Figurations of Mediation: Social Movements, Collective Actions and Social Change in the Media Manifold

Presented at the IV ISA Forum of Sociology.
Alberto Lusoli, Frederik Lesage
Simon Fraser University

Transcript

1. (MICHEL CALLON) Social Movements, Collective Actions and Social Change in the Media Manifold FIGURATIONS OF MEDIATION Feb. 23 2021 - IV ISA Forum of Sociology Alberto Lusoli, Frederik Lesage Simon Fraser University
2. MEDIA, MEDIA EVERYWHERE!
3. FOREGROUNDING MEDIA INFRASTRUCTURES
4. MEDIA AS MULTISTABLE OBJECTS As in a gestalt shift, in studies of social movements media can be presented as, among other things, field sites, objects of study and research instruments. On multistability: Ihde, D. (1990). Technology and the Lifeworld: From Garden to Earth. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. Photo: Hootsuite HQ. Vancouver
5. “TWITTER REVOLUTIONS” Copyright: Seymour Chwast, The New Yorker, Oct.4th 2010
6. FIGURATIONS OF MEDIATION Media manifold: A many-dimensional space that cannot be experienced in all its complexity but only actualized in downscaled representations. On Media Manifold: Couldry, N., & Hepp, A. (2016). The Mediated Construction of Reality. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.
7. Photo: Coworking space, Vancouver, October 2018 The following case study is taken from an ethnographic investigation of digital and hi-tech workers in Vancouver, Canada. FREELANCING IN VANCOUVER
8. THROUGH MEETUP In the early stages of the research, we used Meetup in a mostly instrumental fashion. Inspired by previous network ethnography studies (Neff, 2012), we set out to map the Vancouver startup collectivity through Meetup by using it to identify where people were gathering.
9. IN MEETUP Meaningful exchanges between members of the community were also taking place in Meetup. Our experience of Meetup shifted to encompass that of a field in itself; with its own online interactions, topics, and norms.
10. OF MEETUP Meetup as a platform that was itself the object of consideration in everyday interactions. As such, we examined how Vancouver digital workers, as users of Meetup, incorporated it as part of their everyday interactions. Photo: Startup Weekend Hackathon. Nov.2014
11. Photo: Startup entrance hall, Vancouver. November 2018 WITH MEETUP Thanks to the experience we had gained dealing with Meetup data, we could position ourselves within the community as “Meetup experts”. This allowed us to establish connections and conversations with people who might not otherwise have been interested in speaking to us.
12. research blog: HTTPS://LABORA.CO Alberto Lusoli, Frederik Lesage alusoli@sfu.ca flesage@fu.ca Thanks to all photographers who released their work in the public domain using Creative Common: Photo credits: Gabby K, Daria Shevtsova, Gian Cescon. All other photos used in this presentation were taken by Alberto Lusoli and distributed under Creative Common license.
13. THANK YOU research blog: HTTPS://LABORA.CO Alberto Lusoli, Frederik Lesage alusoli@sfu.ca flesage@fu.ca Thanks to all photographers who released their work in the public domain using Creative Common: Photo credits: Gabby K, Daria Shevtsova, Gian Cescon. All other photos used in this presentation were taken by Alberto Lusoli and distributed under Creative Common license.