Discourse &Society, Ahead of Print.
The aim of this paper is to describe and exemplify a theoretical perspective for the analysis of music as symbolic action in critical studies of discourse. We use deployments of music by legislatures in Australia, the UK, and the USA as exemplar cases to develop foundations for a critical, non-semiotic perspective that sees music work as gestalt complexes of physical and cultural forces that move people towards or away from specific actions and attitudes. In presenting our perspective we critique some semiotic assertions about music that are commonplaces in discourse studies and elsewhere. Our cases draw on news reports and scholarly discourse about the use of music as a means of torture in warfare and as a means of purifying urban public spaces by keeping youth and homeless people out of them at night.
Book review: The private is political: Networked privacy and social media by Alice Marwick
Convergence, Ahead of Print.
Cultivating Critical Thinking, Social Justice Awareness and Empathy Among Pre-service Teachers Through Online Discussions on Global Citizenship Education
Journal of Creative Communications, Ahead of Print.
There is a paucity of research on the efficacy of online asynchronous discussion forums in fostering critical thinking, social justice awareness and empathy in pre-service teachers. This study adopted a case study design rooted in the social constructivist/interpretive paradigm. South African university pre-service teachers comprised the study’s sample. To examine how online discussions about Global Citizenship Education (GCE) affected the critical thinking and social justice awareness of a group of pre-service teachers (n = 31), a questionnaire based on Andreotti’s (2006) Soft vs Critical GCE framework was used. To further understand how their involvement in online discussions on global issues influenced their sense of social justice awareness, empathy and critical thinking, certain pre-service teachers’ (n = 9) reflective essays were used. The findings revealed that pre-service teachers’ responses were more consistent with the soft GCE approach. The Soft vs Critical GCE framework was useful for identifying which aspects of online interactions require a more critical understanding of GCE. The findings showed that pre-service teachers who participated in the online GCE conversations had increased social justice awareness, critical thinking skills and empathy.
There is a paucity of research on the efficacy of online asynchronous discussion forums in fostering critical thinking, social justice awareness and empathy in pre-service teachers. This study adopted a case study design rooted in the social constructivist/interpretive paradigm. South African university pre-service teachers comprised the study’s sample. To examine how online discussions about Global Citizenship Education (GCE) affected the critical thinking and social justice awareness of a group of pre-service teachers (n = 31), a questionnaire based on Andreotti’s (2006) Soft vs Critical GCE framework was used. To further understand how their involvement in online discussions on global issues influenced their sense of social justice awareness, empathy and critical thinking, certain pre-service teachers’ (n = 9) reflective essays were used. The findings revealed that pre-service teachers’ responses were more consistent with the soft GCE approach. The Soft vs Critical GCE framework was useful for identifying which aspects of online interactions require a more critical understanding of GCE. The findings showed that pre-service teachers who participated in the online GCE conversations had increased social justice awareness, critical thinking skills and empathy.
Politics as a Spectacle: The Role of Advertising and Physical Image in Visualizing a Political Candidate as Merchandise and Their Impact on Voting Intentions
Journal of Creative Communications, Ahead of Print.
Advertising no longer describes objects but can impose on Society the obligation to consume whatever is produced. In this way, political advertising has become more commercial, bringing new ways of doing politics where advertising strategies achieve an adapted policy. New advertising strategies have turned the political process into a spectacle encouraging new political behaviour. Through the Society of the Spectacle and the Visual Frame, this quantitative study analysed how advertising uses the physical image of a political candidate as the merchandise that voters acquire as a force of social relationships. In addition, this study is novel in exploring the role of political ideology as a moderating variable that may dampen the effects between image advertising and voting intention. With 582 participants in an electronic survey analysed through PLS-SEM, the study reflects that, during the spectacle process, the political candidate can generate relationships, value and satisfaction through their physical attributes. It enables a purchase through the vote since, once the perception is manifested, the frame is accepted, leading the voter to make non-objective decisions. This research contributes new knowledge to the Spectacle Society and Visual Frame theory by providing a new way of analyzing political candidates and how advertising activates political behaviour.
Advertising no longer describes objects but can impose on Society the obligation to consume whatever is produced. In this way, political advertising has become more commercial, bringing new ways of doing politics where advertising strategies achieve an adapted policy. New advertising strategies have turned the political process into a spectacle encouraging new political behaviour. Through the Society of the Spectacle and the Visual Frame, this quantitative study analysed how advertising uses the physical image of a political candidate as the merchandise that voters acquire as a force of social relationships. In addition, this study is novel in exploring the role of political ideology as a moderating variable that may dampen the effects between image advertising and voting intention. With 582 participants in an electronic survey analysed through PLS-SEM, the study reflects that, during the spectacle process, the political candidate can generate relationships, value and satisfaction through their physical attributes. It enables a purchase through the vote since, once the perception is manifested, the frame is accepted, leading the voter to make non-objective decisions. This research contributes new knowledge to the Spectacle Society and Visual Frame theory by providing a new way of analyzing political candidates and how advertising activates political behaviour.
