These sessions feature research on global digital cultures from a wide variety of scholarly disciplines, theoretical perspectives, and methodological approaches. During each of these events, we will discuss two draft texts, seeking to include a mix of senior and junior scholars.

The first text we will discuss is titled “Google News Initiative in the Global South: The Influence of Google on Media Technological Innovation” and written by Mathias-Felipe de-Lima-Santos, Lucia Mesquita, Adeola Abdulateef Elega, Allen Munoriyarwa, Charis Papaevangelou, and Amalia Nurul Muthmainnah. Google has invested millions of euros globally in innovative technological projects, defining the paths of technological innovation through the GNI Innovation Challenge as a way to inject new ideas into the news industry. Drawing upon an exploratory analysis of available data by Google and interviews with some grantees, this study examines how these grants have influenced the innovation agendas of recipients in the Global South, particularly in Latin America and the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa. This research seeks to answer the following questions: what are the main characteristics of projects awarded by GNI? How is this initiative influencing the business model of funded organizations? And how is this technological innovation altering daily news production and impacting the environment and society?

The second text we will discuss is by PhD candidate, Sal Hagen. This text investigates conflict between users on 4chan and Tumblr to interrogate the roots of online polarisation among Western subcultures in the mid-2010s.

If you would like to attend the seminar series, you can RSVP using the link above.

Following your registration, you will receive a confirmation e-mail with a link to download the texts. 

We would like to ask you to read these texts in advance to ensure a smooth and rich discussion and to kindly refrain from sharing them publicly, as they include work in progress. 

The discussion will be followed by drinks!

If you have any questions, drop us an e-mail at gdc@uva.nl.