ICA25 – International Communication Association Day 2

Scholarship continues into day 2… Took a chance on a random room and it was amazing. I learnt quite a bit about Bangladesh media, its regime, and the role news and media plays in this space.

Full notes from sessions below:

PARTNER PANEL: South Asia Communication Association (SACA)
Chairs(s): Zahedur Arman (Framingham State University) and Shafiqur Rahman (South Carolina U)
Discussant(s): MD Tareq Hossain (National University of Singapore), Zahedur Arman (Framingham State University), Uma Shankar Pandey (Surendranath College), Dilshad Hossain Dudul (Independent U of Bangladesh), Mohammad Ala-Uddin (Saint May’s College), Waqas Mahmood (GIFT University, Gujranwala), ANIRUDDHA JENA (INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT KASHIPUR), Didarul Islam (Central New Mexico Community College), Aakash Shaw (U of Calcutta), Janifar Kamal Nova (Southern Illinois U ), Abu Ahmed, Sherin Farhana Moni, Khairul Islam (State University of New York at Oswego), Khadimul Islam (Chadron State College) and Nur E Makbul (U of Alabama)
9:00 AM – 10:15 AM; Quartz (Regency 3)

  • Life without Twitter in India – Snowball sampling, 18-34, n=1200
  • Users are mainly Facebook and Twitter
  • Key issues: cyber bullying and wellbeing

Creating the Bubble: Newsmedia role in checking the Global South

  • Bangladesh: examine selected text from selected press conferences. How do news media outlets exercise their journalistic freedom under the former regime?
  • Challenges the norms of journalism, asking questions that are journalistic oriented, they would first praise the leader without criticism of major policies, then shifting to challenging questions.

In search of Habamasian Ideals – Abu Ahmed, Sherin Farhana Moni, Khairul Islam (State University of New York at Oswego)

  • Broad (very) overview of public sphere, natioanl debate, inclusivity, all members of public

International Law in Kashmir and India and the spread of misinformation

  • No studies on how governments shut down internet to stop misinformation
  • RQ: how do governments limit the spread of misinformation in India
  • Frame: political economy
  • Misonfomraiotn happening for a long time makes the people more pessimistic
  • Laws adopt to reflect this. make power more visible
  • Public trust is declining (like most global areas) wht are the factors that are impoacting thisn in Bagledash
  • There is s media reform underway in this country

10:30 AM-11:45 AM, Colorado B (Grand 2), HIGH-DENSITY: Digital Escapes: Problematic Media Use and Family Dynamics, High-Density Paper Session, Children, Adolescents and Media, Chairs: Allyson Snyder, U of California – Davis

Family Under the Screen: Problematic Mobile Media Use as a Family Issue and Its Relation to Children’s Self-Esteem, Parental Self- Efficacy and the Parent-Child Relationship Nele Janssens; K. Beullens

  • Affordances vs. problematic mobile media use (PMMU)
  • Research adopts a ‘family systems approach’ research understood as part of the family system
  • Assumes PMMU leads to lower self esteem
  • Smartphone Addiction Proneness Scale (SAPs) check this here; https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0097920
  • Many of these scholars are part of the Media Psychology Lab: https://soc.kuleuven.be/smc

Parent Problematic Media Use, Child Emotional Reactivity, and Household Income Relate to Parent Reliance on Media Emotion Regulation Strategies J. Shawcroft; A.L. Snyder; D.P. Cingel; J.B. Ruiz

  • Emotional regulation – using media to calm or soothe children, not necessarily bad, and can be used in conjunction with other approaches to stressful situations
  • This research focuses on resources: internal: screens etc. , external: family, housing etc.
  • Published paper here

Smartphones as Surrogate Attachment: Examining Digital Dependency and Emotional Bonds Among Left-Behind Children in China F. Yu; K. Wang

  • Nomophobia – no mobile phone phobia
  • Phones as surrogate attachment – reasons for using smartphones: connections, relaxation, environment knowledge, reduced anxiety and discomfort
  • Something about insert numbers and that equals children need phones when parents aren’t around

The Growth of Maternal Technoference Across Early Childhood and Associations With Child Problematic Media Use S. Ashby; S. Coyne; J. Shawcroft; M. Van Alfen; P. James; H. Holmgren; T. Austin

  • Technoference (phubbing) – the disruptions from technology between children and parents
  • Linked to higher stress and behaviour problems
  • 7 year longitudinal study, 0.5- 6.5 year olds

Understanding Problematic Video Game and Mobile Phone Use in Chilean Children: The Role of Family Support and Parental Mediation P. Cabello; Matias Dodel; N. Delgado; M. Claro; P. Véliz