The role of geolocation data in U.S. political campaigning: How digital political strategists perceive it
Convergence, Ahead of Print.
The use of geolocation data by political campaigns is often the subject of media concern. Research has investigated the role of data in and use by political campaigns, but less attention has been paid to digital political strategists largely responsible for decisions behind the assemblage and mining of voter databases to deliver micro-targeted messages on behalf of political campaigns. In this study, we conducted interviews with 14 leading industry professionals in the United States to examine the common scenarios and associated concerns of using geolocation data to target voters. Our findings reveal that geolocation data are an important asset in political campaigns, but their value is contingent on additional factors. Concerns regarding geolocation data, as interviewees suggested, may at times be influenced more by the popular media narratives than the true reality of data, their scope, and associated capabilities. Our results point to geolocation data’s greatest usefulness to campaigns not in their own right, but when data are paired with other insights about voters’ behaviors. Ultimately, the lack of industry regulation reveals discrepancies in best practices and raises concerns over the potential misuse of geolocation data in the political space.
The use of geolocation data by political campaigns is often the subject of media concern. Research has investigated the role of data in and use by political campaigns, but less attention has been paid to digital political strategists largely responsible for decisions behind the assemblage and mining of voter databases to deliver micro-targeted messages on behalf of political campaigns. In this study, we conducted interviews with 14 leading industry professionals in the United States to examine the common scenarios and associated concerns of using geolocation data to target voters. Our findings reveal that geolocation data are an important asset in political campaigns, but their value is contingent on additional factors. Concerns regarding geolocation data, as interviewees suggested, may at times be influenced more by the popular media narratives than the true reality of data, their scope, and associated capabilities. Our results point to geolocation data’s greatest usefulness to campaigns not in their own right, but when data are paired with other insights about voters’ behaviors. Ultimately, the lack of industry regulation reveals discrepancies in best practices and raises concerns over the potential misuse of geolocation data in the political space.
Ja’miezing’s Podcast Persona: Intertextual and Intercommunicative
Convergence, Ahead of Print.
An online persona is a public presentation of a human or non-human actor such as organisations and locations, digital objects, artificial intelligence, and media texts. This article provides an analysis of the online persona of the Australian satirical comedy podcast, Ja'miezing. Written, directed, performed, and produced by comedian Chris Lilley, Ja'miezing is a narrative podcast series that features the intimate details of the post-high school life of the character Ja’mie. The podcast launched following Lilley’s online cancellation which resulted in his previous mockumentary television shows being removed from Netflix and the Australian Broadcast Corporation’s video-on-demand service, ABC iview. The study builds on the five dimensions of persona – public, mediatised, performative, collective, and value – by drawing on contributions from podcast studies to better understand the unique features and practices of podcast personas. It seeks to untangle the complex interplay between the intertextual and intercommunicative connections of podcast producer, host, character, platform, and audience micropublics as they contribute to the online presentation of the podcast’s persona. The article highlights the potential of podcast personas as a unique form of a non-human online persona that requires further investigation. This approach also has implications for how to consider other forms of mediated communication with online personas.
An online persona is a public presentation of a human or non-human actor such as organisations and locations, digital objects, artificial intelligence, and media texts. This article provides an analysis of the online persona of the Australian satirical comedy podcast, Ja'miezing. Written, directed, performed, and produced by comedian Chris Lilley, Ja'miezing is a narrative podcast series that features the intimate details of the post-high school life of the character Ja’mie. The podcast launched following Lilley’s online cancellation which resulted in his previous mockumentary television shows being removed from Netflix and the Australian Broadcast Corporation’s video-on-demand service, ABC iview. The study builds on the five dimensions of persona – public, mediatised, performative, collective, and value – by drawing on contributions from podcast studies to better understand the unique features and practices of podcast personas. It seeks to untangle the complex interplay between the intertextual and intercommunicative connections of podcast producer, host, character, platform, and audience micropublics as they contribute to the online presentation of the podcast’s persona. The article highlights the potential of podcast personas as a unique form of a non-human online persona that requires further investigation. This approach also has implications for how to consider other forms of mediated communication with online personas.
Book review: Nicole Mockler, Constructing Teacher Identities: How the Print Media Define and Represent Teachers and Their Work
Discourse &Communication, Volume 17, Issue 5, Page 691-694, October 2023.
The social robot? Analyzing whether and how the telepresence robot AV1 affords socialization
Convergence, Ahead of Print.
