DOCSLIB.ORG

Digital Sociology and Society Professor

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Digital Sociology and Society Professor SOC 270: Digital Sociology and Society Professor: Dr. Tressie McMillan Cottom Course Description Digital media, platforms and connections continue to shape our social world. This course will cover the sociological underpinnings of our apps, likes, shares, profiles and swipes. Many of the digital tools we use have become critical points of access for education, healthcare, government and work. And, not all groups have the same access to, experience of, and returns to using these tools. Given that, digital sociology is emerging from classic social theory and methods to consider these new technologies and how we interact with them. This course will put new/digital/social media in its broader social context. That means we will study institutions, people and groups through these tools rather than studying tools as an ends unto themselves. We will primarily take a critical perspective to 1) labor and new media 2) surveillance and privacy on social media networks and 3) contemporary issues of digital technologies and stratification by race, class, gender, and citizenship. Required Texts Lupton, Deborah. 2014. Digital Sociology. Routledge. ISBN: 978-1138022775 Online Resources SociologyConcepts is an online resource that explains sociological concepts. SocCinema is an online resource that explores sociological concepts through popular media and film. SocImages is another online resource that explores sociological concepts through images and pictures, many from pop culture. Assignments Writing assignments are a sociological practice. Given the nature and content of this course we will define both writing and assignments broadly. The three reflection papers and one final project are designed to prompt critical reflection of how new media and social media are reshaping critical social processes. The reflection papers will analyze an assigned reading for 1) theory 2) evidence and 3) respond to the argument using concepts from readings and class discussions. For the final paper/project, you will select a social networking site (preferably one you use) and read its Terms of Service. You should analyze who owns the content you produce and the process of deleting your profile/removing your content. Finally, you should use the concepts discussed in class (e.g. labor, race/class/gender, access, surveillance, and resistance) and apply them to how you use that social media platform. You can choose to explore those ideas in a traditional paper format. The guidelines for that are attached and available on Blackboard. You can also choose to do a multi-media project using digital tools. I have collected examples of student work for similar projects for your to view. But, broadly, you can blog, create video, animation, or graphic novels. If you choose this option for your final assignment, you will still do the three reflection papers during the semester. But, we can work together to have those papers relate to your final project in ways that honor both the assignment and the on-going reflexivity involved in planning a multi- media project. Date Topic Readings Section I Social Formation of the Chapter 1 p. 7-18 Digital Social Media: Then and * “History and Evolution Now of Social Media” Structural Divides * “The trend of class, race and ethnicity in social media inequality” Utopias and Realities Chapter 2 p. 20-41 Digital Labor *Scholtz Intro “Digital Labor” Producing Content, *Terranova “Free Labor: Connections and Capital Producing Culture for the Digital Economy” Reflection Paper 1 * “The Invisible Labor that Keeps Facebook Clean” Section II Shifting Social Norms Chapter 6 p. 117-130 Mating and Dating Online * “The Formation of Social Rules for Digital Interactions” Hardey Gendered Expectations in * “The price of sexy: a Selfie World Viewers’ perceptions of a sexualized versus non- sexualized Facebook profile photo” Daniels The Politics of * “The Sociology of “Unfollowing” Unfollowing on Twitter” Attention Economies: * “The Attention Economy Market Morality and and the Net” Goldhaber Becoming a Brand Reflection Paper 2 “Auctioning Your Virginity Online” Section III Intersectionality Online *“Women of the Valley” Sydell Race, Class, Gender and * “Intersecting Online Risk oppressions and online communities: examining the experiences of women of color in Xbox live” Gray Race and Racism * “Race and Racism in Internet Studies” Daniels Data and Civil Rights Chapter 5 Algorithmic Stratification * “When Big Data Becomes a Civil Rights Problem” Robinson & Yu * “Classification Situations” Fourcade and Healy Institutions & Inequalities * “Healthcare and Digital Selves” Lupton Reflection Paper 3 “Hate the Player, Hate the Game? Gender, Ethics and ‘Gamer Gate’” Surveillance and Policing * “Threat Rating: Police Scanning Your Social Media” Skorup Race, Surveillance and (video) State Institutions & Inequalities * “Imagined HigherEd Futures and Colorblind Ideologies” Cottom and Watters Resistance and Organizing * “The Black Women Behind Black Lives Matter” *”Arab Spring” Tufecki Social Movements Chapter 7 Final Project: The Terms of Service for Your Favorite Social Media Platform .