The Impact of Emotional Neglect on Internet Addiction Among Left-Behind Adolescents in Rural China: A Moderated Mediation Model H. Jiang; L. ZHONG; V. Huaxng; R. Zhong

  • 15 million ‘left behind’ adolescents in China, parents move to urban area to make more money, but cannot bring their children, resulting in lack of education, and experiencing emotional neglect
  • Internet addiction is 18.3% higher in this group of young people
  • Published paper available here

12:00 PM-1:15 PM, Mineral A (Regency 3), Youth and Popular Culture, Standard Paper Session, Popular Media & Culture, Chairs: Miriam Rahali, The London School of Economics & Political Science

The Promises and Perils of Being a Popular Youth Online Content Creator Rebecca Ortiz; S. Condemi; K. Leahy; V. Hidalgo Garcia; S. Ramasubramanian

  • Trans parasocial relation framework
  • I hour interview with content creators, 10-17 years old, at least 3000 followers
  • Let participants identify themselves (ethnicity, pronouns, neurodiversity, etc.)
  • Tensions between online/offline – more like relationships that are not online
  • Enacted online personas – once popularity emerges, they started thinking more about fame by changing and shifting their persona. “authenticity and the real content creator”
  • Implications: constructing and affirming their personas, balancing authenticity against impression management, performative labour, navigating layers of risk
  • Engages Communication Theory of Identity

1:30 PM-2:45 PM, Grays Peak B (Grand Conv Center 2), The Yuck Factor: Digital Disgust, Rhetorics of Repulsion, and Cultural Critiques in Food Media, Panel Session, Popular Media & Culture, Participant: S. Marek Muller , Texas State U; Participant: Banu Akdenizli, Northwestern U – Qatar; Participant: Sun Young Park, Florida State U; Participant: Diana Willis, U at Albany – SUNY; Participant: Antara Dey, York U


From Culinary Bridges to Cultural Barriers: The ‘Yuk Factor’ in Food Media and its Impact on Gastrodiplomacy B. Akdenizli

  • Try not to gag reactions – disgust as communication/entertainment
  • Binary between west and other food types
  • “This can’t be real”, “WTF” – normalising cultural translations
  • Gastro-diplomacy and state-led narratives
  • How about this: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780429465543-25/guide-gastrodiplomacy-paul-rockower


Disgust as a Communicative Tool in Food Media Sunny Park

  • Food is popular (TikTok) but gross-out content is rising, or gaining attention
  • Broad overview of ‘disgust’ and its psychological mechanisms (cognitive, emotional, behavioural, gagging etc.)
  • Boundary setting: contamination, cultural, purity
  • Framing theory (Goffman, 1974) and purity and danger (Douglas, 1966)
  • Inductive coding from 150 TikTok videos – results to come

Nostalgia, Disgust, and Demon Quiche: B. Dylan Hollis’ Playful Critique of Mid-Century Cuisine Diana Willis

  • Communication through Mid-Century America: clothes, language, references, recipes
  • Disgust through language and vision
/by

International Communication Association Conference – Day 1

Monkey Bar Denver

After a wonderful plenary last night that provoked us to think about who we are and how we respond, individually and as an association, to the current political environment, Day 1 for me has been a great experience. Much quality scholarship emerging from the Popular Media and Culture, and Children and Media streams.

Here’s the following notes from the sessions I attended:

9:00 AM-10:15 AM, Capitol 6 (Regency 4), Subcultures, Subgroups, and Sublayers, Standard Paper Session, Popular Media & Culture, Chairs: Chengbao Jin, Shanghai University

Rita Genser – Engineering Adaptive Conspiracies: Cults and the Case of QAnon

  • Framework, cultish language Subculture Evolution model (establishment, implosion
  • Users look for the movement, had a mysterious connection with the figure Q
  • Emergence of specialised jargon ‘Anons’
  • Working together on a common goal – the connection of Q with Trump
  • The ‘Covfefe’ method (Trump Tweet)

Jiahui Xing – Regulating the Past: The Role and Unexpected Empowerment of Hanfu Experts in Chinese Costume Drama Production

  • Hanfu and costume drama
  • Drama trends are declining, the NRTA introduced new policy (? I missed the name)
  • Genre trend: ancient drama – they believe it has a bad impact on society and these were banned
  • RQ: does theatre strategies work anymore?
  • Cultural intermediaries (Hanfu Experts) – transfer the knowledge of the Hanfu to the society (contemporary China)
  • Four layer legitimation Mechanism – regulation, industrialisation, institutionalisation, populisation
  • Vietnamese drama are produced in China, using the costume from China (Hanfu), causing cultural tension between the two
  • Intermediation has not restricted but empowered, Hanfu became cultural intermediation

