Digital Sociology Podcast
By Digital Sociology
Digital Sociology PodcastMar 23, 2017
Digital Sociology Podcast Episode 28 Michael Rosino on drug policy, race & online comments
For this episode I spoke to Michael Rosino about his book Debating the Drug War: Race, Politics, and the Media which comes from a detailed analysis of the discourse on drug policy and race in newspapers and the comment sections of their online versions.
Michael tells me about the discourses he identified which often deny racism and racial oppression as a factor in patterns of criminalisation of groups in drug related crime statistics.
Michael is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Molloy College, Long Island, New York and you can follow him on Twitter @michaelrosino
You can listen to the episode and subscribe on the Anchor website via the link below or by searching for “Digital Sociology Podcast” on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or wherever else you get podcasts.
This will be the last episode for a while but I hope to be back with some more in the future. However, in the meantime I will be launching a new series of my Social Theory Podcast in the next couple of weeks.
Digital Sociology Podcast Episode 27 Guerrilla Democracy
For this episode I spoke to Peter Bloom who is a Professor of Management at the University of Essex, Owain Smolović Jones who is Director of the Open University's Research into Employment, Empowerment and Futures academic centre of excellence and Jamie Woodcock who is Senior Lecturer at the Open University.
We talk about their new book Guerilla Democracy: Mobile Power and Revolution in the 21st Century which is a theoretically sophisticated analysis of digital politics.
We have a fascinating chat about different examples of radical collective action (from striking cinema and restaurant workers to anti-vaxxers and the storming of the Capitol) and the guests suggest some creative and challenging ways of understanding these events. What role have digital technologies and networks played in these events? Do they enable easier and more effective political action? Are these digitally facilitated resistances only disruptive or can they lead to constructive political alternatives?
You can follow Peter on Twitter @pbloombk, Owain @SunnOwain and Jamie @jamie_woodcock
You can listen to the episode and subscribe on the Anchor website via the link below or by searching for “Digital Sociology Podcast” on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or wherever else you get podcasts.
Digital Sociology Podcast Episode 26: Ben Jacobsen and David Beer on Social Media and Memory
This episode is a really great chat I had with Ben Jacobsen and David Beer both of The University of York.
We talk about their new book Social Media and the Automatic Production of Memory Classification, Ranking and the Sorting of the Past which is an exploration of the ways in which social media engages with memory and how this becomes significant for their platforms. They focus on the "Facebook Memories" app within the Facebook platform which generates reminders to users of previous posts, photos or other content.
We talk about what kinds of memories Facebook values and how it draws in previous interactions to create new content which is likely to produce more engagement in the present.
They tell me about how the distinction between a "real" memory and one created by Facebook is blurring and how the platform's perspective on what memories are valuable differ from those of users. This also tells us a lot about the role which the platform plays in creating or assessing the value of memories.
You can read more about their work in an LSE blog post.
You can follow Ben on Twitter @bn_jacobsen and find David's website here.
Digital Sociology Podcast Episode 25: Scott Timcke, algorithms, politics, capitalism & racism
In this episode I spoke to Scott Timcke who is a comparative historical sociologist, with an interest in race, class, and technology in modernity. He is a research associate with the University of Johannesburg’s Centre for Social Change and a fellow at the University of Leeds’ Centre for African Studies.
The basis of our discussion is Scott's book Algorithms and the end of Politics: How Technology Shapes 21st Century American Life which was published in 2021 by Bristol University Press.
Scott tells about how algorithms and processes of datafication are influencing how politics functions. In particular, how the role which particular form of capitalism which has been enabled by the internet and digital technologies and networks affects politics.
We talk about credit rating systems, the hidden ways in which we are influenced, Trump and the progress which needs to be made on considerations of race in our analysis of politics and technology amongst many other things.
It was was really fascinating to talk to Scott who has immense knowledge on how technology and politics function and is a great communicator.
I mention that Scott has been on my other podcast but as things have panned out this episode has come out before the other ones have. But those new Social Theory Podcasts will be coming out in a few weeks (after this current run of the Digital Sociology Podcast).
You can follow Scott on Twitter @scotttimcke and read his previous book Capital, State & Empire: The New American Way of Digital Warfare via the University of Westminster Press website (Open Access).
Digital Sociology Podcast Episode 24: Mark Wong on Hidden Youth & Online Lives in Scotland and Hong Kong
There has been a huge gap since the last episode as life, work and then Covid got in the way. I will be putting out a few episodes over the next few weeks which have all been recorded recently with the exception of this first interview with Mark Wong. This was recorded in 2019 and was intended to be the first of a series which I didn't manage to do at the time. But Mark's work is fascinating to reflect on in 2021 as he has done fascinating work on "Hidden Youth", that is, young people who spend all or most of their time at home engaging with other people solely online.
