Göran Bolin
Södertörn University, Media and Communication Studies, Faculty Member
- Media and Communication Studies, Media Studies, Cultural Theory, Media and Cultural Studies, Web 2.0, Branding, and 27 moreTelevision Studies, Narrative Theory, Audience and Reception Studies, Media Theory, Value Theory, Digital media Production, Nation Branding, Cultural Industries, Media Production, Communication, Cultural Studies, New Media, Aesthetics, Popular Culture, Technoculture, Media Industries, Big Data, Media, Pierre Bourdieu, Digital Media, Social Media, Media Convergence, Mobile Media, Nostalgia, Digital Culture, Field Theory, and Audience Studiesedit
- Göran Bolin is professor in Media & Communication Studies at Södertörn University, Stockholm, Sweden. His present res... moreGöran Bolin is professor in Media & Communication Studies at Södertörn University, Stockholm, Sweden. His present research interests are focussed on the relations between media production and consumption, especially in the wake of digitisation and datafication. Bolin has since the early 1990s worked in or headed research projects on youth and cultural production, nat6ion branding, generational media use, and the relation between production practices and textual expressions, media consumption and the production of value in cultural industries, etc.
His publications include Value and the Media: Cultural Production and Consumption in Digital Markets (Ashgate, 2011) and Media Generations: Experience, Identity and Mediatised Social Change (Routledge 2016) and the edited volume Cultural Technologies. The Shaping of Culture in Media and Society (Routledge, 2012).
He is a member of Academia Europaea, where he serves as Chair of the section committee for the section Film, Media and Visual Studies.edit
While the analysis of generations has been central in the sociological understanding of social change, the role of the media in this process has only been acknowledged as an important feature during the last couple of decades. Building on... more
While the analysis of generations has been central in the sociological understanding of social change, the role of the media in this process has only been acknowledged as an important feature during the last couple of decades. Building on quantitative and qualitative comparative research, Media Generations analyses the role of the media in the formation of generational experience, identity and habitus, and how mediated nostalgia is an important part in the social formation of generations.
Avoiding popular generational labelling Göran Bolin argues that the totality of the media landscape is a contextual structure that together with age and life-course factors help inform world-views and ways to relate to the wider society that guide the actions of media users. Media Generations demonstrates how - as different generations come of age at different moments in the mediatised historical process - they develop different media habits, but also make sense of the world differently, which informs their relations to older and younger generations.
It also explores how this process of ‘generationing’, that is, the process in which a generation come into being as a self-perceived social identity, partly builds on specific kinds of nostalgia that establishes generational differences and distinctions. This book will be of special interest to those studying social change, collective memory, cultural identity and the role of the media in social experience.
Avoiding popular generational labelling Göran Bolin argues that the totality of the media landscape is a contextual structure that together with age and life-course factors help inform world-views and ways to relate to the wider society that guide the actions of media users. Media Generations demonstrates how - as different generations come of age at different moments in the mediatised historical process - they develop different media habits, but also make sense of the world differently, which informs their relations to older and younger generations.
It also explores how this process of ‘generationing’, that is, the process in which a generation come into being as a self-perceived social identity, partly builds on specific kinds of nostalgia that establishes generational differences and distinctions. This book will be of special interest to those studying social change, collective memory, cultural identity and the role of the media in social experience.
