[ICTs-and-Society] Plenary session 3 “Social Media, Democracy and, Politics in the Information Society” (Christian Christensen, Peter Dahlgren)

[ben klass]

I also agree with the sentiment expressed by Ekaterina and Andrew.
In response to Jodi's thoughts, we might look at Robert Putnam's Bowling Alone as a reference. From his point of view, of a decline in 'social capital', with regard to democratic involvement (p170-177), has been a real trend, at least in America, over the past few decades. If we accept this, then I would argue that an increased engagement in "any kind of politics" is laudable. If we're interested in a healthy, deliberative democracy, then a forum for promoting awareness, at least, but more importantly discussion amongst people holding various and often contradictory political positions is desirable. This is of course leaving aside the fact that Facebook is exploitative of "knowledge labor" (if we accept this concept), but that may well be beside the point in this case.
I'm not sure exactly how to respond to Jodi's first point, that "turn out" is less viz. Facebook than it is with regard to "direct contact". I would argue that, with regard to the second, that participating in a discussion, even as basic as commenting on a post or clicking "like" does itself constitute more, not less direct engagement. The use of "social media" and the internet in general streamlines the process of being directly involved with others in terms of discussion, argument and contact in general, and I think that this mailing list is an obvious example. A lot of the discussion so far has focused on FB, or other similar "social media sites" (twitter, diaspora, etc), but let's not forget that email, IRC, USEnet, blogs, forums, etc are all forms of social media. "Direct involvement" seems to me to be a subjective term, and I guess what I am saying is that I see no reason why these social media forms wouldn't be considered direct and involved.
I also think that, in regard to the third point, networked media facilitate, rather than diminish organizational capability. This speaks to Andrew's point earlier regarding the naivete of Gladwell's article, which wrongly counterposes political activity IRL and online political awareness. To think that these two things are rival goods is, as Andrew said, to miss the point. Ekaterina's most recent reply this points this out: "Farmville" and other distractions coexist with serious political discourse online, and often create a casual atmosphere that may draw awareness to issues to which people may not otherwise have been exposed. More to the point, we would have to ignore the SOPA/PIPA protest and action in the States, ACTA protests in Europe and negative public reaction to bills C-11 and C-30 in Canada to make the case that raising social awareness somehow takes away from political action. Benkler makes the salient point in Wealth of Networks that the uses of new forms of media, while potentially diminishing the roles of the old, do not wholly occlude them, and in our case here I think that the presence of "online activism" has been seen to act as a complement to and a catalyst for IRL activism, not its replacement. We must also keep in mind the point of reference: it seems the potential for creating calls-to-arms amongst the general public is considerably greater in a decentralized social media atmosphere than it was during the industrial, ad-revenue driven commercial media era, in which "eyeballs were bought and sold" and couch potatoes were the primary commodity.
I hope this isn't viewed as uncritical, as I assure you I am familiar with, and to a certain degree I share the concerns of thinkers such as Evgeny Morozov and Darin Barney. However, alarmism isn't the primary feature of my research, and although I consider it and respond when appropriate, to simply dismiss the motivational power of networked media would be, as Andrew pointed out, naive. If I do have a piece of criticism, I guess it would center on the roles of corporate capital in translating democratic outcry into actual political decisions. I'm not sure about the ACTA protests, but I know in the States there has been contention over whether "the Internet" (the public) or the "Tech Industry" (Google, FB, etc.) were the prima movens behind SOPA being shelved. This is a harder question to answer, although given the 11th-hour appearance of action like petitions by Google, I tend to lean towards the belief that the critical mass had already been reached by the time industry really stepped in. (Especially in light of the fact that Google's earlier presence, as the only "pro-internet" group actually presenting at the Congress hearing on the bill, was dismissed as alarmist and self interested before it achieved the legitimate support of the public). The case for the public's primary role is a bit clearer in Canada, as anyone familiar with the hilarious "#TellVicEverything hashtag can attest.
Cheers,
Ben KlassM.A. Student, University of Manitoba, Canada

Date: Mon, 27 Feb 2012 15:32:41 +0000
From: epetrovna at gmail.com
To: JDEAN at hws.edu; discussion at lists.icts-and-society.net
Subject: Re: [ICTs-and-Society]	Plenary session 3 “Social Media, Democracy and, Politics in the Information Society” (Christian Christensen, Peter Dahlgren)

Hello:) I find the discussion very interesting and thought-provoking. However, i tend to agree with the comment made by Andrew. Facebook is often criticised for its entertaining aspect  (apart from the fact that it belongs to capitalistic organisation, promotes commodification and that people can be seen as working for free their), and that political news and some attempt at civic engagement are lost in the stream of such applications as Farmville. As one user, whom i interviewed observed:

