This diploma thesis, The phenomenon of digital labor and its diverse practice in use of blogs in the Czech Republic, aims to bring the current definition of the concept of digital labor and its applicability into the Czech blogosphere. The theoretical part of this work focuses on the demarcation, definition of, and perception of the concept of digital labor, and the blogosphere, which is mainly based on theoretical concepts of Christian Fuchs, Sebastian Sevignani, Ursula Huws, Trebor Scholz, that proceeded the political economic theory of Karl Marx. The analytical part of the thesis presents the environment of the Czech blogosphere, which is based on the interpretation of the data of quantitative research conducted in the Czech Republic as part of a wider project IPREX BLOGBAROMETERM in 2014 and 2015 and secondly on qualitative research, which aims to answer the research question, if Czech bloggers perceive their creative activity as work and leisure activities, or merge their very different activities in one. Keywords Digital labor, digital work, blog, blogosphere, playbour, prosumption, Fuchs

This dissertation explores how the rise of widely available digital technology impacts the way music is produced, distributed, promoted, and consumed, with a specific focus on the changing nature of the relationship between artists and audiences new technology has engendered. Through in-depth interviewing, focus group interviewing, and discourse analysis, this case study explores the contemporary artist-audience relationship. This study demonstrates that digital technology impacts the relationship by making it closer and more multidimensional. This is intensified by the fact that everyone is participating; the audience and artist actively engage each other. The omnipresence of music culture combined with the omnipresence of technology is particularly salient. Media consumers are simultaneously engaged with music through technology, and technology through music and this happens on many different levels. Taken as a whole, artist and audience's musical lives are fragmented as they occur in multiple online and offline places, at multiple times, and are continuous. They create, download, stream, listen, share, burn, and build upon content while engaging in multiple personal and social practices. And, in the process, they experience rich meaning making attached to particular life events, people, places, and times. Engagement in a music community is not just listening to music, or consuming music, but participating in a culture. The nature of contemporary music culture is best characterized by community and as such, this dissertation argues we might better think of the audience as accomplices to the artist. / Mass Media and Communication

This essay examines Lionsgate’s viral marketing campaign for The Hunger Games (Gary Ross, 2012) and the marketing teams’ use of new marketing techniques and the online fan base. The essay also asks the question to what extent the fans’ participation in Lionsgate’s marketing campaign can be called fan labor. The study is based on a film industrial perspective and academic literature that deals with film marketing, the film industry, fandom and digital labor. The material used for the analysis of The Hunger Games marketing campaign is collected from newspaper articles and news interviews with Lionsgate’s marketing personnel. The study shows that although Lionsgate used many new marketing strategies associated with viral marketing, it is problematic to depict these strategies as a wholesale movement from older marketing techniques. It points to the importance of a nuanced understanding of how producers and consumers operate in the digital age with a holistic view on film marketing practices. The study also shows that Lionsgate’s use of the online fan base correspond with many characteristics of fan labor on the internet. It is, however, problematic to establish that this necessarily means that the fans’ contributions to the marketing campaign were exploited or that it demands compensations. The essay argues that the popularity of viral marketing among film studios and their use of fans and fan created content for promotional purposes calls for further investigations.

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Cette recherche explore les rapports entre les amateurs et les professionnels scientifiques dans Foldit, une expérience de science participative sur Internet. Foldit est un jeu vidéo en ligne qui permet aux participants de trouver la façon dont les protéines se plient. Amateurs et professionnels de la science ont traversé une longue route colorée de partenariats et de démarcations. À l'heure actuelle, cette démarche se voit complexifiée par un environnement numérique qui relève le phénomène de la participation et la montée de la figure de l'amateur, notamment dans la production de connaissance. Si cette participation sur la Toile est considérée, par certains courants de pensée, comme le germe d'une nouvelle économie voire d'une nouvelle société (Benkler, 2006 ; Bauwens, 2012b), elle est aussi dénoncée par l'approche critique du capitalisme informationnel, comme une sorte de travail immatériel non rémunéré soumis à des relations d'exploitation (Moulier Boutang, 2007 ; Pasquinelli, 2010). Dans ce contexte, ce mémoire propose une exploration des sciences participatives, afin d'examiner les rapports qui s'établissent entre les acteurs de ces expériences productrices de connaissance et de données immatérielles. Ces rapports s'expriment à travers les échanges qui se déroulent sur le site web Foldit. La méthodologie qualitative mise en oeuvre a été complétée par l'observation de terrain et les entretiens semi-structurés avec des participants-joueurs et des membres de l'équipe scientifique du jeu. Les rapports trouvés dans Foldit se révèlent contextualisés, performatifs et sont façonnés par les compétences mises en jeu par les acteurs. Des rapports d'asymétrie, de coopération et de négociation sont repérés dans Foldit. Cette recherche veut contribuer ainsi à une meilleure compréhension des collectifs présents sur Internet ainsi que des rapports établis entre eux. / This project explores the relationships between amateur and professional scientists within Foldit, a participatory science project on the Internet. Foldit is an online game in which participants fold proteins in novel ways. The long history of cooperation and differentiation between amateurs and professionals in science is becoming increasingly complex in digital environments as « amateur » participation gains in importance and is channelled by Web-based platforms, notably in the production of knowledge. While participation on the Web is considered by some as providing the seeds of a new economy or even a new society (Benkler, 2006; Bauwens, 2012b), others associated with a critical approach to informational capitalism, decry this type of participation as unpaid immaterial labour, carried out in a relation of exploitation (Moulier Boutang, 2007; Pasquinelli, 2010). In this context, my thesis proposes an exploration of participatory science, with a view to examining the relationships that develop between the different actors involved in these knowledge - and data - production exercises. We identify these relationships between the members through analysis of the exchanges that they produce on the site. This qualitative research also draws on observation, and semi-structured interviews with both amateur players and members of the Foldit team. We conclude by proposing a performative view of the development of relationships in Foldit, which prove to be highly dependent upon contextual factors and shaped to a large extent by the skills of the various actors. In the particular context of the New Chapter, negotiations are marked by both asymmetry and cooperation. This research helps develop a better understanding of the development and maintenance of relationships in online collectives.