Research Interests: Cultural Studies, Communication, New Media, Media and Cultural Studies, Digital Media, and 12 moreAudience Studies, Cultural Theory, Mass Communication, Audience and Reception Studies, Social Media, Critical and Cultural Theory, Nostalgia, Generations, Mediatization (Communication Studies), Media and Communications, Nostalgia and Memory, and Mobile Phone Generations
Medieutredningens forskningsantologi (SOU 2016:30) Book download: http://www.medieutredningen.se/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/SOU_2016_30_webb.pdf Conference presentation at MEG 2016 in Gothenburg April 7th:... more
Medieutredningens forskningsantologi (SOU 2016:30)
Book download: http://www.medieutredningen.se/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/SOU_2016_30_webb.pdf
Conference presentation at MEG 2016 in Gothenburg April 7th: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qQvs9TMkAM&feature=youtu.be
Book download: http://www.medieutredningen.se/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/SOU_2016_30_webb.pdf
Conference presentation at MEG 2016 in Gothenburg April 7th: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qQvs9TMkAM&feature=youtu.be
Research Interests:
"The essays in this volume discuss both the culture of technology that we live in today, and culture as technology. Within the chapters of the book cultures of technology and cultural technologies are discussed, focussing on a variety of... more
"The essays in this volume discuss both the culture of technology that we live in today, and culture as technology. Within the chapters of the book cultures of technology and cultural technologies are discussed, focussing on a variety of examples, from varied national contexts. The book brings together internationally recognised scholars from the social sciences and humanities, covering diverse themes such as intellectual property, server farms and search engines, cultural technologies and epistemology, virtual embassies, surveillance, peer-to-peer file-sharing, sound media and nostalgia and much more. It contains both historical and contemporary analyses of technological phenomena as well as epistemological discussions on the uses of technology.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Foreword
1 Introduction: Cultural Technologies in Cultures of Technology Göran Bolin
Part I: Histories of Cultural Technologies
2 The Algorithmic Turn: Photosynth, Augmented Reality and the Changing Implications of the Image William Uricchio
3 The Compact Disc and Its Culture: Notes on Melancholia Eric Rothenbuhler
4 Peer-to-Peer File-Sharing Systems: Files, Objects, Distribution Mats Björkin
5 Technostruggles and the Satellite Dish: A Populist Approach to Infrastructure Lisa Parks
Part II: Epistemologies of Cultural Technologies
6 Being ‘Accountable’: TV Audiences and Surveillance Toby Miller
7 Time, Space and Clouds of Information: Data Centre Discourse and the Meaning of Durability Peter Jakobsson and Fredrik Stiernstedt
8 Search Engines in Practice: Structure and Culture in Technical Development Elizabeth Van Couvering
9 Technology and Epistemology: Information Policy and Desire Sandra Braman
Part III: Uses of Cultural Technologies
10 Web 2.0 Technologies of the Self Maria Bakardjieva and Georgia Gaden
11 Virtual Technologies of Nation-States: State Administration in Second Life Stina Bengtsson
12 The Scary Promise of Technology: Developing New Forms of Audience Research Joke Hermes
Notes
Contributors
Index"
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Foreword
1 Introduction: Cultural Technologies in Cultures of Technology Göran Bolin
Part I: Histories of Cultural Technologies
2 The Algorithmic Turn: Photosynth, Augmented Reality and the Changing Implications of the Image William Uricchio
3 The Compact Disc and Its Culture: Notes on Melancholia Eric Rothenbuhler
4 Peer-to-Peer File-Sharing Systems: Files, Objects, Distribution Mats Björkin
5 Technostruggles and the Satellite Dish: A Populist Approach to Infrastructure Lisa Parks
Part II: Epistemologies of Cultural Technologies
6 Being ‘Accountable’: TV Audiences and Surveillance Toby Miller
7 Time, Space and Clouds of Information: Data Centre Discourse and the Meaning of Durability Peter Jakobsson and Fredrik Stiernstedt
8 Search Engines in Practice: Structure and Culture in Technical Development Elizabeth Van Couvering
9 Technology and Epistemology: Information Policy and Desire Sandra Braman
Part III: Uses of Cultural Technologies
10 Web 2.0 Technologies of the Self Maria Bakardjieva and Georgia Gaden
11 Virtual Technologies of Nation-States: State Administration in Second Life Stina Bengtsson
12 The Scary Promise of Technology: Developing New Forms of Audience Research Joke Hermes
Notes
Contributors
Index"
Research Interests: Communication, Technology, Media Studies, New Media, Media and Cultural Studies, and 11 moreWeb 2.0, Digital media Production, Technoculture, Digital Media, Information & Communication Technology, Cultural Theory, Digital Culture, Social Media, Cultural Industries, Media and Communication Studies, and Media and Culture
Value is seldom discussed in its own right, though it is of utmost importance to our relations with media texts and cultural objects, as we constantly make judgements of various kinds with respect to them. Bolin focuses on how value is... more
Value is seldom discussed in its own right, though it is of utmost importance to our relations with media texts and cultural objects, as we constantly make judgements of various kinds with respect to them. Bolin focuses on how value is produced in contemporary media and cultural production, particularly through social relations. Discussing changes over the past two decades, Bolin emphasises the rise of digital media and the opportunities that these afford for media’s production and consumption.
