The Post-Truth Era: Algorithms, Emotions, Power

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Iliana Pavlova ◽  
◽  
◽  

The paper aims to examine post-truth, considering its theoretical aspects and following the communication grounds for its appearance. The paper suggests that the Post-truth Era is a result of algorithmically managed social interactions and the automation of communication. The Internet of Things, the ubiquitous media presence and the algorithmic power transform „The Age of Mechanical Reproduction” (Walter Benjamin) into „a Posttruth Era”. In the digital world of the 21st century – a world completely fragmented into data and market segments, the media technologies not only reproduce and re-create reality, but also take the next step and create an entirely new reality. Based on the critical survey of various articles and theoretical approaches the paper identifies the problematic areas that could engender a future discussion, and draw attention to post-truth as a problem and its relevance to the modern world.

The article analyzes the phenomenon of trust in risky societies by the example of hitchhiking as a practice of free travel on non-scheduled transport. It is emphasized that trust is the fundamental component of the actualization of the hitchhiking as a sociocultural phenomenon and practice, alternative to other types of spatial mobility. The processes of the emergence and reproduction of interpersonal trust in risk societies are investigated. Attention is paid to the interdependence of personified trust and trust to social institutions. Theoretical approaches to the study of risk and trust, presented in the works of such researchers as U. Beck, A. Giddens, N. Luhmann, P. Bourdieu, are reviewed. The characteristic is given to the car as to the main tool for the implementation of hitchhiking practices. In the modern world, it has both practical and symbolic functions: spatial movement and maintaining of the social status of the individual. The historical experience of developing hitchhiking at the state level and the attempts of its institutionalization are analyzed. An example of two countries (USSR, FRG) strategies shows that such experience was quite successful. Attention is focused on hitchhiking coverage in the media, which forming a negative discourse about this phenomenon. The role of hitchhiking in the formation of interpersonal trust is considered. It is demonstrated that hitchhiking helps to build a positive image of the “other”, and also creates a situation in which trust becomes a core component of social relations. Without this component such relations are impossible. The conclusion is made that the process of institutionalization of the hitchhiking as a well-established sociocultural practice can contribute to the social consolidation of modern Ukrainian society.


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.


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.


2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 40-47
Author(s):  
S. M. Doguchaeva

The era of digital transformation provides the opportunity for leading companies to change priorities - to begin to take care of the support environment using innovative technologies and become a leading creative platform open for innovation. The successful development of the digital world, the blockchain technology, the Internet of things – the mechanism which will change the financial world. 


2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (6) ◽  
pp. 71-87
Author(s):  
A.V. TOLOCHKO ◽  
◽  
V.A. MATVIENKO ◽  

The purpose of the study is to analyze the specifics of constructing the image of political parties in modern world media discourse practices. Achievement of this goal by the authors of this article determines the formulation of a number of important tasks, for the solution of which, first of all, the study of the image-making of political organizations is carried out, which is of interest to representatives of various worldview and social groups. The article examines the algorithm for constructing the image of parties and party coalitions, identifies the factors influencing their modifications. The authors determine the most effective strategies and tactics that influence the formation of a positive image during the electoral process, conduct a detailed analysis of the communication tools that generate a highly effective image of political parties using both traditional media practitioners and modern Internet agrigers. The work analyzes the main and auxiliary resources that have a multifaceted impact on the collaboration of party forces and their leaders with the media in the process of creating the given images, and broadcasting information to the target audience. As a result, a conclusion is made about the discursiveness of the image-making technologies existing in the media space, the presence of convergences and antinomies in them.


Author(s):  
Chris Forster

Modernist literature is inextricable from the history of obscenity. The trials of such figures as James Joyce, D. H. Lawrence, and Radclyffe Hall loom large in accounts of twentieth-century literature. Filthy Material: Modernism and the Media of Obscenity reveals the ways that debates about obscenity and literature were shaped by changes in the history of media. The emergence of film, photography, and new printing technologies shaped how “literary value” was understood, altering how obscenity was defined and which texts were considered obscene. Filthy Material rereads the history of modernist obscenity to discover the role played by technological media in debates about obscenity. The shift from the intense censorship of the early twentieth century to the effective “end of obscenity” for literature at the middle of the century was not simply a product of cultural liberalization but also of a changing media ecology. Filthy Material brings together media theory and archival research to offer a fresh account of modernist obscenity with novel readings of works of modernist literature. It sheds new light on figures at the center of modernism’s obscenity trials (such as Joyce and Lawrence), demonstrates the relevance of the discourse of obscenity to understanding figures not typically associated with obscenity debates (such as T. S. Eliot and Wyndham Lewis), and introduces new figures to our account of modernism (such as Norah James and Jack Kahane). It reveals how modernist obscenity reflected a contest over the literary in the face of new media technologies.