10:30 AM-11:45 AM, Grays Peak A (Grand Conv Center 2), Artificial Intelligence, Algorithms, and Digital Interactive Entertainment, Standard Paper Session, Popular Media & Culture, Chairs: Hilde Van den Bulck, Drexel U; Chairs: Hui Lin, Kings College London

[Chaos finding the right room/building]

Museum Interestingness and Aesthetic Interaction: The Evolution From Intuitive to Embodied Cognition X. Chen; J. Jiang; J. Li

  • Cognitive processing mechanisms for exhibition understanding
  • Integration of design elements with visitor cognitive characteristics

Hui Lin – Challenging the Algorithms: Users’ Resistant Strategies on Douyin

  • PhD candidate – early finding and thesis overview
  • Framework – EchoChamber and filter bubbles, Algorithmic Surveillance, stereotyped categorisation and identity construction (Cheney et al.)
  • RQ: why use Doutin when algorithims have negative impact?
  • Folk theories (Eslama et al. 2016), Influencing user behaviour
  • Algorithmic resistance
  • Walk Through method (Ben et al.)
  • 31 young urban users (18-35), week-long video recordings and interview
  • 6 month recruitment (q: Is this population representative?)
  • Users resist when the algorithm is used in various ways – even resistance (commercial exploitation)
  • Check out the Social Media + Society article
  • https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/20563051251313610

12:00 PM-1:15 PM, Capitol 4 (Regency 4), HIGH-DENSITY: Growing Up Online: Social Media and Adolescent Mental Health, High-Density Paper Session, Children, Adolescents and Media, Chairs: Sarah Ashby, Brigham Young University

Social Media Use and Loneliness: A Longitudinal Study of Adolescents in South Korea S. Vigil; J. Shawcroft; D.P. Cingel; H. Lee

  • High density of users/increased loneliness – is there a connection?
  • 958 users aged 14-18, Differential Susceptibility to media effects model, social media use
  • Results – no causal relationship, peer belonging acts as a protective factor, FOMO but social media doesn’t make this worse, use remained stable over time

The Swiss Cheese Model of Social Cues: A Theoretical Perspective on the Role of Social Context in Shaping Social Media’s Effect on Adolescent Well-Being J. Trekels; E.H. Telzer

  • Youth feel connected with their friends but feel pressure to be the best version of themselves
  • Media effects: selective, transactional, conditional, however these theories miss the physical, cognitive and social changes young people go through
  • Friends are key to development, more nuanced to social cues, access through social media
  • Swiss cheese model – social cues on platforms, social cues in the surroundings, in the individual (neuro) context
  • Published here: https://academic.oup.com/joc/advance-article/doi/10.1093/joc/jqaf001/8029825?searchresult=1

The Influence of Adolescent Depression on Social Media Experiences: Evidence From a Daily Diary Study L. Janssen; P.M. Valkenburg; L. Keijsers; I. Beyens

  • Do adolescents experience social media differnet to those who do not have depressive perspectives:
  • 479 Dutch, 14-17, 100 day diary study
  • Baseline survey Reynolds Adolescent Depression Scale (Reynolds, 2005) – 17% depressed
  • Some results:Those who were depressed are more preoccupied with feedback from their peers
  • Self reinforcing feedback loop, e.g. someone who feels rejected may have those feelings reinforced
  • AWeSome is the space of research – https://www.project-awesome.nl/for-researchers

Experiences: Evidence From a Daily Diary Study L. Janssen; P.M.

Daily Links Between Adolescents’ Perceived Digital Well-Being, State Self-Esteem, and Affective Well-Being J. Rosič; R. Vanherle; L. Vandenbosch

  • Perceive well-being is when users are more happy than not (?), cognitive domain,
  • 14 day diary study
  • Results when users perceived higher digital well being they also recorded higher perceived self esteem – all fairly typical outcomes for this kind of research within this field of research. It is supportive of existing research.

[Sideline thoughts – the gender of the researchers is significantly skewed towards female (like, 1 male/non-binary), no tlak of platforms, but instead ‘social media’, nothing seems to challenge the status quo. Perhaps this is psychology?)