This has been a familiar experience to many people over the last 18 months or so which makes Mark's research and insights more important than ever. Mark tells me about this growing phenomenon and the experiences of people he spoke to which challenge some of the perceptions of people who spend much of their time physically alone at home. The "Hidden Youth" are not necessarily isolated or disconnected, rather, they are highly connected with others and well-informed about cultural issues and trends. Also, in many cases digital communication facilitated more meaningful and emotional engagement and connection.
Central to Mark's work is a comparison between "Hidden Youth" in Scotland and in Hong Kong and we talk about some of the differences between these two contexts.
Mark Wong is a Lecturer in Public Policy and Research Methods in the School of Social & Political Sciences at the University of Glasgow.
You can read Mark's article on "Hidden Youth" in New Media & Society and in his university repository.
You can follow Mark on Twitter @UoG_MarkWong
Digital Sociology Podcast Episode 23: Elinor Carmi, content moderators, telephone operators and politics of "listening"
In this episode I am talking to Elinor Carmi who is a Postdoc Research Associate in Digital Culture & Society at the University of Liverpool. She tells me about how her experience of working in radio and music production and as a feminist has influenced her current analysis of digital media work. In particular we discuss her comparison and analysis of early 20th century telephone operators and contemporary online content moderators. Elinor suggests that there are similarities between the ways in which (usually female) telephone operators were not only responsible for connecting calls but for maintaining the smooth front end experience for callers. One of the key tasks required of them was to distinguish between "message" and "noise" and remove the latter. Content moderators have to make similar distinctions in with online content by removing violent, sexual and other content which doesn't fit with the values which the platform wishes to present. The power of this analysis is made stark through the example of how Facebook considers male nipples to be "message" and female nipples "noise".
You can follow Elinor on Twitter
@Elinor_Carmi
You can read Elinor's article 'The Hidden Listeners: Regulating the Line from Telephone Operators to Content Moderators' in the International Journal of Communication
https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/8588
Elinor's article 'Cookies – More than Meets the Eye' in the journal Theory, Culture & Society
Digital Sociology Podcast Episode 22: Susan Halford, the semantic web, symphonic social science and how sociologists can work with computer scientists
In this episode of the Digital Sociology Podcast I spoke to Susan Halford who is Professor of Sociology at the University of Bristol and the President of the British Sociological Association.
Amongst other things she explains the emergence "semantic web" to me and we discuss why this is of interest to sociologists and what sociology my have to offer in understanding it. If the web is a massive database of documents then the semantic web is a way of identifying and connecting "entities" within those documents (WolframAlpha is an example of a basic version of the semantic web). Susan says that this is a significant ontological task of identifying what kinds of things do and do not exist in this space. For the semantic web to develop huge amounts of data on all kinds of topics would need to be gathered and analysed which would also require decisions to be made about what kinds of data to include and exclude.
We also discuss about the benefits and challenges of working working across the social sciences and computer sciences.
I ask Susan about a paper she wrote with Mike Savage in which they outline a fascinating reading of the work of Thomas Piketty, Robert Putnam and Richard Wilkinson & Kate Pickett. They propose the approach taken by these authors can be applied as "symphonic social science" which could be used to approach big data.
Susan also offers some of her opinions on why sociologists are sometimes a bit scared to work with "big data" and how we might be able to overcome this.
Digital Sociology Podcast Episode 21: Huw Davies, young people, technology and social class
In this episode of the Digital Sociology Podcast I am talking to Huw Davies who is a researcher at the Oxford Internet Institute at the University of Oxford.
Huw tells me about his research into young peoples' use of technology (and particularly the internet). His research has shown that there are significant social class differences between how young people of different social class backgrounds tend to use technologies. However, this doesn't always follow the patterns we might expect. He has found from his detailed research with young people that many might not be engaging with the school curriculum on digital literacy (for instance) but nevertheless have sophisticated skills and are quite entrepreneurial with online and creative activities.