“Well, there was a group that started
up and got a very large number of members saying, 'We don't want the
Lib-Dems to make a deal with the Conservatives'. This was its title.
Obviously, that wasn't successful in its aim but, you know, you get
these kind of things and I think there is a potential there, but it
needs more than potential to actually happen. They’re a lot of
groups like that, but they co-exist with all other things like
Farmville!”
I often asked
questions on my wall about how my 'friends' perceive Facebook. I
remember I once posted an important question about what did people do
on Facebook and whether they thought it could bring about some social
change. I was having a very interesting discussion related to this
question, with some of friends sharing quite deep and important
thoughts and then suddenly a friend of mine joined the discussion by
asking the following: “I am more interested to know WHY you are my
age but you have absolutely no wrinkles?!” This question followed a
comment from another user who shared some very serious observations
about Facebook.
And this is what
Facebook is basically about. Important political news are presented
together with the latest advert from L'Oreal. One friend posts an
important update about the Occupy Movement while another writes what
she is eating for lunch. But whether it is bad or good is open for
discussion.

if we look at it
from the angle of popular culture, this comment of my friend about my wrinkles can actually appear
as 'interesting' and thought provoking. It was at least for me,
because as it happens, I am obsessed with all kinds of beauty
products and can discuss this topic for ages. And that is why I
actually replied to my friend and we had an interesting discussion
about anti-aging creams, etc. The discussion did go back eventually
to the topic of Facebook, but the comment of my friend, if anything,
allowed to inject some 'fun' into a serious topic.
This fun aspect of
Facebook is actually what allows people to read some news with the
means of Facebook. Maybe indeed people are more aware about certain
topics because they are presented in an interesting and entertaining
way? And maybe there is nothing wrong indeed with simply clicking
'the like' button if for some people it is the first step to some
sort of political engagement?
As the same user who remarked about Farmville continues:
“...But you get this in everyday
life, each of us is embedded in lots of networks and has potential
contacts and ties to all kinds of things, and we spend an awful lot
of time just in chat and discussing things and chatting about things
and yes, gossip. And we spend then, some other pieces of time where,
quite actively, we're trying to do something, sometimes trying to
make a difference; sometimes only a difference related to ourselves
or our house or planning a vacation or something and sometimes
dealing with local issues on a much deeper level.” Ekaterina Netchitailova, PhD student at Sheffield Hallam







On Sun, Feb 26, 2012 at 11:41 PM, Dean, Jodi <JDEAN at hws.edu> wrote:



Andrew's use of the term "civic use" of the internet is interesting. It points to the fact that there is nothing particularly revolutionary, left, liberal, or progressive about using

networked media for organizing. The convenience is convenience regardless of political outlook.



"Use of the internet" doesn't tell us anything--virtually everyone and everything

uses the internet. It's what spam, porn, activists, World of Warcraft, and cute kittens have in common.



If one's view is that any kind of politics is laudable, then one might celebrate this. I don't think any politics is laudable.



Even if I did, I would still be critical of a one-sided celebration of the politics of networked media. Here are just a couple of reasons:



1.  The turn out rate for mass emailings/FB invitations is lower than with direct contact.

2.  Reliance on electronic media means less direct involvement with people (so, instead of going door to door and building knowledge and connections first hand, one relies on a database of phone numbers).

3.  Capacities for organizing diminish: people think that all that is necessary is an FB page.

4.  Political action becomes synonymous with awareness.

5.  Political action becomes seamlessly integrated with consumption and entertainment; the content may be radical but the form is not.



Jodi Dean

(not part of the conference but lurking on the list)





________________________________________

From: discussion-bounces at lists.icts-and-society.net [discussion-bounces at lists.icts-and-society.net] on behalf of Andrew Feenberg [feenberg at sfu.ca]


Sent: Sunday, February 26, 2012 2:17 PM

To: christian fuchs

Cc: discussion at lists.icts-and-society.net

Subject: Re: [ICTs-and-Society] Plenary session 3 “Social Media, Democracy and, Politics in the Information Society” (Christian Christensen, Peter Dahlgren)



I want us to consider a naive observation about social media. A recent New Yorker article dismissed the political uses of the Internet by contrasting the courage required to participate in a sit-in in the 60s and the triviality of signing an online petition. This sort of critique of the Internet mistakes completely its significant civic role which is communicative. It enables discussion and makes it cheap and fast to assemble masses. I had a student write a biting critique of the destructive effects of the Internet on civic culture, only to organize a successful and quite large "Slut Walk" in Vancouver shortly afterwards in just a week using the Internet. I went just to tease her and asked her if she knew what mimeo machines and telephone trees were. She had no idea. I told her this would have been her communication system when I was organizing demonstrations. So, of course the Internet does not "make" revolutions. But it plays a role in them just as did Khomeini's cassettes or the leaflets passed around in the May Events in 1968. A total government and corporate takeover of the Internet might well reduce it in the future to the abject state of television, but until that happens let's celebrate its positive role where we find it. I await your critical counter-attack!