Appnome Analysis Reveals Small or No Associations Between Social Media App-Specific Usage and Adolescent Well-Being Y. Liu; L. Marciano

  • Trying to understand the relationship between social media use and well being
  • Outlines the existing methods, but introducing user-donated screenshots – usage times from phone, provides app overviews
  • Relationships between apps and well-being? used HappyB Study Being, (?)
  • Results: no causality between social media use and negative well-being
  • Nod to what is the correct time to measure this kind of research (avoiding cherry picking insights) – good persepctive here

Diverse Platforms, Diverse Effects: A 100-Day Diary Study on Social Media and Adolescent Mental Health A. van der Wal; I. Beyens; L. Janssen; P.M. Valkenburg

  • Gap – how effects vary within individuals across multiple dimensions
  • Frame- within-person unity, within-person duality
  • Method, diary: 44,211 daily diary entries (questionnaire sent each night at 7:30pm)
  • Dynamic structural equation modelling (DSEM)
  • Found there is a negative effect on YouTube, TikTok and Instagram; positive or neutral effect on WhatsApp and Snapchat

Performance and Toxicity: The Relationship Between Toxic Communication During Adolescent Videogame Play and Performance -Contingent Self-Esteem E.J. Noon; L. Carbone; L. Vandenbosch

  • Reciprocal Mediation Model: in gaming they come across toxic activity, primarily against women

4:30 PM-5:45 PM, Mt. Oxford (Grand 3), Critical Perspectives on Gender, Race and Ethnicity, and Sexuality, Standard Paper Session, Popular Media & Culture, Chairs: Radhika Parameswaran, Indiana U Bloomington

“Sexy Side of Queerness”: Provocative LGBTQ+ Artists’ Music Videos and Commentary About Sexual Content Clay Williams

  • Sam Smith & Troy Sivan – 2023 provocative video
  • Content discourse across six music videos
  • Self esteem – larger people demonstrated higher levels of esteem with videos of a “larger body condition” as per Williams
  • Exposure to thinner music videos decreased self esteem, this has also been found in the heterosexual men category
  • First study on GBTQ+ provocative entertainment and effects

A Critical (Rhetorical) Fabulation of Indigenous Trans Women in the United States Andy A. Acosta

  • Hip Hop elements (authenticity measures); styles drill, bounce, etc. traumacore: sexual assault therapy
  • Case study: Bobby Sanchez
  • Theory: Critical Fabulation; Artifacts: four albums
  • Indigenous Hip Hop: deliberative rhetoric – digging into the lyrics that cross sexual orientation
  • Critical rhetorical fabulation – Indigenous hip hop that demonstrates the connection between music and politics

Fashioning Identities: How Chinese Youth Reconstruct Hanfu and Social Identities on Social Media Y. Dai

  • Definition – Fashion as per the Han people: fashion, non-Western fashion, nationalism in Hanfu Studies
  • RQs: What are the instutions shaping Hanfu culture? Gen Z representing? Digital practices shaping aesthetics?
  • Self-Orientalism: a pushed form of reappropriating Hanfu for China’s national image (that are 56 cultural groups)

“Them’s a Rat”: Queerness and Inclusive Communities in World of Warcraft Andrew Restieri

  • WoW celebrated its 20th year last year – I feel old
  • RQs: How LGBTG+ find community, what support is there, what do they tell us about online inclusivity?
  • 17 semi structured interviews, snowballing sampling from a guild on Discord. Interesting how participants were reluctant when Zoom was introduced as the preferred platform
  • Results: most time toxic and not inclusive, many use voice changers, users were terrified of being mis-gendered
  • Meaningful connections: some were extra connection activities, but many expressed there is nothing beyond the online experience
/by

Navigating Research Goals for 2025: A Personal Roadmap

Man thinking about research in 2025

New year. New me.

That seems to be the catch cry on every piece of social media coming my way just now. That couldn’t be further from the truth for my professional world! I think I want go with the catch cry from my new neighbour – ‘just stand up’ (which is a reference to trying to get out of bed in the early morning when doing a marathon training block). I think ‘just stand up’ can actually apply to much of my life this year.

There will be new things underway, which one would expect, but it is much the same in my research world. I did spend some time as I started back at work thinking about research in 2025 – grants, projects, outputs, conferences. I think is especially important given I will be on research leave for the second half of this year.

Let’s break my thoughts down (realistically, this is a bit of a roadmap for me to follow this year to keep track of things).

Research Ares of Interest – in development

Social Media Disengagement – could be helpful to revamp this area in 2025.

Vietnam – Phase 1 of Sydney Vietnam Media Innovation Hub.

WeChat Official Accounts – working on TikTok scraper with Sydney Informatics Hub.

Media policy – continuation of research into media and its regulatory/governance approaches.

TikTok – creator culture based on Discovery Project work.

Underspheres – continuing GenAI work with Stilinovic and Bailo.

Projects Underway

TikTok Discovery Project

IDPO

Vietnam Platforms

Conferences

International Communication Association (ICA) – Denver Colorado, 12-16 June. Papers to present: Moral Media Panics (rejected), Creative underspheres (rejected), Creator Studies (under review).

