JournalTOCs

Convergence The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies
Journal Prestige (SJR): 0.521

Citation Impact (citeScore): 1
Number of Followers: 50

Hybrid journal (It can contain Open Access articles)
ISSN (Print) 1354-8565 - ISSN (Online) 1748-7382
Published by Sage Publications

[1176 journals]

Comparative VOD catalogue research: Circulation, presence and prominence
of British content in Europe
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  Authors: Cathrin Bengesser, Matthew Hilborn, Jeanette Steemers
  Abstract: Convergence, Ahead of Print.
  Video-on-demand (VoD) platforms have become primary spaces for encounters with transnational film and television, particularly among younger audiences. The expansion of global US-owned VoD services like Netflix has generated questions about the availability, discoverability, and prominence of domestic and European content, making the issue of how to analyse VoD catalogues pressing. Two perspectives are prevalent in VoD catalogue research: ‘back-end’ research emphasising composition and circulation; and ‘front-end’ analysing content presentation and discoverability. Quantitative methods facilitate comparative and longitudinal analyses of what is found on which VoD catalogues. Qualitative methods examine where and how audiences find content. This article, fostering synergy between the two, probes (1) the significance of VoD catalogue research in understanding the dynamics of transnational content flows and audience behaviours, and (2) its methodological possibilities and limitations. Focusing on British content in European VoD catalogues, it draws on two research projects: EUVoD (Aarhus Universitets Forskningsfond AUFF, 2021–2024), analysing the developing European VoD market within changing conditions of competition and policy; and Screen Encounters with Britain (AHRC, 2022–2025), investigating young Europeans’ use of British film and TV. The article utilises the European Audiovisual Observatory’s databases of European works and the streaming guide JustWatch.com, combined with systematic tracking of VoD landing pages. It thus maps content availability, popularity, and promotional strategies across different European markets and services, showcasing how patterns of presence, prominence and circulation shape probable audience encounters with non-domestic content. The article probes methodological considerations, complexities and caveats applicable to wider catalogue research into transnational media. In the case of British content availability on VoD, it shows how a vast number of ca. 15,000 individual UK titles available in European catalogues boils down to about 200 titles that can be easily found on Netflix, and 70 titles there of that young audiences (aged 16–34) recall as UK shows they know and remember.
  Citation: Convergence
  PubDate: 2024-08-21T06:09:32Z
  DOI: 10.1177/13548565241268057
Digitally skilled but socially disadvantaged: Enabling digital
capabilities in low-income families
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  Authors: Anthony McCosker, Julie Tucker, Jenny Kennedy
  Abstract: Convergence, Ahead of Print.
  This paper presents a case study of smart home technology use in a low-income household, focussing on the paradox within the digital divide of having high digital skills while experiencing social disadvantage. Contextualised within a larger study of digital disadvantage in low-income households, we use an ethnographic case study approach to examine the experiences of a single parent who lives with her son in public housing and uses various smart home and assistive technologies to manage the home environment and their health and disability. Countering macro studies that equate low-income and disability with digital exclusion, we explore the ‘enabling capabilities’ associated with using digital technologies to address disadvantage. Our case study is contextualised against the typical digital inclusion challenges faced by low-income families and draws on Sen and Nussbaum’s capabilities approach to addressing social inequalities. The paper highlights the need to support situation-specific digital capability development and flexible technology and social welfare arrangements. Our findings and approach contribute to a more nuanced understanding of how to address digital inequality.
  Citation: Convergence
  PubDate: 2024-08-16T11:59:33Z
  DOI: 10.1177/13548565241268277
Troubleshooting the connected home: Exploring the perspectives of
non-initiators
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  Authors: Helene Fiane Teigen
  Abstract: Convergence, Ahead of Print.
