This article investigates the net neutrality policy-making process in Switzerland in the past decade, from first attempts to regulate net neutrality to the implementation of regulation in 2019. Based on a qualitative content analysis, the study assesses the arguments employed by various policy-making actors to advocate or prevent particular governance solutions. Results of the empirical analysis show that early attempts to regulate net neutrality failed, but discussions about its handling were continued during the revision of the Telecommunications Act. Though the government was ultimately in favor of including only transparency requirements in law, parliament stood up to government and industry and proposed a net neutrality regulation that is inspired by EU legislation.
{"title":"Parliament Against Government and Industry: How Switzerland Decided to Implement Net Neutrality Against All Odds","authors":"Natascha Just, M. Puppis","doi":"10.5167/UZH-176906","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5167/UZH-176906","url":null,"abstract":"This article investigates the net neutrality policy-making process in Switzerland in the past decade, from first attempts to regulate net neutrality to the implementation of regulation in 2019. Based on a qualitative content analysis, the study assesses the arguments employed by various policy-making actors to advocate or prevent particular governance solutions. Results of the empirical analysis show that early attempts to regulate net neutrality failed, but discussions about its handling were continued during the revision of the Telecommunications Act. Though the government was ultimately in favor of including only transparency requirements in law, parliament stood up to government and industry and proposed a net neutrality regulation that is inspired by EU legislation.","PeriodicalId":51388,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Communication","volume":"57 1","pages":"29"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2019-11-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79809161","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This study explores the patterns of news consumption of Russian users of Vkontakte, the most popular social media platform in Russia, based on a sample of 55,344 users. The analysis is conducted via a combination of network analysis techniques. It demonstrates that the majority of Vkontakte users do not subscribe to news sources, demonstrating that there is a politically apathetic majority and news-interested minority. And news subscribers are polarized along political lines. There is a distinct group of users who subscribe to pro-opposition-leaning politicized sources more than other users do. This study builds on research on polarization, selective exposure, and the role of social media in authoritarian regimes. It provides new empirical evidence on the way that selective exposure and polarization manifest themselves on a non-Western platform in an authoritarian state.
{"title":"News Consumption of Russian Vkontakte Users: Polarization and News Avoidance","authors":"Aleksandra Urman","doi":"10.7892/BORIS.142408","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7892/BORIS.142408","url":null,"abstract":"This study explores the patterns of news consumption of Russian users of Vkontakte, the most popular social media platform in Russia, based on a sample of 55,344 users. The analysis is conducted via a combination of network analysis techniques. It demonstrates that the majority of Vkontakte users do not subscribe to news sources, demonstrating that there is a politically apathetic majority and news-interested minority. And news subscribers are polarized along political lines. There is a distinct group of users who subscribe to pro-opposition-leaning politicized sources more than other users do. This study builds on research on polarization, selective exposure, and the role of social media in authoritarian regimes. It provides new empirical evidence on the way that selective exposure and polarization manifest themselves on a non-Western platform in an authoritarian state.","PeriodicalId":51388,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Communication","volume":"41 1","pages":"25"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2019-10-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80446525","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Matthias Hofer, E. Hargittai, Moritz Büchi, A. Seifert
As increasing numbers of older adults incorporate the Internet into their lives, it is important to go beyond studying whether being an Internet user makes a difference for this population by examining how specific uses and skills relate to subjective well-being. This study examines the association between online information seeking and life satisfaction as one defining component of subjective well-being among 643 Swiss Internet users aged 60 and over. We find a positive relationship between online information seeking and older adults’ life satisfaction. Inspired by digital inequality research, we then explore whether this relationship is moderated by Internet skills. Results suggest that with increasing Internet skills, the association between online information seeking and life satisfaction gets stronger. We discuss the findings in light of both research on well-being and on digital inequality.
