scholarly journals What Is Digital Labour? What Is Digital Work? What’s their Difference? And Why Do These Questions Matter for Understanding Social Media?

Author(s):  
Christian Fuchs ◽  
Sebastian Sevignani

This paper deals with the questions: What is digital labour? What is digital work? Based on Marx’s theory, we distinguish between work and labour as anthropological and historical forms of human activity. The notion of alienated labour is grounded in a general model of the work process that is conceptualized based on a dialectic of subject and object in the economy that we present in the form of a model, the Hegelian-Marxist dialectical triangle of the work process. Various aspects of a Marxist theory of work and labour, such as the notions of abstract and concrete labour, double-free labour, productive labour, the collective worker and general work are presented. Labour is based on a fourfold alienation of the human being. After these concepts are introduced, they are used for discussing the notions of digital labour and digital work. The presentation is on the one hand general and on the other hand uses Facebook as a concrete case for explaining how digital labour functions. Digital work is the organisation of human experiences with the help of the human brain, digital media and speech in such a way that new products are created. Digital labour is the valorisation dimension of digital work. We conclude that we require the transformation of digital labour into digital work, a true social media revolution that makes “social media” truly and fully social. We also argue why in our view work is not the same as labour by discussing the concept of playful work and pointing out limits of concepts such as antiwork, postwork and zerowork.

Author(s):  
Christian Fuchs ◽  
Sebastian Sevignani

This paper deals with the questions: What is digital labour? What is digital work? Based on Marx’s theory, we distinguish between work and labour as anthropological and historical forms of human activity. The notion of alienated labour is grounded in a general model of the work process that is conceptualized based on a dialectic of subject and object in the economy that we present in the form of a model, the Hegelian-Marxist dialectical triangle of the work process. Various aspects of a Marxist theory of work and labour, such as the notions of abstract and concrete labour, double-free labour, productive labour, the collective worker and general work are presented. Labour is based on a fourfold alienation of the human being. After these concepts are introduced, they are used for discussing the notions of digital labour and digital work. The presentation is on the one hand general and on the other hand uses Facebook as a concrete case for explaining how digital labour functions. Digital work is the organisation of human experiences with the help of the human brain, digital media and speech in such a way that new products are created. Digital labour is the valorisation dimension of digital work. We conclude that we require the transformation of digital labour into digital work, a true social media revolution that makes “social media” truly and fully social. We also argue why in our view work is not the same as labour by discussing the concept of playful work and pointing out limits of concepts such as antiwork, postwork and zerowork.


Author(s):  
Francis L.F. Lee ◽  
Joseph M. Chan

Chapter 8 discusses the impact of digital media on collective memory. The chapter examines both the positive and negative impact of digital and social media. On the one hand, the analysis notes how digital media provided the channels for memory mobilization and the archives for memory transmission. On the other hand, the analysis examines the problematics of memory balkanization. It explicates how political forces have shaped the development of digital and social media in Hong Kong and how competing representations of the Tiananmen Incident and commemoration activities are articulated and reinforced within distinctive memory silos.


2019 ◽  

There has hardly been any other development that has changed our everyday lives as significantly as digitalisation, and there is hardly anything as commonplace as neighbourship. Despite the links between these two concepts growing, they have been neglected in social science research in Germany so far. The prevailing sentiment is that the Internet and social media sites have no connection to the real world, but there are countless neighbourship groups on Facebook, Twitter hashtags named after neighbourhoods or entire websites, such as ‘nebenan.de’, which endeavour to strengthen local community bonds through digital means. In short, the social developments in this respect are already considerably more advanced than the knowledge that exists about it. This anthology makes a fundamental contribution to the sociological debate on digitalisation and neighbourship by aiming to provide an overview of the relationship between digitalisation and neighbourship on the one hand, and open up avenues for further research on the other. It therefore examines and systematises attempts to strengthen local community bonds using digital media from different perspectives.