Research Interests: Media Studies, New Media, Media and Cultural Studies, Web 2.0, Digital media Production, and 15 moreDigital Media, Cultural Theory, Audience and Reception Studies, Media Industries, Digital Culture, Social Media, Value Theory, Pierre Bourdieu, Cultural Industries, Social Media Marketing, New Media Studies, Mass Communication and New Media, Media Production, Big Data, and Media and Communications
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A classic epistemological problem in the social sciences is how to analyse and understand social change. In media and communication studies, for example, the concept of mediatisation has sparked off such a debate, since one of the main... more
A classic epistemological problem in the social sciences is how to analyse and understand social change. In media and communication studies, for example, the concept of mediatisation has sparked off such a debate, since one of the main criticisms against the approach is that researchers rather take change for granted without being able to empirically establish if and how change has occurred. In this article is suggested a model for analysing social change through an analysis of how generational identity as “we-sense” is produced in narratives about media use. The empirical basis for the discussion is picked from a recently finished project on media generations in Sweden and Estonia, building on foremost qualitative material. The article concludes with accounting for the merits of using a generational perspective for analysing social change.
Research Interests: Cultural Studies, Media Sociology, Communication, Media Studies, Media and Cultural Studies, and 10 moreNarrative, Audience Studies, Audience and Reception Studies, Media Theory, Philosophy of Time, Lifecourse studies, Audience Research, Generations, Media and Communication Studies, and Media Audiences
Following the spread of digital media, the interdisciplinary field of surveillance studies has gained prominence, engaging scholars from the humanities and the social sciences alike. This introductory article aims to map out the main... more
Following the spread of digital media, the interdisciplinary field of surveillance studies has gained prominence, engaging scholars from the humanities and the social sciences alike. This introductory article aims to map out the main terrain of surveillance through, by and in the media. First, we discuss the phenomenon of, and the scholarly work on, surveillance through and by media, taking into consideration both state and corporate surveillance and how these activities have grown with the new digital and personal media of today. We then discuss surveillance as the phenomenon is represented in the media and how representations relate to surveillance practices. We conclude by presenting the articles of this special issue.
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In the chapter Bolin argues that in the world of digital, interactive media, media users become involved in two kinds of valorisation processes: one in which they produce social, aesthetic and cultural value within the framework of a... more
In the chapter Bolin argues that in the world of digital, interactive media, media users become involved in two kinds of valorisation processes: one in which they produce social, aesthetic and cultural value within the framework of a cultural economy – which then becomes appropriated by the media industries and transformed into economic value. Furthermore, the nature of the business models of social networking media makes the labour activities at their bottom easily misrecognized by the media users. The result of this process is an increased commodification of social realms that have previously been outside of the economic markets.
