Attention, Distraction and the Distribution of the Senses: “Slow”, “Reflexive” and “Contemplative” between Cinema and the Museum

A classic definition of attention designates it as “the selective perception of a particular stimulus, sustained by means of concentration and the willing exclusion of interfering sense-data”. In our sense-data rich environments, attention has become a scarce commodity, increasingly valued and sought after, but with the paradoxical consequence that the very pursuit of attention cannot but register as distraction. How do artists confront and art spaces cope with this paradox, and how has the moving image in the museum changed the articulation of time, space and information that is narrative?

Learn from elsewhere: A relational geography of policy learning in Bangkok’s Creative District

The article investigates Charoengkrung Creative District as a site of cross-border policy learning. Heralded as Thailand's first creative district and a “prototype” for many more to come, Charoenkrung Creative District promises to rejuvenate the city through a participatory, broad-based approach. Rather than analyzing the creative district as a local intervention, the article foregrounds the transnational character of policymaking. It shows that while the policy intervention is local, it is globally inspired by the imaginaries of “successful” elsewheres. The paper analyzes the state's discourse of creativity as a global–local negotiation, whereby the local understanding of creativity is contingent upon (and therefore curtailed by) its selective perception of foreign successes. Building upon the notion of assemblage, it points to a collage of policy ideas and imaginaries of success, which are mobilized to promote the vision of the creative district at home.

Student Selective Perception of The Anti-Corruption Campaign on Facebook

Almost every day, news about the Corruption Eradication Commission (in Indonesia it is known as KPK) appears in various mass media and social media, although the news is sometimes not directly related to information from the KPK itself, but from other parties who feel an interest in the existence of the KPK whether the contents of the news are in accordance with facts or hoaxes. The aim of this research is to answer the challenges of science and technology needs by real sector users, who also want to know, analyze, and discuss the selective perceptions of Islamic university students and public universities about anti-corruption prevention campaigns in society. The research method used is a survey method through a comparative descriptive study at two tertiary institutions, namely Islamic Universities and State Universities. The results of research on selective perception of Islamic university students and public universities about anti-corruption prevention campaigns in society show that in general, the students did not know or rarely paid attention to social media Facebook which presenting anti-corruption messages.

Sociology’s inescapable past

Why does sociology teaching uniquely require study of its classics? The answer, it is suggested, lies in the indeterminacy of the idea of what is social—what constitutes and exemplifies it, at different levels of abstraction, about which the classical sociologists diverge, as do their continuing legacies. Synthesis aiming at disciplinary-wide consensus is not, therefore, a promising path. Selective perception, it is further suggested, deepens insight.

Russian TV advertising: influencing perception and manipulating consumer consciousness

The subject of this research is the peculiarities of Russian TV advertising, as well as the functions of advertising with regards to the goals of advertisers, developers of advertising content, and consumers of advertising products. The article explores the specifics of modern Russian TV advertising, and analyzes the existing traditions of selective perception marketing, as well as advances the original concept of divergence of public values by the Russian media. The research employs systematic and axiological approaches, observation, system analysis, case analysis and content analysis of TV commercials, structural-functional and socio-psychological methods, as well as conceptualization and generalization techniques. The study considers 150 TV commercials broadcasted on the central Russian channels over the period from 2017 to 2020. The author reveals the peculiarities of the Russian advertising content, as well as the trends that established thereof in recent decades. The scientific novelty lies in the conclusion that the Russian TV advertising features a unique (compared to Western advertising) transformative function aimed at changing the national value system as the framework of Russian culture and mentality and the pillar of the Russian system of social values. The author also notes that many TV commercial use the techniques of manipulating consumer perception and consciousness. The acquired results can be applied in the area of protecting consumer interests in the Russian Federation, as well as bringing into correlation the interests of advertisers and consumers of advertising content for more effective promotion of products and services in tune with the interests of customers.

How the Far-Right Polarises Twitter: 'Highjacking' Hashtags in Times of COVID-19

Twitter influences political debates. Phenomena like fake news and hate speech show that political discourse on micro-blogging can become strongly polarised by algorithmic enforcement of selective perception. Some political actors actively employ strategies to facilitate polarisation on Twitter, as past contributions show, via strategies of 'hashjacking'. For the example of COVID-19 related hashtags and their retweet networks, we examine the case of partisan accounts of the German far-right party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) and their potential use of 'hashjacking' in May 2020. Our findings indicate that polarisation of political party hashtags has not changed significantly in the last two years. We see that right-wing partisans are actively and effectively polarising the discourse by 'hashjacking' COVID-19 related hashtags, like #CoronaVirusDE or #FlattenTheCurve. This polarisation strategy is dominated by the activity of a limited set of heavy users. The results underline the necessity to understand the dynamics of discourse polarisation, as an active political communication strategy of the far-right, by only a handful of very active accounts.

Meaning Multiplicity Across Communication Subfields: Bridging the Gaps

Subdisciplines in communication studies have developed competing and self-contained theories of meaning multiplicity. Arguing that this fragmented scholarship falls short of grasping the full scope of the phenomenon, this article offers Decoding Convergence–Divergence (DCD) as an interdisciplinary analytical and conceptual framework. Synthesizing principles from cognitive, cultural, and speaker-centered approaches to meaning multiplicity, this framework was applied in a study that examined news coverage of a CEO’s initiative to address income inequality and its reception by different segments of the American audience. The study’s results provide a novel demonstration of the joint contribution of opposing theories to the understanding of meaning multiplicity. Specifically, it found that textual polysemy, partisan selective perception, and the use of strategic ambiguity coalesced in the interpretive dynamics of this story. Based on these results, the article discusses the contribution of DCD to bridging competing approaches and the potential applications of the framework.