The general theme of this thesis is the audience's understanding and ideals ofscience and how these, through digital social media, are shaped in relation to moregeneral understandings about the role of science in society. The rationale of thethesis was to study constructions of ideals of science at Flashback Forum during theperiod of April 1, 2021 through April 1, 2022. The theoretical framework wasconstructed using theories taken from the field Science of science communication,Knorr-Cetina's theories of the knowledge society and epistemic cultures, theories ofthe post-truth society and understandings of digital media landscapes as publicnetworks. The material retrieved from Flashback was collected using a structuredselection method and analyzed through a thematic content analysis. The materialwas structured based on the various ideals of science that emerged. A total of ninedifferent ideals of science could be defined. The performative strategies used tosubstantiate the discursive content were then examined. Strategies are mentionedas markers and a total of ten different markers appeared. The analysis of thematerial has shown that science is generally seen as a legitimate source ofknowledge and that science is used as a way of legitimizing, for example, opinionsand positions. The analysis also shows that ideas of science may differ and that theconcept of science, as a producer of knowledge and as practice, varies from thosewith a stronger connection to scientific establishment. All in all, the study points to thetension that can arise when science, with its complexity, on the one hand positionsas an interpreter of truth and democracy and on the other hand as part of ademocratization process increasingly becomes a concern for society as a whole.

As a consequence of the burgeoning awareness about the degree to which communication and information technologies transformed democratic deliberation, political struggles over disinformation ensued in a number of countries. This master’s Degree Project focuses on the politics of falsehood to answer the following question: to which degree does the theory on post-truth worlds (PTW) explain the main themes articulated by legislators and platform representatives at parliamentary hearings about disinformation in comparison to a MCD-inspired perspective defined as ICT3D? The theoretical framework explains the main concepts in PTW (Farkas & Shou, 2020) and ICT3D, which is defined by this DP as the contentious field concerning the mediation of collective affairs by the intersection of deliberation systems, data politics and development dimensions within and across societies worldwide. The empirical section presents a thematic content analysis of three study cases that are used to compare both approaches, consisting of 15 parliamentary inquiries of digital platforms in the United States, the United Kingdom and Brazil within the context of right-wing ruling between 2017 and 2020. The results confirm the relevance of PTW as an interpretative key to the meta-deliberation between legislators and platform representatives, but also identify many contents that either go beyond the scope of PTW or present nuances and tensions within PTW-related codes. The findings also provide a number of conclusions on the potential of ICT3D as a theoretical approach: the contentious intertwining of data politics, deliberative systems and development dimensions was demonstrated to be present in meta-deliberation; the wide array of development dimensions raised in all cases shows the pertinence of ICT3D to Comdev; and ICT3D has also proven to be of value in demonstrating the absence of certain themes and contents that should be expected in meta-deliberation from a critical perspective. The discussion elaborates on the explanatory potential and limits of PTW and ICT3D, concluding that they operate at different levels: PTW are specific discursive formations - among others - that articulate themes and contents about ICT3D.

In the occurrence of the COVID-19 pandemic, a trend of Instagram as a news source emerged in the Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2020 (Reuters, 2020). Instagram’s visual factor has made accessing news more feasible and convenient through a curated feed. Consequently, news producers are migrating to social media platforms, including Instagram to serve news consumption needs. However, journalism on social media has been criticized for its lack of journalistic legitimacy where media trust is challenged by the sensationalism of news to drive engagement metrics. Moreover, the COVID-19 infodemic (WHO, 2020) has escalated the concern of news credibility due to a circulation of misinformation regarding the pandemic and overwhelming citizens. Hence, the objective of this study is to analyze how a news outlet on Instagram maintains journalistic legitimacy and how Instagram users navigate news through information abundance in finding credible and trustworthy news.  The analysis of this study takes into account an Indonesian news outlet on Instagram called Narasi Newsroom, by interviewing a representative from the news producer, a content analysis of their news content, and interviewing Indonesian Instagram users. The empirical findings illustrate how Narasi Newsroom can revive journalistic legitimacy through an innovative approach without diminishing journalism quality on Instagram. With its principle of educating the audience to understand the news beyond factual statements, Narasi Newsroom’s strategy of riding the wave to serve audience needs upholds journalism values through critical thinking and credible sources. By conducting the study through updating the encoding/decoding model (Hall, 1973; 2009), it was found that the social media logic (Dijck & Poell, 2013) can balance journalism practice on Instagram as well as practices critical thinking for news consumers in finding trustworthy news. In light of the post-truth era, media trust and news credibility may be challenged, however, they are not lost when journalism on social media takes accountability to serve news consumers’ needs. Consequently, it takes both the news producers and consumers to take a critical stance to preserve trust in the news.