2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 415-436
Author(s):  
Joke Bauwens ◽  
Gudmundur Bjorn Thorbjornsson ◽  
Karl Verstrynge

AbstractOur engagement with social media, smart and mobile technologies is ambiguous and raises existential questions about the naturalness and desirability of hyper-connectivity. On the one hand, we benefit from using these technologies in organizing and socializing our everyday life. On the other hand, they further complicate our lives. Hence, in recent years, more and more people choose to abstain from digital media by taking on a so-called ‘digital detox,’ a period of living without these technologies. In this article, we look at ‘digital detoxing’ from an existential perspective by introducing Kierkegaard’s existential categories of repetition and recollection to tackle the question whether ‘dropping out’ is a meaningful act or a temporary respite. What would it mean, so we ask, to find a proper balance in a world that demands constant connectivity?


Author(s):  
Lola García-Santiago

This chapter focuses on an analysis of the communicative marketing strategies carried out by Spanish small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through their digital media channels (websites, blogs, Twitter, and Facebook profiles). The content analysis allowed the authors to identify strategies of inbound marketing and engagement with users on social networks. Regarding the latter, they identify whether the paradox of the positive can be fulfilled. The methodology included, on the one hand, a qualitative analysis of corporate web communications in different social media. On the other hand, the content of messages was categorised into elements of digital marketing. The results obtained show the Spanish web panorama of interaction, engagement, and communication strategies of entrepreneurial SMEs in COVID-19 context, during and after lockdown.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-82
Author(s):  
Julia Genz

Digital media transform social options of access with regard to producers, recipients, and literary works of art themselves. New labels for new roles such as »prosumers « and »wreaders« attest to this. The »blogger« provides another interesting new social figure of literary authorship. Here, some old desiderata of Dadaism appear to find a belated realization. On the one hand, many web 2.0 formats of authorship amplify and widen the freedom of literary productivity while at the same time subjecting such production to a periodic schedule. In comparison to the received practices of authors and recipients many digital-cultural forms of narrating engender innovative metalepses (and also their sublation). Writing in the net for internet-publics enables the deliberate dissolution of the received autobiographical pact with the reader according to which the author’s genuine name authenticates the author’s writing. On the other hand, the digital-cultural potential of dissolving the autobiographical pact stimulates scandals of debunking and unmasking and makes questions of author-identity an issue of permanent contestation. Digital-cultural conditions of communication amplify both: the hideand- seek of authorship as well as the thwarting of this game by recipients who delight in playing detective. In effect, pace Foucault’s and Barthes’ postulates of the death of the author, the personality and biography of the author once again tend to become objects of high intrinsic value


Societies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 77
Author(s):  
Tyler Horan

Social media influencers-individuals who utilize various forms of network power on social networks occupy a unique identity space. On the one hand, their network power is often tied to their social identity as creators of engaging material. On the other hand, their ability to promote commercial products and services steps outside the traditionally distinct commercial–social, occupational–personal divides. In this work, the network morphologies of influencers are explored in relation to their delivery of sponsored and non-sponsored content. This article explores how the disclosure of content as ‘sponsored’ affects audience reception. We show how that the promotion of content on social media often generates higher levels of engagement and receptiveness amongst their audience despite the platform’s assumption of organic non-commercial relationships. We find that engagement levels are highest among smaller out-degree networks. Additionally, we demonstrate that sponsored content not only returns a higher level of engagement, but that the effect of sponsorship is relatively consistent across out-degree network sizes. In sum, we suggest that social media audiences are not sensitive to commercial sponsorship when tied to identity, as long as that performance is convincing and consistent.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-52
Author(s):  
Nashuddin Nashuddin

