remote team, can shed light on the link between intercultural learning and interactional practices.

Article / Journal

Language(s): English

Abstract:
Current times call for continuous communication across countries, negotiations on several levels, and the creation of international relationships based on dialogue and participation. Those ideals are often pursued in intercultural communication contexts and written about, as a desideratum, in the Intercultural Communication literature. However, how can this be achieved concretely? In this article, we analyze how decisions are taken by newly founded intercultural teams of higher-education students playing a so-called intercultural game online via Zoom. The game revolves around the creation of a development plan for a fictitious city. In our study, we conducted a conversation-analytic investigation of decision-making processes by players oriented towards the ideal of ‘intercultural speakers’ as the ones mediating between different points of view and giving voice to all parties in an inclusive way. We illustrate our analysis with examples that range from unilateral decision making to decisions achieved through highly collaborative processes. We point to how expectations of inclusion-oriented interactional moves in intercultural situations are sometimes at odds with how these interactions and the related decision-making processes actually unfold.

Book

Language(s): English

Abstract:
The contested and polysemic concept of ideology has been used only marginally in research on intercultural communication education. This edited volume focuses on the ideological dimensions of online interculturality in higher education, encompassing areas such as telecollaboration, virtual classrooms and online teacher professional development. The chapter authors explore the intercultural engagements, perceptions and experiences of students, teachers and researchers in different parts of the world, including Australia, China, Finland, France, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Spain and the USA. In doing so, they aim to contribute to the current critical and reflexive turn in research and teaching that is examining global socio-economic, political and linguistic inequalities and imbalances of power. Using concrete examples from their own practices, the chapter authors critically and reflexively problematise 'doing' interculturality in higher education by identifying, engaging with, reflecting on and revising ideologies of online interculturality. By intersecting interculturality, technology and ideology, this book also makes a critical contribution to the literature on the internationalisation of higher education and its digitalisation. Written in a globally friendly and engaging style, the book will appeal to academics and students of intercultural communication education in online environments.

Book

Language(s): Deutsch

Abstract:
Bei interkulturellen Trainings geht es um den Erwerb des kommunikativen Handlungswissens sowie die Arbeit an der inneren Haltung. Voraussetzungen dafür sind eine vertrauensvolle Atmosphäre und Interaktion. Wie lässt sich das online umsetzen? Dieses Buch liefert darauf Antworten, in 3 Teilen: • Theoretische Grundlagen vermitteln didaktische Prinzipen • Praxisberichte inspirieren zur Umsetzung innovativer Lehr-Lernkonzepte, und • Eine praxiserprobte Methoden-Sammlung von über 50 Trainer*innen liefert eine breite Auswahl an Tools für interkulturelles Lernen. Trainer*innen und Lehrende finden hier solides handwerkliches Wissen mit konkreten Umsetzungstipps.

Article / Journal

Abstract:
Abstract This study examines how socially and culturally ingrained visual semiotic resources are used to demonstrate netizens’ affinities with ‘the people’ and dislikes of ‘the elite’ in expressions of online and bottom-up national populism in China. Using a methodological framework that integrates multimodal discourse analysis with a study of ideology, semiotics, and intertextuality, we study ‘weaponized’ Internet memes that were generated during three Diba Expeditions in 2016, 2018 and 2019. We identify three major social-culturally embedded visual semiotic themes: the Jiong playful style, nostalgia, and the strategic use of colour. These themes reflect the negotiation between populist dynamics, emerging online in China to express dissatisfaction with elites and nationalist appeals which emerge to push back against external ‘threats’. This study enhances our understanding of populist visual mobilization and visual protest by examining the Diaosi self-image constructed by the people in online and bottom-up populism in China. Traditionally, populist discourse has depicted ‘the people’ as pure, hardworking, and morally upright, mediated through the rhetoric of populist leaders and parties in top-down approaches. However, our research reveals a more complex and self-reflective portrayal, where the Diaosi subculture presents ‘the people’ as vulnerable, marginalized, and socio-economically disadvantaged. This self-construction challenges conventional populist narratives and highlights the dynamic and context-specific nature of populist identities.

Article / Journal

Language(s): Deutsch

Abstract:
Die digitale Technologie hat der Globalisierung neue Impulse verliehen, wobei neue zwischenmenschliche Beziehungen auf der Basis virtueller Nähe entstanden sind. Im Mittelpunkt dieses Beitrags steht die Erkundung virtueller Interrelationen zwischen Akteuren aus zentralen und peripheren Weltregionen. In diesem Sinne geht die Studie darauf ein, wie junge afrikanische Männer Dating-Plattformen missbrauchen, um ‚westliche‘ Liebespartner zu umwerben und schließlich zu erpressen. Dies avanciert zu einer Subkultur im Kontext der globalen Moderne, wobei diese betrügerischen Beziehungen sich in eine gesamtgesellschaftliche Wahrnehmung von ‚weißen‘ Menschen in afrikanischen Gesellschaften einbetten.

