Convergence, Ahead of Print.
This article critically examines the construction of the artistic identity and career of Ai-Da, ‘the world's first ultra-realistic humanoid robot artist’. Engaging with scholarship on posthumanism and creative assemblages, and creative work, identity and expertise, this article conceptualises Ai-Da's distinctive positioning and focuses on the practices used to construct a creative worker identity and career. The article uses qualitative content analysis to examine journalistic coverage, promotional and presentation activities, exhibitions and performances, and social media postings over a four-year period from Ai-Da’s first launch to international visibility. The analysis shows how Ai-Da is positioned as a high-profile, border crossing artist, engaging in debates about Artificial Intelligence (AI), art, and the environment. It considers the creative assemblage of Ai-Da as a humanoid robot artist, the creator Aidan Meller and the team working with him, and the wider contextual factors of aesthetic expertise, networks and knowledge of art worlds which have shaped Ai-Da's artistic identity and career trajectory. The focus on how Ai-Da signals expertise on social media helps to frame the specific techniques used to speak about and for Ai-Da on social media platforms and wider media coverage. This includes articulating inspiration, showcasing artistic processes and cultivating audience relationships. In concluding, the implications of connecting critical perspectives on creative work with developments in art, AI and robot artists are explored: firstly, for understanding how the practices for constructing an artistic identity shape the development of robot artists; secondly, for understanding how developments in art and AI can frame reflections on artistic identity and careers.
Global visions for a metaverse
International Journal of Cultural Studies, Ahead of Print.
There is a growing effort to locate metaverse developments within the purview of platform research. However, the majority of English-language studies take Horizon Worlds, Meta's US-centric prototype of a metaverse, as the starting point. This critical reflection argues that since the fate of the metaverse is far from settled, and its building blocks exist in a colorful array of global visions, we need to divorce discourses of the metaverse from Meta's hype cycle and multiply our frames of reference by engaging with international developments. In turn, this article proceeds by scoping out metaverse visions emanating from different parts of the world and drawing out common themes as entry points for future research. This article contributes to a re-orientation of metaverse studies toward critical and embodied global perspectives of socio-cultural production, while simultaneously reconsidering the very notion of the metaverse as a platform.
There is a growing effort to locate metaverse developments within the purview of platform research. However, the majority of English-language studies take Horizon Worlds, Meta's US-centric prototype of a metaverse, as the starting point. This critical reflection argues that since the fate of the metaverse is far from settled, and its building blocks exist in a colorful array of global visions, we need to divorce discourses of the metaverse from Meta's hype cycle and multiply our frames of reference by engaging with international developments. In turn, this article proceeds by scoping out metaverse visions emanating from different parts of the world and drawing out common themes as entry points for future research. This article contributes to a re-orientation of metaverse studies toward critical and embodied global perspectives of socio-cultural production, while simultaneously reconsidering the very notion of the metaverse as a platform.
Art rocks: Atmospheres of connection and everyday creativity in hybrid public space
International Journal of Cultural Studies, Ahead of Print.
Using the analysis of online activity, autoethnographic reflection, and a participant survey, this article examines Australian rock-decorating groups on Facebook and the role of social media in everyday practices of decorating, hiding, and finding rocks. These groups use the platform to celebrate and share their creativity, generate digital connections between strangers, and in so doing bring about a distinctive hybrid of online and offline space. We draw on a cultural studies approach to issues of placemaking and social media to ask: what kinds of public space – online and offline – are created through these digital and material practices? Our analysis is framed by notions of placemaking, affordances, and public atmosphere to understand these forms of everyday creativity, community, and place.
Using the analysis of online activity, autoethnographic reflection, and a participant survey, this article examines Australian rock-decorating groups on Facebook and the role of social media in everyday practices of decorating, hiding, and finding rocks. These groups use the platform to celebrate and share their creativity, generate digital connections between strangers, and in so doing bring about a distinctive hybrid of online and offline space. We draw on a cultural studies approach to issues of placemaking and social media to ask: what kinds of public space – online and offline – are created through these digital and material practices? Our analysis is framed by notions of placemaking, affordances, and public atmosphere to understand these forms of everyday creativity, community, and place.
Book review: Montesano Montessori N, Farrelly M and Mulderrig J (eds.), Critical Policy Discourse Analysis
Discourse &Society, Ahead of Print.
The Kuwaiti Government’s Twitter Discourse During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Toward a Crisis Communication Model Using SCCT and CERC
Journal of Creative Communications, Ahead of Print.