The two papers of Huw's we discussed were:
Davies HC and Eynon R (2018) Is digital upskilling the next generation our ‘pipeline to prosperity’? New Media and Society. DOI: 10.1177/1461444818783102.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1461444818783102
Davies HC (2018) Learning to Google: Understanding classed and gendered practices when young people use the Internet for research. New Media & Society 20(8): 2764–2780. DOI: 10.1177/1461444817732326.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1461444817732326?journalCode=nmsa
Huw is one of the conveners of the British Sociological Associations's Digital Sociology study group (along with me and a few others) which you can follow on Twitter @bsadigitalsoc
Digital Sociology Podcast Episode 20: Jess Drakett, memes,working in tech, sexism and humour
Episode 19: Nick Couldry, Data Colonialism and the mediated construction of reality
For this episode of the Digital Sociology Podcast I spoke to Nick Couldry who is Professor of Media, Communication and Social Theory at the London School of Economics
He suggests that digital platforms are appropriating "human life without limit" as all aspects of our life become transformed into data. Nick and his co-author Ulises A. Mejias describe this as a form of big data colonialism as it is a process through which our lives are deemed apt for extraction and appropriation without payment (like the raw materials of the new world were by colonisers).
We also talked about Nick's book The Mediated Construction of Reality, written with Andreas Hepp, which suggests ways in which we can take proper account of the role which media play in the ways in which we understand the world. In particular, we focused on how data is shaping our experience and understanding of reality.
Here is the website for Nick's forthcoming book is:
Nick Couldry and Ulises A. Mejias 'Data Colonialism: Rethinking Big Data's Relation to the Contemporary Subject' Television & New Media
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1527476418796632?journalCode=tvna
Nick Couldry and Andreas Hepp The Mediated Construction of Reality
http://politybooks.com/the-mediated-construction-of-reality/
Episode 18: Frank Pasquale, big data, algorithms and discrimination in the black box society
You can follow Frank on Twitter @FrankPasquale and see his website at www.frankpasquale.com/ The abstract to Frank's book The Black Box Society: The Secret Algorithms that Control Money and Information is here:
digitalcommons.law.umaryland.edu/books/96/
You can listen to the episode on the Anchor site and download or subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts or wherever you usually get podcasts.
Digital Sociology Podcast Episode 17: Tom Brock, political economy of e-sports, video game labour
Digital Sociology Podcast Episode 16: Kylie Jarrett on the “digital housewife” and social media
You can follow Kylie on Twitter @kylzjarrett
Digital Sociology Podcast Episode 15:Penny Andrews, library systems, academic social media, Ed Balls
Also, I recorded this about a year ago and it has taken me ages to upload this (sorry Penny) but most of the political diversions we go down are still mostly pertinent which perhaps says a lot about the state we're in.
Penny has written about her fandom for Ed Balls and her role as the worlds most prominent producer of Ed gifs and read some of her articles on higher education and metrics at Wonkhe
discoversociety.org/2017/07/05/every-day-can-be-ed-balls-day-in-uk-politics-fandom/
wonkhe.com/staff/penny-andrews/
You can follow Penny on Twitter @pennyb
Digital Sociology Podcast Episode 14: Mark Carrigan, academic social media, public sociology and the accelerated academy
Mark is on Twitter @mark_carrigan
I have just changed over my podcast host from Soundcloud to Anchor. If you listen on a podcast app this shouldn't make any difference and you should get new episodes as normal. But if you usually listen through a browser on Soundcloud you will just need to go to my profile on the Anchor site instead.
Digital Sociology Podcast Episode 13 Karen Gregory
A few times Karen mentions a book called Lower Ed: The troubling rise of for-profit colleges in the new economy by Tressie McMillan Cottom. She also discusses Kylie Jarrett’s book Feminism, Labour and Digital Media: The Digital Housewife
See he
Digital Sociology Podcast Episode 10 Murray Goulden
You can follow Murray on Twitter @murraygoulden
Digital Sociology Podcast Episode 11 Harry Dyer v2
For this episode of the Digital Sociology Podcast I spoke to Harry Dyer about his work on online social platforms and identity. Harry tells me about his thoughts on the development and design of different platforms and how they make different actions and connections possible and restrict others.
Harry told me about what he has found from his research on the way in which young people use different platforms and the subtle ways they interpret and use platforms to present their identities. He tells me about the theoretical traditions he has drawn upon influenced by Erving Goffman and Karan Barad amongst others. I also here about the innovative way he has applied the analysis of comic books to social media. We also talk about
Digital Sociology Podcast Episode 11 Harry Dyer
Harry told me about what he has found from his research on the way in which young people use different platforms and the subtle ways they interpret and use platforms to present their identities. He tells me about the theoretical traditions he has drawn upon influenced by Erving Goffman and Karan Barad amongst others. I also here about the innovative way he has applied the analysis of comic books to social media. We also talk about whether communities are possible online and how the Facebook model of community differs from the “anonymous” one.