Book

Language(s): English, German

Abstract:
The contributions to this volume address the blending of language, interculturality and digitality. The nine chapters investigate how (inter)culturality is manifested in various settings of digital communication – from YouTube to Tripadvisor and Twitter – and how it becomes intertwined with sets of communicative strategies and complex displays of identity.

Report

Language(s): German

Abstract:
Jeden Tag werden Menschen im Netz beleidigt, belästigt und bedroht. Viele ziehen sich bereits zurück und äußern ihre politische Meinung dort seltener. Das gefährdet Meinungsvielfalt und Demokratie. Die Studie „Lauter Hass – leiser Rückzug“ analysiert die Erfahrungen deutscher Internetnutzer*innen und liefert aktuelle Zahlen & Fakten zu Hass im Netz.

Book

Language(s): English

Abstract:
This Element focuses on the linguistic and discursive practices employed by digital citizens to promote their causes on social media, that is to engage in digital activism, drawing attention to the growing importance of this phenomenon in relation to gender identity and sexuality issues. I propose the label LGBTQ+ Digital Activism to join the already existing one Feminist Digital Activism and argue that, while these have been areas of interest from sociology and communication specialists, digital activism is still to be embraced as a field of research by applied linguists. I point out to a number of linguistic and discursive features that are popular among digital activists and support this through the analysis of the use of the hashtag #wontbeerased combining Social Media Critical Discourse Analysis and Corpus-Assisted Discourse Studies. I suggest that further research is needed to explore how language is used to propagate and popularize emancipatory discourses online.

Book

Language(s): English

Abstract:
The Internet has penetrated material reality to such an extent that it is now often impossible to disentangle the material from the virtual. In this postdigital scenario, the encounter with ›newness‹ becomes accessible at the touch of a button, 24/7. Learning becomes a lifewide experience which allows for the emergence of new culturalities. The contributors to this volume engage with cultural changes brought about by an intensified digitalization process in the context of formal education but also shed light on unexpected contexts in which informal learning experiences take place every day, strengthening diasporas, creating new connections and transforming ourselves and our societies.

Article / Journal

Language(s): English

Abstract:
Over the last three decades, mediatization has been heralded as the new grand theory to explain how social transformations have increasingly become intertwined with media technologies. However, like other grand narratives about historical transformations, it risks failing to take into account the reality of lives in peripheries, not least because they rarely leave their traces in archives. In this article, I explore how media are linked to transformations in queer life course in order to shed light on the significance of evolving media technologies for persons whose lives are shaped by inequalities. Drawing on 60 non-media-centric interviews conducted with LGBTIQ+ people in Germany and the UK, I argue that media images, narratives, and technologies hold the potential to spark crucial turning points in the life course of persons whose needs are not fulfilled by social institutions. While the evolution of media technologies over time has led to increased agency for people to access queer content and engage in interpersonal connection, it simultaneously exacerbates a generational inequality. The results presented here invite us to rethink mediatization from a queer life course perspective, and emphasize the crucial role played by media technologies in shaping the social contexts in which lifeworlds unfold.

Article / Journal

Language(s): English

Abstract:
This article examines some methodological and epistemological challenges facing meme studies and meme research. It delves into the shifts in Anglophone meme culture post-Trump and challenges the assumption that memes are generally anonymous and antagonistic by highlighting the coexistence of collegiality and pseudonymity across diverse meme communities. Moreover, it suggests that such meme cultures can transcend from online to offline realms, requiring methodological adaptations to capture this dual dimension of creativity and sociality. The paper also addresses epistemological challenges in meme studies, starting from memetics’ contentious history and critiquing the dominance of cultural evolutionary theory in contemporary meme research. It brings attention to the academic tendency to follow a “Dawkins to Shifman pipeline” citation trope in meme research and advocates for a more critical approach informed by platform studies. It argues that the future of meme studies lies at the intersection of platform ideology and content economies, urging scholars to engage with historical and political transformations in digital culture for a comprehensive understanding of memes and their societal impact.