In an effort to de-Westernise crisis communication literature, this study explores the Kuwaiti government’s COVID-19 discourse over Twitter by using criteria from Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication model (CERC) and Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT). The Kuwaiti government mostly used instructing strategies, complying with crisis communication principles. However, contrary to recommendations from literature, reputation strategies were prioritised over adjusting strategies, confirming the influence of politics during crises. The results also revealed that the public interacted with instructing and adjusting strategies more than reputation strategies demonstrating the public’s need for information rather than reputation. Regarding Twitter use, the results indicated that the government lacked the necessary skills to communicate proficiently over the platform. The implications of the findings are discussed in relation to theory development in crisis communication and governmental use of social media.
In an effort to de-Westernise crisis communication literature, this study explores the Kuwaiti government’s COVID-19 discourse over Twitter by using criteria from Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication model (CERC) and Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT). The Kuwaiti government mostly used instructing strategies, complying with crisis communication principles. However, contrary to recommendations from literature, reputation strategies were prioritised over adjusting strategies, confirming the influence of politics during crises. The results also revealed that the public interacted with instructing and adjusting strategies more than reputation strategies demonstrating the public’s need for information rather than reputation. Regarding Twitter use, the results indicated that the government lacked the necessary skills to communicate proficiently over the platform. The implications of the findings are discussed in relation to theory development in crisis communication and governmental use of social media.
The Interrelationship Between Viewership Motivation, Team Loyalty, Fan Identification and Viewership Behaviour in Cricket: A PLS-SEM Approach
Journal of Creative Communications, Ahead of Print.
Cricket has emerged as a leading sport, with 2.5 billion fans worldwide. This study addresses the gap in the interlinkage between viewership motivation (VM), fan identification (FI), team loyalty (TL) and viewership behaviour (VB) and its implications on media and entertainment companies, cricket administrators and event organisers. The study is based on a survey research design with a sample size of 283 who watch cricket live in stadiums or other digital platforms. The data were analysed, and hypotheses were tested using partial least square-based structural equation modelling. Results establish a positive causal relationship between VM and FI, FI and VB, full mediation effect of FI between VM and VB, and the moderating effect of TL between VM and FI. The causal relationship between VM and VB is not proven in our study, which is in line with the earlier findings. The study provides insights to different cricket stakeholders to accept the importance of the second-order latent construct VM and its positive influence on FI. Promoting team identity in commercials and narratives to positively influence VB is critical, including the promotion of fandom to motivate viewership consumption. Viewers high on TL have high FI, hence the need to target the teams’ loyalists for high viewership explicitly.
Cricket has emerged as a leading sport, with 2.5 billion fans worldwide. This study addresses the gap in the interlinkage between viewership motivation (VM), fan identification (FI), team loyalty (TL) and viewership behaviour (VB) and its implications on media and entertainment companies, cricket administrators and event organisers. The study is based on a survey research design with a sample size of 283 who watch cricket live in stadiums or other digital platforms. The data were analysed, and hypotheses were tested using partial least square-based structural equation modelling. Results establish a positive causal relationship between VM and FI, FI and VB, full mediation effect of FI between VM and VB, and the moderating effect of TL between VM and FI. The causal relationship between VM and VB is not proven in our study, which is in line with the earlier findings. The study provides insights to different cricket stakeholders to accept the importance of the second-order latent construct VM and its positive influence on FI. Promoting team identity in commercials and narratives to positively influence VB is critical, including the promotion of fandom to motivate viewership consumption. Viewers high on TL have high FI, hence the need to target the teams’ loyalists for high viewership explicitly.
Platform capitalisms and platform cultures
International Journal of Cultural Studies, Ahead of Print.
This article argues for a pluralization of the “platform capitalism” framework, suggesting we should think instead in terms of “platform capitalisms.” This pluralization opens the way to a better account of how platforms work in different geocultural contexts, with our focus being on China, India and Japan. The article first outlines several roles the state has taken on in mediating platform capitalisms. We then signal three main axes around which to consider the implications of platform capitalisms for cultural production: state–platform symbiosis; platform precarity; and the informal–formal relation in cultural production. This short provocation, we hope, will help foreground the crucial role of the state in platform capitalisms, such that the state–culture–capitalism nexus might be better acknowledged in research on platforms and cultural production now and into the future. This is particularly important as states themselves increasingly become platform operators.
This article argues for a pluralization of the “platform capitalism” framework, suggesting we should think instead in terms of “platform capitalisms.” This pluralization opens the way to a better account of how platforms work in different geocultural contexts, with our focus being on China, India and Japan. The article first outlines several roles the state has taken on in mediating platform capitalisms. We then signal three main axes around which to consider the implications of platform capitalisms for cultural production: state–platform symbiosis; platform precarity; and the informal–formal relation in cultural production. This short provocation, we hope, will help foreground the crucial role of the state in platform capitalisms, such that the state–culture–capitalism nexus might be better acknowledged in research on platforms and cultural production now and into the future. This is particularly important as states themselves increasingly become platform operators.
