Adobe Systems 1 Old and New Media & Political participation Karolína Bieliková PmCb1013: Citizens, Media and Public Opinion 2.12.2024 Obsah obrázku grafický design, ilustrace, Grafika, klipart Popis se vygeneroval automaticky. Adobe Systems 2 Today's agenda ̶Role of media in participation ̶ ̶Old and new forms of participation ̶ ̶Politization of everyday life ̶ ̶Dark participation ̶ Obsah obrázku text, rukopis, snímek obrazovky Popis se vygeneroval automaticky. Adobe Systems 3 Road to participation A group of people giving each other a high five Description automatically generated A blue drawing of a megaphone and speech bubble Description automatically generated A blue drawing of a person and a chat bubble Description automatically generated Adobe Systems 4 Road to Participation Obsah obrázku text, diagram, snímek obrazovky, Paralelní Popis se vygeneroval automaticky. Adobe Systems 5 Traditional (old) media Media and participation New media ̶Production: Expensive information selection and content generation by professional journalists according to news values ̶ ̶Distribution: Content selected by expert/ professional gatekeepers – based on established news values – distributed to a paying fixed audience of subscribers ̶ ̶Media usage: Location bound mass audience with limited selective exposure oriented towards passive consumption of information, based on professional selection. ̶ ̶Production: Inexpensive information selection and content generation by (lay) users according to their individual preferences and attention maximizing ̶ ̶Distribution: Users are like intermediaries, distributing popular content, sometimes like a chain letter, within networks of like-minded others ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶Media usage: Interest-bound and like-minded peer networks with highly selective exposure oriented towards interaction through practices of updating Adobe Systems 6 New media and participation ̶New media provides not only different way of consumption but also new ways of participation ̶Environment where both are easily accesible Optimistic idea: ̶Online environment and easily accesible information as a gateway to higher levels of political participation – spread beyond those who are already interested (Bimber et al., 2015) ̶ Environment where citizens can organize an challenge authoritarian regimes Adobe Systems 7 Old and new forms of participation Obsah obrázku text, snímek obrazovky, kreslené Popis se vygeneroval automaticky. Define footer – presentation title / department Adobe Systems 8 Political participation ■‘those activities by private citizens that are more or less directly aimed at influencing the selection of governmental personnel and/or the actions they take’ (Verba & Nie, 1972) ■Reflects activities not attitudes ■Political participation has four minimal definitional features: §(i) participation is an activity, §(ii) it is voluntary and not ordered by a ruling class or obliged under some law, §(iii) it refers to people in their role as non-professionals or amateurs, §(iv) it concerns government, politics, or the state Voting Campaign activity Cooperative activity Citizen- initiated contact Adobe Systems 9 What can change with internet? Do you see any new possibilities? What are new types of participation people can use now? Adobe Systems 10 What does the internet change? More voices/perspective Open place for discussion Direct communication Bottom-up engagement Adobe Systems 11 What does the internet change? •Blog, vlogs or social media account as a space for voicing own opinions or providing further individual reporting on current events •Also space for counter publics, composed of groups and interests that are not represented in the main-stream public discourses •More opportunities for marginalized voices than through traditional communication channels More voices/perspective BUT these voices do not necessarily have to support the current political democratic structure, e.g. radical initiatives Adobe Systems 12 What does the internet change? •Citizens can more directly communicate with politcal actors •Political actors have more actors mointoring their behaviour • •Communication also within communities – can lead to mobilization and organization • Direct communication BUT Political actors can choose with whom and how they will communicate (they are not held responsible to respond and further act) Adobe Systems 13 What does the internet change? •Opportunities to discuss current topics with more people – gain different perspective •Other people can becomae a source of information - provided the best argument wins •Public environemnet between the state and the private Open place for discussion •BUT social media users can become closed off due to echo chambers and filter bubbles •Online discussion are often incivil and intolerant place demotivating engagement Adobe Systems 14 What does the internet change? •Citizens can more easily mobilize in order to raise and issue – connection to other forms of (offline) participation •Raising issues overlooked by traditional media/political actors • Bottom-up engagement •BUT the mobilization can be anti-systematic, attacking democratic principles •There are divides and inequealities in the digital environment Adobe Systems 15 How does participation online look like in reality? ̶Expressing one‘s opinion online ̶BUT growing number of social media leads to grosing numbers of activities that can be considered political participation ̶What can we still consider as political participation? Adobe Systems 16 Digitally networked participation = a networked media–based personalized action that is carried out by individual citizens with the intent to display their own mobilization and activate their social networks in order to raise awareness about, or exert social and political pressures for the solution of, a social or political problem. ̶Information in online environment is dependent on its dissemination ̶User play a crucial role not only in creating but also connecting to, reacting and sharing content Adobe Systems 17 Strategies for online participation Expressive participation ̶Main attribute is that is more visible ̶Sharing, writing posts, posting images, creating events etc. ̶ ̶By some users considered more effective than passive participation ̶ ̶Takes more effort Passive participation ̶Not as visible ̶Reading posts, comments, events, etc. ̶Often seen as less effective Is like expressive or passive? Adobe Systems 18 Creating Expressive participation Sharing ̶Participation that take the most effort ̶often perceived as the “most valuable” ̶Voicing opinions, providing information or preferences etc. ̶Expressing opinions or narrative without creating the content Obsah obrázku text, snímek obrazovky, Písmo, software Popis se vygeneroval automaticky. A group of people holding signs Description automatically generated Adobe Systems 19 Passive participation – does it do anything? ̶Users often do not consider activities of passive participation as an act of political participation (f.e. reading posts, comment section) ̶This type of participation can be perceived as less important because it is not visible to the public ̶BUT passive participation can lead to expressive participation ̶Influence on attitudes and opinions Obsah obrázku text, plakát, bitva, Násilí Popis se vygeneroval automaticky. Adobe Systems 20 Question of slacktivism/clicktivism ̶(...) which refers to the trend of fulfilling only the desire for instant self-satisfaction and having little impact on actual political processes (Morozov, 2011). ̶ ̶Criticism that there is a disconnect between online activities and the real impact in everyday life (Štětka & Mazák, 2015) ̶ ̶Fear that opportunities in the online space may lead to less political activity offline (real participation in the demonstration) CDN media Adobe Systems 21 Ranking different forms of particpation Fig. 2 Obsah obrázku text, snímek obrazovky, Písmo, řada/pruh Popis se vygeneroval automaticky. •Activies can be considered different levels based on required energy or impact and visibility (George and Leidner, 2019) Adobe Systems 22 So what forms of participation people do? Obsah obrázku text, snímek obrazovky Popis se vygeneroval automaticky. Theocharis et al., 2018 Adobe Systems 23 The Personal and the Political Obsah obrázku interiér, postel, ležet, pohodlí Popis se vygeneroval automaticky. Adobe Systems 24 Obsah obrázku žena, oblečení, květina, osoba Popis se vygeneroval automaticky. Adobe Systems 25 New forms of participation §Opening up the definition of participation: ‘any dimensions of social activity that are either designed directly to influence government agencies and the policy process, or indirectly to impact civil society, or which attempt to alter systematic patterns of social behavior’ (Norris, 2002: 16) § §Blurring the boundaries between political and civic participation ̶Need to look for germs and projections of the political and public world in the private quarters and daily dealings of individual persons (Livingstone, 2005) ̶ Adobe Systems 26 The personal is the political ̶Issues considered to be strictly personal in fact have their roots and projections in the political sphere - often used in feminist reflections ̶e.g. Carol Hanisch’s essay “The Personal is Political” (1970) spelled out the dilemma that plagued women’s discussions at that time regarding how to distinguish “therapy” from “political action.” ̶Question of one’s identity in everyday life is on its own political, when we consider the inherent power struggle in society (Mouffe, 2005) ̶ Obsah obrázku oblečení, venku, osoba, Lidská tvář Popis se vygeneroval automaticky. Adobe Systems 27 The personal is the political ̶Social media are primarily used for connection and communication with people ̶Personal is a building block of how social media are being used ̶BUT personal can often become political with/without the users intent ̶In social media political and personal are often interconnected and impossible to separate Obsah obrázku osoba, venku, boty, strom Popis se vygeneroval automaticky. Adobe Systems 28 Subactivism = „small-scale, often individual decisions and actions that have either a political or ethical frame of reference (or both) and remain submerged in everyday life” (Bakardjieva, 2009) ̶Its locus is the private sphere or the small social world ̶Rooted in the subject but necessarily involves collective identities often in an imagined form ̶The decisions and actions that constitute it have no permanent place in a person’s agenda ̶They arise spontaneously, often as new dimensions of work, homemaking, parenting, entertainment ̶ ̶ Adobe Systems 29 Subactivism ̶In online environment activities such as reposting, using hashtags or flagging and reporting can be highly political ̶ ̶Leads to creation of communities that are not bound geographically – bound by shared interests and beliefs ̶ ̶Representation of one’s own identity becomes political on social media especially if they are part of marginalized community ̶ Adobe Systems 30 Subactivism on social media Two women in underwear touching their stomachs Description automatically generated A person in a swimsuit Description automatically generated A person in a white dress in a theater Description automatically generated A person in a garment Description automatically generated Adobe Systems 31 Subactivism on social media A person holding vegetables in her hand Description automatically generated A person pouring oil into a pan Description automatically generated Adobe Systems 32 Subactivism on on social media ̶Influencers who are not labeled as political can become political ̶Acting as a source of information, they can influence political attitudes either on purpose or involuntarily ̶Do not follow standard regulations and rules, e.g. in political campaign ̶ ̶Question of personal and political if you ourselves act as a source of information ̶ Adobe Systems 33 Dark participation Obsah obrázku obloha, venku, mrak, budova Popis se vygeneroval automaticky. Adobe Systems 34 What is dark participation? ̶Quandt, 2018 : “(..) characterized by negative, selfish or even deeply sinister contributions (..)” ̶Participation that does not helps but threatens democracy ̶Includes: trolling, cyberbullying, dissemination of mis/disinformation, uncontrolled news environment, incivility, hateful comments, etc. ̶ ̶this type of participation seems to be growing parallel to the recent wave of populism in Western democracies ̶ Adobe Systems 35 Obsah obrázku text, snímek obrazovky, Písmo, diagram Popis se vygeneroval automaticky.