Acting on media technologies and infrastructures: expanding the media as practice approach

2017 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 629-635 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastian Kubitschko

Over recent years, media as practice has emerged as a fruitful framework for exploring what people do with media. After reviewing the current state of research, this commentary argues that there is need to widen our understanding and to advance our conceptualisation of media practices. It seems no longer overstated to say that almost any form of political engagement today relates in one way or another to media technologies and infrastructures. As a consequence, media are increasingly sites of an active political struggle in their own right. To bring these developments into dialogue with media practice research, ‘acting on’ is introduced as a lens through which we can investigate the opportunities and limitations of actors’ practices related to media technologies and infrastructures for political engagement.

2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Axel Bruns

As the Journal of Media Innovations comes into existence, this article reflects on the first and most obvious question: just what do we mean by “media innovations”? Drawing on the examples of a range of recent innovations in media technologies and practices, initiated by a variety of media audiences, users, professionals, and providers, it explores the interplay between the different drivers of innovation and the effects of such innovation on the complex frameworks of contemporary society and the media ecology which supports it. In doing so, this article makes a number of key observations: first, it notes that media innovation is an innovation in media practices at least as much as in media technologies, and that changes to the practices of media both reflect and promote societal changes as well – media innovations are never just media technology innovations. Second, it shows that the continuing mediatisation of society, and the shift towards a more widespread participation of ordinary users as active content creators and media innovators, make it all the more important to investigate in detail these interlinked, incremental, everyday processes of media and societal change – media innovations are almost always also user innovations. Finally, it suggests that a full understanding of these processes as they unfold across diverse interleaved media spaces and complex societal structures necessarily requires a holistic perspective on media innovations, which considers the contemporary media ecology as a crucial constitutive element of societal structures and seeks to trace the repercussions of innovations across both media and society – media innovations are inextricably interlinked with societal innovations (even if, at times, they may not be considered to be improvements to the status quo).


2020 ◽  
pp. 3-44
Author(s):  
Thomas Duve

RESUMOEste capítulo introdutório tem por objetivo mostrar o papel da ‘literatura normativa pragmática’ no regime histórico de produção de conhecimento nos impérios ibéricos do início da modernidade (séculos XVI-XVII) e definir esse gênero literário em vista de sua função. Ele começa com uma tentativa de apresentar a história do direito dos impérios ibéricos como parte de uma tradição jurídica que pode ser compreendida como um enorme processo diacrônico de intertextualidade, uma longa história de atos reiterativos de tradução de informação normativa em conhecimento normativo. Ele destaca a razão pela qual o conhecimento normativo produzido por atores religiosos foi de grande significância dentro da economia do conhecimento dos impérios ibéricos nos séculos XVI e XVII e como teologia prática, práticas normativas e literatura pragmática estavam entrelaçadas. Dessa reconstrução de certas características fundamentais, é possível sugerir a definição de ‘literatura normativa pragmática’, resumir o atual estado das pesquisas sobre as formas de comunicação que compuseram o gênero e concluir com alguns comentários sobre porque a literatura pragmática pode ter sido de especial significância para governar um império.PALAVRAS-CHAVEHistória do direito. Teologia moral. História do Conhecimento. América Latina Colonial. História do livro jurídico.ABSTRACTThis introductory chapter aims to show the role of ‘pragmatic normative literature’ in the historical regime of knowledge production in the early modern Iberian Empires during the 16th and 17th centuries and to define this literary genre in the light of this function. It starts with an attempt to present the legal history of the Iberian empires as part of a legal tradition that can be understood as a huge diachronic process of intertextuality, a long history of reiterative acts of translating normative information into normative knowledge. It outlines why normative knowledge produced by religious actors was of overwhelming significance within the knowledge economy of the 16th- and 17th-century Iberian empires and how practical theology, normative practices and pragmatic literature were intertwined. From this reconstruction of certain fundamental characteristics, it is possible to suggest a definition of ‘pragmatic normative literature’, to summarise the current state of research on the media that comprised this genre and to conclude with some remarks on why pragmatic literature might have been of special significance for governing an empire.KEYWORDSLegal History. Moral Theology. History of Knowledge. Colonial Latin America. History of Legal Books.