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Since the late 1990s, nation branding has attracted a lot of attention from academics, professional consultants and government actors. The ideas and practices of nation branding are frequently presented by branding advocates as necessary... more
Since the late 1990s, nation branding has attracted a lot of attention from academics, professional consultants and government actors. The ideas and practices of nation branding are frequently presented by branding advocates as necessary and even inevitable in the light of changing dynamics of political power and influence in a globalised and media-saturated world. In this context, some have argued that nation branding is a way to reduce international conflict and supplant ethno-nationalism with a new form of market-based, national image management. However, a growing body of critical studies has documented that branding campaigns tend to produce ahistorical and exclusionary representations of the nation and advance a form of ‘commercial nationalism’ that is problematic. Importantly, the critical scholarship on nation branding has relied primarily on sociological and anthropological theories of nationhood, identities and markets. By contrast, the role of the media – as institutions, systems and societal storytellers – has been undertheorised in relation to nation branding. The majority of the existing literature tends to treat the media as ‘neutral’ vehicles for the delivery of branding messages to various audiences. This is the guest editors’ introduction to the Special Issue ‘Theorizing Media in Nation Branding’, which seeks to problematise this overly simplistic view of ‘the media’ and aims to articulate the various ways in which specific media are an integral part of nation branding. It adopts an interdisciplinary approach and problematises both the enabling and the inhibiting potentialities of different types of media as they perpetuate nation branding ideas, images, ideologies, discourses and practices.
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A criticism raised about mediatization research is that although the concept of mediatization presupposes a long-term temporal perspective, there are few projects that have studied the process methodologically over time. This article... more
A criticism raised about mediatization research is that although the concept of mediatization presupposes a long-term temporal perspective, there are few projects that have studied the process methodologically over time. This article argues that a generational approach can serve as one suggested analytical solution to the problem of studying long-term social, cultural, and societal change. The article describes a recently finished project on media generations in Sweden and Estonia and discusses overcoming the problem of conducting research on mediatization as a long-term process. Through intergenerational and cross-cultural analysis, the article shows how media memories from childhood and the formative years of youth can reveal specific traits in the historical process and how the role of the media has changed over time in the minds of different generations. The article focuses on four generations that had their formative years during significant historical moments in the late 20th century; these formative moments were marked by specificities both in the respective national media landscapes and in the vast historical and geopolitical differences between the two countries.
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One component in the generational experience strongly related to media is the intimate and often passionate relation that is developed towards media technologies and content from one’s formative youth period: musical genres and stars, as... more
One component in the generational experience strongly related to media is the intimate and often passionate relation that is developed towards media technologies and content from one’s formative youth period: musical genres and stars, as well as reproduction technologies such as the vinyl record, music cassette tapes, comics and other now dead media forms. Passion, however, is a dialectic concept that not only refers to the joyful desire and intense emotional engagement of cherished objects but also includes its dialectic opposite in the form of pain and suffering. This passion, it is argued in the article, is activated by the nostalgic relationships to past media experiences, the bittersweet remembrances of media habits connected to earlier life phases of one’s own. Taking its point of departure in generational theory of Mannheim and others, this article analyses a series of focus group interviews with Swedish and Estonian media users tentatively belonging to four different generations. Based on the analysis of these interviews, it is suggested that passion and nostalgia are produced, first, in relation to old technologies, second, in relation to childhood memories and, third, at the limits of shared intergenerational experience, that is, at the moment when one realises that one’s own experiences of past media forms cannot be shared by younger generations, and especially one’s own children.
Research Interests:
(For open access to the article, click http://bds.sagepub.com/content/2/2/2053951715608406 ) Intelligence on mass media audiences was founded on representative statistical samples, analysed by statisticians at the market departments of... more
(For open access to the article, click http://bds.sagepub.com/content/2/2/2053951715608406 )
Intelligence on mass media audiences was founded on representative statistical samples, analysed by statisticians at the market departments of media corporations. The techniques for aggregating user data in the age of pervasive and ubiquitous personal media (e.g. laptops, smartphones, credit cards/swipe cards and radio-frequency identification) build on large aggregates of information (Big Data) analysed by algorithms that transform data into commodities. While the former technologies were built on socio-economic variables such as age, gender, ethnicity, education, media preferences (i.e. categories recognisable to media users and industry representatives alike), Big Data technologies register consumer choice, geographical position, web movement, and behavioural information in technologically complex ways that for most lay people are too abstract to appreciate the full consequences of. The data mined for pattern recognition privileges relational rather than demographic qualities. We argue that the agency of interpretation at the bottom of market decisions within media companies nevertheless introduces a ‘heuristics of the algorithm’, where the data inevitably becomes translated into social categories. In the paper we argue that although the promise of algorithmically generated data is often implemented in automated systems where human agency gets increasingly distanced from the data collected (it is our technological gadgets that are being surveyed, rather than us as social beings), one can observe a felt need among media users and among industry actors to ‘translate back’ the algorithmically produced relational statistics into ‘traditional’ social parameters. The tenacious social structures within the advertising industries work against the techno-economically driven tendencies within the Big Data economy.