True education makes people more respectful of differences and understanding diversity. Schools offer openness, moderation, and peace, not closure, extremism, and violence. But in reality on the ground, schools are actually not sterile from the outbreak of intolerance and the virus of radicalism. A number of studies show at one conclusion - which is almost agreed on - that intolerance in the world of education is increasing. Starting from rejecting leaders of different religions, do not want to respect the flag, the veil obligation, to those who openly support the khilafah. The entry of intolerance is assessed entering from three doors. First, teacher. Teacher understanding often determines how students behave and act. Second, the curriculum which is still dogmatic-doctrinaire does not provide space for dialogue and imagination. Third, extra activities are loaded with certain ideologies. In this context, it is necessary to return to voice moderation in schools. Attitudes that are not extreme right, always negate everything; nor extreme left, accommodating anything from outside; but rather be selective-accommodating. Teaching selective-accommodative attitude to students, has its own challenges. Not to mention the tendency of religious ways that are practical, instant, and do not want to be complicated, on the one hand; plus the penetration of social media - borrowing the language of Tom Nicholas (Death of Expertise, 2017) - there is a democratization of information, everyone is equal in it, on the other hand. Making moderation mainstreaming projects in schools has its challenges. Pendidikan sejatinya membuat manusia lebih menghargai perbedaaan dan memahami keragaman.Sekolah mengarjakan keterbukaan, moderasi, dan kedamaian, bukan ketertutupan, ekstrim, dan kekerasan.Akan tetapi fakta di lapangan, sekolah justru tidak streril dari wabah intoleransi dan virus radikalisme. Sejumlah penelitian menunjukkan pada satu kesimpulan –yang hampir disepakati—bahwa intoleransi dalam dunia pendidikan semakian meningkat. Mulai dari menolak pemimpin beda agama, tidak mau menghormat bendera, pewajiban jilbab, sampai yang terang-terangan mendukung khilafah. Masuknya intoleransi dinilai masuk dari tiga pintu. Pertama, guru. Pemahaman guru sering menentukan cara bersikap dan bertindak siswa. Kedua, kurikulum yang masih dogmatis-doktriner, tidak memberikan ruang untuk berdialetika dan berimajinasi. Ketiga, kegiatan ekstra yang sarat dengan ideologi tertentu. Dalam konteks inilah, perlu kembali menyuarakan moderasi di sekolah. Sikap yang tidak ekstrim kanan, selalu menegasikan semuanya; juga tidak ekstrim kiri, menampung apapun dari luar; melainkan bersikap selektif-akomodatif. Mengajarkan sikap selektif-akomodatif kepada peserta didik, mendapat tantangan tersendiri. Belum lagi adanya  kecenderungan cara beragama yang praktis, instan, dan tidak mau ribet, di satu sisi; di tambah penetrasi media sosial –meminjam bahasa Tom Nicholas (Matinya Kepakaran, 2017) – terjadi demokratisasi infomasi, semua orang setara di dalamnya, di sisi lain. Membuat proyek pengarusutamaan moderasi di sekolah mendapat tantangannya tersendiri.


Author(s):  
Helin Alagöz Gessler

This chapter analyses the effects of social media on political communication and the role they play in government-citizen relations by focusing on the Twitter ban phenomenon in Turkey in March 2014. The chapter asks the reasons of government intervention in social media, particularly Twitter. It argues that Twitter makes, on the one hand, a significant contribution to the evolution of political participation as it diversifies the process and methods of political communication. On the other hand, it introduces a new type of security dilemma which encourages governments to consider taking measures against social media to protect their authority.


Author(s):  
Reinhard Bauer ◽  
Klaus Himpsl-Gutermann ◽  
Martin Sankofi ◽  
Petra Szucsich ◽  
Ruth Petz

Due to the rapid development of digital media, the work of researchers in all scientific disciplines has dramatically changed. The objective of this chapter is to give a brief overview of digital tools that can be used for action or practice research in the context of seamless learning. It is the intention of the authors to, on the one hand, provide some initial orientation and deeper insight into the complex subject matter of digital science. On the other hand, researchers shall be equipped with a user guide that encourages them to try out various digital tools for searching, collecting, annotating, analyzing, visualizing, interpreting as well as publishing information. Owing to the dynamic nature of the issue under review this chapter will undoubtedly only offer a snapshot.


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