Universität Wien

124263 KO Critical Media Analysis (2021W)

Digital Selves, Digital Activisms - Digital (In)Equality in Times of Platform Capitalism

6.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 12 - Anglistik
Continuous assessment of course work
REMOTE

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 26 participants
Language: English

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

  • Monday 04.10. 18:15 - 19:45 Digital
  • Monday 11.10. 18:15 - 19:45 Digital
  • Monday 18.10. 18:15 - 19:45 Digital
  • Monday 18.10. 20:15 - 22:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Monday 25.10. 18:15 - 19:45 Digital
  • Monday 08.11. 18:15 - 19:45 Digital
  • Monday 15.11. 18:15 - 19:45 Digital
  • Monday 22.11. 18:15 - 19:45 Digital
  • Monday 29.11. 18:15 - 19:45 Digital
  • Monday 06.12. 18:15 - 19:45 Digital
  • Monday 13.12. 18:15 - 19:45 Digital
  • Monday 10.01. 18:15 - 19:45 Digital
  • Monday 17.01. 18:15 - 19:45 Digital
  • Monday 24.01. 18:15 - 19:45 Digital
  • Monday 31.01. 18:15 - 19:45 Digital

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

After the successful completion of this course, students will be able to critically examine the construction of digital activist selves and communities (as well as the commodification of activism in advertising contexts) in contemporary Anglophone culture, as they will have learned how to appropriately use a toolbox of genre-specific methods of cultural analysis (e.g. semiotic analysis, mis-en-scène analysis for moving images, uncovering contradictory positionings with the help of broader sociopolitical context (platform capitalism, data politics, gender/race/ability), etc.). Our class will deal with questions like: How do we curate digital selves online? What does identity mean in an increasingly digital world? What are new possibilities of self-expression and affective bonding? What are potential pressures and dangers of online self-presentation? How are (felt) activist communities formed online around hashtags like #vegan #bodypositive oder #FridaysForFuture? What is the business model of media conglomerates like Facebook and Google and why should I be interested in that? How do algorithms discriminate against people? Why are technological innovations never neutral, but deeply political? What are the downsides of an activism rooted in vulnerability and visibility? What is ‚the digital divide‘ and what, on the other hand, is ‚digital inclusion‘? Based on our class readings, students will learn how to notice and scrutinise cultural markers of difference like race, gender, class, sexuality, body type, ability/health, and age in a variety of different media and online contexts. By introducing students to key texts in gender, media and cultural studies, as well as to the deeply unequal socio-economic framework of our digital worlds and providing them with a toolkit for cultural analysis, students will be able to discuss contemporary digital activisms in an informed, intersectional way after they have completed this class.

Assessment and permitted materials

Participation, mid-term assignment, expert group session, scrapbook (i.e. a very informal continuous course log incl. two short essays, weekly entries, your group project proposal, and an analysis of a ‚digitally activist text‘ (i.e. an Instagram post, a YouTube comment section, a Twitter thread, a popfeminist article that goes viral, activist books that are digitally marketed etc.) of your choice)

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

Participation: 15 points
Mid-Term Assignment: 20 points
Expert Group Session: 25 points
Scrapbook: 40 points (to be handed in until February 11th, 2022)

Overall Score of 100 Points.
Pass-Mark: 60 Points.

Scale:
1: 90-100 Points
2: 89-80 Points
3: 79-70 Points
4: 69-60 Points
5: 59-0 Points

All of these four course requirements (participation, mid-term assignment, expert group session and the scrapbook) need to be fulfilled! Not showing up for your expert group session or not handing in the scrapbook equals dropping out of the course and being assessed with a negative grade!

You can miss two sessions.

Note: Students with disabilities or mental health issues may be granted special conditions.

Examination topics

Course readings and the concepts and vocabulary of gender, media and cultural studies as well as visual analysis introduced in class.

Reading list

Readings will be made available on Moodle.

If you want to get started already, I recommend (NOTE! These are recommendations for those interested, not the final list of obligatory course readings!):

Books:

Banet-Weiser, Sarah. Empowered: Popular Feminism and Popular Misogyny. Duke UP, 2018.
Koivunen, Anu, et al., editors. The Power of Vulnerability: Mobilising Affect in Feminist, Queer and Anti-Racist Media Cultures. Manchester UP, 2018.
Mendes, Kaitlynn, et al. Digital Feminist Activism: Girls and Women Fight Back Against Rape Culture. Oxford UP, 2019.
Russell, Legacy. Glitch Feminism. A Manifesto. Verso, 2020.
Smith-Prei, Carrie, and Maria Stehle. Awkward Politics: Technologies of Popfeminist Activism. McGill-Queen’s UP, 2016.
Srnicek, Nick. Platform Capitalism. Polity Press, 2017.

Articles:

Baer, Hester. ‘Redoing Feminism. Digital Activism, Body Politics, and Neoliberalism.’ Feminist Media Studies, vol. 16, no. 1, 2016, pp. 17-34.
Chamberlain, Prudence. ‘Affective Temporality: Towards a Fourth Wave.’ Gender and Education, vol. 28, no. 3, 2016, pp. 458-64.
Coleman, Rebecca. ‘The Becoming of Bodies. Girls, Media Effects, and Body Image.’ Feminist Media Studies, vol. 8, no. 2, 2008, pp. 163-79.
Papacharissi, Zizi. ‘Affective Publics and Structures of Storytelling. Sentiment, Events and Mediality.’ Information, Communication & Society, vol. 19, no. 3, 2016, pp. 307-24.
Tolentino, Jia. ‘The Age of Instagram Face. How Social Media, FaceTune, and Plastic Surgery Created a Single, Cyborgian Look.’ The New Yorker, 12 Dec. 2019, www.newyorker.com/culture/decade-in-review/the-age-of-instagram-face. Accessed 27 Apr. 2020.

Film:

Coded Bias. Documentary. https://www.ajl.org/spotlight-documentary-coded-bias

Association in the course directory

Studium: BA 612, BEd 046/407
Code/Modul: BA07.3; BEd 08a.2, BEd 08b.1
Lehrinhalt: 12-4260

Last modified: Fr 12.05.2023 00:16