Simeon Yates keynote #cpci_napier

Ways of Being in a Digital Age

(Or how we are all boiled frogs)

Professor Simeon J. Yates

Director Centre for Digital Humanities and Social Science

University of Liverpool

Topics I’m going to indulge in talking about

• ESRC Project

• A bit of history and why we are boiled frogs

• Anthropology, discourses and disciplines

• Some recent (and old) research or why social science should take this stuff seriously

Project team

• The project team represents 16 universities from the UK, EU, USA and Singapore.

• The core team of co investigators from eight UK universities will provide expertise across a range of social science, arts, engineering and science backgrounds.

• The team also includes a broader international steering group.

3

Social science challenges

• Society has been dealing with the ever increasing and substantive impact of digital technologies for more four decades

• One consistent finding is that many of the challenges society faces are not technical, and require sociological, economic, political or economic analysis.

• In many cases they need a combined interdisciplinary approach, often in collaboration with colleagues from computer science, engineering or other science disciplines.

• Some examples of such challenges include, but are certainly not limited to:

• digital exclusion • automation of work

• on-line politics • trust in online systems

• long-tail economics • cybercrime

4

Project foci

• The project will focus on seven ‘domains’:1. Citizenship and politics

a) How digital technology impacts on our autonomy, agency and privacy – illustrated by the paradox of emancipation and control

b) Whether and how our understanding of citizenship is evolving in the digital age – for example whether technology helps or hinders us in participating at individual and community levels

2. Communities and identitiesa) How we define and authenticate ourselves in a digital age

b) What new forms of communities and work emerge as a result of digital technologies – for example new forms of coordination including large-scale and remote collaboration

3. Communication and relationshipsa) How our relationships are being shaped and sustained in and between various domains, including family and

work

5

Project foci

• The project will focus on seven ‘domains’:4. Health and wellbeing

a) Whether technology makes us healthier, better educated and more productive

5. Economy and sustainabilitya) How do we construct the digital to be open to all, sustainable and secure?

b) What impacts might the automation of the future workforce bring?

6. Data and representationa) How we live with and trust the algorithms and data analysis used to shape key features of our lives

7. Governance and securitya) What are the challenges of ethics, trust and consent in the digital age

b) How we define responsibility and accountability in the digital age

8. We also ran workshops on Work Automation, Digital Health and Robots in Social Care

6

Methods

• For each domain, the project will undertake:• A Delphi panel review of international experts’ opinions on the state of the

art in digital-facing social research.

• A ‘concept mapping’ of identified literature using digital humanities tools

• A systematic review of a sample of the literature

• Engagement events with non-academic stakeholders from the public and private sectors

• An assessment of the theory and methods applied in each domain

7

What hath God wroughtFirst steps in the digital age…

La société numérique as the French say

Human communication in a technological age 2007

A long time ago in a world far, far way...

• Marshall McLuhan (1964-1968)

• The medium is the message...

• The global village…


A long time ago in a world far, far way...

• No internet…

• No mobile phones…

• No satellite TV…

• No fax machines…

• No text messages…

• No social media…

Numbers of communications media from pre-history to the present


WritingLanguage

200,000 years

PrintWriting

8,000 years

TelegraphPrint

700 years

TelegraphPrint

700 years

TelegraphPrint

200 years

Telephone Internet

TV

“Social

Media”

150 years

Mass Newspapers

Global communication? Global village? Global culture?

New media 'destroy space and time'

New media create 'global culture'

New media allow global control and

communication in business and politics

New media will make us part of a

'global village'

Old communication? Old global village? Old global culture?

The telegraph will 'destroy space and time'

The telegraph will create 'global culture'

The telegraph will allow global control and


The telegraph will make us part of a

'global village'


The telephone will 'destroy space and time'

The telephone will create 'global culture'

The telephone will allow global control and


The telephone will make us part of a

'global village'


The television will 'destroy space and time'

The television will create 'global culture'

The television will allow global control and


The television will make us part of a

'global village'

Understanding digital society –an interdisciplinary problem

Its all about purity and danger…

Digital is dangerously impure…

Third cultures and interdisciplinarity UKAIS 2015

Popper and the anthropologist…

Methodology and epistemology

Are certain problems inherentlyinterdisciplinary and multidisciplinary?

What are the implicationsof multi/inter disciplinarity?

What shouldbe a single discipline?

What are the corefeatures that define/delineate approachesto interdisciplinary research

The questions

What epistemologicalpositions are taken up ininterdisciplinary research?

What methodological positions are taken up ininterdisciplinary research?