  Living with technology often entails work related to management and repair of it. The emerging literature on the work that goes into managing home networks and digital technologies has described it as ‘digital housekeeping’. Within this literature, a single person is often identified as being responsible for the domestic tech work and this is the same person who initiated bringing the technology into the home. However, remaining household members and persons who have been gifted with such technologies are under-researched, despite studies showing them to be vulnerable to skewed power dynamics and technical malfunctions when the responsible person is not around. Applying digital housekeeping as a theoretical lens, this article explores how people identified as ‘non-initiators’, that is, those living with smart home technologies but who did not initiate bringing the technology into their home, deal with malfunctioning devices. Drawing upon interviews with five identified non, this study provides an in-depth exploration of their troubleshooting routines conceptualized as diagnosing, performing, and delegating. Findings suggest that non-initiators also engage in digital housekeeping through troubleshooting, although this work is largely unacknowledged by themselves and others. Moreover, the image of non-initiators as vulnerable is nuanced by highlighting their active participation in the connected home. Non-initiators use smart home devices for daily activities, and they have the knowledge, skills, and resources to draw upon when encountering malfunctions. Furthermore, the non-initiators’ troubleshooting routines are affected by the devices’ materiality, the household’s social dynamics, and to some degree by societal perceptions of technology, age, and gender. This paper contributes to the existing literature on smart homes and digital housekeeping by emphasizing non-initiators’ contribution to digital housekeeping and by highlighting how their agency is asserted in line with their interests and needs.
  Citation: Convergence
  PubDate: 2024-08-14T12:43:11Z
  DOI: 10.1177/13548565241268062
Streaming Diversité: Exploring representations within French-language
scripted series on Canadian SVOD services
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  Authors: Stéfany Boisvert
  Abstract: Convergence, Ahead of Print.
  Canadian subscription-video-on-demand (SVOD) services have commissioned French-language ‘original’ content to attract local audiences. ICI TOU.TV, Club Illico and Crave have indeed commissioned more than a hundred French-language scripted series, mostly produced in the Quebec province. However, the current state of research only marginally documents these services. Even in Canada, most research focus on US-owned streaming giants such as Netflix and Amazon, thus providing little information on Canadian national SVOD services, and their affordances in terms of storytelling and representation. Current research also completely overlooks French-language original content. This paper therefore discusses the results of the very first research project to specifically focus on the production of original French-language series for Canadian streaming services. After reviewing all original (scripted and unscripted) French-language content available on Canadian-owned SVOD services, a textual analysis of more than 40 scripted series has been conducted, which led to intricate insights regarding prevailing narrative trends and characteristics of main and secondary characters. In so doing, the objective was also to determine the level of diversity included within this so-called original content. In a context characterized by an unprecedented proliferation of scripted series, it indeed becomes crucial to ascertain whether a greater quantity of productions necessarily leads to a greater diversity in representation, that is, the inclusion of a ‘multiplicity of forms’, and an equitable plurality of cultural expressions and identities. This research produced several findings that testify to a significant inclusion of sexual, gender, and racial diversity, as well as a noticeable trend towards intersectional representation. Yet, the analysis also led to identify persistent issues, such as the qualitative marginalization of non-normative characters (queer, BIPOC, with disability, etc.), as they mostly are relegated to supporting roles. These findings therefore call for a nuanced assessment of the ‘progress’ in representation on streaming services.
  Citation: Convergence
  PubDate: 2024-08-13T10:11:08Z
  DOI: 10.1177/13548565241270691
Different diversities: Policies and practices at three European public
service VoD services
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  Authors: Cathrin Bengesser, Jannick Kirk Sørensen
  Abstract: Convergence, Ahead of Print.
  While globally operating SVoDs have discovered identity-based diversity as a branding strategy, diversity has a longer history and broader meaning in public service media (PSM) tied to the foundational ideals of universality and pluralism that oblige PSM to speak to all members of a society and to offer diverse programmes and viewpoints. We investigate: How are these two understandings of ‘diversity’ expressed 1) in legal and policy requirements to the PSM, 2) in strategy papers and audits issued by PSM, 3) in the presentation and exposure of content in VoD interfaces' And 4) How can PSMs' practice around diversity on VoD be tracked methodologically' The article examines these questions by comparing: BBC iPlayer (UK), DRTV (Denmark) and ARD Mediathek (Germany). A document analysis examines how legal remits and strategies governing these institutions talk about diversity. We analyse the presentation and exposure of ‘diversity’ in VoD content via longitudinal datasets that document the three VoD landing pages daily between early 2022 and late 2023, recording the position of every programme title at the VoDs’ front pages, as well as deck titles. We test four approaches to this dataset: Spotting diversity in deck titles, looking for content tagged as diverse on IMDb and by Chat GPT, calculating diversity of exposed content with the Gini-Simpson-Index and assessing diversity through a manual coding of deck titles and sampling content displayed in selected decks. The article shows how differently diversity can be conceptualised and operationalised in VoD practice and concludes that multi-dimensional methodological approaches are needed. This article is a report on different publishing strategies for ‘diversity content’ in PSM VoD interfaces; a discussion of the conflicting relation between public service ideals and the notion of identity-based ‘branded diversity' of globally operating VoDs; and a contribution to developing methods for monitoring diversity on VoD.