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Uva-DARE (Digital Academic Repository)
    UvA-DARE (Digital Academic Repository) “API-Based Research” or How can Digital Sociology and Journalism Studies Learn from the Facebook and Cambridge Analytica Data Breach Venturini, T.; Rogers, R. DOI 10.1080/21670811.2019.1591927 Publication date 2019 Document Version Accepted author manuscript Published in Digital Journalism Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): Venturini, T., & Rogers, R. (2019). “API-Based Research” or How can Digital Sociology and Journalism Studies Learn from the Facebook and Cambridge Analytica Data Breach. Digital Journalism, 7(4), 532-540. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2019.1591927 General rights It is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), other than for strictly personal, individual use, unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). Disclaimer/Complaints regulations If you believe that digital publication of certain material infringes any of your rights or (privacy) interests, please let the Library know, stating your reasons. In case of a legitimate complaint, the Library will make the material inaccessible and/or remove it from the website. Please Ask the Library: https://uba.uva.nl/en/contact, or a letter to: Library of the University of Amsterdam, Secretariat, Singel 425, 1012 WP Amsterdam, The Netherlands. You will be contacted as soon as possible. UvA-DARE is a service provided by the library of the University of Amsterdam (https://dare.uva.nl) Download date:28 Sep 2021 “API-based research” or how can digital sociology and journalism studies learn from the Cambridge Analytica affair Tommaso Venturini & Richard Rogers How to cite Venturini, Tommaso, and Richard Rogers.
    [Show full text]
  • Sense of Community and Political Mobilization in Virtual Communities: the Role of Dispositional and Situational Variables
    Butler University Digital Commons @ Butler University Scholarship and Professional Work - Communication College of Communication 2010 Sense of Community and Political Mobilization in Virtual Communities: The Role of Dispositional and Situational Variables Kevin Y. Wang Butler University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/ccom_papers Part of the Communication Technology and New Media Commons, Social Influence and oliticalP Communication Commons, and the Social Media Commons Recommended Citation Wang, Kevin Y., "Sense of Community and Political Mobilization in Virtual Communities: The Role of Dispositional and Situational Variables" (2010). Scholarship and Professional Work - Communication. 115. https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/ccom_papers/115 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the College of Communication at Digital Commons @ Butler University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Scholarship and Professional Work - Communication by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Butler University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Observatorio (OBS*) Journal, vol.4 - nº1 (2010), 073-096 1646-5954/ERC123483/2010 073 Sense of Community and Political Mobilization in Virtual Communities: The Role of Dispositional and Situational Variables Kevin Y. Wang, University of Minnesota – School of Journalism and Mass Communication Abstract This paper explores the psychological processes that connect virtual communities to political behavior.
    [Show full text]
  • Lexical Innovation on the Internet - Neologisms in Blogs
    Zurich Open Repository and Archive University of Zurich Main Library Strickhofstrasse 39 CH-8057 Zurich www.zora.uzh.ch Year: 2009 Lexical innovation on the internet - neologisms in blogs Smyk-Bhattacharjee, Dorota Abstract: Studien im Bereich des Sprachwandels beschreiben traditionellerweise diachronische Verän- derungen in den Kernsubsystemen der Sprache und versuchen, diese zu erklären. Obwohl ein Grossteil der Sprachwissenschaftler sich darüber einig ist, dass die aktuellen Entwicklungen in einer Sprache am klarsten im Wortschatz reflektiert werden, lassen die lexikographischen und morphologischen Zugänge zur Beobachtung des lexikalischen Wandels wichtige Fragen offen. So beschäftigen sich letztere typischer- weise mit Veränderungen, die schon stattgefunden haben, statt sich dem sich zum aktuellen Zeitpunkt vollziehenden Wandel zu widmen. Die vorliegende Dissertation bietet eine innovative Lösung zur Un- tersuchung des sich vollziehenden lexikalischen Wandels sowohl in Bezug auf die Datenquelle als auch bzgl. der verwendeten Methodologie. In den vergangenen 20 Jahren hat das Internet unsere Art zu leben, zu arbeiten und zu kommunizieren drastisch beeinflusst. Das Internet bietet aber auch eine Masse an frei zugänglichen Sprachdaten und damit neue Möglichkeiten für die Sprachforschung. Die in dieser Arbeit verwendeten Daten stammen aus einem Korpus englischsprachiger Blogs, eine Art Computer gestützte Kommunikation (computer-mediated communication, CMC). Blogs bieten eine neue, beispiel- lose Möglichkeit, Wörtern nachzuspüren zum Zeitpunkt, in der sie Eingang in die Sprache finden. Um die Untersuchung des Korpus zu vereinfachen, wurde eine Software mit dem Namen Indiana entwickelt. Dieses Instrument verbindet den Korpus basierten Zugang mit einer lexikographischen Analyse. Indiana verwendet eine Kombination von HTML-to-text converter, eine kumulative Datenbank und verschiede Filter, um potentielle Neologismen im Korpus identifizieren zu können.