How are the material, social, cultural andtechnological constructed in interdisciplinaryresearch?

What concepts and theories can help us assess these questions?

Methodology and epistemology

Is IS Researchinterdisciplinary and multidisciplinary?

What are the implicationsof multi/inter disciplinarity?

Should IS Researchbe a single discipline?

What are the corefeatures that define/delineate approachesto IS Research?

The questions

What epistemologicalpositions are taken up in IS Research?

What methodological positions are taken up in IS Research?

How are the material, social, cultural andtechnological constructed in IS Research?

What concepts and theories can help us assess these questions?

Its culture - stupid (Care of James Carville/Bill Clinton, 1992)

Doing gender in 160 characters









Culture and SMS

• Women interacting with women• ff436 Hi "name" how r u? Hows uni? Have u got your results yet? How did u do? We

get ours next wed. Take care luv "name" xx• ff456 Hi "name" hope ur havin fun makin pancakes. If u want 2 o monsters inc we r

goin 2moro. My housemates r callin me coz they want 2 leave but im not ready! Luv H.

• ff466 Hiya how was ur weekend? Is the puppy ok? Have u got ur results yet? If so how did u do? What time r u goin 2 the cinema 2nite? Let me no + ill be ready. "name" xx

• ff476 Hi m8, puppy is lovely so tiny. I got results got social p.49, equal opp 54 + survey 62. How did u do? "name" cant go 2nite but said we should go start 8.30 I come 2u

8.• ff486 Hi r u feelin better? "name" is coming 2 london + she has told "name". R u

definitely goin 2 drive from MK coz we r gonna but our coach tickets 2day. Let me no asap. X.

• ff496 hi hows u? im good + feelin much better thanx! Just told my mum that I wood be drivin to hatfield sat-she was not 2 impressed but it will grow on her! Hows sheff?


Culture and SMS

• Women interacting with women• ff436 Hi "name" how r u? Hows uni? Have u got your results yet? How did u do? We

get ours next wed. Take care luv "name" xx• ff456 Hi "name" hope ur havin fun makin pancakes. If u want 2 o monsters inc we r

goin 2moro. My housemates r callin me coz they want 2 leave but im not ready! Luv H.

• Men interacting with men• mm32334 In headingley r u at home? Tripod srorry I'm late.• mm32434 phoned matthew• mm32534 PROJECTOR SORTED!• mm32634 CHEERS WOT WOZ IT?• mm32734 INTERNAL FUSE• mm32834 Just playing a match call you in a bit• mm32934 Its 2 loud, missed your call, am in club til 2.


Culture and SMS

• Women interacting with women• ff436 Hi "name" how r u? Hows uni? Have u got your results yet? How did u do? We get ours next wed. Take care luv "name" xx• ff456 Hi "name" hope ur havin fun makin pancakes. If u want 2 o monsters inc we r goin 2moro. My housemates r callin me coz

they want 2 leave but im not ready! Luv H.

• Men interacting with men• mm32334 In headingley r u at home? Tripod srorry I'm late.• mm32434 phoned matthew

• Mixed gender interactions• fm507 Morning gorgeous hows it going this morning? ( :• mf517 Pissing down with rain feel a tad full from last night and missing you like hell. Whats it like up there?• fm527 cold and raining but luckily I don’t have to go out. Missing you to like mad.• mf537 And your up early again. Still should be able to get loads done. I aint got much to do today at the mo so time not going

well. Less than 2 weeks to go• fm547 yeh hopefully its freezing up here put the heating on and waiting for it to heat up before I have a shower and get started.

Its not long really just seems like it.• mf557 Your telling me. Its only been four days seems like forever.• fm567 I know keep thinking I've been here at least a week and a half.

But it’s the economy - stupid(Properly care of James Carville/Bill Clinton, 1992)

Well actually its Bourdieu – but that’s not as catchy…

Approaches to social class

• Measurement• UK government and media industry measures

• NSSEC socio-economic scales

• NRS socio-economic-status scales

• Broader social theory• Bourdieu

• Class and culture

• Habitus

• Hoggart – uses of literacy

Types of digital inequality

• Different types of divide/inequality• Access to digital technology• Access or not

• Different levels of access

• Differences in levels of use• Some people use digital technology more than others

• Differences in types of use• People use digital technology for different things

• Differences in benefits from use• Some people get more value out of using digital technology

• Differences in hazards from use• Some people suffer more harm than others form using the technology

Factor Analysis

9

Table 1: Pattern and structure matrix for factor analysis

Pattern Matrix Structure Matrix Communalities

Factor Media Information Politics Formal Social Media Information Politics Formal Social

