This semester’s syllabus for my “Theories of New Media (COMM 720)” course

http://ift.tt/2m3HBTs

I have restructured my doctoral course this semester. Renewed most of the readings with the most up to date works I could find. Selection of topic are of course arbitrary to some extent but since I track special issues in relevant  journals, the syllabus still offers many of the most current debates. The course is at our PhD program, Communication Sciences, at Istanbul Bilgi University.

Here is the reading and discussion list. Enjoy!

Topics and Reading List

Week 02

The New Media Ecology

Jenkins, H (2016). “Youth Voice, Media, and Political Engagement. Introducing the Core Concepts” in Jenkins, H., Shresthova, S., Gamber-Thompson, L., & Zimmerman, A. By any media necessary: The new youth activism. NYU Press.

Week 03

Rethinking Social Media

Readings from the Social Media bundle.

Week 04

Civic Engagement

Dahlberg, L. (2011). Re-constructing digital democracy: An outline of four ‘positions’. new media & society, 1461444810389569.

Selected readings from the Civic Engagement bundle

 

Week 05   

Digital Archives

Beer, D., & Burrows, R. (2013). Popular culture, digital archives and the new social life of data. Theory, culture & society, 30(4), 47-71.

Selected Readings from the Web’s 25 Years bundle.

Week 06  

Standardizations- Protocols

Selected Readings from the Internet Regulation bundle.

Week 07  

Open/Free Software

Kelty, C. M. (2008). Two bits: The cultural significance of free software. Duke University Press.

 

Week 08  

The Silicon Valley Ethos

Selected readings from the The Silicon Valley Ethos bundle.

 

Week 09

Media Ethnography- Virtual Methods

Beaulieu, A. (2004). Mediating ethnography: objectivity and the making of ethnographies of the internet. Social epistemology, 18(2-3), 139-163.

Ruppert, E., Law, J., & Savage, M. (2013). Reassembling social science methods: The challenge of digital devices. Theory, culture & society, 30(4), 22-46.

Boellstorff, T. (2015). Coming of age in Second Life: An anthropologist explores the virtually human. Princeton University Press.

Selected readings from the Studying Social Media- Issues of Methods and Ethics bundle.

 

Week 10

Hactivism

Dreyfus, S., & Assange, J. (2012). Underground: tales of hacking, madness and obsession on the electronic frontier. Canongate Books.

 

Meier, P. (2011). Do “liberation technologies” change the balance of power between repressive states and civil society. Unpublished thesis (PhD). The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. Available at http://irevolution. files. wordpress. com/2011/11/meier-dissertation-final. pdf [Last accessed 22 October 2013].

Coleman, E. G. (2013). Coding freedom: The ethics and aesthetics of hacking. Princeton University Press.

Week 11   

Big Data- Surveillance

Selected readings from the Big Data- Surveillance bundle.

 

Week 12

Computational Propaganda- Automation, Algorithms, and Politics

Selected readings from the Computational Propaganda bundle.

 

Week 13

Reclaiming Internet

Selected readings from the Reclaiming Internet bundle.

Related posts:

1. Readings of my doctoral course: “Theories of New Media”
2. Erkan has his first book published!
3. Türkiye’den Başarılı Olabilecek bir E-Reader Projesi: #Calibro by @babilcom
4. I will not miss 2016 but it was a productive year in reading-wise…
5. Erkan’s Cyber Anthropology Course Page updated for the new semester

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#journalism agenda: “The Washington Post’s new slogan is movie-poster worthy”

http://ift.tt/2llDkOb

The Washington Post’s new slogan is movie-poster worthy

Mashable! by Jason Abbruzzese

The Washington Post has a new slogan: Democracy Dies in Darkness.

That’s not just something for its press materials. The words are now right there below the paper’s name on the front page of its website.

