This study aims to contribute to scholarship on online video activism by looking at mobilization ... more This study aims to contribute to scholarship on online video activism by looking at mobilization videos created by the Support Art Workers (SAW) movement which emerged during the COVID-19 crisis in Greece. Our main observation is that several SAW videos consist of an assemblage of performance art elements and protest visuals which together with expressive uses of video production exemplify a “videography as performance” approach. We examine three SAW mobilization videos as a type of “activist video as performance,” which, aside from their function as invitations to protest-events, also form an innovative means of encouraging active civic engagement. Furthermore, we argue that aspects of the performance art elements and protest imagery included in the videos speak back to previous protest trajectories in Greece. Our overall objective is to show how SAW’s communication tactics have shaped new ways of visualizing protest goals that expand existing paradigms of online activist video
Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies
This theoretical and empirical investigation builds upon the concept of 'slantwise behavior' to f... more This theoretical and empirical investigation builds upon the concept of 'slantwise behavior' to further complicate notions of the 'digital disengagement' of subjects within technological infrastructures such as Facebook. It has been previously suggested that the ubiquity of the data privacy paradox is the most common reason for disengagement practices. Our study contributes to this discussion by examining subjects' disengagement on Social Network Sites (SNS). While numerous concepts concerning disconnection and disengagement from SNS have been conceptualized by media theorists, largely based on a binary construct of resistance or domination, our work proposes an alternative conceptualization of subjects' disengagement. By employing a qualitative methodological approach and using 30 semi-structured interviews to capture subjects' discursive patterns, we illustrate that disengagement on Facebook can be seen as a hybrid reaction and a complex phenomenon in which certain disconnection practices cannot be easily classified as resistance practices or as indications of the internalization of domination but rather are best understood as slantwise behaviors, that is, actions that may unintentionally lead to obfuscation.
“The victim lived an intense life”: media (mis)representations of femicide crimes in the Republic of Cyprus, 2024
International media research has recently emphasized the coverage of "partner homicides" in news ... more International media research has recently emphasized the coverage of "partner homicides" in news media outlets with specific focus on the traits/characteristics and the forms of femicides. This led us to consider the ways in which news media outlets construct, portray, affect audiences and certain groups of individuals through the representations of such crimes. Through thematic content analysis of crime news, the purpose of this study is to determine how femicide victims are portrayed by major news media outlets in the Republic of Cyprus. The research consisted of an analysis of 366 femicide-related articles referring to 37 femicides that took place from 2006 to 2020. The data were analyzed to determine effects on newsworthiness, public perception, and patterns of victim blaming. The phenomenon of victim blaming emerged from the analysis as a recurring frame, both in a direct and indirect manner. Such blaming strategies include the usage of language with negative connotations in descriptions of the victim, such as highlighting their "promiscuous" pasts, and the attribution of "male honor"-related motives to the perpetrators, using sympathetic language to describe the perpetrator, highlighting the victim's mental or physical problems, and so forth.
Datafication changes variables of our society within the political and cultural realms. In this s... more Datafication changes variables of our society within the political and cultural realms. In this study, we argue that platform affor- dances and algorithmic curation can impact users’ civic partici- pation through filtering and classifying users’ online political content. Scholars from various disciplines – among them com- munication, computational studies, and political science – are working on different concepts in order to understand such effects. What we already know is that users’ civic participation is often mediated by algorithmic curation on the one hand, and by the platform’s built-in logic – often referred as mechanisms of affordances – on the other. Few works are cited across the field pointing out the significance of algorithmic personalization in the making of civic participation. One question that still plagues the research is how the impact of Facebook on civic participation is mediated by algorithmic curation and platform affordances. This paper responds to this need by locating exist- ing scholarship within a common conceptual framework using as a starting point: algorithmic curation, civic participation, and platform affordances. This provides a logical structure that facil- itates connections between concepts and disciplines that might otherwise be difficult to discern on an interdisciplinary basis.
The 10-year anniversary of intense protest in Greece and the role of Facebook, 2023
This study provides a comparative analysis of collective meaning-making processes by unpacking ac... more This study provides a comparative analysis of collective meaning-making processes by unpacking activists' discourses (within and in relation to their polis) and online (on Facebook) during the financial, post-financial, and COVID-19 crises in Greece (2011-2021). By analyzing 71 semi-structured interviews with activists and 14,475 Facebook posts, we first evaluate actors' identity progression, then identify the differences and commonalities between activists' discourses attached to their collectivity, by investigating the role of Facebook therein. Our findings indicate that activists' efforts to delimitate their identity, primarily around the detachment of citizens from their polis, paved the way for the (re)invention of the meaning-making practices of each collectivity. Thus, the formation of an overarching identity of the citizen as an activist-subject unites subjects over power struggles, despite their political differences.