This Degree Project (DP) deals with the current discourses present on several (web)sites of memory related to three selected cemeteries for victims of the Civil War and the Francoist dictatorship and analyzes their potential contribution to national reconciliation, taking into consideration the presumed social or political interests of the actors behind the (web)sites. Collective memory must be seen as a social construction since memory stems from the shared remembrances of society and relates to key social concepts such as identity. Memory is a changeable device forged through a transformative process in which different actors are involved, from direct witnesses to memory spaces, and recently, the Internet. Memory is also discourse and as discourse is aimed at achieving power by controlling the group. Lately, the Internet has become a battlefield for competing memories, and (web)sites of memory are an opportunity to impose, in the post-truth era, a partial version of historical events. With the purpose of providing answers about whether current discourses present on (web)sites of memory can help achieve national reconciliation, this DP makes use of Discourse Analysis as a primary method, and also in-depth semi-structured interviews - in a limited number - to attain a better understanding through the uniqueness of the knowledge generated by the respondents. The Analysis has proven that, despite the time elapsed, the current discourses present on (web)sites of memory are a continuation of the old Francoist and anti-Francoist rhetoric, their contents are designed for audiences deeply committed to sociopolitical interests and, therefore, their contribution to national reconciliation is poor. The analysis has also discovered interesting initiatives aimed at exploiting the Sites and (web)sites for educational purposes. Future research may include the repetition of a similar study in the coming years, when the new Law of Democratic Memory has come into force and the political situation in Spain has evolved. It may be also advisable to use contrasting quantitative methods and enlarge the research to other cemeteries, especially, for victims of the Francoist side. / Este Degree Project (DP) aborda los discursos que actualmente pueden ser encontrados en varios sitios (web) de memoria vinculados a tres cementerios para víctimas de la Guerra Civil y la dictadura franquista, elegidos para el estudio, y analiza su potencial contribución a la reconciliación nacional, teniendo en cuenta los presuntos intereses socio-políticos de los actores detrás de estos sitios (web). La memoria colectiva debe verse como una construcción social, puesto que la memoria surge de los recuerdos compartidos de la sociedad y se relaciona con conceptos sociales clave como la identidad. La memoria es un mecanismo mutable creado por medio de un proceso transformador en el que se involucran diferentes actores, desde testigos directos hasta espacios de memoria, pero también Internet. La memoria también es discurso y como discurso tiene como objetivo alcanzar el poder controlando al grupo. Últimamente, Internet se ha convertido en un campo de batalla para recuerdos que compiten entre sí, y los sitios (web) de memoria son una oportunidad para imponer, en la era de la post-verdad, una versión parcial de los acontecimientos históricos acaecidos. Con el propósito de proporcionar respuestas sobre si los discursos actuales que están presentes en los sitios (web) de memoria pueden ayudar a lograr la reconciliación nacional, este DP hace uso del Análisis del Discurso como un método primario, y también de entrevistas en profundidad (semi-estructuradas), en un número limitado, para lograr una mejor comprensión a través de la singularidad del conocimiento generado por los participantes en la encuesta. El Análisis ha demostrado que, a pesar del tiempo transcurrido, los discursos actuales presentes en los sitios (web) de memoria son una continuación de la vieja retórica franquista y anti-franquista, sus contenidos están pensados ​​para audiencias profundamente comprometidas con intereses socio-políticos y, por ello, su contribución a la reconciliación nacional es escasa. El análisis también ha descubierto iniciativas interesantes destinadas a explotar los sitios y sitios (web) de memoria con fines educativos. La futura investigación podría centrase en la repetición de un estudio similar en años próximos, una vez haya entrado en vigor la nueva Ley de Memoria Democrática y haya evolucionado la situación política en España. También puede ser aconsejable utilizar métodos cuantitativos que permitan contrastar y ampliar la investigación a otros cementerios, especialmente, para las víctimas del bando franquista.