YouTube 0.709 0.136 -0.017 0.065 0.107 0.791 0.338 0.195 0.283 0.439 0.669

TV or films 0.696 0.115 0.075 0.123 -0.014 0.755 0.333 0.273 0.312 0.336 0.618

Music 0.676 0.007 -0.044 0.104 0.184 0.762 0.228 0.145 0.282 0.48 0.628

Games 0.647 -0.042 -0.09 -0.082 0.099 0.643 0.069 0.034 0.039 0.313 0.438

Radio 0.493 0.122 0.234 0.025 -0.039 0.559 0.293 0.37 0.2 0.226 0.394

Software 0.4 0.035 0.061 0.327 0.177 0.555 0.307 0.239 0.479 0.447 0.483

Health Information 0.022 0.729 -0.045 0.009 -0.019 0.168 0.722 0.151 0.284 0.156 0.523

Public services 0.039 0.718 0.063 0.086 0.026 0.238 0.783 0.28 0.393 0.242 0.629

News 0.203 0.644 0.09 -0.01 -0.042 0.345 0.699 0.295 0.285 0.198 0.535

Leisure time 0.152 0.568 -0.117 0.093 0.232 0.363 0.66 0.113 0.388 0.436 0.554

Holidays -0.219 0.515 -0.117 0.321 0.053 -0.047 0.573 0.038 0.473 0.16 0.461

Politics and campaigns 0.055 0.464 0.448 -0.128 0.065 0.253 0.559 0.567 0.165 0.218 0.520

Local news 0.092 0.451 0.284 0.039 0.037 0.274 0.57 0.434 0.295 0.228 0.425

Contact politician -0.115 -0.049 0.813 0.055 0.062 0.081 0.176 0.794 0.181 0.128 0.645

Sign a petition 0.132 0.05 0.641 0.092 -0.015 0.291 0.28 0.697 0.251 0.161 0.519

Banking and paying bills 0.046 -0.006 0.086 0.782 -0.095 0.177 0.31 0.226 0.778 0.157 0.619

Buying and selling 0.143 -0.064 -0.017 0.686 0.093 0.295 0.252 0.135 0.712 0.328 0.543

Government processes 0.135 0.199 0.105 0.585 -0.183 0.241 0.442 0.27 0.656 0.098 0.514

Email -0.177 0.119 -0.012 0.499 0.199 0.023 0.318 0.101 0.566 0.297 0.374

Chat and IM 0.122 -0.055 -0.127 0.073 0.631 0.35 0.114 -0.019 0.232 0.671 0.479

Twitter 0.07 -0.039 0.185 -0.039 0.622 0.342 0.154 0.265 0.171 0.654 0.467

Job or studies -0.153 0.271 0.062 0.048 0.591 0.166 0.409 0.188 0.304 0.614 0.475

Job opportunities 0.129 0.134 0.008 -0.127 0.582 0.369 0.251 0.124 0.118 0.63 0.434

Social networking sites 0.256 -0.026 -0.132 0.08 0.539 0.454 0.152 0.002 0.249 0.64 0.477

Website or blog 0.067 -0.148 0.324 0.182 0.473 0.327 0.133 0.395 0.332 0.56 0.455

Media Use

Predicted solely by Age

Information Seeking

Predicted by Age difference between 55+ and rest, or classsplit by ABC1 vs C2DE

Political action

Predicted by class split by AB vs C1C2DE

Formal Transactions

Predicted by class across all categories

Social Use

Predicted by Age or by class split by ABC1 vs C2DE

Total Use

Predicted by age or class across all categories

Cluster analysis

Table 16: Seven potential user type clusters

Cluster

Factor mean

z-scores for

cluster

centroids 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Media Use -0.638 1.122 -0.693 0.899 0.775 0.465 -0.750

Information

seeking -0.698 0.505 -0.851 -0.460 0.946 0.804 0.801

Political

action -0.327 -0.016 -0.181 -0.501 2.889 0.465 -0.422

Formal

transactions 0.561 0.795 -1.154 -0.691 0.711 0.631 0.169

Social uses -0.328 1.275 -0.781 0.458 0.980 -0.722 0.035

Potential

descriptor

Formal

transaction

limited user

Non-

political

extensive

user

Limited

user

Social

media users

Political

extensive

user

Non-social

media

general

user

Information

seeking

limited

user

Digital Cultural Capital: Class and practice

Digital social and cultural capital

• Digital Arts Space? Space of Digital Inequity

• A complex and stark clash of:• Material difference and inequality• Social difference in access to

networked institutional resources• Knowledge, experience and status

• Between:• ‘performer/player’ and homeless

man• the digital social networks online and

the material context of deprivation• highly contrasting ‘lifeworlds’

(Lebenswelt) and ‘Habitus’

Digital cultural capital

• There clearly exist major differences in embodied cultural capital

• There are also likely major differences in linguistic capital – not maybe in the sense originally defined by Bourdieu – but in ability with the forms and content of digital discourses.

