This event took place on 27 April 2023. See past webinars at IAMCR's Webinars Channel on Vimeo >>
Creating Chaos Online: Disinformation and Post-publics
Date & time: 27 April, 2023 @12:00 UTC / 13h00 London / 14h00 Paris / 15h00 Nairobi / 17h30 Kolkata / 20h00 Beijing.
The webinar includes a discussion of a newly published book by IAMCR AUD member Asta Zelenkauskaite “Creating Chaos Online: Disinformation and Post-publics”. It will focus on a broader discussion on how to do audience research with the current trends of dark participation. Specific foci include how to engage in unmasking the invisible online; what are some theoretical and methodological challenges to analyze such phenomena online.
With the prevalence of disinformation geared to instill doubt rather than clarity, Creating Chaos Online unmasks disinformation when it attempts to pass as deliberation in the public sphere and distorts the democratic processes. Through a dystopian vision of publics that are expected to navigate in the sea of uncertain both authentic and orchestrated content, pushed by human and nonhuman actors, Creating Chaos Online offers a concept of post-publics. The idea of post-publics is reflected within the continuum of treatment of public, counter public, and anti-public. This book argues that affect-instilled arguments used in public deliberation in times of uncertainty, along with whataboutism constitute a playbook for chaos online.
Link to Open access https://www.fulcrum.org/concern/monographs/7h149s20q
See a description of the book on the publisher's site
Sponsored by: IAMCR Audience Section
Moderator: Miguel Vicente Mariño (Universidad de Valladolid, Spain), co-chair of Audience section
Speaker: Asta Zelenkauskaite (Drexel University, USA), co-chair of IAMCR Audience section
Discussant: Rafal Zaborowski (King's College London, UK)
Asta Zelenkauskaite's Bio: Dr. Zelenkauskaite is an associate professor at Drexel University. Her research focuses on emergent practices in online spaces that are traceable through digital meta data and discourses. Her work is based on interdisciplinary perspectives that intersect information science, discourse studies, and computational social sciences. She is part of the Center for Science, Technology & Society and Information Science at Drexel University. Dr. Zelenkauskaitė holds an affiliation with Vilnius Tech University (Lithuania). Her work has been published in New Media & Society, Social Media & Society, Convergence, Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, Journal of Communication, and First Monday, among others. She is a co-chair of IAMCR Audience section. She is an author of Creating Chaos Online (University of Michigan Press, 2022, https://www.press.umich.edu//12237294).
Location: The meeting will take place on Zoom. Pre-registered participants will receive personal invitations 24 hours before the webinar begins.
Who can participate: The webinar is open to all IAMCR members but space is restricted. A limited number of guests invitations may be available. Send an email with the subject "guest list for the AUD book launch webinar" to register4iamcrwebinar@gmail.com to request to be added to the guest list.
About the series: The IAMCR Webinar Series aims to open-up channels for engagement and participation in addition to the annual conference, while echoing the great work that is done by Sections, Working Groups and IAMCR members. The series includes presentations, debates, book and project launches. The format is flexible, the connection is what matters. Join us!