Telepresence robots are increasingly used in schools as a way of including students who are unable to be physically present in the classroom with other students. The use of such robots is intended not just to help students follow their education but also to serve a social purpose. However, the extent to which the robots actually afford socializing needs to be explored further. This article analyzes how, to what extent, for whom, and under what circumstances the telepresence robot AV1 affords social contact for the heterogenous group of homebound Norwegian upper secondary school students. Building on Jenny Davis’ mechanisms and conditions framework of affordances, we focus on how AV1 affords for different students in specific circumstances. Our analysis draws on interviews with 11 upper secondary school students in Norway and finds that individual traits and circumstances such as health issues and social networks are important aspects when assessing whether a technology affords socializing. Based on our findings, we argue for expanding the mechanisms and conditions framework to include not just its current focus on perception, dexterity, and cultural and institutional legitimacy, but also the users’ emotions.
Telepresence robots are increasingly used in schools as a way of including students who are unable to be physically present in the classroom with other students. The use of such robots is intended not just to help students follow their education but also to serve a social purpose. However, the extent to which the robots actually afford socializing needs to be explored further. This article analyzes how, to what extent, for whom, and under what circumstances the telepresence robot AV1 affords social contact for the heterogenous group of homebound Norwegian upper secondary school students. Building on Jenny Davis’ mechanisms and conditions framework of affordances, we focus on how AV1 affords for different students in specific circumstances. Our analysis draws on interviews with 11 upper secondary school students in Norway and finds that individual traits and circumstances such as health issues and social networks are important aspects when assessing whether a technology affords socializing. Based on our findings, we argue for expanding the mechanisms and conditions framework to include not just its current focus on perception, dexterity, and cultural and institutional legitimacy, but also the users’ emotions.
Pro-vaccination personal narratives in response to online hesitancy about the HPV vaccine: The challenge of tellability
Discourse &Society, Volume 34, Issue 6, Page 752-771, November 2023.
Experimental studies have shown that narratives can be effective persuasive tools in addressing vaccine hesitancy, including regarding the vaccine against the human papillomavirus (HPV), which is transmitted via sexual contact and can cause cervical cancer. This paper presents an analysis of a thread from the online parenting forum Mumsnet Talk where an initially undecided Original Poster is persuaded to vaccinate their child against HPV by a respondent’s narrative of cervical cancer that they describe as difficult to share. This paper considers this particular narrative alongside all other narratives that precede the decision announced on the Mumsnet thread. It shows how producing pro-vaccination narratives about HPV involves challenges regarding ‘tellability’ – what makes the events in a narrative reportable or worth telling. We suggest that this has implications for the context-dependent nature of tellability, the role of parenting forums in vaccination-related discussions, and narrative-based communication about vaccinations more generally.
Experimental studies have shown that narratives can be effective persuasive tools in addressing vaccine hesitancy, including regarding the vaccine against the human papillomavirus (HPV), which is transmitted via sexual contact and can cause cervical cancer. This paper presents an analysis of a thread from the online parenting forum Mumsnet Talk where an initially undecided Original Poster is persuaded to vaccinate their child against HPV by a respondent’s narrative of cervical cancer that they describe as difficult to share. This paper considers this particular narrative alongside all other narratives that precede the decision announced on the Mumsnet thread. It shows how producing pro-vaccination narratives about HPV involves challenges regarding ‘tellability’ – what makes the events in a narrative reportable or worth telling. We suggest that this has implications for the context-dependent nature of tellability, the role of parenting forums in vaccination-related discussions, and narrative-based communication about vaccinations more generally.
Streaming and India’s film-centred video culture: Linguistic and formal diversity
International Journal of Cultural Studies, Ahead of Print.
In this article, I foreground the importance of the ‘cinematic’ as the most important vector of video cultures in India. The article identifies how the timeline of video culture disruption in India deviates from countries with stronger television-based cultures. The availability of videocassettes and their ability to make movies more widely available was consequently of greater consequence in India than in other places, and a development that was still adjusting the video culture as digital distribution arrived. Internet distribution and digital production technologies have also brought significant changes to India's viewing culture, though again, the peculiarities of the Indian market make these changes distinctive. Where many countries have encountered greater access to foreign-produced content and services, key digital changes in India tie into access to and interest in a broader range of domestic cinema. The following analysis flags key moments of disruption and explores discussion of the emergence of pan-Indian film that coincided with streaming platform adoption in India.
In this article, I foreground the importance of the ‘cinematic’ as the most important vector of video cultures in India. The article identifies how the timeline of video culture disruption in India deviates from countries with stronger television-based cultures. The availability of videocassettes and their ability to make movies more widely available was consequently of greater consequence in India than in other places, and a development that was still adjusting the video culture as digital distribution arrived. Internet distribution and digital production technologies have also brought significant changes to India's viewing culture, though again, the peculiarities of the Indian market make these changes distinctive. Where many countries have encountered greater access to foreign-produced content and services, key digital changes in India tie into access to and interest in a broader range of domestic cinema. The following analysis flags key moments of disruption and explores discussion of the emergence of pan-Indian film that coincided with streaming platform adoption in India.