  Citation: Convergence
  PubDate: 2024-08-13T06:01:16Z
  DOI: 10.1177/13548565241270897
Exclusionary inclusion' Streaming platforms and trans inclusive policies
and practices: A case study of Netflix
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  Authors: Romeo Fraccari, Páraic Kerrigan
  Abstract: Convergence, Ahead of Print.
  This article examines the incongruence within Netflix’s corporate practice: while on the one hand the streamer promotes trans inclusion along with trans talent development in Netflix’s production culture, both on and off screen, on the other hand its industrial practices and representational output demonstrate a different approach. This article argues that, while the streamer positions itself as a champion of inclusion and diversity in the television industry, Netflix is invested in transness as an economic frontier rather than in adopting anti-transphobic practices. In making this argument, this article fosters a three-pronged approach to explore the treatment of trans identities by Netflix. Firstly, the article analyses Netflix’s corporate practices in relation to promotion of its limited series, Tales of the City. Secondly, the article explores the media event of Dave Chappelle’s comedy special The Closer and the subsequent trans employee walkout. Thirdly, it performs on audit of Netflix’s website and corporate materials to highlight how Netflix has developed a response to trans inclusion in relation to the walkout. Exploring these facets through Aron Kundnani’s (2023) critique of the diversity industry, this article argues that, on a policy and corporate performativity level, Netflix’s approach to trans inclusion can be defined as transliberalist (Raha, 2015), so that its practices result in a platform catalogue that is simultaneously at best trans-affirming and at worst transphobic.
  Citation: Convergence
  PubDate: 2024-08-09T05:49:42Z
  DOI: 10.1177/13548565241270708
The quantification of diversity: Netflix, visibility politics and the
grammar of transnationalism
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  Authors: Mareike Jenner
  Abstract: Convergence, Ahead of Print.
  This article argues for Netflix’ efforts to create a transnational middlebrow, highlighting especially the strategy of visibility politics as a measure to create a metrics for ‘diversity and inclusion’ in a process I call the quantification of diversity. Hence, the article seeks to draw together themes of Netflix’ efforts in transnationalism, the platform’s efforts in diversity and inclusion and the strategy of visibility politics, common to middlebrow television as visual signifier of marginalisation, rather than narrativisation. This process becomes part of a larger grammar of transnationalism to formulate a kind of transnational text specific to Netflix. Visibility politics seeks to quantify visibly marginalised bodies on screen as a measure of ‘progress’ and is, thus, particularly relevant for a Silicon Valley company that seeks remedy social problems via mathematical solutions. This leads to a politics that produces highly visual measures of social progress, but does not offer narratives to communicate barriers to full participation. The metrics for ‘otherness’ are hardly universal, though and Netflix cannot provide such a metrics for its transnational productions. Instead, it seeks to combat ‘universal’ issues of discrimination by means of visibility politics. The platforms’ earlier American texts tried to remedy issues of marginalisation via the narrativisation of barriers. To document this change, the article analyses the Netflix series One Day At A Time with the popular 2023 series Wednesday.
  Citation: Convergence
  PubDate: 2024-08-09T02:09:43Z
  DOI: 10.1177/13548565241264003
‘Disciplining the audience’: Audience experiences with MUBI
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  Authors: Aslı Ildır
  Abstract: Convergence, Ahead of Print.