Journal of Information Technology & Politics, 2023
This study provides a comparative analysis of collective meaning-making processes by unpacking ac... more This study provides a comparative analysis of collective meaning-making processes by unpacking activists' discourses (within and in relation to their polis) and online (on Facebook) during the financial, post-financial, and COVID-19 crises in Greece (2011-2021). By analyzing 71 semi-structured interviews with activists and 14,475 Facebook posts, we first evaluate actors' identity progression, then identify the differences and commonalities between activists' discourses attached to their collectivity, by investigating the role of Facebook therein. Our findings indicate that activists' efforts to delimitate their identity, primarily around the detachment of citizens from their polis, paved the way for the (re)invention of the meaning-making practices of each collectivity. Thus, the formation of an overarching identity of the citizen as an activist-subject unites subjects over power struggles, despite their political differences.
This study explores the specific characteristics of science news stories posted on social media p... more This study explores the specific characteristics of science news stories posted on social media platforms during the first phase of the global pandemic crisis (the first semester of 2020). The focus of the study is to enhance our understanding of the selection criteria for science-related news content posted on social media platforms. Our approach takes into consideration the evolving technological environment of these platforms and the new relationships between media professionals and social media users. Our findings indicate that, under specific circumstances, scientific discoveries may be prioritized in the selection of news stories. We also suggest specific additions to the framework proposed by Harcup and O'Neil (2017), indicating that news stories during crisis situations are more internationally oriented, where audience proximity is created not around "nearby" events but those occurring in other countries around the world. In times of crisis, the main target of news stories is not simply to attract the audience's interest with classic clickbait tactics but to respond to the immediate socio-political context in a meaningful way.
Conspiracy theories and their effects have greatly proliferated during the COVID-19 pandemic cris... more Conspiracy theories and their effects have greatly proliferated during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. As in various countries, so in Cyprus, a mobilization of anti-vaxxers organized mainly through Facebook, violently attacked the largest media group of the island, "Sigma". Taking into consideration local peculiarities and historical contexts, a qualitative research was conducted on comments posted on Sigma Live's Facebook page, spanning between August 2020 and June 2021.The article illustrates how cultural, political, and historical peculiarities are instrumental in the formation of antivax movements, and how conspiracy theorizing in general is inextricably bound to such peculiarities. We demonstrate how new publics in social media platforms may dispute media outlets' representations through using the official channels of these outlets, highlighting an understudied facet of participatory media. The paper advocates for more context-bound theoretical analyses of conspiracy theorizing, which delve deeper into the meaning-making, interpretative, and discursive practices of conspiracists against media outlets.
This research about how conflict is (re)presented on television news adopts a dual perspective on... more This research about how conflict is (re)presented on television news adopts a dual perspective on conflict: conflict as news and news as conflict. Focusing on the understudied case of Cyprus, it builds on the concept of conflict-oriented journalism, a theory-informed analytical framework for studying televised conflict. The analysis reveals the heavy presence of conflict-laden news referring to social conflict, violent crime, warfare, and political contestation. Especially in the case of political news, conflict is used as a paradigmatic mode of presentation. Current journalistic practices ignore the potential offered by peace journalism, meant as event reporting that includes various viewpoints but leaves open the possibility of resolution. This is especially important in societies of long-lasting conflict, such as Cyprus, because the media are one of the fields where conflict is reconstructed.
This paper investigates the content of collective identities as constructed in Facebook groups cr... more This paper investigates the content of collective identities as constructed in Facebook groups created in protest against the haircut in 2013 in Cyprus. Given its supplementary role to offline social action, we use Facebook as a research domain and data gathering tool. Drawing on the concept of politicised collective identity we undertake a qualitative content analysis of the posts in three Facebook groups. The analysis reveals two main forms of collective identification. The first presents a rather common form of collective identity that is informed ideologically by nationalism. The second is built upon a strong anti-president rhetoric, echoing the arguments of the opposition parties. The ‘banal’ nature of such identities probably go a long way in accounting for the limited potential for collective action – unlike some of the other European crisis countries.
Online social environments continue to be expanded in human’s life and transmuted as representati... more Online social environments continue to be expanded in human’s life and transmuted as representative tools of people’s experiences affecting their online and offline emotional behaviour and attitude. There is, nonetheless, an empirical gap regarding the role of the intrinsic emotional fluctuations in social platforms and their effect on self-disclosure behaviour, reflecting information to self-reports. The current study aims an in-depth understanding of an ‘outdated’ online social environment (Second Life) with a contemporary one (Facebook), based on users’ emotional behaviour and approaches. The study’s overarching aim is to determine the self-disclosure behaviour through Second Life and Facebook, thus investigating the highlighted emotional experience and providing insights for understanding the progression of enhancing online well-being. The empirical study was conducted, by implementing explanatory mix methods to achieve the study’s objectives. Self-disclosure behaviour can shed light on how emotional responses might be used in other social media platforms by opening up the discussion for further exploration [in line with Pentina and Zhang (2017). “Effects of Social Support and Personality on Emotional Disclosure on Facebook and in Real Life.” Behaviour & Information Technology 36 (5): 484–492.]. This experiential perspective can be utilised across multiple fields such as HCI, media psychology, well-being technology, UX, user-centred design, social and human aspects in the digital world, and the body of knowledge on engagement in online social environments
This study draws on several data activism projects and applies discursive interface analysis to u... more This study draws on several data activism projects and applies discursive interface analysis to understand the material means by which activist software strives to empower users vis-à-vis data power. The analysis uncovers four types of oppositional affordances: (i) enabling the use of hidden affordances (ii) imagining new affordances (iii) creating meta-affordances (resignifying perceptible affordances of corporate platforms and reconstructing their meaning), and (iv) creating anti-affordances (hindering or distorting corporate platforms' affordances to the extent that they do not perform their intended function). Although not without limitations, oppositional affordances reveal the actual agentic possibilities of data activism for users other than activists to affect the very algorithms that produce them as datafied subjects. The proposed typology provides a means for further empirical analysis of critical software and its subversive potential for users. The article concludes with a critical discussion of data activism as a means of vernacular critical praxis.