{"title":"Older Adults’ Online Information Seeking and Subjective Well-Being: The Moderating Role of Internet Skills","authors":"Matthias Hofer, E. Hargittai, Moritz Büchi, A. Seifert","doi":"10.5167/UZH-175837","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5167/UZH-175837","url":null,"abstract":"As increasing numbers of older adults incorporate the Internet into their lives, it is important to go beyond studying whether being an Internet user makes a difference for this population by examining how specific uses and skills relate to subjective well-being. This study examines the association between online information seeking and life satisfaction as one defining component of subjective well-being among 643 Swiss Internet users aged 60 and over. We find a positive relationship between online information seeking and older adults’ life satisfaction. Inspired by digital inequality research, we then explore whether this relationship is moderated by Internet skills. Results suggest that with increasing Internet skills, the association between online information seeking and life satisfaction gets stronger. We discuss the findings in light of both research on well-being and on digital inequality.","PeriodicalId":51388,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Communication","volume":"55 1","pages":"18"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2019-09-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78145948","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Antonis Kalogeropoulos, Jane Suiter, L. Udris, Mark Eisenegger
The changes in how people consume news and the emergence of digital and distributed news sources call for a reexamination of the relationship between news use and trust in news. Previous research had suggested that alternative news use is correlated with lower levels of trust in news, whereas mainstream news use is correlated with higher levels of trust in news. Our research, based on a survey of news users in 35 countries, shows that using either mainstream or alternative news sources is associated with higher levels of trust in news. However, we find that using social media as a main source of news is correlated with lower levels of trust in news. When looking at country effects, we find that systemic factors such as the levels of press freedom or the audience share of the public service broadcaster in a country are not significantly correlated with trust in news.
{"title":"News Media Trust and News Consumption: Factors Related to Trust in News in 35 Countries","authors":"Antonis Kalogeropoulos, Jane Suiter, L. Udris, Mark Eisenegger","doi":"10.5167/UZH-175863","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5167/UZH-175863","url":null,"abstract":"The changes in how people consume news and the emergence of digital and distributed news sources call for a reexamination of the relationship between news use and trust in news. Previous research had suggested that alternative news use is correlated with lower levels of trust in news, whereas mainstream news use is correlated with higher levels of trust in news. Our research, based on a survey of news users in 35 countries, shows that using either mainstream or alternative news sources is associated with higher levels of trust in news. However, we find that using social media as a main source of news is correlated with lower levels of trust in news. When looking at country effects, we find that systemic factors such as the levels of press freedom or the audience share of the public service broadcaster in a country are not significantly correlated with trust in news.","PeriodicalId":51388,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Communication","volume":"17 1","pages":"22"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2019-08-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73239341","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-07-28DOI: 10.4135/9781452233239.n7
Thomas J. Billard
I argue for a new model of public scholarship in the field of communication—one that defines public-ness not in terms of publicity but in terms of the public good. Synthesizing work on public scholarship in communication and sociology with participatory action research frameworks, I narrate my experiences of fieldwork in the U.S. transgender rights movement. In doing so, I demonstrate the reciprocal benefits of fieldwork for both scholars and the publics served by social justice organizations. I further discuss the depths of public engagement permitted and achieved via fieldwork relative to publicity-centered scholarship. Finally, I address the ideal role of public engagement as scholars: contributing specialized skills and knowledge toward the mitigation of social problems. Ultimately, I argue, if a scholar publicly engages in issues of social justice without orienting their public work toward alleviating injustice, then they are actively sustaining the systems of oppression they benefit from researching.
{"title":"Out of the Tower and Into the Field: Fieldwork as Public Scholarship in the Face of Social Injustice","authors":"Thomas J. Billard","doi":"10.4135/9781452233239.n7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4135/9781452233239.n7","url":null,"abstract":"I argue for a new model of public scholarship in the field of communication—one that defines public-ness not in terms of publicity but in terms of the public good. Synthesizing work on public scholarship in communication and sociology with participatory action research frameworks, I narrate my experiences of fieldwork in the U.S. transgender rights movement. In doing so, I demonstrate the reciprocal benefits of fieldwork for both scholars and the publics served by social justice organizations. I further discuss the depths of public engagement permitted and achieved via fieldwork relative to publicity-centered scholarship. Finally, I address the ideal role of public engagement as scholars: contributing specialized skills and knowledge toward the mitigation of social problems. Ultimately, I argue, if a scholar publicly engages in issues of social justice without orienting their public work toward alleviating injustice, then they are actively sustaining the systems of oppression they benefit from researching.","PeriodicalId":51388,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Communication","volume":"4 1","pages":"17"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2019-07-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83704967","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Critical assessments of the recent resurgence of right-wing nationalism have rightly highlighted the role of social media in these troubling times, yet they are constrained by an overemphasis on celebrity leaders defined as populists. This article departs from a leader-centric analysis and the liberal frame that still largely informs assessment of political action, to foreground “fun” as a salient aspect of right-wing mobilization. Building on ethnographic fieldwork among the Hindu nationalists in India, I argue that fun is a metapractice that shapes the interlinked practices of fact-checking, abuse, assembly, and aggression among online volunteers for the right-wing movement. Furthermore, fun remains crucial for an experience of absolute autonomy among online users in ideological battles. Providing the daily drip feed for exclusion, fun as a metapractice bears a formal similarity to objectivity in its performative effects of distance and deniability.