  Through the case of MUBI, this article inquires into the changing audience habits with the proliferation of video-on-demand services and the discourse of control and choice, increased mobility, and democratic access. Drawing on in-depth interviews with subscribers of MUBI Turkey, this article explores the ways the audience relates to the imagined audience that MUBI assumes, promotes, and celebrates as a cultural gatekeeper and artistic patron/expert; and how, in turn, being a MUBI user becomes a sign of cultural taste. This study argues that even though users appreciate MUBI’s limited choice model compared to Netflix, they still experience feelings such as frustration, stress, and inadequacy. These feelings mainly result from MUBI’s artistic authority over them, established through the discourse of expertise/artistic patronage and limited-time model. On the other hand, users do not automatically accept the service’s expertise. Some are more critical of it than other VOD services (such as Netflix) because they consider watching MUBI a form of ‘intellectual labor’. Even though MUBI discursively maintains the long-standing dichotomies of niche-mainstream, arthouse-popular cinema, or high-lowbrow culture, the users experience these dichotomies more complexly according to their multiple subject positions.
  Citation: Convergence
  PubDate: 2024-08-08T11:38:06Z
  DOI: 10.1177/13548565241271061
Sociable desires and gendered commitments: Video gaming and food in
everyday life
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  Authors: Kristian H Jensen, Thomas AM Skelly
  Abstract: Convergence, Ahead of Print.
  Food consumption in video gaming culture has been linked to convenience, nutritionally poor food, and unconventional eating norms. However, little attention has been given to video gaming and food interactions in mundane settings. This article explores how video gaming and food practices compete for time and attention in everyday life. We use theories of practice approach and data from a qualitative study on young Danish adults who frequently play video games. The findings suggest the competition between video gaming and food is decided by the practice that best realizes the desire to be sociable and gendered commitments to healthiness and housekeeping. We discuss the sociable appeal of video gaming over extensive performances of cooking and eating in relation to the individualization of daily social encounters and interrogate the conventional perceptions of food in video gaming culture in the context of inattention to gender differentiation.
  Citation: Convergence
  PubDate: 2024-08-06T04:12:40Z
  DOI: 10.1177/13548565241270868
Streaming diversity: Studying screen diversity in the streaming era
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  Authors: Maura Edmond, Olivia Khoo, Claire Perkins, Verity Trott
  Abstract: Convergence, Ahead of Print.
  The unprecedented growth of video-on-demand (VOD) streaming platforms has brought both new optimism and new complications to concerns around screen ‘diversity’. To what extent have major global and smaller regional VOD platforms invested in screen diversity, at the level of genres, languages, country-of-origin, social representation or creative labour' Just how ‘diverse’ are the catalogues of VOD services' How is this content represented to audiences and made discoverable through platform interfaces and recommendation systems' How might this vary across the major US-based services, compared with smaller and more niche platforms, or with local broadcaster VODs, or with national public service VODs' This introduction to a special collection on diversity in the streaming era surveys recent developments in screen and media studies scholarship that attempt to address these questions. In doing so, we examine how streaming platforms are addressing diversity at the levels of industry, policy, texts, technologies and audiences. At each level, we observe different definitions, operationalisations, and practices of ‘diversity’ that are informed by a range of disciplinary theorisations, policy histories and priorities, and national and regional contexts, all of which come to intersect with each other in new and challenging ways in the VOD era. In conclusion, we argue that to properly respond to the problem of ‘diversity’, research on screen diversity and on VODs must engage with these diverse dimensions of ‘diversity’.
  Citation: Convergence
  PubDate: 2024-08-06T03:52:27Z
  DOI: 10.1177/13548565241270887
Strategies for communicating and mitigating algorithmic control on
delivery platforms
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  Authors: Aarni Tuomi, Brana Jianu, Maizi Hua, Maartje Roelofsen, Mário Passos Ascenção
  Abstract: Convergence, Ahead of Print.
  Delivery platforms use algorithmic control mechanisms to control couriers’ work. Despite studies looking at how algorithmic control manifests on different delivery platforms, there is a dearth of research exploring how delivery platforms communicate their approaches to algorithmic control, what kinds of strategies delivery workers adopt to mitigate algorithmic control, and to what extent information regarding such ‘algoactivistic approaches’ is shared among communities of delivery couriers who in many cases are in direct competition with one another. To that end, two studies are conducted. Study 1 analyses five publicly listed delivery companies’ annual reports (n = 14), highlighting a lack of transparency on how the platforms’ algorithms function. In Study 2, a netnographic approach is used to conduct interviews (n = 12) and a qualitative analysis of delivery workers’ online discussion forum posts (n = 830) on the discussion forum Reddit. Four approaches to mitigating algorithmic control are found, and the way these are shared among couriers is considered.