Behaviour & Information Technology (Online First), 2022
Online social environments continue to be expanded in human’s life and transmuted as representati... more Online social environments continue to be expanded in human’s life and transmuted as representative tools of people’s experiences affecting their online and offline emotional behaviour and attitude. There is, nonetheless, an empirical gap regarding the role of the intrinsic emotional fluctuations in social platforms and their effect in self-disclosure behavior, reflecting information to self-reports. The current study aims an in-depth understanding of an ‘outdated’ online social environment (Second Life) with a contemporary one (Facebook), based on users’ emotional behaviour and approaches. The study's overarching aim is to determine the self-disclosure behaviour through Second Life and Facebook, thus investigating the highlighted emotional experience and providing insights for understanding the progression of enhancing online well-being. The empirical study was conducted, by implementing explanatory mix methods to achieve the study’s objectives. Self-disclosure behaviour can shed light on how emotional responses might be used in other social media platforms by opening up the discussion for further exploration (in line with Pentina and Zhang, 2017). This experiential perspective can be utilized across multiple fields such as HCI, media psychology, well-being technology, UX, user-centred design, social and human aspects in the digital world, and the body of knowledge on engagement in online social environments.
Facebook users are exposed to diverse news and political content; this means that Facebook is a s... more Facebook users are exposed to diverse news and political content; this means that Facebook is a significant tool for the enhancement of civic participation and engagement in politics. However, it has been argued that Facebook, through its algorithmic curation reinforces the pre-existing attitudes of individuals, rather than challenging or potentially altering them. The objective of this study is to elucidate the emotional and behavioural impact of the personalization of Facebook users’ News Feeds results, and thereby to uncover a possible link between their online and offline civic attitudes. Firstly, we investigate the extent to which users’ Facebook News Feeds results are personalized and customized to fit users’ pre-existing civic attitudes and political interests. Secondly, we explore whether users embody new roles as a result of their emotional and behavioural interaction with political content on Facebook. Our methodology is based on a quantitative survey involving 108 participants. Our findings indicate that, while Facebook can potentially expose users to varying political views and beliefs, it tends to reinforce existing civic attitudes and validate what users already hold to be true. Furthermore, we find that users themselves often assume a proactive stance towards Facebook News Feed results, acquiring roles in which they filter and even censor the content to which they are exposed and thus trying to obfuscate algorithmic curation.
In recent years, social networks have played a significant role during major crisis events as cit... more In recent years, social networks have played a significant role during major crisis events as citizens use these networks to seek information, discuss and share personal news stories, while interacting with other users regarding issues related to the perceived crisis. As a result, news content posted on social networks is of crucial importance since it can affect public opinion in various ways. The aim of this study is to assess dominant narratives generated through users’ reactions towards news content posted on Facebook so as to examine the role of Facebook during the global crisis of COVID-19. Drawing from different aspects of crisis communication theory and audience-centered studies, this work seeks to investigate the constructed meanings related to this crisis and interpret users’ understanding of news content posted on social networks. Content analysis is employed as a means to evaluate Facebook’s potential in (re)defining users’ narratives regarding issues related to CO...
The global upsurge in protest, which has accompanied the current international financial crisis, ... more The global upsurge in protest, which has accompanied the current international financial crisis, has highlighted the extensive use of online social media in activism, leaving aside the extent to which citizenship is enacted, empowered and potentially transformed by social media use within these movements. Drawing on citizenship and communication theories, this study employs a cross-country analysis of the relationship between citizenship, civic practices and social media within the Indignados movement in Greece and France. By the use of semi-structured interviews, we attempt to discern the degree of involvement of actors with the political community in question and explore the complex layers of their motivations and goals around participation. Content analysis employed in the movement’s Facebook groups allows us to critically evaluate the potential of social media in (re)defining the meaning and practice of civic participation. Findings indicate that the failure of traditional forms...
