Week 3 Question
Algorithm & Computerized Culture
Algorithms play a key role in modeling society and shaping culture. Use one example to briefly explain the social and cultural implications of algorithms. What are the important issues at stake in algorithmic culture today?
Week 4 Question
Cultural Data & Cultural Analytics
What does it mean by datafied culture? What sorts of new cultural experience does it offer when cultural materials are datafied? Can you give an example of such a new experience?
Week 5 Question
Digital Archive
Find a digital archive and discuss about its key features and the way it represents cultural data. How is it different from traditional (non-digital) archives?
Week 6 Question
Remix Culture
Remix has become a widespread digital cultural phenomenon accompanied by digitalization and the internet. Now, everyone can re-create their favorite songs or movie scenes by using the appropriate software. However, this creative process has generated opposing views on the authorship/ownership of mass media materials. On the one hand, some argue that unsolicited use of media content is a violation of copyright laws, on the other hand, some believe that creativity should not be limited by copyright laws and advocate for fair use of copyrighted materials. What is your take on these views?
Week 7 Question
Selfies
What’s the fuss about selfies? Why do people spend so much effort taking, editing, posting, and sharing photos of themselves? Some even go to extreme measures to achieve an unachievable image, causing injury and even death in some cases. What is happening in the act of taking selfies? What are we trying to express to others about ourselves through selfies? And what kind of social interaction and connection are we seeking when posting selfies on social media?
Recent studies have looked beyond the common (mis)conception of selfie as a manifestation of narcissism and low self-esteem; they argue that there is a lot more going on in this widespread cultural phenomenon enabled by digital technologies and social media platforms. They suggest that Erving Goffman’s (1956) notion of the self as a “performance” can help us understand this emergent digital cultural phenomenon. In considering the relationship between selfie, digital communication, and culture, what does it mean to perform through selfies? How does one perform his/her identity by utilizing such digital affordances as smartphones, photo editing software, and Snapchat? More importantly, what does such performance tell us about the society we live in today?
Week 9 Question
Gaming
Like other media industries, the contemporary global game industry is highly competitive and hypercommercialized. Recent studies suggest that video games have become a new communication medium for companies to promote their brand images and products. For example, Anne Allison (2003) in her article discusses how the abstract idea of cuteness is inscribed into the characters of Pokémon to promote Japan as a leading actor in the global creative culture industry. In his study of Adidas’s ‘Beat Rugby’ campaign, Jay Scherer (2007) also illustrates that advergame can be an effective promotional tool merging advertising, marketing, and gameplay. What are your favorite games? How would you describe your experiences as a player/consumer? Have you spotted any form of advertisement or promotion in the games that you play? Can you describe how effective these promotional strategies are to you as a potential customer?
Week 10 Question
Online Celebrities
According to Theresa Senft (2013), practices of microcelebrity (a.k.a. internet celebrity and influencer), constitute part of the growing “influencer commerce” and “attention economy” in the late capitalist society. Microcelebrities often go to great extents to construct their branded self-images online to achieve and maintain followership. Their visibility and popularity online have become a means for companies to promote the consumption of their products. Recent studies on the subject have criticized the exploitative nature of the attention economy in that it profits from the immaterial labor (i.e. like, comment, share) of influencers and their followers with little, or without, compensation. In considering our own engagement in this digital culture, in what ways do we participate in the immaterial labor, encourage influencer commerce, and contribute to the expansion attention economy?
Week 11 Question
Internet Memes
Internet memes function as a form of language through which ideas and ideologies are mediated across online communities. They also serve as identity markers enabling online communities to create and maintain the boundaries of their social spaces. Give one example to explain how this process of digital communication takes place.
Week 12 Question
Internet Trolls
Internet trolls have attracted scholarly and public attention in recent years because of their potential in causing damage to the integrity of not only online communities (see Bulut & Yörük (2017)), but also the broader social and political processes (see Shachaf & Hara (2010)). Given the current COVID-19 pandemic, many observers suggest that this global health crisis has given rise to online trolling activities, ranging from spreading conspiracy theories to anti-Asian hate speeches. Give one example of online troll/trolling in the context of COVID-19 pandemic to discuss its intention and effect on digital communication.