    [Show full text]
  • Introducing Digital Sociology
    INTRODUCING DIGITAL SOCIOLOGY Deborah Lupton Department of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Sydney 10 July 2013 Acknowledgement: This document is an earlier version of material that will be published as: Lupton, Deborah (forthcoming) Digital sociology. In Germov, John and Poole, Marilyn (eds), Public Sociology: An Introduction to Australian Society. Crows Nest: Allen & Unwin. This book chapter will have additional teaching material added for its final version. The version here presented may be cited as: Lupton, Deborah (2013) Introducing digital sociology. Sydney: University of Sydney. 1 Introduction: the digital age Digital technologies have become central to the lives of most people living in developed countries and increasing numbers of those in the developing world. Since the introduction of personal computers in the early 1980s and the internet in the early 1990s, those technologies – variously referred to as ‘information communication technologies’ (ICTs) or ‘cyber technologies’ and now frequently called ‘digital technologies’ or ‘the new digital media’ – have reached into many dimensions of everyday life, affecting family and intimate relationships, leisure activities, paid work, education, commerce and the ways in which mass media are presented and consumed. New digital media technologies have had a profound influence on everyday life and social relations for many people in developed societies, and increasingly in developing societies. People across the globe have becoming linked together by digital media and networks
    [Show full text]
  • Lessons from the History of Internet Studies
    Allen, M. 2020. Lessons from the History of Internet Studies. Cultural Science Journal, 12(1), pp. 68–76. DOI: cultural science https://doi.org/10.5334/csci.139 RESEARCH Lessons from the History of Internet Studies Matthew Allen Institute for Social Change, University of Tasmania, AU [email protected] A Keynote Presentation given at the Open Literacy Digital Games, Social Responsibility and Social Innovation Symposium in celebration of the 20-year anniversary of the founding of Internet Studies at Curtin University. Matthew is Australia’s first Professor of Internet Studies, having established the world-leading Internet Studies department at Curtin University where he worked from 1993 to 2012. Keywords: Internet Studies; Open Literacy; Institutional Change Matthew Allen was invited to give a Keynote Presentation given at the Open Literacy Digital Games, Social Responsibility and Social Innovation Symposium. Matthew is Australia’s first Professor of Internet Studies, hav- ing established the world-leading Internet Studies department at Curtin University where he worked from 1993 to 2012. He then took up the role of Head of School, Communication and Creative Arts at Deakin University (2013–2019). Matthew is former president of the Association of Internet Researchers, and co-editor of the pres- tigious Handbook of Internet Research, now in its second edition. Matthew is also a nationally awarded educa- tor (AAUT, 2000) and Fellow of the Australian Learning and Teaching Council. His research covers topics includ- ing the history of the Internet, drug use and online communication, Australia’s development of broadband usage, and online learning and education. He joined the University of Tasmania’s Institute for Social Change at the start of 2020 and is currently researching the uses of Internet technologies during the COVID-19 pandemic and the response of students to enforced online learning.
    [Show full text]
  • Visual Social Media and Big Data. Interpreting Instagram Images Posted on Twitter
    Visual Social Media and Big Data Interpreting Instagram Images Posted on Twitter Dhiraj Murthy, Alexander Gross, Marisa McGarry Abstract Social media such as Twitter and Instagram are fast, free, and multi- cast. These attributes make them particularly useful for crisis commu- nication. However, the speed and volume also make them challenging to study. Historically, journalists controlled what/how images repre- sented crises. Large volumes of social media can change the politics of representing disasters. However, methodologically, it is challenging to study visual social media data. Specifically, the process is usually labour-intensive, using human coding of images to discern themes and subjects. For this reason, Studies investigating social media during crises tend to examine text. In addition, application programming interfaces (APIs) for visual social media services such as Instagram and Snapchat are restrictive or even non-existent. Our work uses images posted by Instagram users on Twitter during Hurricane Sandy as a case study. This particular case is unique as it is perhaps the first US disaster where Instagram played a key role in how victims experi- enced Sandy. It is also the last major US disaster to take place before Instagram images were removed from Twitter feeds. Our sample con- sists of 11,964 Instagram images embedded into tweets during a two- week timeline surrounding Hurricane Sandy. We found that the pro- duction and consumption of selfies, food/drink, pets, and humorous macro images highlight possible changes in the politics of representing disasters – a potential turn from top-down understandings of disas- ters to bottom-up, citizen informed views.