{"title":"Extreme Speech| Nationalism in the Digital Age: Fun as a Metapractice of Extreme Speech","authors":"Sahana Udupa","doi":"10.5282/UBM/EPUB.69633","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5282/UBM/EPUB.69633","url":null,"abstract":"Critical assessments of the recent resurgence of right-wing nationalism have rightly highlighted the role of social media in these troubling times, yet they are constrained by an overemphasis on celebrity leaders defined as populists. This article departs from a leader-centric analysis and the liberal frame that still largely informs assessment of political action, to foreground “fun” as a salient aspect of right-wing mobilization. Building on ethnographic fieldwork among the Hindu nationalists in India, I argue that fun is a metapractice that shapes the interlinked practices of fact-checking, abuse, assembly, and aggression among online volunteers for the right-wing movement. Furthermore, fun remains crucial for an experience of absolute autonomy among online users in ideological battles. Providing the daily drip feed for exclusion, fun as a metapractice bears a formal similarity to objectivity in its performative effects of distance and deniability.","PeriodicalId":51388,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Communication","volume":"64 4","pages":"22"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2019-07-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"72472239","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-03-14DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-70443-2
Gregory Gondwe
{"title":"Bruce Mutsvairo (Ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Media and Communication Research in Africa","authors":"Gregory Gondwe","doi":"10.1007/978-3-319-70443-2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70443-2","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":51388,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Communication","volume":"126 1","pages":"3"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2019-03-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73317715","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
There is increasing concern and scholarship about how algorithms influence users’ online experiences. Yet, little of the work is empirical in nature, leaving many questions about whether users recognize how algorithms affect their online actions and whether they can address the influence of algorithms skillfully. To address this gap, we draw on interviews with creative entrepreneurs from across the United States to examine the extent to which they understand how algorithms may impact their sales success. Participants reveal varying levels of algorithmic skills, or know-how, when it comes to understanding how algorithms influence their content’s visibility. Although many recognize that algorithms affect who sees their wares online, only some know how to set things up so as to improve their chances of reaching potential customers.
{"title":"“It’s Like Learning a Whole Other Language\": The Role of Algorithmic Skills in the Curation of Creative Goods","authors":"E. Klawitter, E. Hargittai","doi":"10.5167/UZH-168021","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5167/UZH-168021","url":null,"abstract":"There is increasing concern and scholarship about how algorithms influence users’ online experiences. Yet, little of the work is empirical in nature, leaving many questions about whether users recognize how algorithms affect their online actions and whether they can address the influence of algorithms skillfully. To address this gap, we draw on interviews with creative entrepreneurs from across the United States to examine the extent to which they understand how algorithms may impact their sales success. Participants reveal varying levels of algorithmic skills, or know-how, when it comes to understanding how algorithms influence their content’s visibility. Although many recognize that algorithms affect who sees their wares online, only some know how to set things up so as to improve their chances of reaching potential customers.","PeriodicalId":51388,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Communication","volume":"31 1","pages":"21"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2018-09-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78842556","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Grant Bollmer, Inhuman Networks: Social Media and the Archaeology of Connection","authors":"J. Sylvia","doi":"10.5040/9781501316180","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5040/9781501316180","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":51388,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Communication","volume":"37 1","pages":"4"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2018-07-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87297500","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Communication Ecology of 21st Century Urban Communities","authors":"Jeffrey Lane","doi":"10.3726/b13168","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3726/b13168","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":51388,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Communication","volume":"177 1","pages":"4"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2018-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79908006","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"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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