Intelligence on mass media audiences was founded on representative statistical samples, analysed by statisticians at the market departments of media corporations. The techniques for aggregating user data in the age of pervasive and ubiquitous personal media (e.g. laptops, smartphones, credit cards/swipe cards and radio-frequency identification) build on large aggregates of information (Big Data) analysed by algorithms that transform data into commodities. While the former technologies were built on socio-economic variables such as age, gender, ethnicity, education, media preferences (i.e. categories recognisable to media users and industry representatives alike), Big Data technologies register consumer choice, geographical position, web movement, and behavioural information in technologically complex ways that for most lay people are too abstract to appreciate the full consequences of. The data mined for pattern recognition privileges relational rather than demographic qualities. We argue that the agency of interpretation at the bottom of market decisions within media companies nevertheless introduces a ‘heuristics of the algorithm’, where the data inevitably becomes translated into social categories. In the paper we argue that although the promise of algorithmically generated data is often implemented in automated systems where human agency gets increasingly distanced from the data collected (it is our technological gadgets that are being surveyed, rather than us as social beings), one can observe a felt need among media users and among industry actors to ‘translate back’ the algorithmically produced relational statistics into ‘traditional’ social parameters. The tenacious social structures within the advertising industries work against the techno-economically driven tendencies within the Big Data economy.
Research Interests: Cultural Studies, Algorithms, Communication, Media Studies, New Media, and 15 moreMedia and Cultural Studies, Digital media Production, Digital Media, Audience Studies, Audience and Reception Studies, Digital Culture, Social Media, Algorithm, Audience Research, Media and Communication Studies, Big Data, Media and Communications, Big Data Analytics, Mobile and Location-Based Media, and Media Industry Studies
sh.se. Publications. ...
sh.se. Publications. ...
Nation branding is a rapidly developing practice for promoting images of a nation-state for tourists or investors, sometimes with the secondary goal to foster nation building. It has also attracted a fair amount of scholarly attention.... more
Nation branding is a rapidly developing practice for promoting images of a nation-state for tourists or investors, sometimes with the secondary goal to foster nation building. It has also attracted a fair amount of scholarly attention. Analyses have focused on various themes, including national identity and neoliberal approaches to nation building. Given that the practice of nation branding presupposes the orchestration of mediated campaigns, surprisingly few studies have specifically focused on the role of the media. This article argues that a focus on the media (as technologies and organizations) can shed light on the dynamics of nation branding. The article reviews previous research, then presents a specific case of nation branding in Ukraine. This case study reveals the different types of media involved and how this involvement may have varied consequences for the analysis of branding campaigns.
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O Este artigo discute o fenômeno das narrativas transmídia e das adaptações em termos da valorização deste gênero específico de produção midiática. Aborda ainda os diferentes tipos de valor gerado na relação produção-consumo e traz... more
O Este artigo discute o fenômeno das narrativas transmídia e
das adaptações em termos da valorização deste gênero específico
de produção midiática. Aborda ainda os diferentes tipos de
valor gerado na relação produção-consumo e traz informações
para quem aprecia a produção de narrativa transmídia. Por
meio da apresentação de dois exemplos europeus, revela que
este formato, muitas vezes, aparece em ambientes de produções
de serviço público de mídia, sem fins lucrativos, enquanto que
na indústria commercial da comunicação há maior envolvimento
com as elaborações multiplataformas por suas possibilidades
lucrativas.
