Pub Date : 2024-04-17DOI: 10.1177/13548565241227745
{"title":"Publication notice","authors":"","doi":"10.1177/13548565241227745","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/13548565241227745","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47242,"journal":{"name":"Convergence-The International Journal of Research Into New Media Technologies","volume":"14 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2024-04-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140612942","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-04-16DOI: 10.1177/13548565241246044
Patricia G Lange
Ranting has a bad reputation. But is it always deserved? Online ranting has been alternatively decried for its emotion-laden hostility and praised as a beloved video genre. By exploring a qualitative corpus of YouTube rant videos, this article analyzes how problem-centric rants may serve as forms of proto civic engagement. The article shows that problem-centric rants contribute to emotional public spheres, in which emotions and logic combine to publicize personally-experienced participatory problems and to contribute to civic discourse for others similarly impacted. It reveals the discourse strategies that ranters use to persuade viewers that the site’s policies and the behavior of other participants are complicating self-expression through video. Discourse strategies include counter-balancing criticism with praise, interpellating addressees into a civic public, and focusing criticisms on the powerful. The article contributes to research on social media-based civic engagement and emotional public spheres by analyzing rant videos that expose issues with tech- nologized and commercialized communicative frameworks in digital spaces.
{"title":"Ranting in emotional public spheres: Publicizing participatory challenges on YouTube","authors":"Patricia G Lange","doi":"10.1177/13548565241246044","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/13548565241246044","url":null,"abstract":"Ranting has a bad reputation. But is it always deserved? Online ranting has been alternatively decried for its emotion-laden hostility and praised as a beloved video genre. By exploring a qualitative corpus of YouTube rant videos, this article analyzes how problem-centric rants may serve as forms of proto civic engagement. The article shows that problem-centric rants contribute to emotional public spheres, in which emotions and logic combine to publicize personally-experienced participatory problems and to contribute to civic discourse for others similarly impacted. It reveals the discourse strategies that ranters use to persuade viewers that the site’s policies and the behavior of other participants are complicating self-expression through video. Discourse strategies include counter-balancing criticism with praise, interpellating addressees into a civic public, and focusing criticisms on the powerful. The article contributes to research on social media-based civic engagement and emotional public spheres by analyzing rant videos that expose issues with tech- nologized and commercialized communicative frameworks in digital spaces.","PeriodicalId":47242,"journal":{"name":"Convergence-The International Journal of Research Into New Media Technologies","volume":"62 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2024-04-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140596661","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-04-08DOI: 10.1177/13548565241244534
Víctor Ávila Torres
{"title":"Book review: Living with algorithms: Agency and user culture in Costa Rica","authors":"Víctor Ávila Torres","doi":"10.1177/13548565241244534","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/13548565241244534","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47242,"journal":{"name":"Convergence-The International Journal of Research Into New Media Technologies","volume":"33 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2024-04-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140596669","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-03-14DOI: 10.1177/13548565241238924
Zachary J McDowell
Wikipedia, despite its volunteer-driven nature, stands as a trustworthy repository of information, thanks to its transparent and verifiable processes. However, Large Language Models (LLMs) often use Wikipedia as a source without acknowledging it, creating a disconnect between users and Wikipedia’s rich framework. This poses a triple threat to information literacy, Wikipedia’s vitality, and the potential for dynamic, updated information. This article explores the interplay between representation, accessibility, and LLMs on Wikipedia, highlighting the importance of preserving Wikipedia as a space for access, representation, and ultimately advocacy in an increasingly LLM-dominated information landscape. This article contends that, despite being over two decades old, Wikipedia remains vital not only for knowledge accumulation but also as a sanctuary for the future of knowledge representation, championing representation and accessibility in the age of closed-system LLMs.