Tool for journalists: FotoForensics, for verifying images

Journalism.co.uk

How to check if a photo shared on social media has been digitally altered

Fact-checkers are weapons in the post-truth wars, but they’re not all on one side

 World news: Turkey | guardian.co.uk by Jasper Jackson

The practice of spreading facts to counter falsehoods has been hailed as way to counter ‘fake news’, but on the front line the picture is becoming confused

In the frantic battle against falsehoods produced by enterprising Macedonian teenagers, crackpot conspiracy theorists and, with alarming regularity, the White House, the weapon of choice has been facts, and with it the venerated practice of fact-checking.

The Life, Death And Rebirth Of ‘Fake News’ On Reddit

FiveThirtyEight » Features

 

There’s been a great deal of chatter about “fake news” in the real news lately, but has that chatter carried over to other forms of media? In the video above, Ritchie King uses our recently updated compendium of Reddit comments to find out how “fake news” is resonating on that platform. Plus, a look at how slang terms like “Yolo” have risen and fallen over time.

The New York Times redesigns pages A2 and A3 as “a quick and engaging roundup”

Nieman Journalism Lab by Laura Hazard Owen

The New York Times has seen a lot of success with roundups in digital form: Its Morning and Evening Briefings are “among the most successful products that The Times has launched in recent years,” according to the Times’ recent 2020 Report, while its daily news podcast, The Daily, is No. 3 in iTunes.

.@nytimes moves masthead to print A2, plus adds ‘front of book’/how we do journalism type stuff; anti-#fakenewshttps://t.co/qoQBJ0CDJU

— Jonathan Make (@makejdm) March 2, 2017

Now it’s trying a version of that strategy inside the print paper with the redesign of pages A2 and A3:

Report: Robot journalism will continue to grow in newsrooms despite its limitations

Journalism.co.uk

Reporters believe automated news lacks the context and creativity of traditional reporting, yet they value the speed it can offer

“Donald Trump Rants and Raves at the Press,” Donald Trump Says, Accurately

The Intercept by Robert Mackey

 

Donald Trump launched a surprise attack on the news media on Thursday at a press conference in which he mocked and harried the White House press corps for more than an hour.

Trump, ranting and raving about how he’s not ranting and raving. I can’t even. http://pic.twitter.com/MvI9Jqp1vy

— Dan Froomkin (@froomkin) February 16, 2017

Lots of young adults got election news from big national newspapers (but still avoided local sources)

 Nieman Journalism Lab by Ricardo Bilton

 

When it comes to attracting younger readers, the outreach efforts of The New York Times and Washington Post seem to be paying off.

New data from the Pew Research Center finds that adults under age 50 got their election news from national newspapers at rates equal to or greater than those of people over fifty. The trend was particularly clear for big national brands like the The New York Times and Washington Post, which younger adults read at twice the rate of those over fifty. (The same organizations are seeing big bumps in subscription rates post-election.)

Tip: Check out this Facebook group connecting freelancers with celebrities and publicists

 Journalism.co.uk

 

Use this group to secure your next celebrity interview

How BBC Persian is using Instagram and Telegram to get around Iranian censorship

Nieman Journalism Lab by Joseph Lichterman

 

Last month, a fire tore through an iconic Tehran high-rise building, killing more than 20 firefighters and injuring another 70 people as it collapsed.

The fire made international headlines, but it was a particularly important story for BBC Persian, the British broadcaster’s Persian-language service that targets Farsi speakers in Iran and neighboring countries.

Tip: Remember this advice for creating more engaging Instagram posts

Journalism.co.uk

 

This list of tips will help you approach your Instagram strategy more efficiently

Fake news. It’s complicated.

First Draft News by Aimee

 

By now we’ve all agreed the term “fake news” is unhelpful, but without an alternative, we’re left awkwardly using air quotes whenever we utter the phrase. The reason we’re struggling with a replacement is because this is about more than news, it’s about the entire information ecosystem. And the term fake doesn’t begin to describe the complexity of the different types of misinformation(the inadvertent sharing of false information) and disinformation (the deliberate creation and sharing of information known to be false).