  Citation: Convergence
  PubDate: 2024-08-05T08:12:43Z
  DOI: 10.1177/13548565241270908
What Brazilianness looks like: SVODs’ impact on cultural
representation
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  Authors: Melina Meimaridis, Daniela Mazur, Daniel Rios
  Abstract: Convergence, Ahead of Print.
  This article investigates the complex interplay between subscription video on-demand services (SVODs) and the representation of Brazilianness in global media. Focusing on Brazil’s video streaming landscape, our study delves into the challenges of representing the diverse tapestry of national culture, particularly in content commissioned by foreign platforms. These challenges include technical barriers, such as the concentration of audiovisual production infrastructure in the Rio-São Paulo axis, and textual hurdles, like the perpetuation of stereotypes and exoticization of Brazilian narratives. Our investigation includes a review of historical limited portrayal of Brazilianness on domestic television, an analysis of SVOD content from 2016 to 2023, and a case study of two Brazilian original series: Cangaço Novo and How to be a Carioca. These series illuminate different aspects of Brazilian reality. Cangaço Novo depicts a less fictionalized ‘Brasil’ prevalent in mainstream media, featuring themes of drought, the sertão, and local resistance. In contrast, How to be a Carioca presents a more stereotyped ‘Brazil’ tailored for international audiences, focusing on preconceived notions about Rio de Janeiro. Our findings reveal a paradox in the role of SVODs: they perpetuate national stereotypes even as they provide global access to Brazilian content. These platforms shape and export perceptions of Brazil, influencing how the country is viewed both domestically and globally. We explore the tensions between local content creation and global distribution, emphasizing the complexities of globalization, diversity, and cultural identity within the markets of the Majority World.
  Citation: Convergence
  PubDate: 2024-08-04T07:46:26Z
  DOI: 10.1177/13548565241270674
Data reflexivity as work-in-progress
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  Authors: Ranjana Das
  Abstract: Convergence, Ahead of Print.
  Datafication, across private and public sectors demonstrably touches upon, and indeed, alters, with profound consequences, diverse domains of people’s daily lives. However, also, increasingly, critical scholarship on datafication is the locus of careful attention to not solely platform and algorithmic power but also people’s sociocultural practices to make sense of, cope with, feel and show new literacies with data and datafied systems. It is in this context of genuinely listening to what people do with, through and around data, and to what end, that this special issue invites us to ponder the notion of data reflexivity. In this paper, I adopt a working definition of data reflexivity as – a vernacular and relational set of practices and strategies in relation to data and data infrastructures, working with, within and sometimes against platforms, where, such practices and strategies morph and change across the life course, through a web of cross-cutting relationships with individuals, communities and institutions. I draw upon illustrative instances from a project in England which explored parents’ perspectives on personal data and algorithms in the context of raising children. First – I suggest that we approach data reflexivity through a relational lens rather than as an individual and inward-looking strategy, where such relationality is experienced in relation to institutions, individuals, families, friendships, and networks. Second – I suggest that we look at data reflexivity as a fluid, lifelong journey – where a life course approach enables us to consider how data reflexivity morphs, adapts and transitions through the course of life, involving numerous acts of unspectacular, ephemeral agency. I conclude with a reminder that attention to data reflexivity, or indeed, more broadly, people’s agency, must not mean a shift of focus away from scrutinising and holding accountable, powerful institutions, both public and private.
  Citation: Convergence
  PubDate: 2024-08-04T07:41:26Z
  DOI: 10.1177/13548565241270889
What is ‘children’s television’ in the streaming era': Assessing
content discoverability through Australian children’s streaming platform
fluencies
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  Authors: Jessica Balanzategui, Djoymi Baker, Georgia Clift
  Abstract: Convergence, Ahead of Print.
