This is an online lecture that was part of the module "Critical Theory of Social Media and the Internet". Recommended readings related to this lecture are:
Fuchs, Christian. 2014. Social Media: A Critical Introduction. London: Sage. Chapters 4+5.
Fuchs, Christian. 2014. Internet and Society. Social Theory in the Information Age. New York: Routledge. Chapters 3+10.
CLASSROOM/SEMINAR EXERCISE “Communication Power and Social Media”
Watch the following three videos. The first one is a lecture by Manuel Castells – author of the books “Communication power” and “Networks of outrage and hope”.
The second and the third one are talks by Evgeny Morozov, author of the books “The net delusion: How not to liberate the world” and “To save everything, click here: Technology, solutionism and the urge to fix problems that don’t exist”
They are considered as two of the most important social media-analysts.
While watching take notes about which issues of power, power relations and power struggles the lectures address.
Manuel Castells’ lecture ”Networks of Outrage and Hope”
thersa.org/events/video/vision-videos/networks-of-outrage-and-hope
Evgeny Morozov:RSA Animate – The Internet in Society:
thersa.org/events/rsaanimate/animate/rsa-animate-the-internet-and-society
Evgeny Morozov: Big Data, Small Government
youtube.com/watch?v=DyueJJbnzPg
After you have finished watching the videos, reflect on the following questions and write down your ideas:
How does Manuel Castells understand power in the Internet age?
How does Evgeny Morozov understand power in the Internet age?
What are the differences of the two approaches?
Discuss and compare the results in small groups. Group discussion is followed by a general discussion, in which the groups present the results of their discussion and different views are presented.
The results can be documented by collaboratively writing document on titanpad.com that lists answers to the three discussion questions.