“A threat to society”: Why a German investigative nonprofit signed on to help monitor hoaxes on Facebook

Nieman Journalism Lab by Shan Wang

 

How much can hoax stories and misinformation influence the political opinions of voters, and how much does debunking a false story change someone’s mind?

The answers to those questions remain somewhat unclear. But even if debunking stories moves the needle only a little for voters, any slight interruption to a chain of the sharing of false information on platforms like Facebook is worth it, David Schraven, cofounder and publisher of the investigative nonprofit Correctiv, told me. The outlet, founded in 2014, is Germany’s first nonprofit investigations-focused newsroom, and has published stories on everything from doping and football to superbugs to the fate of the downed Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. It’s also active in involving the interested public directly in its projects.

Newsonomics: Craig Newmark, journalism’s new Six Million Dollar Man

Nieman Journalism Lab by Ken Doctor

 

Craig Newmark is a creature of the internet. Like Beyoncé, a singular name defines a great brand, one he provided 22 years ago to the eponymous Craigslist. Though long associated with “free,” this organically grown San Francisco-based classifieds provider may produce a billion dollars in annual revenue sooner rather than later. Today, at 64, Newmark is all about the money — but distributing it as much as earning it.

Facebook, Google, and Apple agree they have a role to play in solving the fake news problem (but aren’t totally sure what that role is yet)

Nieman Journalism Lab by Laura Hazard Owen

 

Recode’s annual media conference, Code Media, took place in California on February 13 and 14, and featured speakers like The Washington Post’s Marty Baron and Stratechery’s Ben Thompson. You can find links to watch video of each of the panels in the posts here, but among the highlights for journalism folks:

Tool for journalists: Trends24, for monitoring popular topics on Twitter

 Journalism.co.uk

 

Stay up to date with what’s trending on Twitter worldwide or zoom in on your city with this free tool

Related posts:

1. Journalism agenda: “Trust is the new click”
2. Journalism agenda: Fact-checking at Google News…
3. Journalism agenda: Social Media giants react to fake news phenomena after the damage already done…
4. #Journalism agenda: “Wikipedia calls the Daily Mail “generally unreliable,” and bans it as a source in most cases…
5. #Cyberculture agenda: “Data Mining Reveals the Rise of ISIS Propaganda on Twitter

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For the record, Turkey has a president who does not respect and will not obey Constitutional Court decision to free jailed journalists…

http://ift.tt/1Y5ifkp

Erdoğan says he ‘does not respect, will not obey’ top court ruling on arrested journalists

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has criticized the recent Constitutional Court ruling that paved the way for the release of two arrested journalists, saying he “does not accept or respect” the decision and vowing not to “obey” it

Constitutional Court Rules Journalists Can Dündar, Erdem Gül Exposed to Violation of Right

 Bianet :: English

Constitutional Court General Assembly has ruled journalists Can Dündar and Erdem Gül imprisoned as of November 26 over MİT truck report subjected to violation of right.

AYM Report: Arrest of Gül, Dündar Unlawful

 Bianet :: English

The Application of Gül and Dündar have been referred to General Assembly over Constitutional Court Report confirming “violation of freedom of press and speech and the right to security” concerning the application.

Debate: Cumhuriyet journalists freed

euro|topics

After a ruling by Turkey’s Constitutional Court two journalists who work for the newspaper Cumhuriyet have been released from jail. They were charged for writing a report that claims to show that the Turkish secret service supplied weapons to Syria. President Erdoğan has announced that he will not respect the court ruling. The Turkish press for the most part supports the journalists.

Can the Kurdish question be settled by killing people in Sur?

open Democracy News Analysis – by Nurcan Baysal

“Allow us, let us take these people out alive. The state will lose nothing if a civilian group is involved.”

Part of Diyarbakir’s old city walls. Wikicommons/ Bertil Videt. Some rights reserved.We are in Surici district with Lale Mansur, Zeynep Tanbay, Ferhat Tunc, Aysegul Devecioglu, Bahri Belen and Dilek Gokçin who came from Istanbul today. We meet Sibel Yigitalp, the HDP Diyarbakir deputy who is on constant watch in Sur. Ms. Yigitalp is able to talk with the families inside from time to time. A heavy bombardment is going on. Small snippets of information filter through to where we crowd around.