  In line with international trends, increasing numbers of children in Australia use streaming video platforms to watch television on-demand from extensive catalogues. Child viewers thus tend to negotiate platform interfaces organised by algorithmic curation to select content, rather than accessing content via scheduled linear TV. The deeper implications of this substantial shift in child audience habits around television have yet to be robustly reckoned with across scholarly and national policy approaches. Indeed, policy settings in Australia have not kept pace with these transformations, one result of which has been that 84% less Australian content was aired on free-to-air commercial broadcasters in 2022 compared to 2019. Key producer bodies fear the sector is in serious peril and may not withstand the current instability. Given that local children’s television meets Australian children’s best interests by situating them within their own socio-cultural context, the issue has become a site of significant policy, industry, and cultural concern. At this precarious time for the Australian children’s television sector, this article outlines key findings of a mixed method study with Australian children aged 7–9 (n = 37) and their adult guardians to illustrate how children understand, identify, and discover ‘local’ and ‘children’s’ content on streaming platforms. This child audience research contributes to current policy and scholarly debates around the ‘routes to content’ audiences develop in the streaming era. A focus of our analysis is how and if children find Australian content. Our aim is to shed light on how ‘discoverability’ issues compound the current state of turmoil for the sector. We elucidate children’s digital fluencies with platform interfaces but highlight their limited cultural literacies with the content itself, which poses significant implications for industry and policy strategy around local content discoverability for child audiences on streaming platforms.
  Citation: Convergence
  PubDate: 2024-08-03T02:59:48Z
  DOI: 10.1177/13548565241264002
Attention, memory, and narrative interpretation of Michel Gondry’s The
Green Hornet: Comparing 2D and 3D film viewing using eye-tracking and
self-report
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  Authors: Miklós Kiss, David Hayes, Brendan Rooney
  Abstract: Convergence, Ahead of Print.
  Historically 3D effect in film has been used as a relatively superficial aesthetic attraction. Here we consider and test the idea that 3D can be used to guide viewer attention and narrative interpretation in film. The current study used self-report measures in conjunction with eye-tracking technology to record attention, memory and narrative interpretation of 32 participants (25 female). Eye-gaze behaviour was recorded while half of the participants were randomly assigned to watch Michel Gondry’s The Green Hornet (2011) in 3D and the other half watched the same film in 2D. We concentrated on a particular moment where the use of 3D technology brings some aspects of the image to the forefront, such as a prop that might have narrative significance for the story as it unfolds. We were unable to confirm that 3D effect in Gondry’s film is effectively used to direct viewers’ visual attention towards narratively relevant information. Also, we found no evidence that the 3D version of Gondry’s film contributes to better memory or narrative interpretation of this particular scene. In discussing our findings, beyond the technical conditions of our eye-tracking research, we consider the role of film genre, narrative mode, viewers’ expectations and media literacy in shaping such visual attention and narrative interpretation.
  Citation: Convergence
  PubDate: 2024-08-02T07:05:33Z
  DOI: 10.1177/13548565241267720
Finding the future in digitally mediated ruin: #nostalgiacores and the
algorithmic culture of digital platforms
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  Authors: Maria Gemma Brown, Nicholas Carah, Xue Ying (Jane) Tan, Daniel Angus, Jean Burgess
  Abstract: Convergence, Ahead of Print.
  The #nostalgiacores are a series of interrelated hashtags on Instagram and TikTok where users recirculate content from the digital and consumer cultures of the 1990s and 2000s – childhood play centres, dead malls, long-gone toys, and superseded game consoles and phones. In this article, we explore these digital cultures using a critical platform studies approach that involves a combination of network analysis and close textual analysis augmented with purpose-built machine vision tools. We scrape a collection of 359,150 images from Instagram that used one or more of 30 ‘-cores’ hashtags (such as #y2kcore, #webcore and #childhoodcore) that we chose following a period of immersive qualitative investigation of #nostalgiacore scenes on Instagram during 2021 and 2022. 10,000 Instagram images were then randomly selected and processed using a purpose-built unsupervised machine vision model that clusters images together based on their similarities. This research is part of a multi-year project where we develop hybrid digital methods for critically simulating and exploring the interplay between our image-making practices and the algorithmic systems that cluster and curate them. By combining computational approaches with critical platform and cultural studies approaches we speculatively explore both practices of curation and their interplay with the algorithmic classification and recommendation models of digital platforms. Our platform-oriented mode of textual analysis helps us to explore how our digital cultures are both symbolically and technically nostalgic. Instagram users in the #nostalgiacore scene recirculate images from the past as part of practices of critically reflecting on digital platforms and consumer cultures. At the same time those images are recuperated as archives used to train the algorithmic models that optimise attention on digital media platforms like Instagram.