This article discusses the phenomenon of transmedia storytelling
and adaptations in terms of which values are produced
around this specific kind of media production, which different
kinds of value that is generated in relation to its production
and consumptions, and for whom the production of transmedia
storytelling and adaptations is ascribed value. Against two
European examples of transmedia storytelling it is argued that
this narrative form often appear in non-profit motivated public
service production environments, whereas the commercial media
industry more often engage in multi-platform productions,
since this type of production makes it easier to meet outer demands
of economic kinds.
das adaptações em termos da valorização deste gênero específico
de produção midiática. Aborda ainda os diferentes tipos de
valor gerado na relação produção-consumo e traz informações
para quem aprecia a produção de narrativa transmídia. Por
meio da apresentação de dois exemplos europeus, revela que
este formato, muitas vezes, aparece em ambientes de produções
de serviço público de mídia, sem fins lucrativos, enquanto que
na indústria commercial da comunicação há maior envolvimento
com as elaborações multiplataformas por suas possibilidades
lucrativas.
This article discusses the phenomenon of transmedia storytelling
and adaptations in terms of which values are produced
around this specific kind of media production, which different
kinds of value that is generated in relation to its production
and consumptions, and for whom the production of transmedia
storytelling and adaptations is ascribed value. Against two
European examples of transmedia storytelling it is argued that
this narrative form often appear in non-profit motivated public
service production environments, whereas the commercial media
industry more often engage in multi-platform productions,
since this type of production makes it easier to meet outer demands
of economic kinds.
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Communication, Media Studies, New Media, Media and Cultural Studies, Digital Media, and 15 moreAudience Studies, Audience and Reception Studies, Social Media, Interactive and Digital Media, New Media Studies, Mass media, Mass Communication and New Media, Media Production, Audience Research, Digital Marketing, Media and Communication Studies, Big Data, Audience and Reception Theory, Media and Communications, and Media and Communicaton
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This article discusses from an inter-cultural and inter-generational perspective the relationship between ‘objective’ media landscapes and how they are subjectively perceived among four different media generations. Based on a focus group... more
This article discusses from an inter-cultural and inter-generational perspective the relationship between ‘objective’ media landscapes and how they are subjectively perceived among four different media generations. Based on a focus group study with media users in Sweden and Estonia of two tentative generations, the relationship between the ‘objective’ and ‘subjective’ media landscapes is analysed, as is how the landscapes produce nostalgia at the intersection of age, generation, life course and life situation. Based on the differences found in the cross-cultural and the cross-generational comparison, it is concluded that in relation to the formative years of the respondents, there are two different kinds of nostalgia produced: one individually based, focussing on childhood memories; and one social or collective, focussing on the formative years of the respondents.
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The ‘active audience’ has theoretically been conceptualized from two perspectives: in political economy, it is suggested that television audiences work for the networks while watching and that they contribute to the valorization process... more
The ‘active audience’ has theoretically been conceptualized from two perspectives: in political economy, it is suggested that television audiences work for the networks while watching and that they contribute to the valorization process with their labour. Although contested, it has survived among media scholars, also feeding into the discussion on web surveillance techniques. The other conceptualization comes from reception theory, media ethnography and cultural studies, where the interpretive work by audiences is seen as productive and resulting in identities, taste cultures and social difference. This article relates these perspectives by considering audiences as involved in two production–consumptions circuits: (1) the viewer activities produce social difference (identities and cultural meaning) in a social and cultural economy, which is then (2) made the object of productive consumption as part of the activities of the media industries, the end product being economic profit. This article argues for the relevance of analysing these as separate circuits, with different kinds of labour at their centre, and that recent debates on the active audience often misrecognize the difference.
Research Interests: Field Theory, Communication, Media Studies, New Media, Media and Cultural Studies, and 14 moreWeb 2.0, Digital media Production, Cross-Media Studies, Digital Media, Audience Studies, Audience and Reception Studies, Media Industries, Digital Culture, Social Media, Interactive and Digital Media, Media Convergence, Big Data, Media and Communications, and Communication and media Studies
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"This article aims at giving some theoretical reflections and possible clarifications to theories on production and consumption of symbolic goods and commodities. It is argued that the production of sign commodities generate various kinds... more
"This article aims at giving some theoretical reflections and possible clarifications to theories on production and consumption of symbolic goods and commodities. It is argued that the production of sign commodities generate various kinds of values, which also differ from those produced in material commodity production.