 

Punitive Fine for Calling Bilal Erdoğan ‘Genius’

 Bianet :: English

BirGün daily author Seray Şahiner has been sentenced to a punitive fine in amount of 800 euro for calling Bilal Erdoğan, son of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan “genius” in her article criticizing transforming schools into religious vocational high schools.

Amnesty report reveals retrogressive state of human rights in Turkey

The overall state of human rights in Turkey has substantially deteriorated in Turkey since the June 7 general elections

Former Turkish football star charged with insulting President Erdoğan

 World news: Turkey | guardian.co.uk by Agence France-Presse

Hakan Şükür, who became an MP after retiring from football, faces up to four years in jail if convicted over tweets

Turkey’s former international football star Hakan Şükür risks up to four years in jail after being charged with insulting president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Twitter, reports said on Wednesday.

Article | Children of the PKK By Katrin Kuntz

Mavi Boncuk

Mavi Boncuk |

Children of the PKK: The Growing Intensity of Turkey’s Civil War
By Katrin Kuntz[1], Onur Burçak Belli and Emin Oezmen (photos) Spiegel SOURCE

Article in PDF

A turning point for Turkey’s Kurds and parliamentary democracy

open Democracy News Analysis – by Aykan Erdemir

Ultimately, the fate of Turkish democracy appears to be intertwined with that of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democracy Party (HDP).

Bilgen: Sharing Pain doesn’t Mean Approving Attack

Bianet :: English

HDP Spokesperson Bilgen said, “Funeral is pain for those left behind, you cannot be the partner of things being said in the funeral” as to Van MP Hezer’s participation in suicide bomber of Ankara attack, Sömez’s condolence.

4th Group of News Watch in Diyarbakır

Bianet :: English

Journalists Aram Ekin Duran, Aysel Kılıç, Güliz Karaoğlan Vural, Gülşen İşeri, Gülten Üstündağ, Leyla Alp, Nevin Sungur, Pelin Cengiz and Yavuz Baydar are in Diyarbakır for the News Watch. The number of News Watch attenders has become 34.

MOTHER TONGUE DAY / VIDEO IN 14 LANGUAGES: #anadilindebarış: Peace in Mother Tongue

 Bianet :: English

We have called out “peace!” in Adyghe, Abkhazian, Arabic, Armenian, Georgian, Homshetsi, Judaeo Spanish, Kurdish, Lazuri, Ossetic, Romanian, Romaic, Assyrian and Turkish. Because we know that peace is beautiful in every language and much more beautiful when said in every language.

Bilal Erdoğan’s lawyer denies claims on money laundering

The lawyer of Bilal Erdoğan, the son of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has denied accusations that his client is involved in any money laundering, after Italian media reported that an investigation has been launched against him

Plans for Erdoğan’s birthday celebration notice to schools probed by CHP

CHP has submitted a parliamentary question addressed to Education Minister Avcı over whether he gave permission for a notice demanding that students from local schools march in celebration of President Erdoğan’s birthday

Demirtas: EU ignoring Turkey crackdown in bid for refugee deal

EurActiv.com by Georgi Gotev

The European Union is turning a blind eye to human rights violations in Turkey in a doomed bid for a solution to its migrant crisis, the leader of Turkey’s main Kurdish party told a Greek newspaper today (17 February).

EU ignoring rights abuses in Turkey for migrant deal: HDP

The co-leader of the Kurdish-problem-focused Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) accused the European Union of turning a blind eye to human rights violations in Turkey in a doomed bid for a solution to its migrant crisis, in an interview with the Greek newspaper on Feb. 17

Constitution Conciliation Committee dissolves as CHP leaves table

The main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) abandoned an inter-party commission tasked with writing a new charter on Feb. 16 over the presidential system debate

Turkey urged to free Syrian journalist

 BBC News | Europe | World Edition

A media advocacy group calls for the release of Syrian journalist Rami Jarrah, who has been detained in Turkey.