Journalism is in a state of flux and so is journalism education. The
present study engages in a c... more Journalism is in a state of flux and so is journalism education. The present study engages in a comparative qualitative analysis focusing on the viewpoints of journalism students in Greece and in Cyprus regarding journalism education in the post–truth era, media literacy, and journalism quality. Drawing upon evidence from four focus groups conducted in the journalism/ communication departments of two public universities in Greece and Cyprus, the findings show highly similar attitudes between the two departments. In particular, it was found that journalism students acknowledge the need for journalists’ increased responsibility towards their publics and emphasize the necessity of (normative) skills and practices as important means in the direction of quality journalism; ICT-related journalistic skills, indepth research, specialization, impartiality and verification, topic plurality and avoidance of agenda-setting stereotypes.
Journalism is in a state of flux and so is journalism education. The present study engages in a c... more Journalism is in a state of flux and so is journalism education. The present study engages in a comparative qualitative analysis focusing on the viewpoints of journalism students in Greece and in Cyprus regarding journalism education in the post–truth era, media literacy, and journalism quality. Drawing upon evidence from four focus groups conducted in the journalism/communication departments of two public universities in Greece and Cyprus, the findings show highly similar attitudes between the two departments. In particular, it was found that journalism students acknowledge the need for journalists’ increased responsibility towards their publics and emphasize the necessity of (normative) skills and practices as important means in the direction of quality journalism; ICT-related journalistic skills, in-depth research, specialization, impartiality and verification, topic plurality and avoidance of agenda-setting stereotypes.
This experiment was designed to explore people’s critical, differentiating capacity between actua... more This experiment was designed to explore people’s critical, differentiating capacity between actual news and content that looks like news. Four groups of postmillennials read four versions of a news story. While the first condition included a real news story derived from a mainstream medium, the other three conditions tested three attributes of fakeness, namely an exaggerated, satirical, and popularised frame of disinformation. Although readers differentiated between satire and the actual news story, no significant differences were observed between exaggerated and simplified versions of news and the actual news story. Additional intervening variables were scrutinized, showing a connection between the salience of a story and its perceptions of fakeness.
This study aims to contribute to scholarship on online video activism by looking at mobilization ... more This study aims to contribute to scholarship on online video activism by looking at mobilization videos created by the Support Art Workers (SAW) movement which emerged during the COVID-19 crisis in Greece. Our main observation is that several SAW videos consist of an assemblage of performance art elements and protest visuals which together with expressive uses of video production exemplify a “videography as performance” approach. We examine three SAW mobilization videos as a type of “activist video as performance,” which, aside from their function as invitations to protest-events, also form an innovative means of encouraging active civic engagement. Furthermore, we argue that aspects of the performance art elements and protest imagery included in the videos speak back to previous protest trajectories in Greece. Our overall objective is to show how SAW’s communication tactics have shaped new ways of visualizing protest goals that expand existing paradigms of online activist video
Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies
This theoretical and empirical investigation builds upon the concept of 'slantwise behavior' to f... more This theoretical and empirical investigation builds upon the concept of 'slantwise behavior' to further complicate notions of the 'digital disengagement' of subjects within technological infrastructures such as Facebook. It has been previously suggested that the ubiquity of the data privacy paradox is the most common reason for disengagement practices. Our study contributes to this discussion by examining subjects' disengagement on Social Network Sites (SNS). While numerous concepts concerning disconnection and disengagement from SNS have been conceptualized by media theorists, largely based on a binary construct of resistance or domination, our work proposes an alternative conceptualization of subjects' disengagement. By employing a qualitative methodological approach and using 30 semi-structured interviews to capture subjects' discursive patterns, we illustrate that disengagement on Facebook can be seen as a hybrid reaction and a complex phenomenon in which certain disconnection practices cannot be easily classified as resistance practices or as indications of the internalization of domination but rather are best understood as slantwise behaviors, that is, actions that may unintentionally lead to obfuscation.
“The victim lived an intense life”: media (mis)representations of femicide crimes in the Republic of Cyprus, 2024
International media research has recently emphasized the coverage of "partner homicides" in news ... more International media research has recently emphasized the coverage of "partner homicides" in news media outlets with specific focus on the traits/characteristics and the forms of femicides. This led us to consider the ways in which news media outlets construct, portray, affect audiences and certain groups of individuals through the representations of such crimes. Through thematic content analysis of crime news, the purpose of this study is to determine how femicide victims are portrayed by major news media outlets in the Republic of Cyprus. The research consisted of an analysis of 366 femicide-related articles referring to 37 femicides that took place from 2006 to 2020. The data were analyzed to determine effects on newsworthiness, public perception, and patterns of victim blaming. The phenomenon of victim blaming emerged from the analysis as a recurring frame, both in a direct and indirect manner. Such blaming strategies include the usage of language with negative connotations in descriptions of the victim, such as highlighting their "promiscuous" pasts, and the attribution of "male honor"-related motives to the perpetrators, using sympathetic language to describe the perpetrator, highlighting the victim's mental or physical problems, and so forth.