2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 227-249 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henry Chapman ◽  
Roy van Beek ◽  
Ben Gearey ◽  
Ben Jennings ◽  
David Smith ◽  
...  

Bog bodies are among the best-known archaeological finds worldwide. Much of the work on these often extremely well-preserved human remains has focused on forensics, whereas the environmental setting of the finds has been largely overlooked. This applies to both the ‘physical’ and ‘cultural’ landscape and constitutes a significant problem since the vast spatial and temporal scales over which the practice appeared demonstrate that contextual assessments are of the utmost importance for our explanatory frameworks. In this article we develop best practice guidelines for the contextual analysis of bog bodies, after assessing the current state of research and presenting the results of three recent case studies including the well-known finds of Lindow Man in the United Kingdom, Bjældskovdal (Tollund Man and Elling Woman) in Denmark, and Yde Girl in the Netherlands. Three spatial and chronological scales are distinguished and linked to specific research questions and methods. This provides a basis for further discussion and a starting point for developing approaches to bog body finds and future discoveries, while facilitating and optimizing the re-analysis of previous studies, making it possible to compare deposition sites across time and space.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra Issel-Dombert

Venezuela is experiencing an unprecedented exodus as a result of ongoing political, economic and humanitarian crises. While the majority of emigrants remain in neighbouring Latin American countries, the US and Europe are also among the preferred destinations. The way migrants are covered in the media shapes public opinion and has an impact on their integration into society. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to examine the coverage of Venezuelan migrants in the Spanish press in a timeframe from 2015 to 2020. For this purpose, a linguistic discourse analysis is conducted. The results contrast with the current state of research. With the help of the sociological "othering"-theory and the concept of the so-called "aporofobia", it is possible to explain how the image of good (and "bad") migrants is discursively constructed.


Author(s):  
Kenzie Burchell

For media users enjoying a context of near constant connection across a changing set of platforms, the management of that communication environment is a central concern in the management of everyday life. The multiplication and divergence of possible uses across these platforms emerge alongside the increasing cross-media integration of informational, interactive and entertainment practices with interpersonal communication. The individual’s perception of that environment of increasingly differentiated communication possibilities becomes a site for managing and partially negotiating the limits, form and organization of one’s social world. Expanding upon Gershon’s (2010) notion of media ideologies, this article focuses on the increasing divergence of the perceived and preferred uses of media technologies. The analytical terms ‘social tool’ and ‘social device’ are deployed to tease apart the central ordering experience of perceived ‘mutual engagement’ within media practices. The perceived presence or lack thereof within such engagement serves to recursively delimit and order the media user’s social landscape, pointing to further reflexive management of one’s own media ideology through a highly idiosyncratic ‘relational ordering’ of perceived and preferred platform uses, amidst social and technological change.


2017 ◽  
Vol 40 (5) ◽  
pp. 689-706 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcel LaFlamme

Problems of control and communication endemic to powered flight have given rise to a range of media forms, which this article proposes to designate aviation media. Today, the maturation and proliferation of unmanned aircraft or drones is reconfiguring the media technologies, infrastructures, and practices on which pilots have previously relied. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork with drone pilots and other airspace users in North Dakota, a US state that has courted the unmanned aircraft industry in a bid for economic diversification, this article describes the mundane forms of media labor that underpin the operation of unmanned systems. It also shows how contemporary efforts to achieve an integrated airspace in which both manned and unmanned aircraft can fly depend on the widespread adoption of transmissive media technologies. This demand defines the current media practices of rural airspace users as impediments to progress. By highlighting the politics of aviation media at a moment when drones are becoming increasingly ubiquitous, this article reveals how changes in what it means to be a pilot hinge on shifting claims about which media matter most.