Turkey releases Syrian journalist

 BBC News | Europe | World Edition

Syrian journalist Rami Jarrah, who was arrested on Wednesday in Turkey, has announced his own release without charge.

Sculptor cleared of insulting Erdoğan

A Turkish sculptor has been acquitted on charges of insulting the Turkish president after he was tried for suggesting money won in compensation in a previous case against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was “illicit.”

ECHR finds Turkey guilty of violating right to life in femicide case

ECHR has found Turkey guilty of violating the right to life in a case regarding a woman murdered by her husband after filing numerous complaints with the police over the man’s death threats and harassment

Turkish girl’s suicide due to alleged sexual abuse sparks outrage

A Turkish high-school student’s suicide following a sexual assault by her math teacher in Kayseri has sparked nationwide outrage while resuming the debate about violence against women

ECHR finds Turkey guilty of discrimination for denying music education to blind student

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has determined that Turkey violated the article on the prohibition of discrimination when it denied music education to a blind student

With dozens killed by Ankara car bomb, focus now turns to who is responsible

World news: Turkey | guardian.co.uk by Simon Tisdall

With no group coming forward at this stage, the Kurdistan Workers party are likely to bear the brunt of the blame – but who else could be behind the attack?

In the absence of any immediate claims of responsibility for Wednesday evening’s rush-hour car bomb attack on a military convoy in Ankara, suspicion is likely to fall, first and foremost, on Kurdistan Workers party (PKK) militants who have been engaged in a renewed, low-intensity conflict with Turkey’s army and security forces since last summer.

In Photos: Aftermath of the car bomb attack in Ankara

Photos taken in the immediate aftermath of a car bomb explosion in Turkey’s capital Ankara display the scale of the blast as at least five people were killed and 10 others were injured

Ankara car bomb aftermath – video

World news: Turkey | guardian.co.uk by Guardian Staff

The aftermath of a blast in Ankara on Wednesday. Several people have reportedly been killed in the explosion close to military buildings in the Turkish capital. Turkish television footage shows a plume of black smoke billowing into the sky and a large fire on the ground. Emergency services can also be seen at the scene of the blast

Male Violence 2015 Infographic

 Bianet :: English

bianet is publishing its male violence tally in the form of infographic in English, Turkish and Kurdish. Here are 2015’s 1194 male violence cases…

413 women killed across Turkey since start of 2015 according to media: Association

Some 413 murders of women were reported by the Turkish media in 2015, the Umut (Hope) Foundation has stated in a new report, underlining that the trend has been increasing since the beginning of 2016

Related posts:

1. Turkey and human rights – Some progress and many setbacks
2. EFD Rights Watch: “an on line (internet) monument to commemorate women who lost their lives due to domestic violence….
3. "The old Erdoğan versus the new Erdoğan
4. So they were burnt alive…A confession on “Operation Return to Life”…
5. Erdoğan, cleared to be a prime minister while running for presidency [and already being de facto mayor of Istanbul]

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New photo from Facebook March 03, 2016 at 04:30PM

Bir maniniz yoksa yarın akşamki #BilgiPRCC etkinliğine bekleriz: via Facebook Pages http://ift.tt/1heKubC

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: facebook

New photo from Facebook March 03, 2016 at 04:01PM

Wroclaw, Polonya. via Reddit. via Facebook Pages http://ift.tt/1heKubC

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: facebook

New photo from Facebook March 03, 2015 at 11:25PM

Gerçekmiş. via @ucusankadin via Facebook Pages http://ift.tt/1heKubC

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New photo from Facebook March 03, 2015 at 06:57PM

Beyrut, Lübnan. 1982. Filistinlilerle birlikte İsrail’e karşı savaşmak için Bangladeş’ten gelmiş gönüllüler. via @Reddit. via Facebook Pages http://ift.tt/1heKubC

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