Datafication changes variables of our society within the political and cultural realms. In this s... more Datafication changes variables of our society within the political and cultural realms. In this study, we argue that platform affor- dances and algorithmic curation can impact users’ civic partici- pation through filtering and classifying users’ online political content. Scholars from various disciplines – among them com- munication, computational studies, and political science – are working on different concepts in order to understand such effects. What we already know is that users’ civic participation is often mediated by algorithmic curation on the one hand, and by the platform’s built-in logic – often referred as mechanisms of affordances – on the other. Few works are cited across the field pointing out the significance of algorithmic personalization in the making of civic participation. One question that still plagues the research is how the impact of Facebook on civic participation is mediated by algorithmic curation and platform affordances. This paper responds to this need by locating exist- ing scholarship within a common conceptual framework using as a starting point: algorithmic curation, civic participation, and platform affordances. This provides a logical structure that facil- itates connections between concepts and disciplines that might otherwise be difficult to discern on an interdisciplinary basis.
The 10-year anniversary of intense protest in Greece and the role of Facebook, 2023
This study provides a comparative analysis of collective meaning-making processes by unpacking ac... more This study provides a comparative analysis of collective meaning-making processes by unpacking activists' discourses (within and in relation to their polis) and online (on Facebook) during the financial, post-financial, and COVID-19 crises in Greece (2011-2021). By analyzing 71 semi-structured interviews with activists and 14,475 Facebook posts, we first evaluate actors' identity progression, then identify the differences and commonalities between activists' discourses attached to their collectivity, by investigating the role of Facebook therein. Our findings indicate that activists' efforts to delimitate their identity, primarily around the detachment of citizens from their polis, paved the way for the (re)invention of the meaning-making practices of each collectivity. Thus, the formation of an overarching identity of the citizen as an activist-subject unites subjects over power struggles, despite their political differences.
Journal of Information Technology & Politics, 2023
This study provides a comparative analysis of collective meaning-making processes by unpacking ac... more This study provides a comparative analysis of collective meaning-making processes by unpacking activists' discourses (within and in relation to their polis) and online (on Facebook) during the financial, post-financial, and COVID-19 crises in Greece (2011-2021). By analyzing 71 semi-structured interviews with activists and 14,475 Facebook posts, we first evaluate actors' identity progression, then identify the differences and commonalities between activists' discourses attached to their collectivity, by investigating the role of Facebook therein. Our findings indicate that activists' efforts to delimitate their identity, primarily around the detachment of citizens from their polis, paved the way for the (re)invention of the meaning-making practices of each collectivity. Thus, the formation of an overarching identity of the citizen as an activist-subject unites subjects over power struggles, despite their political differences.
This study explores the specific characteristics of science news stories posted on social media p... more This study explores the specific characteristics of science news stories posted on social media platforms during the first phase of the global pandemic crisis (the first semester of 2020). The focus of the study is to enhance our understanding of the selection criteria for science-related news content posted on social media platforms. Our approach takes into consideration the evolving technological environment of these platforms and the new relationships between media professionals and social media users. Our findings indicate that, under specific circumstances, scientific discoveries may be prioritized in the selection of news stories. We also suggest specific additions to the framework proposed by Harcup and O'Neil (2017), indicating that news stories during crisis situations are more internationally oriented, where audience proximity is created not around "nearby" events but those occurring in other countries around the world. In times of crisis, the main target of news stories is not simply to attract the audience's interest with classic clickbait tactics but to respond to the immediate socio-political context in a meaningful way.
Conspiracy theories and their effects have greatly proliferated during the COVID-19 pandemic cris... more Conspiracy theories and their effects have greatly proliferated during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. As in various countries, so in Cyprus, a mobilization of anti-vaxxers organized mainly through Facebook, violently attacked the largest media group of the island, "Sigma". Taking into consideration local peculiarities and historical contexts, a qualitative research was conducted on comments posted on Sigma Live's Facebook page, spanning between August 2020 and June 2021.The article illustrates how cultural, political, and historical peculiarities are instrumental in the formation of antivax movements, and how conspiracy theorizing in general is inextricably bound to such peculiarities. We demonstrate how new publics in social media platforms may dispute media outlets' representations through using the official channels of these outlets, highlighting an understudied facet of participatory media. The paper advocates for more context-bound theoretical analyses of conspiracy theorizing, which delve deeper into the meaning-making, interpretative, and discursive practices of conspiracists against media outlets.
This research about how conflict is (re)presented on television news adopts a dual perspective on... more This research about how conflict is (re)presented on television news adopts a dual perspective on conflict: conflict as news and news as conflict. Focusing on the understudied case of Cyprus, it builds on the concept of conflict-oriented journalism, a theory-informed analytical framework for studying televised conflict. The analysis reveals the heavy presence of conflict-laden news referring to social conflict, violent crime, warfare, and political contestation. Especially in the case of political news, conflict is used as a paradigmatic mode of presentation. Current journalistic practices ignore the potential offered by peace journalism, meant as event reporting that includes various viewpoints but leaves open the possibility of resolution. This is especially important in societies of long-lasting conflict, such as Cyprus, because the media are one of the fields where conflict is reconstructed.