Ambivalence of informality: Covid-19 and unmasked precarity in Nollywood
International Journal of Cultural Studies, Ahead of Print.
This article explores the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on the Nigerian film industry (Nollywood) and the local responses of filmmakers to the precariousness engendered by the pandemic. This research adopts the critical media industry studies framework and relies on interviews with 30 Nollywood filmmakers who provided insights on the impact of the pandemic on labour in Nollywood. Theorizing the Covid-19 dynamics as reflective of the ambivalence of informality, this article submits that although informality was central to Nollywood's industrial structure and sustainability, the pandemic triggered unprecedented tensions associated with those informal practices and highlighted existing precarity which had been largely masked by constant availability of jobs. Accordingly, a significant legacy of the pandemic for the industry is the unprecedented gravitation of industry players towards more formalized industrial structures and practices.
This article explores the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on the Nigerian film industry (Nollywood) and the local responses of filmmakers to the precariousness engendered by the pandemic. This research adopts the critical media industry studies framework and relies on interviews with 30 Nollywood filmmakers who provided insights on the impact of the pandemic on labour in Nollywood. Theorizing the Covid-19 dynamics as reflective of the ambivalence of informality, this article submits that although informality was central to Nollywood's industrial structure and sustainability, the pandemic triggered unprecedented tensions associated with those informal practices and highlighted existing precarity which had been largely masked by constant availability of jobs. Accordingly, a significant legacy of the pandemic for the industry is the unprecedented gravitation of industry players towards more formalized industrial structures and practices.
The politics of credit in remix of Japanese popular culture: Between “an 80’s Japanese disco floor” and “this remix is worthy of the actual game”
International Journal of Cultural Studies, Ahead of Print.
In this article, we examine songs that reuse decades-old Japanese media, in which the Japaneseness is both important and attenuated. While there is clear desire for and pleasure in the Japaneseness of source materials in vaporwave (electronic music featuring manipulated sounds and images from the 1980s and 1990s) and future funk (which commonly samples 1980s Japanese music and speeds it up), actual sources matter primarily as a signifier of Japaneseness. Conversely, game sounds (songs that sample or mimic 1990s and 2000s video game music) and chiptunes (songs made with 1980s and 1990s video game hardware) have a direct relationship with either specific video games or material hardware that highlights a direct tie to transnationally distributed culture. Overall, these ways of engaging with Japanese media have significant implications for theorizing cross-cultural exchange.
In this article, we examine songs that reuse decades-old Japanese media, in which the Japaneseness is both important and attenuated. While there is clear desire for and pleasure in the Japaneseness of source materials in vaporwave (electronic music featuring manipulated sounds and images from the 1980s and 1990s) and future funk (which commonly samples 1980s Japanese music and speeds it up), actual sources matter primarily as a signifier of Japaneseness. Conversely, game sounds (songs that sample or mimic 1990s and 2000s video game music) and chiptunes (songs made with 1980s and 1990s video game hardware) have a direct relationship with either specific video games or material hardware that highlights a direct tie to transnationally distributed culture. Overall, these ways of engaging with Japanese media have significant implications for theorizing cross-cultural exchange.
Death to Chad and Stacy: Incels and anti-fandom as group identity
International Journal of Cultural Studies, Ahead of Print.
Anti-fan research has traditionally focused on audiences' engaged dislike as media consumers more than as media producers, often ignoring their capacity to inflict harm. Building from this while drawing empirical support from incels, the manosphere's most violent faction, this article reconceptualizes the anti-fandom as a networked community organized around textual productions of hate or dislike. We explicate this first at the level of the text, comparing centrifugal anti-fandoms, which grow outward from an originating text, to centripetal anti-fandoms, which engage a variety of texts pulled into an organized, self-perpetuating structure. We then consider anti-fandom as performing both as and for an audience: although situated within the manosphere and the online anti-public sphere, incels rely on articulations of hate, apathy, and misanthropy as a means of distinguishing themselves as a stable, impermeable social identity, a process that we suggest potentially contributes to their radicalization.
Anti-fan research has traditionally focused on audiences' engaged dislike as media consumers more than as media producers, often ignoring their capacity to inflict harm. Building from this while drawing empirical support from incels, the manosphere's most violent faction, this article reconceptualizes the anti-fandom as a networked community organized around textual productions of hate or dislike. We explicate this first at the level of the text, comparing centrifugal anti-fandoms, which grow outward from an originating text, to centripetal anti-fandoms, which engage a variety of texts pulled into an organized, self-perpetuating structure. We then consider anti-fandom as performing both as and for an audience: although situated within the manosphere and the online anti-public sphere, incels rely on articulations of hate, apathy, and misanthropy as a means of distinguishing themselves as a stable, impermeable social identity, a process that we suggest potentially contributes to their radicalization.