En la industria musical, el reggaetón es el género urbano más reproducido en plataformas digitales como YouTube. Un género musical que en sus comienzos transmitía mensajes que denigraban la imagen de la mujer. Hoy en día, esos mensajes han cambiado debido a la incursión de artistas femeninas que adoptan valores asociados a lo masculino para reforzar una imagen de empoderamiento. Estas artistas promueven mensajes posfeministas desde la narrativa de sus canciones y videoclips musicales, legitimando representaciones a partir de la narrativa que proponen desde la ficción. El presente artículo analiza la representación de la mujer en seis videoclips de reggaetón de Karol G difundidos en YouTube a través de un estudio de caso con un enfoque narrativo y de género. Se aplicó una guía de análisis de contenido a 320 capturas de video y una guía de entrevista al director de arte a cargo de los videoclips Pineapple y Mi cama. El principal hallazgo de la investigación fue evidenciar que la narrativa y la puesta en escena construyen una posverdad del empoderamiento femenino desde la ficción para mostrarnos una historia convincente. Sin embargo, esta posverdad legitima personajes como la sexual entrepreneur apelando a la misma objetivización femenina de los inicios del género urbano. Therefore, this study contributes to the existing literature of pervasive communication on social media and post-truth in audiovisual fiction. / In the music industry, reggaeton is an urban genre most played on digital platforms such as YouTube. From its beginnings a musical genre that transmitted denigrating messages of women image. Today, these messages have changed due to the incursion of female artists who adopt values associated with the masculine to reinforce an image of empowerment. These artists promote post-feminist messages from the narrative of their songs and music videos, legitimizing representations based on the narrative they propose from fiction. This article analyzes the representation of women in six Karol G reggaeton video clips broadcast on YouTube through a case study with a narrative and gender approach. A content analysis guide was applied to 320 video captures and an interview guide to the art director in charge of Pineapple and Mi Cama video clips. The main finding of the research was to show that the narrative and the staging build a post-truth of female empowerment from fiction to show us a convincing story. However, this post-truth legitimizes characters such as the sexual entrepreneur by appealing to the same feminine objectification of the beginnings of the urban genre. Therefore, this study contributes to the existing literature of pervasive communication on social media and post-truth in audiovisual fiction. Sección obligatoria en la que el autor o los autores exponen en breves líneas lo esencial del trabajo. / Tesis

La presente investigación tiene como objetivo analizar la respuesta e interacción de los jóvenes estudiantes de la Facultad de Comunicaciones de la UPC dentro de grupos cerrados de la red social Facebook de la universidad con fake news o noticias falsas acerca del COVID-19. Para lograr el objetivo de la investigación se observa la publicación de noticias falsas y la interacción de los miembros del grupo cerrado de la UPC con respecto a ellas, durante la vigencia de la cuarentena por emergencia sanitaria en el Perú. A partir de los datos recogidos en la observación analizamos la respuesta e interacción de los miembros, utilizando los conceptos de noticia, noticia falsa y pos verdad. / This research aims to analyze the response and interaction of young students from the UPC's Faculty of Communications within closed groups of the university's Facebook social network with fake news about COVID-19. To achieve the objective of the investigation, the publication of fake news and the interaction of the members of the closed group of the UPC with respect to them are observed, during the validity of the quarantine for a health emergency in Peru. From the data collected in the observation, we analyzed the response and interaction of the members, using the concepts of news, false news and post truth. / Trabajo de investigación

[pt] Esta dissertação analisa como a pós-verdade aliada à performance potencializam o efeito de real nas obras autoficcionais Delegado Tobias e Inquérito Policial – Família Tobias, de Ricardo Lísias, e observa como essa combinação de uso de conceitos tão intrínsecos à atualidade se manifesta na Literatura Brasileira Contemporânea. Sob esse olhar, o estudo estabelece uma análise crítica de como o manejo desses elementos impactam a percepção de leitores inseridos num contexto em que estão cada vez mais expostos ao bombardeio informativo do qual, muitas vezes, é difícil distinguir o fato da ficção. A dissertação também propõe uma reflexão sobre a demanda de realidade em obras ficcionais a ponto de se transformar numa das características mais visíveis da produção literária feita no Brasil no século XXI. / [en] This master s thesis aims at analyzing how the post-truth combined with performance enhance the reality-effect in two autofiction books named Delegado Tobias and Inquérito Policial – Família Tobias both by Ricardo Lísias. Also, we will observe how this combination of these inherent concepts to the present are expressed in Brazilian Contemporary Literature. From this perspective, this study establishes a critical analysis about how the use of these elements impacts the perception of readers who are in a context which leads them to be more and more exposed to the information bombardment and it becomes difficult to distinguish between fact and fiction. This research also provides some considerations about the necessity of reality in fiction books to turn it into one of the most evident characteristics in literary books produced in Brazil in 21st century.