Author(s):  
David Philip Green ◽  
Mandy Rose ◽  
Chris Bevan ◽  
Harry Farmer ◽  
Kirsten Cater ◽  
...  

Consumer virtual reality (VR) headsets (e.g. Oculus Go) have brought VR non-fiction (VRNF) within reach of at-home audiences. However, despite increase in VR hardware sales and enthusiasm for the platform among niche audiences at festivals, mainstream audience interest in VRNF is not yet proven. This is despite a growing body of critically acclaimed VRNF, some of which is freely available. In seeking to understand a lack of engagement with VRNF by mainstream audiences, we need to be aware of challenges relating to the discovery of content and bear in mind the cost, inaccessibility and known limitations of consumer VR technology. However, we also need to set these issues within the context of the wider relationships between technology, society and the media, which have influenced the uptake of new media technologies in the past. To address this work, this article provides accounts by members of the public of their responses to VRNF as experienced within their households. We present an empirical study – one of the first of its kind – exploring these questions through qualitative research facilitating diverse households to experience VRNF at home, over several months. We find considerable enthusiasm for VR as a platform for non-fiction, but we also find this enthusiasm tempered by ethical concerns relating to both the platform and the content, and a pervasive tension between the platform and the home setting. Reflecting on our findings, we suggest that VRNF currently fails to meet any ‘supervening social necessity’ (Winston, 1996, Technologies of Seeing: Photography, Cinematography and Television. British: BFI.) that would pave the way for widespread domestic uptake, and we reflect on future directions for VR in the home.


Medicina ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 56 (5) ◽  
pp. 233
Author(s):  
Barry Wright ◽  
Penny Spikins ◽  
Hannah Pearson

In a special issue that focuses on complex presentations related to Autism, we ask the question in this editorial whether an Autism Spectrum Condition without complexity is a disorder, or whether it represents human diversity? Much research into Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASCs) over the years has focused on comparisons between neuro-typical people and people with Autism Spectrum Conditions. These comparisons have tended to draw attention to ‘deficits’ in cognitive abilities and descriptions of behaviours that are characterised as unwanted. Not surprisingly, this is reflected in the classification systems from the World Health Organisation and the American Psychiatric Association. Public opinion about ASC may be influenced by presentations in the media of those with ASC who also have intellectual disability. Given that diagnostic systems are intended to help us better understand conditions in order to seek improved outcomes, we propose a more constructive approach to descriptions that uses more positive language, and balances descriptions of deficits with research finding of strengths and differences. We propose that this will be more helpful to individuals on the Autism Spectrum, both in terms of individual self-view, but also in terms of how society views Autism Spectrum Conditions more positively. Commentary has also been made on guidance that has been adjusted for people with ASC in relation to the current COVID-19 pandemic.


2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 72-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shanthi Balraj Baboo

Many children grow up in contemporary Malaysia with an array of new media. These include television, video games, mobile phones, computers, Internet, tablets, iPads and iPods. In using these new media technologies, children are able to produce texts and images that shape their childhood experiences and their views of the world. This article presents some selected findings and snapshots of the media lifeworlds of children aged 10 in Malaysia. This article is concerned with media literacy and puts a focus on the use, forms of engagement and ways that children are able to make sense of media technologies in their lives. The study reveals that children participate in many different media activities in their homes. However, the multimodal competencies, user experiences and meaning-making actions that the children construct are not engaged with in productive ways in their schooling literacies. It is argued that media literacy should be more widely acknowledged within home and school settings.


Author(s):  
Tatiana Vladimirova ◽  
Valentina Panferova ◽  
Olga Smirnova ◽  
Luisa Svitich ◽  
Mikhail Shkondin

The article describes systemic factors of optimization of Russian media landscape in the context of the societys growing intellectual level. This process provides for the best possible intellectual interaction between economic, political, scientific, educational, artistic and other social layers. The authors deal with the criteria of media publicity as combination of informational relations between the participants of this process. Using systemic and synergetic approaches the authors also study an optimal model of informational support of freedom of social creative activities based on interaction of such media realities as public reason, writers and audience communities, editorial boards and other media organizations, and others. In this relation, they analyze how the commentariat is motivated to be on the mission of increasing the societys intellectual level. The authors conclude that the purpose of intellectual interaction in the media landscape is repeat renewal of the societys intellectual potential via social creative activities. This provides the basis for intellectual maturity of each individual, which adds not only to development of intellectual culture of a person and that of various communities, but also to improvement of the current goal setting and achieving system.


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