Digital culture and digital media
In recent decades, the media landscape has undergone extensive development, with digital media creating new conditions for both the production and consumption of media and media content. Digital media permeate people's lives and are present in all parts of society. Research on digital culture and digital media at JMG thus spans a broad area that encompasses both production and consumption, content, and media structure.
JMG conducts research on the role of digital media in the production of media content and communication. This includes how digital platforms and technologies are used in journalism, how they change political campaigns and political party communication, and how they are used by and benefit different types of political actors.
We also study people's use of digital media for various purposes: from social interaction, self-presentation, and identity creation to seeking information and activism. In this context, usage in different groups and the existence of digital divides are of great importance.
The content and significance of digital media are studied in research on, for example, disinformation and populist discourses, as well as individuals' communication on social networking media platforms. We are also interested in the media themselves. Societies are becoming increasingly complex socio-technical systems where people's behaviors and decisions are influenced by media technologies. Datification and algorithms are integrated into everything from seemingly insignificant choices in everyday life to editorial positions and government decisions. At the organizational level, many routines that were previously based on professional experience and skills are being replaced by automated systems. Our research thus covers how this development affects individuals, media, and other organizations, as well as society at large.
Central themes
- Communication from various political actors – both political parties and authorities as well as various activist or illiberal movements
- Digital journalism and its content
- The importance of digital platforms and technologies for communication
- Alternative media and the relationship between alternative and social media
- How the digital infrastructure paves the way for new communication patterns that in turn contribute to new social constellations, networks, and structures for both individuals and organizations
- People's participation and participatory cultures linked to popular culture, journalism, and politics
- People's use and understanding of digital media in everyday life
- Digital divides and their causes and consequences
Research projects
Conspiracy thinking and digital media: Disentangling a complex relationship.
Men who hate women online: A study of the internet as a new arena for the mobilisation of organised gender-based hate.
Moving from networked to patchworked society: Motivational underpinnings and societal consequences.
Activation and articulation of authoritarian attitudes.