International Association of Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) – Singapore, 13-17 July. Papers in preparation: Media Moral Panics (Humphry & Page Jeffery); WeChat Official Accounts (Dwyer, Xu & Wang); Vietnam Platform Studies (Solo).

Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR) – Brazil, 15-18 October. Papers in Preparation: Media Moral Panics (Humphry & Page Jeffery); Vietnam Platform Studies (Solo).

Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand Communication Association (AANZCA) – Sunshine Coast, November (?). Papers to present: Vietnam Platform Studies (Solo).

Grants

Preoccupied by platforms: Vietnam and its platform society. Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, 2025.


Understanding and preventing social media-driven ‘performance crime’. Australian Research Council Discover Project Scheme, 2025.

S

S

Standard Measures of Effect (LOE2). Department of Defence, 2025.

Grants in Development

I

GenAI Influencers – Ikea Foundation.

Vietnam Platformization – International Initiative for Impact Evaluation.

Outputs

Revisit Hobbs and I article from 2021, political influencers

Recast failed Journal of Computer Mediated Comms article for Qual Research/International Journal of Qual Methods

Caring as Journalistic Practice with Diana Bossio (Digital Journalism)

Matchpoint for Creativity with Chunmeizi Su for SI Global Media & China

Media as Method with Justine Humphry and Olga Boichak for Qual Methods

Moral Media Panics with Justine Humphry, Cat Page Jeffery for Children and Media

PSM and Media Industries for RIPE book (solo)

Outputs Under Review

AI and Creative Industries with Terry Flew and Wenjia Tang, Book Chapter

Vietnamese Digital Media (solo), Media International Australia

Creative Underspheres with Stilinovic and Bailo, New Media & Society.

L

So, there’s quite a bit underway and in development in my research land for 2025. Guess I just need to stand up and get it done. I’m very much looking forward to continuing this work while also spending the second half of this year seeking my next area of scholarship and commencing work on book number four.

/by
,

Sydney Vietnam Innovation Symposium

Yesterday, I attended the Sydney Vietnam Innovation Symposium both as a delegate and as an invited speaker. The event is a major milestone in the development in the work so far from our Sydney Vietnam Academic Network, which now has incredible support from the University of Sydney, the NSW Government, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), and Austrade among many others. A big congratulations to Professor Greg Fox and Associate Professor Jane Gavan for their tireless work in this space, and for such a successful symposium.

It seems the ‘physical’ Network will be realised sooner rather than later.

There were a a great number of addresses, roundtables and research presentations during the day which provided such a solid foundation for the next five to ten years of work in the country (apparently it takes 20 to 30 years to do research in Vietnam, as one of the presenters noted!).

Speakers

Dignitaries of the morning included:

  • Professor Mark Scott, Vice Chancellor and President of the University of Sydney
  • Honourable Minister Mr Bri Anoulack Chanthivong, NSW Minister for Innovation, Science and Technology & Minister for Trade
  • Honourable Bui Thanh Son, Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Socialist Party, Vietnam

Some of the crucial take aways included the fact that Vietnam is number 13 in the top 20 countries Australia has included in the Australian Innovation Strategy, its GDP was $6billion in 2022, NSW is committed to working with the country, it is a model of how countries can bring their people out of poverty through economic transformation, there is a strong focus on its tech precinct and ‘night time’ economies.

The event was also a celebration of 50 years of collaborative science and technology research between Australia and Vietnam.

Opportunities

One of the huge research potentials is the Aus4Innovation hosted by CSIRO. The Aus4Innovation scheme is:

Aus4Innovation is an AUD$33.5 million development assistance program that aims to strengthen Vietnam’s innovation system, prepare for and embrace opportunities associated with Industry 4.0, and help shape Vietnam’s innovation agenda in science and technology. Through the Aus4Innovation program, Australia and Vietnam will work together to explore emerging areas of technology and digital transformation, trial new models for partnerships between public and private sector institutions, and strengthen Vietnamese capability in digital foresight, scenario planning, commercialisation, and innovation policy.

https://research.csiro.au/aus4innovation/

It’s great for agriculture just now, but they do rotate the focus – keen to keep an eye on this scheme for when its digital comms time.

Layton Pike (RMIT) spoke about the pioneering work that had been done by RMIT in Vietnam and that approaching the country as a consortium of universities is better than vying for leadership. There are 100million people with about 22 million students – one university can’t service all of those students. He also made me aware of the Australian Vietnam Policy Institute (AVPI) which is a useful clearing house of research and public poloicy. Excellent resource.

I also met Ngheim Long, the President of the Vietnamese Australian Scholars & Experts Association (VASEA). They are a reasonably new organisation, but seem to be an emerging peak body for Vietnamese scholars.

