The Internet was initially seen as a metaphor for democracy itself. However, commercialisation, incorporation into existing hierarchies and patterns of daily life and state control and surveillance appear to have undermined these utopian dreams. The vast majority of online activity now takes place in a handful of commercially owned spaces, whose business model rests on the collection and monetisation of user data. However, the upsurge of political action in the Middle East and North Africa in 2010 and 2011, which many argued was facilitated by social media, raised the question of whether these commercial platforms that characterise the contemporary Internet might provide better venues for political speech than previous types of online spaces, particularly in authoritarian states. This thesis addresses the question of how the commercialisation of online spaces affects their ability to provide a venue for political speech in different political systems through a mixed-methods comparison of the U.S. and China. The findings of this thesis support the hypotheses drawn from existing literature: commercialisation is negative for political speech but it is less negative, even potentially positive, in authoritarian systems. However, this research uncovers a surprising explanation for this finding. The greater positivity of commercialisation for political speech in authoritarian systems seems to occur not despite the government but because of it. The Chinese state's active stance in monitoring, encouraging and crafting ideas about political speech has resisted its negative repositioning as a commercial product. In contrast, in the U.S., online political speech has been left to the market that sells back the dream of an online public sphere to users as part of its commercial model. There is still hope that the Internet can provide a venue for political speech but power, particularly over the construction of what it means to be a political speaker in modern society, needs to be taken back from the market.

<p>This project investigates the network structure and political importance of the popular Appalachian culture and politics page @queerappalachia. Promising users a feed filled with “community.content.culture,” @queerappalachia serves as a digital hub for anyone interested in queer perspectives on Appalachian politics and culture, regardless of their geographic location. The page’s over 3,000 posts include memes about Appalachian culture; celebrations of queer rurality (#saturdaynightinthecountry, #ruralresistance); references to big trucks, Mountain Dew, and The Trailer Park Boys; posts about opioid addiction, needle exchanges, and #harmreduction; jokes about communism and anarchism; calls for establishing #mutualaid drives; and signal boosts which highlight ongoing activist efforts in the region, including the Mountain Valley Pipeline protests and the Kentucky miner’s strikes. The page’s recalcitrant and anti-establishment content has attracted a surprisingly large following of around 230,000. But what does this expansive online network mean for Appalachian and Southern queer people?</p> <p>Rural queer people often have limited access to offline political organizing due to their geographic location, but online political communities may be a way of increasing rural political engagement. However, the usefulness of social networking sites like Instagram for political organizing is contested. To better understand what @queerappalachia is and how it is being used, I have created a multidimensional network of the page, mapping how users interact with posts, hashtags, and each other. In particular, this study provides evidence for how the collective action concepts of “brokerage,” “diffusion,” “identification,” and “deliberation” are being organized and enacted within the @queerappalachia community. I have also conducted interviews with followers of @queerappalachia who have been identified as central by the network study. The interviews provide evidence of how people within the @queerappalachia network conceptualize their political identities in relation to the page and how users utilize the affordances of Instagram communities for political action. </p>