• Clearly there are major differences in the objectified cultural capital of the objects both physical and digital between.

• Institutionalized cultural capital may beof less overt relevance to date, but as digitalnetworks become central life it may.

Attendance MJCA analysis – Overall results

Attendance MJCA analysis – Internet use

Attendance MJCA analysis – Popular and high culture

Attendance MJCA analysis – Overall analysis

The challenges not everyone gets to play –online and offline

• 68% of social classes D&E are non-users or limited users of digital media

• 50% of social class A&B are extensive users of the internet

• 80% of social classes D&E are limited cultural consumers (single format)

• 55% of social classes A&B are extensive cultural consumers (multiple formats)

MJCA Analyses of Social Media and SE Class –Ofcom Data

MJCA Analysis of Social Media and Cultural Capital – DCMS Taking Part data

MJCA Analysis of Social Media and Cultural Capital – DCMS Taking Part data

Types of social media use and SE class –Ofcom data

Types of social media use and SE class –Ofcom data

• Clear distinction by class in the variety of SNS sites used

SNS usage forms are markers of class

• Level of social media use is still predominantly determined by age:• But also class

• Proportion of users who are social media only is higher in lower SE class groups• But their levels of use are lower than higher socio-economic groups

• Social media use clusters with popular rather than “high” culture attendance in MJCA• = Lower cultural capital

• Social media use levels map onto vector for performative participation in MJCA

• Variety of social media use closely follows SE class groups

Its Politics - stupid(Or why trump was inevitable…)

Frame, A., & Brachotte, G. (eds). (2015). Citizen Participation and Political Communication in a Digital World. New York: Routledge.

Frame, A., Mercier, A., Brachotte, G., & Thimm, C. (eds). (2016). Tweets from the Campaign Trail: Researching Candidates’ Use of Twitter during the European Parliamentary Elections. Frankfurt: Peter Lang.

Useful books – EU perspective

Two step flows - Italy

Political establishment bubbles - France

Monitoring Interacting Disseminating

Reading Writing

Journalists

Politicians

AstrucNataf

Langlade

Cornudet

People whofollow all four journalists

Relational Networks on Twitter: Followers of the journalists – France

Mini-publics: Polarized debates in social media

Mini-publics in USFacebook discussionof budget

Mini-publics in EU elections - Germany

Media shared on twitter – US election

http://www.cjr.org/analysis/breitbart-media-trump-harvard-study.php

Media shared on Facebook – US election

http://www.cjr.org/analysis/breitbart-media-trump-harvard-study.php

Political differences and media use

Political differences and social media use

http://www.journalism.org/2014/10/21/political-polarization-media-habits/

It’s all the machines fault – stupid?Actually its not the technology – it is our behaviour

Automation and augmentation

Automation and augmentation

• Automation• Replacement of a person with a computer program or machine that does the

same job:• Algorithm

• Robot (originally a Czech word for ”forced labour”)

• Augmentation• Supplementing human capacity

• All telecommunications systems – from phone to Facebook – augment our ability to communicate

• VR/AR

• Most software – e.g. Excel augments our ability to do mathematics

Jobs likely to be automated

• First wave:• Semi-skilled and skilled manual jobs• Standardized factory work

• Second wave: routine administrative, mathematical and regulated decision making jobs:• Administration• Legal• Accountancy• Routine medical

• Relatively safe – but likely “augmented”:• ‘People’ work – service, health care• Complex environments – digging the road, complex medical• Creative – from arts to science

(Anti?)Social Algorithms – Encoded inequality

• https://vimeo.com/145335290

https://vimeo.com/145335290

(Anti?)Social Algorithms - Different Internets

Families with kids By ethnicity

The uses of digital

• Digital literacy, culture and everyday life…

Conclusion

• There have been previous communication technology revolutions – but current rates of change are far, far greater

• These changes will impact home lives, work lives, business and governments, but as with previous technologies we may not know the details of 'how' until afterwards

• We do have to rethink the discipline ofcommunication studies, but we may notneed to throw out older theories – thoughthey do need reviewing, and some evenneed dusting off and re-using.

• As for the future we can only speculate...

Simeon Yates keynote #cpci_napier

Education