This paper investigates the content of collective identities as constructed in Facebook groups cr... more This paper investigates the content of collective identities as constructed in Facebook groups created in protest against the haircut in 2013 in Cyprus. Given its supplementary role to offline social action, we use Facebook as a research domain and data gathering tool. Drawing on the concept of politicised collective identity we undertake a qualitative content analysis of the posts in three Facebook groups. The analysis reveals two main forms of collective identification. The first presents a rather common form of collective identity that is informed ideologically by nationalism. The second is built upon a strong anti-president rhetoric, echoing the arguments of the opposition parties. The ‘banal’ nature of such identities probably go a long way in accounting for the limited potential for collective action – unlike some of the other European crisis countries.
Online social environments continue to be expanded in human’s life and transmuted as representati... more Online social environments continue to be expanded in human’s life and transmuted as representative tools of people’s experiences affecting their online and offline emotional behaviour and attitude. There is, nonetheless, an empirical gap regarding the role of the intrinsic emotional fluctuations in social platforms and their effect on self-disclosure behaviour, reflecting information to self-reports. The current study aims an in-depth understanding of an ‘outdated’ online social environment (Second Life) with a contemporary one (Facebook), based on users’ emotional behaviour and approaches. The study’s overarching aim is to determine the self-disclosure behaviour through Second Life and Facebook, thus investigating the highlighted emotional experience and providing insights for understanding the progression of enhancing online well-being. The empirical study was conducted, by implementing explanatory mix methods to achieve the study’s objectives. Self-disclosure behaviour can shed light on how emotional responses might be used in other social media platforms by opening up the discussion for further exploration [in line with Pentina and Zhang (2017). “Effects of Social Support and Personality on Emotional Disclosure on Facebook and in Real Life.” Behaviour & Information Technology 36 (5): 484–492.]. This experiential perspective can be utilised across multiple fields such as HCI, media psychology, well-being technology, UX, user-centred design, social and human aspects in the digital world, and the body of knowledge on engagement in online social environments
This study draws on several data activism projects and applies discursive interface analysis to u... more This study draws on several data activism projects and applies discursive interface analysis to understand the material means by which activist software strives to empower users vis-à-vis data power. The analysis uncovers four types of oppositional affordances: (i) enabling the use of hidden affordances (ii) imagining new affordances (iii) creating meta-affordances (resignifying perceptible affordances of corporate platforms and reconstructing their meaning), and (iv) creating anti-affordances (hindering or distorting corporate platforms' affordances to the extent that they do not perform their intended function). Although not without limitations, oppositional affordances reveal the actual agentic possibilities of data activism for users other than activists to affect the very algorithms that produce them as datafied subjects. The proposed typology provides a means for further empirical analysis of critical software and its subversive potential for users. The article concludes with a critical discussion of data activism as a means of vernacular critical praxis.
Behaviour & Information Technology (Online First), 2022
Online social environments continue to be expanded in human’s life and transmuted as representati... more Online social environments continue to be expanded in human’s life and transmuted as representative tools of people’s experiences affecting their online and offline emotional behaviour and attitude. There is, nonetheless, an empirical gap regarding the role of the intrinsic emotional fluctuations in social platforms and their effect in self-disclosure behavior, reflecting information to self-reports. The current study aims an in-depth understanding of an ‘outdated’ online social environment (Second Life) with a contemporary one (Facebook), based on users’ emotional behaviour and approaches. The study's overarching aim is to determine the self-disclosure behaviour through Second Life and Facebook, thus investigating the highlighted emotional experience and providing insights for understanding the progression of enhancing online well-being. The empirical study was conducted, by implementing explanatory mix methods to achieve the study’s objectives. Self-disclosure behaviour can shed light on how emotional responses might be used in other social media platforms by opening up the discussion for further exploration (in line with Pentina and Zhang, 2017). This experiential perspective can be utilized across multiple fields such as HCI, media psychology, well-being technology, UX, user-centred design, social and human aspects in the digital world, and the body of knowledge on engagement in online social environments.
Facebook users are exposed to diverse news and political content; this means that Facebook is a s... more Facebook users are exposed to diverse news and political content; this means that Facebook is a significant tool for the enhancement of civic participation and engagement in politics. However, it has been argued that Facebook, through its algorithmic curation reinforces the pre-existing attitudes of individuals, rather than challenging or potentially altering them. The objective of this study is to elucidate the emotional and behavioural impact of the personalization of Facebook users’ News Feeds results, and thereby to uncover a possible link between their online and offline civic attitudes. Firstly, we investigate the extent to which users’ Facebook News Feeds results are personalized and customized to fit users’ pre-existing civic attitudes and political interests. Secondly, we explore whether users embody new roles as a result of their emotional and behavioural interaction with political content on Facebook. Our methodology is based on a quantitative survey involving 108 participants. Our findings indicate that, while Facebook can potentially expose users to varying political views and beliefs, it tends to reinforce existing civic attitudes and validate what users already hold to be true. Furthermore, we find that users themselves often assume a proactive stance towards Facebook News Feed results, acquiring roles in which they filter and even censor the content to which they are exposed and thus trying to obfuscate algorithmic curation.