    [Show full text]
  • The Digital Divide: the Internet and Social Inequality in International Perspective
    http://www.diva-portal.org This is the published version of a chapter published in The Digital Divide: The Internet and Social Inequality in International Perspective. Citation for the original published chapter: Meinrath, S., Losey, J., Lennett, B. (2013) Afterword. Internet Freedom, Nuanced Digital Divide, and the Internet Craftsman. In: Massimo Ragnedda and Glenn W. Muschert (ed.), The Digital Divide: The Internet and Social Inequality in International Perspective (pp. 309-316). London: Routledge Routledge advances in sociology N.B. When citing this work, cite the original published chapter. Permanent link to this version: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-100423 The Digital Divide This book provides an in-depth comparative analysis of inequality and the stratification of the digital sphere. Grounded in classical sociological theories of inequality, as well as empirical evidence, this book defines “the digital divide” as the unequal access and utility of internet communications technologies and explores how it has the potential to replicate existing social inequalities, as well as create new forms of stratification. The Digital Divide examines how various demographic and socio-economic factors including income, education, age and gender, as well as infrastructure, products and services affect how the internet is used and accessed. Comprised of six parts, the first section examines theories of the digital divide, and then looks in turn at: • Highly developed nations and regions (including the USA, the EU and Japan); • Emerging large powers (Brazil, Russia, India, China); • Eastern European countries (Estonia, Romania, Serbia); • Arab and Middle Eastern nations (Egypt, Iran, Israel); • Under-studied areas (East and Central Asia, Latin America, and sub-Saharan Africa).
    [Show full text]
  • Internet Research in Psychology
    PS66CH33-Gosling ARI 19 November 2014 13:50 Internet Research in Psychology Samuel D. Gosling1 and Winter Mason2 1Department of Psychology, University of Texas, Austin, Texas 78712; email: [email protected] 2Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030; email: [email protected] Annu. Rev. Psychol. 2015. 66:877–902 Keywords First published online as a Review in Advance on Internet research, online research September 22, 2014 The Annual Review of Psychology is online at Abstract psych.annualreviews.org Today the Internet plays a role in the lives of nearly 40% of the world’s pop- This article’s doi: ulation, and it is becoming increasingly entwined in daily life. This growing 10.1146/annurev-psych-010814-015321 Annu. Rev. Psychol. 2015.66:877-902. Downloaded from www.annualreviews.org presence is transforming psychological science in terms of the topics studied Access provided by University of British Columbia on 01/01/21. For personal use only. Copyright c 2015 by Annual Reviews. and the methods used. We provide an overview of the literature, consid- All rights reserved ering three broad domains of research: translational (implementing tradi- tional methods online; e.g., surveys), phenomenological (topics spawned or mediated by the Internet; e.g., cyberbullying), and novel (new ways to study existing topics; e.g., rumors). We discuss issues (e.g., sampling, ethics) that arise when doing research online and point to emerging opportunities (e.g., smartphone sensing). Psychological research on the Internet comes with new challenges, but the opportunities far outweigh the costs. By integrating the Internet, psychological research has the ability to reach large, diverse samples and collect data on actual behaviors, which will ultimately increase the impact of psychological research on society.