Alors que le modèle économique de la télévision américaine, longtemps dominant, a été mis au défi de diverses manières par les changements industriels et technologiques de ces dernières années, des formes narratives de plus en plus hétérogènes sont apparues, qui se sont ajoutées aux structures sérielles originaires. La diversité des formes télévisuelles est devenue particulièrement évidente depuis que les paysages télévisuels nationaux et locaux ont commencé à s’ouvrir aux marchés étrangers situés en dehors des États-Unis, pour finalement adopter une perspective transnationale et globale. La transition vers la télévision distribuée sur Internet a joué un rôle central dans cette fragmentation formelle et la nouvelle dynamique de la diffusion en ligne a ouvert une different perspective pour comprendre le flux mondial de contenus télévisuels, qui reflète aujourd'hui un environnement multimédia et numérique hautement interconnecté et mis en réseau. En effet, la multiplication des services de vidéo à la demande oblige la sérialité à s’adapter au paysage médiatique contemporain, donnant naissance à des produits audiovisuels pouvant être transférés en ligne et présentant des spécificités de production, de distribution et de réception. L’un des résultats de tels changements dans les séries télévisées américaines à l’aube du XXIe siècle est la série anthologique divisée en différentes saisons avec des histoires distinctes, et pourtant liées par le ton et le style. Ma recherche se situe dans un tel contexte technologique, industriel et culturel, où le contenu télévisuel est de plus en plus fragmenté. Compte tenu de cette fragmentation des contenus, cette thèse examine la manière dont les contenus télévisuels contemporains sont distribués, dans l'interaction entre les processus de recommandation basés sur des algorithmes et les pratiques éditoriales plus traditionnelles. L’objectif de ce projet est donc d’étudier la manière dont certaines structures narratives typiques de la forme de l’anthologie apparaissent dans le contexte de la sérialité de la télévision nord-américaine, à partir de conditions spécifiques de production, de distribution et de consommation dans l’industrie des médias. En se concentrant sur l'évolution (dimension temporelle et historique) et sur la circulation numérique (dimension spatiale, géographique) des séries d'anthologies américaines, et en observant les particularités de leur production et de leur style, ainsi que leurs réseaux de distribution et les modes de consommation qu'elles favorisent, cette thèse s’inscrit finalement dans une conversation plus vaste sur les études culturelles et numériques. L’objectif final est d’étudier la relation entre les formes anthologiques, les plateformes de distribution et les modèles de consommation, en proposant une approche comparative de l’anthologie qui soit à la fois cross-culturelle, crosshistorique, cross-genre et qui prenne en consideration les pratiques pre- et post-numériques pour l’organisation de contenus culturels. / As the longtime dominant U.S. television business model has been challenged in various ways by industrial and technological changes in recent years, more heterogeneous narrative forms have emerged in addition to original serial structures. The diversity of televisual forms became particularly evident since national, local television landscapes started opening up to foreign markets outside of the U.S., finally embracing a transnational, global perspective and tracing alternative value-chains. The transition to internet-distributed television played a pivotal role in this formal fragmentation and new dynamics of online streaming opened up another path for understanding the flow of television content, which today reflects a highly interconnected, networked media and digital environment. Indeed, the proliferation of video-on-demand services is forcing seriality to adapt to the contemporary mediascape, giving rise to audiovisual products that can be transferred online and present specificities in production, distribution and reception. One of the outcomes of such changes in U.S. television series at the dawn of the twenty-first century is the anthology series divided in different seasons with separate stories, yet linked by tone and style. My research positions itself in such a technological, industrial and cultural context, where television content is increasingly fragmented. Given such a fragmentation, this thesis considers the ways contemporary television content is distributed in the interaction between algorithmic-driven recommendation processes and more traditional editorial practices. The aim of the project is to investigate the way certain narrative structures typical of the anthology form emerge in the context of U.S. television seriality, starting from specific conditions of production, distribution and consumption in the media industry. By focusing on the evolution (temporal, historical dimension) and on the digital circulation (spatial, geographic dimension) of U.S. anthology series, and observing the peculiarities in their production and style, as well as their distributional networks and the consumption patterns they foster, this thesis ultimately insert itself into a larger conversation on digital-cultural studies. The final purpose is to examine the relation between anthological forms, distribution platforms and consumption models, by proposing a comparative approach to the anthology that is at the same time cross-cultural, cross-historical, cross-genre and accounting for both pre- and post-digital practices for cultural content organization.

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This thesis explores how online gaming has become a central tool for networked social movements to participate in consumer activism. I look at the case study of MapleStory: a Korean MMORPG game and their consumer activism efforts started by the players. Migrating from different social media channels to organize, coordinate and strategize ways to create change within their group, through using consumeractivism techniques such as boycotting, protesting and spreading information. I framed this group as an early example of a networked social movements and analyzed their usage of social groups to spread activism messages. Through the internet and new technologies members were able to find their own political voices and teach others how to protest for social change. I also concentrated on the social aspect of these communities and how they fostered social bonds through collective action and participation. I argue that online gaming has become a platform that enables consumers to protest against a company’smal practices by utilizing their positions as consumers of a product.

<div>Older adults aged 60+ represent the fastest growing segment of the US population, yet they are rarely seen as users of technology. Members of this age cohort often struggle with the material and conceptual requirements of computing—such as clicking small targets or remembering usernames and passwords for account logins—leading them to adopt technologies like smartphones and social media at much lower rates than their younger counterparts. Digital devices and interfaces are not typically designed with older adult users in mind, even though all users are always aging, and the “silver economy” represents a powerful, and often untapped, market for technological innovations. The little existing research in this area often conflates age with disability, framing elders according to a deficit model. While it is certainly important to consider the impacts that aging bodies have on technology use, they are not the sole factor shaping usage for older age cohorts. Moreover, if we reduce elder users to their “impairments,” we risk stereotyping them in ways that curtail design possibilities, as well as these users’ possibilities for full participation in digital life. For this reason, studies of technology users aged 60+ and their communities are necessary to shed light on the multifaceted needs of older age cohorts, and the interventions into technology design, documentation, and education that can help them reach their digital goals. </div><div><br></div><div>To build an understanding of the unique technology use of a group of the oldest Americans (aged 75+), as well as to assess their needs and desires for digital engagement, I conducted interviews and observations with computer users in a senior living community. Data collection revealed a great diversity of computing purposes and activities, ranging from social functions such as email and messaging, to managing finance and medicine, to art and design applications, and beyond. Moreover, participants’ accounts of how and where they developed their computing skills shed light on their motivations for engaging with technology, as well as their fears of technology’s intrusiveness. Analysis of participants’ performance on a series of digital tasks yielded insights into physical and cognitive factors, as well as a clear divide in forms of knowledge and mental models that older adults draw upon when attempting to engage with technology. To conclude, I provide recommendations for technology design and education, as well as future research to account for age as a factor mediating user experience.</div>

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