  Citation: Convergence
  PubDate: 2024-08-02T05:07:25Z
  DOI: 10.1177/13548565241270669
Formatting work: Cloud platforms and the infrastructuring of capitalist
asymmetries in software work
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  Authors: Sebastian Randerath
  Abstract: Convergence, Ahead of Print.
  Since the 2000s, so-called cloud computing infrastructures have had a profound impact on the capitalist relationship among labor, software, and organizations. This infrastructuring did not only affect the outsourcing of servers and databases but extends to the on-demand delivery of middleware and operating systems through so-called platforms-as-a-service (PaaS). As a result, the capitalist relationship between labor, organization, power, and software has shifted – both regarding the ways in which software development is organized and the ways in which work processes are organized through software. Such a shift is particularly evident in the development and application of so-called customer relationship management (CRM) software, which is used to plan and record sales and work processes. No longer limited to performance measurement and automated management within sales processes, the widely used Salesforce CRM software is leveraged to document and assess the work performance of employees meticulously, among other applications. To demonstrate how PaaS became central organizational media by reformatting labor and power asymmetries, the paper provides a critical analysis of the CRM software of Salesforce and the various actors and interfaces entangled with its PaaS. Thereby, the paper develops a critical media theoretical framework to analyze how the political economy of adapting PaaS is entangled with power dependencies between organizations and the labor of coding and implementing. Drawing on a platform historiographical analysis of Salesforce developer interfaces, the paper shows how organizational hierarchies and asymmetries manifest in the work of implementing specific sets of operational rules in software development (the work of formatting) and the platform capitalist standardization of work coordination in existing organizations (the formatting of work).
  Citation: Convergence
  PubDate: 2024-07-26T09:01:38Z
  DOI: 10.1177/13548565241268013
Loved everywhere': Netflix’s top 10 and the popularity of
geographically diverse content
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  Authors: Michael L Wayne, Nahuel Ribke
  Abstract: Convergence, Ahead of Print.
  Using Netflix’s weekly Global Top 10 lists for English-language and non-English-language series and films, this article highlights some of the ways in which the world’s most popular streaming platform misrepresents both the production and consumption of its most popular geographically diverse global content. First, the Global Top 10 lists create a series of false equivalencies between the popularity of English-language and non-English-language content that mask the difference in production budgets between the two categories. Second, Netflix’s publicized data isolates the global audience distribution of non-English-language content from other economic, technological, cultural, and political factors affecting local media ecosystems as demonstrated through an analysis of South Korea. Third, in failing to account for genre-related differences, the Global Top 10 lists distorts audience behavior in the Ibero-American region. Despite the variety of limitations presented by the incomplete audience data from Global Top 10 lists, when properly contextualized with recent academic research and economic information extracted from the specialized trade press publications, this article argues that the relationship between global streaming audiences and geographically diverse content is far more complex than it appears in the Netflix’s industrial discourses.
  Citation: Convergence
  PubDate: 2024-07-24T12:11:44Z
  DOI: 10.1177/13548565241265504
Sexual diversity and streaming television: Toward a platform studies
approach to analyzing LGBTQ+ TV
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  Authors: Hollis Griffin
  Abstract: Convergence, Ahead of Print.
  This essay argues for the utility of a platform-studies approach alongside textual analysis when studying the politics of sexual representation in contemporary television programming. Using a corpus of four LGBTQ+-themed programs that represent queer and trans sexualities and HIV/AIDS, the paper argues that funding mechanisms play a constitutive role in determining the kinds of sexual diversity that can circulate via streaming technologies. Comparing and contrasting content created for SVODs, BVODs, and video-sharing platforms, the essay considers the impact that the economic diversity of television’s multiplatform ecology has on the sexual diversity of content that circulates there. Purposefully combining an analysis of online TV with social media entertainment, the essay casts ‘streaming television’ as a wide, varied category whose relationship to questions of representational diversity is more complex than existing scholarship on these issues sometimes suggests. Situating its analysis in the literatures of platform studies, media industry studies, and television’s politics of LGBTQ + representation, the essay shifts the purview of ‘diversity’ away from representations of identity and toward diversities of funding mechanisms and diversities of sexual acts and practices. The essay argues for the necessity of textual analysis to properly articulate the relationship between platforms and the politics of sexual representation in the content that they circulate.