And while I missed this year’s round, the New Colombo Plan PhD Scholarship scheme will be front and centre for 2025 research. Engaging a cross-country PhD seems like the obvious way to build research momentum now.

Research

One thing that blew my mind came from the Medicine Faculty, specifically a cancer researcher. Professor Robyn Ward is my new favourite human in the world. Beyond just a stellar career of health research, she and her team have been tasked with addressing a Research Impact Assessment Framework. It feels like there is qualitative research trickling into the Sciences here? Anyway, it was a revelation to think about these things from a Medicine perspective, such as multiple stakeholder perspectives on impact (for me I read that as cultural value). So establishing a framework that is designed by the stakeholders on what they think is important – in this case knowing something works, culture, partnerships, sustainability, engagement, etc. etc. This can then result in a ‘score card’ to measure research engagement based on the importance to a variety of stakeholders. WHAT IF I DID THIS FOR CULTURE? Theme 1 of my Future Fellowship just became so much more interesting now… A Cultural Impact Assessment Framework.

Also, I spoke. It was a kind of tough crowd as the majority of delegates were Health Science, Medicine and Science scholars (we are only three from FASS – Museum Studies, Economics and Media Comms)

‘

/by
, ,

Civic Algorithms: A digital intermediation challenge

Recently, I was invite to deliver a keynote for a joint session with the News and Media Research Center and the Centre for Deliberative Democracy to explore the ideas and concepts of digital intermediation.

The blurb:

How might generative artificial intelligence (AI) and automation be undertaken to produce social good? In an increasingly automated digital media world, user agency is challenged through the loss of interaction functionality on the platforms, technologies and interfaces of everyday digital media use. Instead, algorithmically designed decision making processes function for users to assist them in making sense of these environments as a means of assisting them to seek out content that is relevant, of interest and entertaining. However, if the last five years are anything to go by, these sorts of recommendations, particularly across social media, have caused anything but social cohesion and unity amongst users, and have instead spread misinformation, vitriol and hurtful media. Would our society be different had we designed systems that focused on, while still entertaining, content that places the wellbeing of humans at the forefront over content that is, for the most part, popular?

This presentation uses the lens of digital intermediation to explore how civic algorithms might be designed and implemented in digital spaces to improve social cohesion. By unpacking the technologies, institutions and automation surrounding the cultural production practices of digital intermediation, it becomes clearer how these leavers can be adjusted to nudge and encourage platforms, users and content creators to engage in improved civic processes. As a digital intermediation challenge, creating and working with civic algorithms presents as a potentially useful approach towards improving the cornerstone of our democracies by ensuring citizens have access to accurate information, are engaging in the discussions that are important and relevant to them, and are operating within digital environments that value social good alongside commercial gains.

And here’s the recording of the session, slides included:

/by
, ,

My First Quarter as Chair of Discipline

Floating in water

It’s been a while since I’ve published anything here. Hi, and welcome back!

In my academic career, much has been happening which may explain my silence. I’ve been super busy with research while also undertaking some of the most important leadership roles of my professional career. Right now, I hold the three executive roles of Editor-in-Chief of the Policy & Internet Journal, President of the Australian and New Zealand Communication Association (ANZCA), and the Chair of Discipline, Media and Communication at the University of Sydney.

In this post, I’m going to focus on the latter leadership role (Chair of Discipline) and describe how my first six months in the role has gone.

Where I’m at right now

8ish years ago, as a young Level B scholar and just after my own PhD journey, I sat with my Chair of Department and my Head of School to talk about my career goals as an academic. Today, as Chair of Discipline, I sat with my Head of School and one of our newest Level B colleagues and spoke about their goals for their academic career. I walked out chuffed with my progression in this life path, but also thankful for those in front of me who supported, guided, shielded, prompted, directed, and generally helped along the way.

For me, today was an important reminder of the trail we leave behind us and how working with our next generation is crucial for everyone. It’s only academia, but it’s bigger than that, too.

I also had the opportunity to sit with my Head of School (HoS) today and just get to know each other. It was lovely! It was also an opportunity for us both to share our stories on how we ended up where we are today. While I was fascinated with my HoS ‘s story, and some of the similarities, it was a moment to reflect on how I’ve grown and developed over the last while. I’m happy and focussed for the minute, and have a new found passion in my professional life.

What I’ve learned in the last six months

It’s hard to try to compact what I’ve learned in the last six months into a few lines, but if I can summarise it – the ability to listen a broad range of people, understand individual perspectives, and to then make the best decision on how to proceed.