Article / Journal

Language(s): English

Abstract:
This article challenges prevailing assumptions that fringe social media platforms predominantly serve as unmoderated hate-filled spaces for far-right communication by examining the userbase’s emotional connection to these environments. Focusing on Gab Social, a popular alternative technology website with affordances akin to Twitter, Facebook, and Reddit, and its subgroup, “Introduce Yourself,” the research investigates how participants discuss their attachment and sense of membership within a far-right online community. Employing a constructivist grounded theory approach and a thick data mixed-methods technique encompassing netnography and sentiment analysis, I uncover the complex and impassioned narratives underlying users’ sense of emotional belonging on the platform. The resulting findings demonstrate how counter-mainstream media act as a unifying force by catering to the social needs of participants seeking an in-group of like-minded individuals. Moreover, I argue that fringe social media platforms offer participants far more than mainstream platforms, providing a positive interactive environment and a new virtual home for those feeling rejected and antagonized by other communities, institutions, and organizations, both online and offline. Therefore, the work offers valuable empirical insights into the emotional emphasis participants place on fringe social media and its implications for fostering attachment, community formation, and identity construction within far-right online counterpublics.

Article / Journal

Language(s): English

Abstract:
Digital media provide easy access to media content in multiple languages from local, national, and transnational contexts. This accessibility of diverse content enables young people in the migration society to develop multilingual and transnational media repertoires: they have the option to continuously and strategically navigate between different platforms, between different contexts and multiple languages. In this paper, we discuss how multilingualism and transnationalism can be used as key concepts for understanding the cross-media practices of young people and their participation in the migration society. Based on focus groups with young people living in a culturally diverse and socio-economically disadvantaged neighbourhood of Bremen, Germany, we discuss how and why young people choose specific media content in a specific language in their daily media practices. Our discussion of the findings then focuses on the question of how media education in the migration society can take the multilingual and transnational media repertoires into account and benefit from it.

Chapter

Language(s): English

Abstract:
Service encounters between customers and staff members with different cultural backgrounds are susceptible to misunderstandings and dissatisfaction on both sides. After problematic encounters, some customers vent their frustration by publishing complaints in online review portals. Such negative online reviews can thus be considered written records of intercultural conflict between customers and staff members. In review portals, service providers can publicly respond to negative reviews, with the objective of clarifying the complaint, repairing the relationship with the customer, or conveying a positive public image. The present paper analyzes culture-related complaints written by hotel guests in online review portals and management responses to these complaints. First, the study identifies the reasons for intercultural conflict that become apparent in the reviews. Next, it discusses speech act structures in the management responses to negative culture-related reviews. Based on the analysis, an initial typology of steps in management responses to culture-related complaints is developed. The paper finishes with a summary and implications for future research.

Book

Language(s): English

Abstract:
In today's digital societies, parenting is shaped by algorithms daily - in search engines, social media, kids' entertainment, the news and more. But how much are parents aware of the algorithms shaping their parenting and daily lives? How can they prepare for children’s futures in a world dominated by data, algorithms, automation and AI? This groundbreaking study of 30 English families sheds light on parents’ hopes and fears, their experiences with algorithms in searching, sharing and consuming news and information, and their awareness and knowledge of algorithms at large. Looking beyond tech skills and media panics, this book is an essential read for social scientists, policy makers and general readers seeking to understand parenting in datafied societies.

Chapter

Abstract:
In recent years, intercultural online communication (IOC) as well as peer feedback (PF) have attracted increased attention by scholars and practitioners. However, there is hardly any research or theoretical model available that strives to combine these two fields. The present contribution critically reviews the previous literature and raises awareness of the many interrelated and dynami- cally shifting factors that affect PF processes in intercultural online environments. These include (trans-)linguistic and multimodal communicative strategies, aware- ness of sociocultural and interpersonal skills, affective and other individual factors, as well as a critical and purposeful utilization of digital tools. PF literacies in IOC thus require critical language awareness, critical cultural awareness, interpersonal (collaborative) skills as well as critical digital literacy. The proposed model is meant to provide pedagogical guidance for teachers of English as a foreign language to enable successful feedback exchanges among the learners. At the same time, it can be re- shaped and re-negotiated continuously for specific learning goals and learner needs. The chapter closes with recommendations for future research and teaching practice to meet these dynamic demands.