Les identités et les connaissances qui traversent les relations entre les individus soulèvent les mêmes enjeux d’appréhension, de normalisation et de reproduction des comportements et des discours qui font le monde social. Elles répondent toutefois à des logiques différentes : les identités appuient les différences qui naissent de perceptions subjectives et de confrontations d’intérêts, alors que les connaissances sont portées par des idéaux d’universalité et strictement tenues par les réalités objectives. À partir d’une revue de la littérature et faisant état de la question, ce mémoire s’intéresse à la perméabilité croissante qui s’établit entre identités et savoirs par le recours à un positionnement essentialisé, que nous qualifions de « positionnalité ». Notamment, nous interrogeons ses formes idéologiques contemporaines afin de comprendre quelles sont les origines de ces positionnements identitaires essentialisés et leurs conséquences pour l’élaboration et la médiation du savoir. Nous établissons que la positionnalité est le fruit d’un abord constructiviste des régimes de vérité et de pouvoir, et qu’elle s’appuie sur des lectures partisanes des héritages de la théorie critique. Nous mettons aussi en exergue l’environnement politique façonné par « l’ère post-vérité », caractérisé par une dépréciation de la valeur des faits et la contestation des autorités épistémiques traditionnelles. Enfin, nous avançons que le développement de la positionnalité, précipité par l’ère post-vérité, entretient une dynamique néolibérale d’appropriation ou de privatisation des savoirs pris en tant que biens communs. Les thèmes abordés dans ce mémoire nous conduisent à penser que l’essentialisation des positionnements identitaires a dépassé le cadre strictement épistémologique, et sert désormais une accumulation et une appropriation exclusive des moyens de la connaissance. / Identities and knowledge permeate relationships between individuals, raising the same issues of comprehension, normalization and reproduction of behaviors and discourse that constitute the social world. However, they follow different logics: identities reproduce the differences that arise from subjective perceptions and confrontations of interests, while knowledge rests on ideals of universality and of objective reality. Through an extensive review of the literature, this thesis examines the growing permeability between identities and knowledge that has arisen from a recent, essentialized form of positioning we call "positionality". In particular, we question this contemporary ideological form in order to understand the origins of such essentialized identity positions as well as their consequences for both the development and mediation of knowledge. We establish that positionality relies on a constructivist approach to truth and power regimes as well as on partisan readings of critical theory’s legacies. We also highlight the political environment of the “post-truth era,” characterized by a devaluation of facts and the challenging of traditional epistemic authorities. Finally, we argue that the development of positionality, hastened by the post-truth era, reinforces neoliberal appropriation, or privatization, of knowledge heretofore understood as a public good. The topics addressed in this thesis lead us to think that the essentialization of identity positioning has moved from a strictly epistemological question to one concerning the accumulation and exclusive ownership of the means of knowledge production.

No description available.

Having been introduced in Sweden in the 1980’s, one would perhaps have thought postmodern philosophy to be a thing of the past. As it turns out, the debate on postmodernism is still very much alive. But the term ‘postmodernism’ in 2021 is complex and sometimes misunderstood. In public discourse, the term has moved beyond its status as a continental philosophy or as a denomination for certain historical conditions of the late twentieth century. Today, it appears, people use ‘postmodernism’ as an invective for relativism, post-truth and ‘empty words’. Two books, published in 2020, even warn the Swedish people for a postmodern invasion of both the academics and Swedish government. The humanities, apparently, are especially corrupted by postmodern thinking. Is this true? As a rhetorician, I ask myself to what extent postmodern theory has had an influence on Swedish rhetoric in the 40 years since the discipline was re-established within higher education.  This essay examines course syllabuses, teaching material, Swedish articles in the periodical Rhetorica Scandinavica, doctoral theses, and the complete works published by Sweden’s eight professors of rhetoric. Early on, I found that there was very little information available about the development of  Swedish rhetoric –even less about a postmodern rhetoric in a Swedish context. Thus, this essay is to be looked at as both a history of Swedish postmodern rhetoric – the first of its kind – and as an examination of the occurrence of postmodern theory within Swedish rhetoric. I find that postmodernism has not, as opposed to the critics’ claims, played a key role in the development of Swedish rhetoric. Its presence has, however, significantly increased within the field of rhetoric since 2010, and I discuss why that might be. Further, I discuss what can be said to define the Swedish postmodern rhetoric, and what the future might hold for this specific branch of rhetorical studies and research.