When I was working in live production, we would rehearse shows and working as a collection of experts in each medium (audio, video, lighting, producing, etc.) we would work through a series of scheduled motions. Most times it was perfect, but there was also unexpected problems that pop up. That pressure and immediacy of making decisions that was informed and directed at success is not unlike the Chair role.

My first six months in the role was learning from my predecessor, while also meeting with everyone around me to understand their needs. There were a few calls I had to make in terms of direction, and most were fine, but it was really about listening.

Now, I move into a more driving mode and need to listen to what is at play from around my own Discipline and think how to position us for the next 12 months. This is tough, but again something that is not done in solo mode but with the input of everyone around me. It’s exciting, and a bit terrifying at the same time.

Where to from here?

So. I have some new skills and am keen to keep developing these. But as I look towards my next step post these leadership roles, I’m also focussed on succession planning. I’m beginning to think about who will be in the chair next and what they need to be ready to take over.

Just as those who paved the way for me, it’s my responsibility to provide the opportunity to the next gen.

Providing opportunities is probably the most important thing I’ve learned in this gig.

Photo by Evie S. on Unsplash

/by
,

Intelligent Newsbots? AI in conversational journalism

Recently, I presented some emerging research on newsbots, that builds on the work Heather Ford and I did in 2018.

As part of this developing research, I examined 16 newsbots to understand to what level the automation is, what are the issues at play, and how the news is integrated ‘automatically’. The outcomes are still emerging, but there are some interesting preliminary findings to go through from the first parse.

It was excellent to be given a stage at the 2023 ADM+S Symposium to present these preliminary findings, while also talking with some of the leading industry and academic people in this space.

Below is a recording of that session. Please enjoy the session:

/by
, ,

New Book: Digital Intermediation

It is with great pleasure I can share the publication of my new book, Digital Intermediation: Unseen Infrastructure for Cultural Production.

https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781003177388/digital-intermediation-jonathon-hutchinson

This book offers a new framework for understanding content creation and distribution across automated media platforms – a new mediatisation process. The book draws on three years of empirical and theoretical research to carefully identify and describe a number of unseen digital infrastructures that contribute to predictive media (algorithmic platforms) within the media production process: digital intermediation. The empirical field data is drawn from several international sites, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, London, Amsterdam, Munich, Berlin, Hamburg, Sydney and Cartagena. By highlighting the automated content production and distribution process, the book responds to a number of regulatory debates emerging around the societal impact of platformisation. Digital Intermediation: Towards transparent digital infrastructure describes and highlights the importance of key developments that help shape the production and distribution of content, including micro-platformization and digital first personalities. The book explains how digital agencies and multichannel networks use platforms strategically to increase exposure for the talent they manage, while providing inside access to the processes and requirements of developers who create algorithms for platforms. The findings in this book provide key recommendations for policy makers working within digital media platforms based on the everyday operation of content production and consumption within automated media environments. Finally, this book highlights user agency as a strategy for consumers who seek information on automated social media content distribution platforms.

As with all new publications, Routledge have provided a 20% discount for all purchases – please use code AFL03.

Also, a series of book launches are underway from August through to October in Australia, so looking forward to seeing those who can travel to the following locations:

  • 9 August – News and Media Research Centre, University of Canberra
  • 20 September – Digital Media and Research Centre, Queensland University of Technology
  • 27 September – AI Governance and Trust in Digital Societies, University of Sydney
  • 19 October – RMIT University
/by

2022 Policy & Internet Conference

Womens College

We have just completed the 2022 Policy & Internet Conference, which we held at the University of Sydney at the picturesque Women’s College.

This is the first time the conference has been held outside of the Oxford Internet Institute (OII) and was an opportunity to bring scholars and policy advocates together to discuss the current state of affairs for internet and policy now. It was also a chance to focus the direction of the journal for the next 12 months and direct the scholarship, too.

Day One

Day one was opened by our own Professor John Hartley who laid out a clear argument for why global internet policy is not a thing and that we should be looking towards younger, local audiences to see better forms of regulation. It was wonderful to have such a provocation that went through the remainder of the conference and was a welcomed touch point to refer to with each of the following sessions.

We then heard from Matthew Nguyen, Damar Juniarto and Jay Daniel Thompson to explain some of the critical concerns of internet policy from their respective regions. The key issues emerging were the increasing takedown/censorship issues from Southeast Asian country governments that work with big tech platform providers, alongside the lack of co-design and consultation for regulatory design.

Our second keynote speaker was Associate Professor Crystal Abidin who took us through her three years of DECRA research data that has explored the Southeast Asian region specifically looking at the social media influencers cultures. Through this talk, it became obvious there is a lack of regulatory oversight for the influencer industry from young people, agencies and general practices for most stakeholders in the field.