2016 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 469-486 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Kaun

Protest movements have successfully adopted media technologies to promote their causes and mobilize large numbers of supporters. Especially social media that are considered as low-cost and time-saving alternatives have played particularly important roles in recent mobilizations. There is, however, a growing concern about the contradictions between long-term organizing for progressive, social change, on one hand, and the media technologies employed, on the other. Hartmut Rosa has argued that the current culture of accelerated capitalism is characterized by a growing desynchronization between political practices (slow politics) and the economic system (fast capitalism). This article traces the increasing social acceleration related to (media) technologies employed by protest activists and asks whether there is an increasing desynchronization with their political practices discernible. Furthermore, the article investigates strategies of resistance to overcome the growing gap between ‘machine time’ and political time. Empirically, the article builds on archival material and in-depth interviews documenting the media practices of the unemployed workers’ movement (1930s), the tenants’ movement (1970s) and the Occupy Wall Street Movement (2011/2012) and argues for the need to re-politicize media infrastructures as means of communication in order to tackle democratic problems that emerge from the divergent temporalities.


Author(s):  
S. V. Akmanova ◽  
L. V. Kurzaeva ◽  
N. A. Kopylova

The harmonious existence of the individual in the modern informational era, which is overly saturated with rapidly developing media technologies, is almost impossible without the developed readiness of the individual for lifelong continuous self-education. The formation and development of this readiness can begin during the formal training at the stage of higher education of the person and continue during informal education throughout his future life. Stages of socialization and professionalization of the person have a great influence on the level nature of this readiness. Based on scientific achievements in the field of self-education of university students, national and world media education, we developed dynamic and competence models of media educational concept of developing a person’s readiness for lifelong self-education. The concept demonstrates interconnection of these two models, as well as consistency with the previously developed normative model of developing this readiness.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 145-158
Author(s):  
Kenta Nagasawa

Purpose: This paper is a thematic literature review to examine the current state of research about Culturally Responsive Pedagogy in mathematics. The main themes are students’ perception, teacher education for pre-service teacher and professional development for teachers. Research methods/ approach: Literature was collected from Eric, which is a research engine of the education field. Also, Google Scholar is used to find articles of major scholars introduced by Dr. Rich Milner, who is the instructor of this course. Findings: Students faced microaggressions in mathematics class, which discouraged them to learn mathematics. The effect of teacher education was inconsistent in terms of the awareness of culturally responsive pedagogy and lesson plans. Research of professional development mentioned that mathematics was cultural. Implications for research and practice: It is more interesting to conduct long term or follow-up research to find the teacher’s practice after a taking professional development program. Also, it is critical to expand research scope besides African American and Latino students. Finally, evidence-based research is needed to change the political situation. Keywords: culturally responsive teaching, mathematics, teacher education, professional development, student’s perception


Author(s):  
Christo Sims

In New York City in 2009, a new kind of public school opened its doors to its inaugural class of middle schoolers. Conceived by a team of game designers and progressive educational reformers and backed by prominent philanthropic foundations, it promised to reinvent the classroom for the digital age. This book documents the life of the school from its planning stages to the graduation of its first eighth-grade class. It is the account of how this “school for digital kids,” heralded as a model of tech-driven educational reform, reverted to a more conventional type of schooling with rote learning, an emphasis on discipline, and traditional hierarchies of authority. Troubling gender and racialized class divisions also emerged. The book shows how the philanthropic possibilities of new media technologies are repeatedly idealized even though actual interventions routinely fall short of the desired outcomes. It traces the complex processes by which idealistic tech-reform perennially takes root, unsettles the worlds into which it intervenes, and eventually stabilizes in ways that remake and extend many of the social predicaments reformers hope to fix. It offers a nuanced look at the roles that powerful elites, experts, the media, and the intended beneficiaries of reform—in this case, the students and their parents—play in perpetuating the cycle. The book offers a timely examination of techno-philanthropism and the yearnings and dilemmas it seeks to address, revealing what failed interventions do manage to accomplish—and for whom.


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