Article / Journal

Abstract:
Much public debate today is carried out on Twitter (now X), where the participants employ a range of diverse resources to convey their ideas effectively. Disentangling the resources into clear and understandable structures and patterns presents a fresh challenge for discourse pragmatics. This article addresses that challenge methodologically by evaluating existing methods for identifying and classifying pragmatic patterns, revealing their drawbacks, and advocating for a new coding system. This categorizes tweets based on a post's primary pragmatic function (informing, appealing, or expressing emotivity), considering subsidiary functions. The study then applies this new scheme to analyze the Twitter debate on the Polish Turów lignite mine, which became a subject of international dispute as the Czech and European authorities sought the mine's closure to eliminate its negative environmental impact. The debate unfolds mainly in Polish, Czech, and English, each language being associated with a distinct discourse. The English discourse emphasizes a transnational appeal for widespread decarbonization, contrasting with the predominantly oppositional, national political perspectives in the Polish and Czech discourses. These rely heavily on emotivity directed, in the Polish case, primarily against the country's ruling party, and in the Czech one against the deal eventually reached with Poland to mitigate the problems.

Book

Abstract:
We now live in a world where all aspects of everyday life are thoroughly mediated by digital technologies. Making sense of digital life is accordingly an essential undertaking for social science and humanities scholars. This multidisciplinary book provides an essential guide to researching digital life: Orienting readers with respect to methodologies, research design, and research ethics. Detailing key research methods, including interviews, surveys, ethnographies, walking methodologies, arts-based and participatory approaches, historical analysis, data visualisation, mapping and data analytics. Demonstrating these methods in action in real-world studies that have investigated apps and interfaces, social and locative media, mobilities, smart cities, and digital labour and work. The authors provide: • Non-Eurocentric perspectives and case studies from diverse disciplines • Annotated further reading to help you situate your research alongside existing research in your field • An outline of future directions for researching digital life. Accessible in style and richly illustrated, the chapters provide a wealth of key insights and practical information to ensure research projects are successfully planned and implemented.

Article / Journal

Language(s): English

Abstract:
The journal gamevironments celebrates its 10th anniversary with the publication of the 21st issue “Revisiting Gamevironments”. Among others, contributions by ZeMKI members Prof. Dr. Kerstin Radde-Antweiler (Gamevironments as an Analytical Lens for Studying Gaming and Culture. A Critical Revision) and Dr. Dom Ford (Community, Alienation and the Experience of Networks. Gamevironments and Theories of Community) are published in the issue.

Article / Journal

Language(s): English

Abstract:
From the start, the academic community was deeply involved in both the technological and conceptual development of the internet. Works by Rheingold, Castells, and others put forward influential, intellectual imaginaries. Over thirty years later, these sources offer valuable insights, reflecting the novelty and excitement of the time. Often infused with rhetoric of radical transformation, these authors either consciously or unconsciously foregrounded a revolutionary period marked by digital utopianism, while also presenting critical views. This paper aims to identify and historicize common themes and concepts in influential academic publications on the internet's significance and social impact. By adopting a longitudinal and comparative approach, we aim to provide a historically informed understanding of Internet Studies. Our paper contributes to a tradition of media historical scholarship, examining how new technologies were socially constructed, how dominant discourses shaped popular imaginaries, and their role in the evolution of Internet Studies.

Chapter

Language(s): German

Abstract:
Bei der Übung „Schema F“ geht es darum, TN zu Fehleinschätzungen aufgrund von eigenen Stereotypen zu verleiten. Den TN werden Videos oder Bilder gezeigt und anschließend sollen sie z.B. die politische Orientierung einschätzen. Die Videos und Bilder sollten von der Kursleitung so ausgewählt worden sein, dass eine Stereotypisierung der gezeigten Personen sehr wahrscheinlich ist. Anschließend werden die Fehleinschätzungen diskutiert und ein theoretischer Input zu Stereotypen kann folgen. Durch die eigene Fehleinschätzung zu den gezeigten Personen in der Übung können TN angeregt werden, eigene Stereotype zu hinterfragen.

Chapter

Language(s): English

Abstract:
Scimificationis is a newly-constructed word composed from the words science and gamification. In terms of content, it describes a realised form of the reciprocal connection between the competence levels of knowledge (cognitive level), ability (conative level) and will (affective level) in digital and virtually-oriented university teaching.The question of whether, and if so, how, science and gamification fit together, arises with particular urgency against the backdrop of the corona-accelerated digitalization movement in higher educational teaching: Should games such as virtual strategy games be taken seriously at all in academic training and further education? Conversely, against the background of significantly changed teaching/learning scenarios, the question arises as to whether cognitive teaching/learning formats, such as 90-minute lectures, remain suitable at all anymore for the initiation and maintenance of sustainable learning. Using the example of interdisciplinary and transnational university cooperation, this chapter outlines how virtual escape rooms and strategy games can contribute to the promotion of holistic competence development processes. They may also stimulate new curricular directions for the methodology-based didactic implementation of digitalization and internationalization.