This observation was cemented with the final panel for the day that was a result of the special issue (15, 4) from Policy & Internet that specifically looked at the influencers in the Asia Pacific Region. We heard from four of the authors who presented work on YouTubers, livestreamers and TikTokers.

Day Two

Day two was opened by Associate Professor Tanya Lokot who expertly explained how the Ukraine environment is under a networked authoritarian regime. One of the most inspiring take-aways from Tanya’s presentation was how new forms of resilience were emerging, including through collaborative measures with satellite providers (yes, Elon Musk) and through state initiatives that have been established to improve and secure user data.

Following Associate Professor Lokot was the first panel of the day which was chaired by Professor Terry Flew and included Dr Joanne Gray, Associate Professor Diana Bossio, Professor Kim Weatherall and Professor Julian Thomas. It was excellent to hear these well versed, experienced and critical scholars outline the issues with platform governance and regulation right now. The two takeaways for me were the lack of coordination for everyone who is doing work on regulation for platforms at the moment (many individuals are overworked) , and the need for policymakers to be up-skilled on contemporary practices.

Panel three was chaired by Professor Gerard Goggin and featured the work of Associate Professor Paul Harpur and Dr Natasha Layton. The focus was disability and internet policy and it seems we can learn much from your the histories in this space in terms of accessibility (or lack of) and assistive technologies. The cross over between infrastructures, technologies, governance and regulation seems full of insights for policymakers and advocates.

And finally, we heard from Professor Rohan Samarajiva, who expertly laid out the issues for internet policy in the Sri Lankan case. Through his years of experience of working both as an academic and advocate, it was obvious the lack of consultation has resulted in inappropriate and non-useful policy outcomes.

Special Issue – Policy & Internet 15(2)

There is no doubt there is a clear thread for the next moment of internet policy, and as a result we have designed the call for papers for the next special issue (15, 2) for Policy & Internet. Overall, the conference was a success and while we learnt a great deal to put hybrid conferences on in this era, we are looking forward to the 2023 iteration.

Photo by Sincerely Media on Unsplash

/by
,

Distinguished Research Fellowship at NMRC – End of Week 1

It is now Friday morning and the I am synthesising the last four days that I have been embedded at the News and Media Research Centre (NMRC), here a the University of Canberra. This is the first of three visits I will make here, and I will be back in July to undertake the next phase of research wonder.

The plan from the outset was to come to NMRC, share my research, mentor some emerging scholars and higher degree researchers and work on potential research connections. I think I did that in probably the best possible way! Also, props here to David Nolan who has been the host with the most – not only was this trip scholarly stimulating, it was also fun.

I gave a two–hour workshop on industry research and mentored a few PhD candidates on Tuesday – you can read about that here.

Wednesday was a chance to meet with one of the Directors at the National Gallery of Australia who looks after the digital media programs. This was a chance to talk through my research, get an overview of where the gallery is heading (particularly around automation and collections) and lay the foundations for future collaboration. Wednesday was also a chance to meet with the Associate Dean of Research and talk through the purpose of the Fellowship. Meeting and greeting was on the agenda over sensational Asian treats.

I also had a great brainstorming session with David Nolan around the potential of research within the Discovery Project space. We talked through evolving media ecosystems and worked through our foundational scholarly position within our research and where the cross over points are. I think we have something that is starting to flourish here.

Thursday was the last chance to make it all come together, which David and I did through more collaborative discussions about research. We really found a stride here and are moving towards a project.

Thursday was also a great chance to sit down with all (well Most) of the scholars of the NMRC. We exchanged our research areas, which is always refreshing to take time out of our everyday and talk about what really interests us as scholars. As expected, the NMRC is a powerhouse of scholars, ‘punching well above their weight’.

NMRC Researchers

Here’s some take aways form that moment:

Professor Kerry McCallum

Associate Professor Mathieu O’Neil

  • Free software and work and new forms of collaborations, volunteer work potential from a survey, Ford and Sloan, Digital Commons Council was established, mapping email addresses in GitHub.
  • w/Rob Acland, Online networks, grant from VW Scheme working on echo chambers and online discourse
  • w/ faculty on media literacy with kids, orient them to Wikipedia as a fact checking source.

Professor Sora Park

Associate Professor David Nolan

D

Senior Research Fellow Kate Holland

Postdoctoral Research Fellow Kieran Mcguinness

  • Postdoc – generalist
  • Split between audience and news consumption, trust misinformation, social media use, attitudes towards news
  • Political comms, policy and politic and discourse analysis, PE focus
  • Client facing in last two years, Judith Neilson Institution, the ACMA, The SBS, partner orgs, specialist skill sets for short term projects
/by