With the example of the television audience this article puts forth the idea of the audience as a pure sign commodity, a commodity solely made up of sign structures, produced by semiotic labour."
With the example of the television audience this article puts forth the idea of the audience as a pure sign commodity, a commodity solely made up of sign structures, produced by semiotic labour."
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With the expansion of the European Union eastwards, nations have adopted various strategies for being included in the European community. This article discusses examples of cultural technologies used by post-communist countries in... more
With the expansion of the European Union eastwards, nations have adopted various strategies for being included in the European community. This article discusses examples of cultural technologies used by post-communist countries in aligning with Western Europe. It is argued that the phenomenon is in fact not new, as the marketing of nations has occurred since at least the World’s Fairs of the 19th century. However, while the World’s Fairs addressed the nation-states of high industrialism, cultural technologies are the features used in a post-industrialized context, where it is more important to impress with abilities of symbolic production rather than with traditional industrial production. In terms of modernization processes, it can be argued that the increased emphasis on symbolic production indicates a shift from techno-industrial modernization to techno-cultural modernization.
Research Interests: Communication, Media Studies, Media and Cultural Studies, Technoculture, Cultural Theory, and 12 moreMedia, Place Branding (Economics), Nation Branding, Branding, Eurovision Song Contest, Estonia, Nation-State, Media and Communications, World's Fairs, Place Branding, Nation States, and Cultural Technologies
This article reflects on the consequences of digitization for multiplatform television/media production, the ways in which it affects textual expressions, and how this might have a bearing on changing audience roles. It takes its... more
This article reflects on the consequences of digitization for multiplatform television/media production, the ways in which it affects textual expressions, and how this might have a bearing on changing audience roles. It takes its departure empirically from two Swedish examples of multiplatform production: The Truth About Marika and Labyrint, produced by SVT and TV4, respectively. It is argued that multiplatform media texts challenge our conceptions of categories such as work, text, program, etc., and, following from that, also challenge our notions of audience activity and engagement.
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This article discusses value creation within the fields of cultural production. It departs from Bourdieu’s field model, and seeks to develop it to fit unrestricted cultural production, for example television production. Bourdieu for the... more
This article discusses value creation within the fields of cultural production. It departs from Bourdieu’s field model, and seeks to develop it to fit unrestricted cultural production, for example television production. Bourdieu for the most part discussed the production of value (or forms of capital) in relation to fields of restricted cultural production, that is, within the fine arts (e.g. art, literature). Although one of his best known works dealt with television, one cannot say that he used the possibilities inherent in his own theory thoroughly enough to analyse this field of mass production. This article builds on recent discussions on the role of field theory in media studies, and seeks to contribute to the development of a theory of value production in fields of large-scale or unrestricted cultural production. It is argued that the conflation of commercial value with other kinds of value is more intense in the subfield of unrestricted cultural production, as production in this part of the field needs to obey outer demand in a way that production at the pole of restricted production does not.
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Media production in late capitalism is often measured in terms of economic value. If value is defined as the worth of a thing, a standard or measure, being the result of social praxis and negotiation between producers and consumers in... more
Media production in late capitalism is often measured in terms of economic value. If value is defined as the worth of a thing, a standard or measure, being the result of social praxis and negotiation between producers and consumers in various combinations, it follows that this worth can be of other kinds than the mere economic. This is, for example, the reasoning behind field theory (Bourdieu), where the generation of field-specific capital (value) is deeply dependent on the belief shared by the competing agents within the field. The full extent of the consequences of such a theory of convertibility between fields of cultural production, centred on different forms of value, is, however yet to be explored. This is the task of this article. It especially focuses on how value is constructed differently depending on the relations of the valuing subject to the production process, something that becomes highly relevant in digital media environments, where users are increasingly drawn into the production process.