{"title":"Wikipedia and AI: Access, representation, and advocacy in the age of large language models","authors":"Zachary J McDowell","doi":"10.1177/13548565241238924","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/13548565241238924","url":null,"abstract":"Wikipedia, despite its volunteer-driven nature, stands as a trustworthy repository of information, thanks to its transparent and verifiable processes. However, Large Language Models (LLMs) often use Wikipedia as a source without acknowledging it, creating a disconnect between users and Wikipedia’s rich framework. This poses a triple threat to information literacy, Wikipedia’s vitality, and the potential for dynamic, updated information. This article explores the interplay between representation, accessibility, and LLMs on Wikipedia, highlighting the importance of preserving Wikipedia as a space for access, representation, and ultimately advocacy in an increasingly LLM-dominated information landscape. This article contends that, despite being over two decades old, Wikipedia remains vital not only for knowledge accumulation but also as a sanctuary for the future of knowledge representation, championing representation and accessibility in the age of closed-system LLMs.","PeriodicalId":47242,"journal":{"name":"Convergence-The International Journal of Research Into New Media Technologies","volume":"52 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2024-03-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140151064","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-03-06DOI: 10.1177/13548565241238379
Natalia Kovalyova
{"title":"Book Review: The perception machine: Our photographic future between the eye and AI","authors":"Natalia Kovalyova","doi":"10.1177/13548565241238379","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/13548565241238379","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47242,"journal":{"name":"Convergence-The International Journal of Research Into New Media Technologies","volume":"105 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2024-03-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140071012","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-02-29DOI: 10.1177/13548565241236444
Amy Gaeta
{"title":"Book Review: The Two Revolutions: A History of the Transgender Internet","authors":"Amy Gaeta","doi":"10.1177/13548565241236444","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/13548565241236444","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47242,"journal":{"name":"Convergence-The International Journal of Research Into New Media Technologies","volume":"13 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2024-02-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140047853","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-02-28DOI: 10.1177/13548565241236440
Monique Santoso
{"title":"Book Review: Paul Roquet’s The Immersive Enclosure","authors":"Monique Santoso","doi":"10.1177/13548565241236440","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/13548565241236440","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47242,"journal":{"name":"Convergence-The International Journal of Research Into New Media Technologies","volume":"10 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2024-02-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140033249","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-02-27DOI: 10.1177/13548565241227398
Fern Conaghan
This article examines how the digitally manipulated family photograph functions as a means of understanding the temporal instability of the use and interpretations of photographic images. It begins by taking a close look at scholarly debates on how ‘credible’ the documentary value of a still photograph is, as well as how it is able to emotionally resonate with spectators. From this discussion, it becomes important to look at a key example of how an image can produce an emotional effect on a viewer; in this case, photographs of individuals’ deceased family members. While exploring how this allows the spectator to reconnect with their relatives, it is also crucial to acknowledge that readings of images like these are often determined by reductive interpretations of their stillness. As the consideration of photographs as ‘documents’ has been contested for an extensive amount of time, it is illuminating to turn to the properties of digital photography by inspecting the photo manipulation feature ‘Deep Nostalgia’ on the MyHeritage app that circulated around TikTok in 2021. I look at a YouTube compilation of people reacting to seeing photographs of their family manipulated in a way that gives the impression that they are moving and emoting, alongside discussions about this in recent pop culture articles. By taking a Barthesian reading of the extended temporality of these family photographs, it is important to recognise that the connection between the subject and the image is severed both iconically and indexically from its original context. However, by understanding this photographic image in the context of being digital it must be understood differently. I will therefore use the MyHeritage phenomenon as a means of arguing that the digital image is not inferior to the ‘realism’ of analogue photography and must, instead, be read in relation to the history of technological change.
{"title":"The digitally manipulated family photograph: MyHeritage’s ‘Deep Nostalgia’, and the extended temporality of the photographic image","authors":"Fern Conaghan","doi":"10.1177/13548565241227398","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/13548565241227398","url":null,"abstract":"This article examines how the digitally manipulated family photograph functions as a means of understanding the temporal instability of the use and interpretations of photographic images. It begins by taking a close look at scholarly debates on how ‘credible’ the documentary value of a still photograph is, as well as how it is able to emotionally resonate with spectators. From this discussion, it becomes important to look at a key example of how an image can produce an emotional effect on a viewer; in this case, photographs of individuals’ deceased family members. While exploring how this allows the spectator to reconnect with their relatives, it is also crucial to acknowledge that readings of images like these are often determined by reductive interpretations of their stillness. As the consideration of photographs as ‘documents’ has been contested for an extensive amount of time, it is illuminating to turn to the properties of digital photography by inspecting the photo manipulation feature ‘Deep Nostalgia’ on the MyHeritage app that circulated around TikTok in 2021. I look at a YouTube compilation of people reacting to seeing photographs of their family manipulated in a way that gives the impression that they are moving and emoting, alongside discussions about this in recent pop culture articles. By taking a Barthesian reading of the extended temporality of these family photographs, it is important to recognise that the connection between the subject and the image is severed both iconically and indexically from its original context. However, by understanding this photographic image in the context of being digital it must be understood differently. I will therefore use the MyHeritage phenomenon as a means of arguing that the digital image is not inferior to the ‘realism’ of analogue photography and must, instead, be read in relation to the history of technological change.","PeriodicalId":47242,"journal":{"name":"Convergence-The International Journal of Research Into New Media Technologies","volume":"7 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2024-02-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140025276","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-02-24DOI: 10.1177/13548565241236441
Chris DeFelice, Lance Porter
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the U.S. film industry, prompting major studios to release blockbuster films on streaming platforms. This study examines the impact of pandemic-related changes on the film industry by analyzing social media conversations on Twitter as a proxy for success. We introduce a novel metric to measure social word-of-mouth (sWOM) longevity for 40 movies released across different genres and franchises. Results indicate that pandemic-era films experienced shorter sWOM lifespans than pre-pandemic counterparts, and streaming releases generated shorter sWOM conversations than theatrical releases. This suggests that streaming releases risk quicker cultural obsolescence due to limited social media discussion time. This study offers valuable insights for industry practitioners navigating the evolving cinematic landscape.