    [Show full text]
  • Digital Citizenship Education
    Internet Research Ethics: Digital Citizenship Education Internet Research Ethics: Digital Citizenship Education by Tohid Moradi Sheykhjan Ph.D. Scholar in Education University of Kerala Paper Presented at Seminar on New Perspectives in Research Organized by Department of Education, University of Kerala Venue Seminar Hall, Department of Education, University of Kerala, Thycaud, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India 17th - 18th November, 2017 0 Internet Research Ethics: Digital Citizenship Education Internet Research Ethics: Digital Citizenship Education Tohid Moradi Sheykhjan PhD. Scholar in Education, University of Kerala Email: [email protected] Abstract Our goal for this paper discusses the main research ethical concerns that arise in internet research and reviews existing research ethical guidance in relation to its application for educating digital citizens. In recent years we have witnessed a revolution in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) that has transformed every field of knowledge. Education has not remained detached from this revolution. Ethical questions in relation to technology encompass a wide range of topics, including privacy, neutrality, the digital divide, cybercrime, and transparency. In a growing digital society, digital citizens recognize and value the rights, responsibilities and opportunities of living, learning and working in an interconnected digital world, and they engage in safe, legal and ethical behaviors. Too often we see technology users misuse and abuse technology because they are unaware of
    [Show full text]
  • Guidelines for Internet Research with Human Subjects
    Liberty University Institutional Review Board Guidelines for Internet Research with Human Subjects The Internet has become increasingly prominent as a research tool although specific regulations for Internet research compliance are currently only in their early developmental stages. In the absence of rules and policies, researchers and IRBs must use their sense of ethical empathy to adequately protect the rights and welfare of human subjects to guide research design and execution. Information provided by the Internet usually includes, but is not limited to, email, websites and bulletin boards. Generally, Internet-based research should be subject to the same ethical principles as more traditional research with human subjects. Beneficence, justice and respect for persons are paramount. Internet researchers have moral obligations to respect and protect human beings as autonomous agents and thereby to protect human dignity (Ess, 2002). Briefly, Internet researchers must: Do no harm, Protect the anonymity of subjects, Protect the confidentiality of all research data tied to the identity of subjects, Obtain informed consent from subjects. Public or Private Space? The Internet is generally considered a public domain, easily accessible to anyone, yet many Internet community members regard their online interactions to be private conversations embedded in public space. Researchers must be sensitive to the issue that whether a space is public or private is relative to the definitions of those who occupy it (Cavanagh, 1999) and be aware of the implications resulting for the informed consent process. Psychological harm can result when members are unaware that they are being analyzed and when the results of the study are published in a way that allows the participants to identify themselves and their community.
    [Show full text]
  • Safety and Security on the Internet: Challenges
    Safety and security on the Internet Challenges and advances in Member States Based on the findings of the second global survey on eHealth Global Observatory for eHealth series - Volume 4 WHO Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data Safety and security on the Internet: challenges and advances in Member States: based on the findings of the second global survey on eHealth.(Global Observatory for eHealth Series, v. 4) 1.Internet - utilization. 2.Computer security. 3.Computers. 4.Access to information. 5.Medical informatics. I.WHO Global Observatory for eHealth. ISBN 978 92 4 156439 7 (NLM classification: W 26.5) © World Health Organization 2011 All rights reserved. Publications of the World Health Organization are available on the WHO web site (www.who.int) or can be purchased from WHO Press, World Health Organization, 20 Avenue Appia, 1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland (tel.: +41 22 791 3264; fax: +41 22 791 4857; e-mail: [email protected]). Requests for permission to reproduce or translate WHO publications – whether for sale or for noncommercial distribution – should be addressed to WHO Press through the WHO web site (http://www.who.int/about/ licensing/copyright_form/en/index.html). The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the World Health Organization concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Dotted lines on maps represent approximate border lines for which there may not yet be full agreement.
    [Show full text]
  • The Internet and Communication Studies
    Nicolas Jankowski, Steve Jones, Kirsten Foot, Phil Howard, Robin Mansell, Steve Schneider and Roger Silverstone The internet and communication studies Book section – Accepted version (Refereed) Original citation: Originally published in: Price, Monroe and Nissenbaum, Helen, (eds.) Academy and the Internet. Digital Formations (12). (New York, USA: Peter Lang, 2004) pp. 168-195. ISBN 978082062035 © 2004 Peter Lang Publishing Group This version available at: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/4331/ Available in LSE Research Online: August 2014 LSE has developed LSE Research Online so that users may access research output of the School. Copyright © and Moral Rights for the papers on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. Users may download and/or print one copy of any article(s) in LSE Research Online to facilitate their private study or for non-commercial research. You may not engage in further distribution of the material or use it for any profit-making activities or any commercial gain. You may freely distribute the URL (http://eprints.lse.ac.uk) of the LSE Research Online website. This document is the author’s accepted version of the book section. There may be differences between this version and the published version. You are advised to consult the publisher’s version if you wish to cite from it. The Internet & Communication Studies Nicholas W. Jankowski, Steve Jones, Kirsten Foot, Phil Howard, Robin Mansell, Steve Schneider & Roger Silverstone Contact information Department of Communication University of Nijmegen P.O. Box 9104 6500 HE Nijmegen The Netherlands [email protected] June 26, 2002 Not intended for citation or distribution 11,000 words Prepared for Monroe Price and Helen Nissenbaum (Eds.) The Internet and the Academy The Internet & Communication Studies Introduction It is hard to avoid the bustle of activity within academia generally, and communication studies particularly, since popularization of the Internet.
    [Show full text]