----- Original Message -----

From: "Christian Fuchs" <christian.fuchs at im.uu.se>

To: discussion at lists.icts-and-society.net

Sent: Sunday, 26 February, 2012 11:00:29 AM

Subject: [ICTs-and-Society] Plenary session 3 “Social Media, Democracy and, Politics in the Information Society” (Christian Christensen, Peter Dahlgren)



In plenary session 3 of the Uppsala conference "Critique, Democracy and

Philosophy in 21st Century Information Society", Peter Dahlgren and

Christian Christensen will discuss fundamental challenges for

contemporary politics and democracy in the context of digital media.



They ask questions like: What is transparency? How can media advance the

transparency of power structures? Is transparency a viable political

goal? What is the relationship of WikiLeaks to power, transparency, and

the mainstream media? How does the relation between alternative media

and mainstream media in the age of the Internet look like? What is a

civic sphere? What is the role of the Internet for the civic sphere?

What are the political opportunities and limits posed by social media?

What is democracy today? What are the political and democratic

potentials and limits of critique today?



Discussions and comments on these contributions are welcome.



Best, CF



CHRISTIAN CHRISTENSEN

Uppsala University, Sweden

WikiLeaks: Mainstreaming Transparency?

ABSTRACT: In the period shortly after the release of the “Collateral

Murder” video, “Afghanistan War Logs” and “Iraq War Logs”, it appeared

that WikiLeaks had done something that many had thought unlikely: the

insertion of a radical critique of US military and geo-political power

into mainstream popular discourse (particularly in the US). While The

Guardian, New York Times and Der Spiegel (the three newspapers chosen by

WikiLeaks for the release of the first leaks) are not the newspapers of

choice for many in the US, UK and Germany, the very presence of the

material on their front pages opened up the possibility that the murky

world of US power might now be forced to concede ground to transparency

advocates. In this paper, I address the often contentious

WikiLeaks-mainstream media collaboration, and the potential impact of

this relationship upon the evolution of transparency as a political

philosophy.



SPEAKER INFO: Christian Christensen is Professor of Media and

Communications Studies in the Department of Informatics and Media at

Uppsala University, Sweden. His primary area of research is in the use

of social media during times of war and conflict, but he has also

published on the representation of Islam, post 9/11 documentary film,

and international journalism.



***



PETER DAHLGREN

Lund University, Sweden

Social Media and the Civic Sphere: Crisis, Critique and the Future of

Democracy

ABSTRACT: While the advent of social media has already had a significant

impact on people’s daily lives, it has also come to alter the character

of the civic sphere, i.e., the broad social terrain of citizens’

activities.

Thus, social media in their various forms quickly became incorporated

into discourses about democracy and the political. Clearly, social media

can play a useful role in the advancement of democracy, but it is by now

quite clear that they offer no simple solution to the ills that beset

contemporary democracy. On the one hand they can just as readily be used

for purposes that are anti-democratic, on the other hand – and in a more

complex perspective – the contingencies of late modern capitalism

generate a variety of conditions that intercede, in problematic ways,

between even progressive “produser-citizens” and the advancement of

democracy via social media. These contingencies have to do with a number

of factors, including power relations at different societal levels

(including the growing separation between power and formal politics),

the imperatives of consumer society, late modern cultural currents of

individualism, and the architecture and political economy of the net

itself and its Web 2.0 affordances. As the global crisis deepens, these

contingencies become more pronounced.

This presentation will highlight and exemplify these aspects, arguing

that research needs to become more alert to such obstacles in regard to

social media’s role and potential in cultivating the civic sphere. Even

the notion of democracy – too often deployed as incantation – needs

critical interrogation to elucidate its multiple and at times contested

ideals.

In this regard, the latter part of the discussion will probe the notion

of critique, suggesting that there is a methodological dimension that

can be retrieved and applied to social conditions, practices, and

discourses for progressive political purposes. The concept of critique

of course remains multivalent; I focus on the lineage from Hegel’s idea

of the critical reflection on unnecessary constraints on human freedom.

Its concern is with “emancipation”.

Historically, various intellectual and political movements on the Left

have used the no-ion of critique. Today, however, the concept seems to

have lost its punch, due to the decline of the Left, the rise of

neoliberalism, the growing social uncertainties, the ironic

sensibilities of liquid modernity, and not least the current global

crisis, in which no clear political alternative has emerged to galvanise

the many heterogeneous strands of opposition.

I intend to explore the notion of critique as it still can be found in

the writings of a number of contemporary theorists – Laclau and Mouffe,

Boltanski, Bauman, and Žižek – and extract some common threads. These

will be applied to social media and the civic sphere, against the

background of the current crisis, with an eye towards reinvigorating

critique as an intellectual endeavour. Also, I will briefly address the

notion of ‘emancipation’ to see what useful meaning can be elucidated in

regard to our contemporary horizons.



SPEAKER INFO: Peter Dahlgren is Professor Emeritus at Lund University,

Department of Media and Communications Studies. His research focuses on

democracy, the evolution of the media, and contemporary socio-cultural

processes, including identity formation.





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