{"title":"Theaters, social media, and streams: Evaluating social word-of-mouth patterns of pandemic-era blockbuster films on Twitter","authors":"Chris DeFelice, Lance Porter","doi":"10.1177/13548565241236441","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/13548565241236441","url":null,"abstract":"The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the U.S. film industry, prompting major studios to release blockbuster films on streaming platforms. This study examines the impact of pandemic-related changes on the film industry by analyzing social media conversations on Twitter as a proxy for success. We introduce a novel metric to measure social word-of-mouth (sWOM) longevity for 40 movies released across different genres and franchises. Results indicate that pandemic-era films experienced shorter sWOM lifespans than pre-pandemic counterparts, and streaming releases generated shorter sWOM conversations than theatrical releases. This suggests that streaming releases risk quicker cultural obsolescence due to limited social media discussion time. This study offers valuable insights for industry practitioners navigating the evolving cinematic landscape.","PeriodicalId":47242,"journal":{"name":"Convergence-The International Journal of Research Into New Media Technologies","volume":"114 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2024-02-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139953946","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-01-30DOI: 10.1177/13548565241226791
Jason Chao, Daniela van Geenen, Carolin Gerlitz, Fernando N van der Vlist
‘Digital methods’ turn to medium-specific and online avenues for social and cultural research. While these approaches foster empirical media studies, it has become increasingly challenging to ‘follow the medium’ and ‘repurpose’ its methods. The prominence of sensory media such as ‘smart’ networked devices (e.g. mobile phones) in mundane practices and their infrastructural dependencies confront media scholars with highly contingent objects of study. Yet, studying such sensor-based devices is crucial, for they enable continuous and unnoticed monitoring of everyday (inter)activity. The article suggests that developing digital methods for sensory media can be understood as specific ‘critical technical practice’ (CTP) by engaging with two toolmaking stories. It draws on and emphasises the fundamental similarity between CTP and digital methods which both aim at conjoining technical engagement and understanding with methodological reflection. The toolmaking stories explicate the making of and the limitations to developing digital methods for increasingly obfuscated mobile sensory media, exploring the possibilities of repurposing their functionality and data. They include building tools for app code analysis focused on apps’ capacity to track sensor data, as well as for ‘sensing’ and analysing network traffic of mobile devices in use. The featured toolmaking then unravels distinctive research affordances, that is, action possibilities for ‘static’ and ‘dynamic’ modes of analysis grappling with the technicity of mobile sensory media and their data. We argue that toolmaking as CTP for sensory media studies implies engaging with these media as entangled infrastructures, examining not just their social, but also their technical ‘multi-situatedness’. This involves investigating the ‘liveliness’ of their data, or how it is generated, processed and made sense of. In conclusion, we discuss implications for ‘doing digital methods’ in sensory media research. Toolmaking itself becomes an inevitable form of media research and critique, inviting and challenging researchers to deploy the media’s situatedness for their investigations.
{"title":"Digital methods for sensory media research: Toolmaking as a critical technical practice","authors":"Jason Chao, Daniela van Geenen, Carolin Gerlitz, Fernando N van der Vlist","doi":"10.1177/13548565241226791","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/13548565241226791","url":null,"abstract":"‘Digital methods’ turn to medium-specific and online avenues for social and cultural research. While these approaches foster empirical media studies, it has become increasingly challenging to ‘follow the medium’ and ‘repurpose’ its methods. The prominence of sensory media such as ‘smart’ networked devices (e.g. mobile phones) in mundane practices and their infrastructural dependencies confront media scholars with highly contingent objects of study. Yet, studying such sensor-based devices is crucial, for they enable continuous and unnoticed monitoring of everyday (inter)activity. The article suggests that developing digital methods for sensory media can be understood as specific ‘critical technical practice’ (CTP) by engaging with two toolmaking stories. It draws on and emphasises the fundamental similarity between CTP and digital methods which both aim at conjoining technical engagement and understanding with methodological reflection. The toolmaking stories explicate the making of and the limitations to developing digital methods for increasingly obfuscated mobile sensory media, exploring the possibilities of repurposing their functionality and data. They include building tools for app code analysis focused on apps’ capacity to track sensor data, as well as for ‘sensing’ and analysing network traffic of mobile devices in use. The featured toolmaking then unravels distinctive research affordances, that is, action possibilities for ‘static’ and ‘dynamic’ modes of analysis grappling with the technicity of mobile sensory media and their data. We argue that toolmaking as CTP for sensory media studies implies engaging with these media as entangled infrastructures, examining not just their social, but also their technical ‘multi-situatedness’. This involves investigating the ‘liveliness’ of their data, or how it is generated, processed and made sense of. In conclusion, we discuss implications for ‘doing digital methods’ in sensory media research. Toolmaking itself becomes an inevitable form of media research and critique, inviting and challenging researchers to deploy the media’s situatedness for their investigations.","PeriodicalId":47242,"journal":{"name":"Convergence-The International Journal of Research Into New Media Technologies","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2024-01-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139953938","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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