This is the first episode that I haven’t been able to edit properly. All of my previous episodes have included intro/outro music, stings and various bit
Digital Sociology Podcast Episode 10 Mariya Stoilova
The project developed out of a previous one called EU Kids Online and Mariya has been working on developing an open source toolkit which is adaptable to countries in the global south. Central to their project is challenging the idea that the internet is a space dominated by risk but also one which provides opportunities for them. Conversely, there is also a "digital determinist" discourse which is equally simplistic which assumes that access to the internet will in itself produce more highly skilled and knowledgeable young people.
The research has produced findings which show a nuanced picture particularly around how risk is understood differently by children compare
Digital Sociology Podcast Episode 9 Rachel Thomson
Digital Sociology Podcast is having a short break
Digital Sociology Podcast Episode 8 Warren Pearce
I hear about some research Warren has done about Koko the Gorilla and his dominance of one area of the climate change discussion online. Koko is a gorilla with a big online presence who lent his popularity to raising awareness of climate change but Warren and his colleagues found that the impact was not quite what it seems on the surface.
You can read more about some of Warren’s work on climate change discussion on Twitter and see a full list of his publications here. Also, you can follow Warren on Twitter @WarrenPearce
Digital Sociology Podcast Episode 7 Justine Gangneux
Justine’s broader theoretical work can be found in her discussion of surveillance.
You can follow Justine on Twitter @JGgnx and see her blog justinegangneux.wordpress.com/
Digital Sociology Podcast Episode 6 Deborah Lupton
For more of Deborah’s insights on the Quantified Self and self-tracking see her book on that topic, she also has a recent book on digital sociology and new one on digital health. For even more s
Digital Sociology Podcast Episode 5 Holly Powell-Jones
We talk about her methods of research and how her ethical position informed her approach. For instance, when conducting research she integrates educational aspects which help to inform young people about online criminality and how they can be recognised.
Holly tells me about how her participants have made sense of, and made judgements about “sexting” and “revenge porn” amongst other issues and we assess the effectiveness of current legal frameworks in the UK.
We touch on issues such as who is considered to be “risky” and what behaviours are considered to be “risky”. Often we assume that younger people are more likely to engage in risky behaviour due to being inexperienced but Holly found that younger people were more risk averse and often “hyper risk managers” who are highly aware of
Digital Sociology Podcast Episode 4 Louise Reid
Louise told me about some of her findings about how people engage with and understand technologies which allow them to monitor their energy usage.
She told me about how she used analysis of Mumsnet discussions to explore how people use smart energy devices. This was really useful because it was a completely different kind of interaction compared to a traditional research interview. This generated much more detailed data on how participants’ interact with their technologies and enabled the researchers to observe the seemingly mundane reality of how people engage in energy practices.
We also talk about the differences between how research is done in digital sociology and digital geography and what the two are learning from one another.
You can follow Louise on
Digital Sociology Podcast Episode 3 Nick Prior
Digital Sociology Podcast Episode 2 Sian Lincoln
More here: thisisnotasociology.blog/2017/07/27/digital-sociology-podcast-episode-2-sian-lincoln-facebook-identity-and-nostalgia
Digital Sociology Podcast Episode 1 - Mike Saker, locative media and Pokémon Go
Mike questioned whether locative media create a performance of authenticity? We also discussed Mike’s tendency to study things just as they die!
Digital Health/Digital Capitalism Episode 8 Aristea Fotopolou
She told me about her work on fertility and pregnancy apps and how they construct and embody discourses of gender, capitalism and neoliberalism. We question the extent to which we are encouraged to be "good citizens".
In my view Aristea has some very interesting and useful ways of conceptualising the ways in which we engage with health and exercise tracking such as "biopedagogy" and focusing on the "micropractices" of using technology.
Aristea tells me about her experience of conducting an autoethnography of her use of self-tracking and how her identity as a researcher and a research participant blurred.
In the discussion Aristea connects the discussion of self-tracking to her other work on feminist activism and digital networks through suggesting that tracking is a form of gendered labour.
Digital Health/Digital Capitalism Episode 7 Btihaj Ajana
We talk about her work on biometrics and self-tracking. She suggests that when our bodies are transformed into data they are able to be distributed over networks and our bodily boundaries become more open and fuzzy. She sees this as a shift from body as flesh to body as data and this new ontology requires a new engagement with ethics politics and regulation.
Digital Health/Digital Capitalism Episode 6 Liz McFall
Liz discusses some of her work on the history of insurance and how this relates to the contemporary impact which digital data is having on insurance. New sources of data are changing how data is calculated although sometimes the changes are not as big as we might expect. We discuss whether self-tracking technologies will create personalised insurance pricing based on exercise activities and speculate on the forthcoming changes to the Affordable Care Act in USA.