In recent years, social networks have played a significant role during major crisis events as cit... more In recent years, social networks have played a significant role during major crisis events as citizens use these networks to seek information, discuss and share personal news stories, while interacting with other users regarding issues related to the perceived crisis. As a result, news content posted on social networks is of crucial importance since it can affect public opinion in various ways. The aim of this study is to assess dominant narratives generated through users’ reactions towards news content posted on Facebook so as to examine the role of Facebook during the global crisis of COVID-19. Drawing from different aspects of crisis communication theory and audience-centered studies, this work seeks to investigate the constructed meanings related to this crisis and interpret users’ understanding of news content posted on social networks. Content analysis is employed as a means to evaluate Facebook’s potential in (re)defining users’ narratives regarding issues related to CO...
The global upsurge in protest, which has accompanied the current international financial crisis, ... more The global upsurge in protest, which has accompanied the current international financial crisis, has highlighted the extensive use of online social media in activism, leaving aside the extent to which citizenship is enacted, empowered and potentially transformed by social media use within these movements. Drawing on citizenship and communication theories, this study employs a cross-country analysis of the relationship between citizenship, civic practices and social media within the Indignados movement in Greece and France. By the use of semi-structured interviews, we attempt to discern the degree of involvement of actors with the political community in question and explore the complex layers of their motivations and goals around participation. Content analysis employed in the movement’s Facebook groups allows us to critically evaluate the potential of social media in (re)defining the meaning and practice of civic participation. Findings indicate that the failure of traditional forms...
Journalism is in a state of flux and so is journalism education. The
present study engages in a c... more Journalism is in a state of flux and so is journalism education. The present study engages in a comparative qualitative analysis focusing on the viewpoints of journalism students in Greece and in Cyprus regarding journalism education in the post–truth era, media literacy, and journalism quality. Drawing upon evidence from four focus groups conducted in the journalism/ communication departments of two public universities in Greece and Cyprus, the findings show highly similar attitudes between the two departments. In particular, it was found that journalism students acknowledge the need for journalists’ increased responsibility towards their publics and emphasize the necessity of (normative) skills and practices as important means in the direction of quality journalism; ICT-related journalistic skills, indepth research, specialization, impartiality and verification, topic plurality and avoidance of agenda-setting stereotypes.
Journalism is in a state of flux and so is journalism education. The present study engages in a c... more Journalism is in a state of flux and so is journalism education. The present study engages in a comparative qualitative analysis focusing on the viewpoints of journalism students in Greece and in Cyprus regarding journalism education in the post–truth era, media literacy, and journalism quality. Drawing upon evidence from four focus groups conducted in the journalism/communication departments of two public universities in Greece and Cyprus, the findings show highly similar attitudes between the two departments. In particular, it was found that journalism students acknowledge the need for journalists’ increased responsibility towards their publics and emphasize the necessity of (normative) skills and practices as important means in the direction of quality journalism; ICT-related journalistic skills, in-depth research, specialization, impartiality and verification, topic plurality and avoidance of agenda-setting stereotypes.
This experiment was designed to explore people’s critical, differentiating capacity between actua... more This experiment was designed to explore people’s critical, differentiating capacity between actual news and content that looks like news. Four groups of postmillennials read four versions of a news story. While the first condition included a real news story derived from a mainstream medium, the other three conditions tested three attributes of fakeness, namely an exaggerated, satirical, and popularised frame of disinformation. Although readers differentiated between satire and the actual news story, no significant differences were observed between exaggerated and simplified versions of news and the actual news story. Additional intervening variables were scrutinized, showing a connection between the salience of a story and its perceptions of fakeness.
Les conflits sociaux s’appuient sur des « armes matérielles » et notamment sur les technologies d... more Les conflits sociaux s’appuient sur des « armes matérielles » et notamment sur les technologies de communication qui, dès leur genèse, y ont joué un rôle central. Les politiques du conflit reposent ainsi sur une variété de médias qui, aujourd’hui, relèvent assez largement de l’informatique connectée, de plus en plus portable et mobile. De la Révolution bolchévique aux Indignados, de la lutte de libération algérienne aux Révolutions arabes, en passant par les groupes Medvedkine ou Radio Alice, cet ouvrage rend compte de la rencontre entre technologies médiatiques et luttes sociales. Il s’agit, d’une part, de relativiser le caractère supposé inédit de l’usage des technologies de communication par les mouvements sociaux contemporains et, d’autre part, d’entrer dans le détail de ce que ceux-ci font des outils numériques les plus récents qui supportent leurs activités essentielles tout en déplaçant, parfois, certaines de leurs « manières de faire ».
Journal of Information Technology & Politics, 2023
This study provides a comparative analysis of collective meaning-making processes by unpacking ac... more This study provides a comparative analysis of collective meaning-making processes by unpacking activists' discourses (within and in relation to their polis) and online (on Facebook) during the financial, post-financial, and COVID-19 crises in Greece (2011-2021). By analyzing 71 semi-structured interviews with activists and 14,475 Facebook posts, we first evaluate actors' identity progression, then identify the differences and commonalities between activists' discourses attached to their collectivity, by investigating the role of Facebook therein. Our findings indicate that activists' efforts to delimitate their identity, primarily around the detachment of citizens from their polis, paved the way for the (re)invention of the meaning-making practices of each collectivity. Thus, the formation of an overarching identity of the citizen as an activist-subject unites subjects over power struggles, despite their political differences.
This study explores the specific characteristics of science news stories posted on social media p... more This study explores the specific characteristics of science news stories posted on social media platforms during the first phase of the global pandemic crisis (the first semester of 2020). The focus of the study is to enhance our understanding of the selection criteria for science-related news content posted on social media platforms. Our approach takes into consideration the evolving technological environment of these platforms and the new relationships between media professionals and social media users. Our findings indicate that, under specific circumstances, scientific discoveries may be prioritized in the selection of news stories. We also suggest specific additions to the framework proposed by Harcup and O'Neil (2017), indicating that news stories during crisis situations are more internationally oriented, where audience proximity is created not around "nearby" events but those occurring in other countries around the world. In times of crisis, the main target of news stories is not simply to attract the audience's interest with classic clickbait tactics but to respond to the immediate socio-political context in a meaningful way.
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Papers by Venetia Papa
reflecting information to self-reports. The current study aims an in-depth understanding of an ‘outdated’ online social environment (Second Life) with a contemporary one (Facebook), based on users’ emotional behaviour and approaches. The study’s overarching aim is to determine the self-disclosure behaviour through Second Life and Facebook, thus investigating the highlighted emotional experience and providing insights for understanding the progression of enhancing online well-being. The empirical study was conducted, by implementing explanatory mix methods to achieve the study’s objectives. Self-disclosure behaviour can shed light on how emotional responses might be used in other social media platforms by opening up the
discussion for further exploration [in line with Pentina and Zhang (2017). “Effects of Social Support and Personality on Emotional Disclosure on Facebook and in Real Life.” Behaviour & Information Technology 36 (5): 484–492.]. This experiential perspective can be utilised across multiple fields such as HCI, media psychology, well-being technology, UX, user-centred design, social and human aspects in the digital world, and the body of knowledge on engagement in online social environments
present study engages in a comparative qualitative analysis
focusing on the viewpoints of journalism students in Greece and
in Cyprus regarding journalism education in the post–truth era,
media literacy, and journalism quality. Drawing upon evidence
from four focus groups conducted in the journalism/
communication departments of two public universities in Greece
and Cyprus, the findings show highly similar attitudes between
the two departments. In particular, it was found that journalism
students acknowledge the need for journalists’ increased
responsibility towards their publics and emphasize the necessity
of (normative) skills and practices as important means in the
direction of quality journalism; ICT-related journalistic skills, indepth research, specialization, impartiality and verification, topic
plurality and avoidance of agenda-setting stereotypes.
salience of a story and its perceptions of fakeness.
reflecting information to self-reports. The current study aims an in-depth understanding of an ‘outdated’ online social environment (Second Life) with a contemporary one (Facebook), based on users’ emotional behaviour and approaches. The study’s overarching aim is to determine the self-disclosure behaviour through Second Life and Facebook, thus investigating the highlighted emotional experience and providing insights for understanding the progression of enhancing online well-being. The empirical study was conducted, by implementing explanatory mix methods to achieve the study’s objectives. Self-disclosure behaviour can shed light on how emotional responses might be used in other social media platforms by opening up the
discussion for further exploration [in line with Pentina and Zhang (2017). “Effects of Social Support and Personality on Emotional Disclosure on Facebook and in Real Life.” Behaviour & Information Technology 36 (5): 484–492.]. This experiential perspective can be utilised across multiple fields such as HCI, media psychology, well-being technology, UX, user-centred design, social and human aspects in the digital world, and the body of knowledge on engagement in online social environments
present study engages in a comparative qualitative analysis
focusing on the viewpoints of journalism students in Greece and
in Cyprus regarding journalism education in the post–truth era,
media literacy, and journalism quality. Drawing upon evidence
from four focus groups conducted in the journalism/
communication departments of two public universities in Greece
and Cyprus, the findings show highly similar attitudes between
the two departments. In particular, it was found that journalism
students acknowledge the need for journalists’ increased
responsibility towards their publics and emphasize the necessity
of (normative) skills and practices as important means in the
direction of quality journalism; ICT-related journalistic skills, indepth research, specialization, impartiality and verification, topic
plurality and avoidance of agenda-setting stereotypes.
salience of a story and its perceptions of fakeness.