  Citation: Convergence
  PubDate: 2024-07-23T10:58:06Z
  DOI: 10.1177/13548565241265508
Book review: Media ruins: Cambodian postwar media reconstruction and the
geopolitics of technology
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  Authors: Yovanna Pineda
  Abstract: Convergence, Ahead of Print.
  
  Citation: Convergence
  PubDate: 2024-07-23T10:50:38Z
  DOI: 10.1177/13548565241265505
Streaming women: Hayu, Passionflix and gendered demographics in
subscription video-on-demand
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  Authors: Alexa Scarlata, Andrew Lynch
  Abstract: Convergence, Ahead of Print.
  The focus of most academic analysis of subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) services so far has been on “first tier” platforms like Netflix and Prime Video. These platforms are spending and charging significant amounts of money to adopt a generalist strategy that rhetorically disregards demographics . However, not all SVODs operate in this manner. This article will consider examples of second (subsidiary) and third (independent) tier SVODs for whom traditional demographic thinking remains fundamental to their core business model. We examine second tier service Hayu and third tier service Passionflix as female-targeted SVODs that represent a spectrum of approaches to gendered curation, from the online extension of reality programming long-linked to cable interests, to the production and promotion of softcore erotica SVOD originals. We combine analyses of catalogues, interfaces, marketing, paratexts, and original production to consider how SVODs conceptualise, address, and court female audiences in different ways.
  Citation: Convergence
  PubDate: 2024-07-23T07:48:18Z
  DOI: 10.1177/13548565241264004
Make (digital) space for and with the young: Arts-inspired co-design of
civic tech for youth mental health policies
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  Authors: Sonia Bussu, Enric Senabre Hidalgo, Olivier Schulbaum, Zarah Eve
  Abstract: Convergence, Ahead of Print.
  Public engagement, digital or in-person, is mostly adult-centric and ableist, often universalising the experience of participation of a narrow demographic (white, older and middle class). In Mindset Revolution we combined arts-based and creative methods with civic tech to co-design participatory spaces with a diverse group of young people, where to discuss and influence mental health policy and practice. The paper examines the digital element of the project, where young people, supported by a team of academics and digital designers, used the Decidim civic tech platform to engage with their peers and policymakers. This co-design work helped inform changes to the platform towards more accessible and margin-responsive participation that can better support active engagement of traditionally excluded groups. The young people evaluated their own participation and social impact, challenging assumptions about youth participation. The flexibility afforded by the digital platform was crucial to sustain engagement. However, although often branded as digital natives, the young people we worked with perceived digital participation as an enabler but not a central element of their work on social change. Follow-up work on the platform is shaping it as a space for collective oversight, with opportunities for open-ended dialogue between young people, the community and policymakers to identify and navigate barriers to implementation of young people’s proposals.
  Citation: Convergence
  PubDate: 2024-07-23T06:44:58Z
  DOI: 10.1177/13548565241264001
Book Review: Patching development: Information politics and social change
in India
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  Authors: On Tai
  Abstract: Convergence, Ahead of Print.
  
  Citation: Convergence
  PubDate: 2024-07-22T03:06:25Z
  DOI: 10.1177/13548565241265507
Computational cross-media research: tracing divergences between normative
Dutch television and social media discourses on the ‘refugee crisis’
(2013-2018)
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  Authors: Emillie de Keulenaar, Thomas Poell, Anne Helmond, Bernhard Rieder, Jasmijn Van Gorp
  Abstract: Convergence, Ahead of Print.
  This article examines how the ‘refugee crisis’, sparked by the arrival of refugees from the Syrian civil war and other conflicts around the world, was articulated across Dutch television news programs and social media between 2013 and 2018. This crisis has been described as a key catalyst of the radicalization of European political discourse. Crucially, it took shape during a period of profound transformation of the media landscape, in which mass media lost significant ground to social media as authoritative sources of truth and norms. The research focuses on the crucial but underexplored link between television and social media discourse, which is at the heart of contemporary European public debate. Using a combination of digital methods and NLP techniques, the article compares automatic speech recognition (ASR) transcripts of Dutch televised news on the refugee crisis with responses from publics on Facebook and Twitter. This computational cross-media approach enables a longitudinal analysis of how social media users differ in their interpretation of key events characterizing the crisis, as well as what language is acceptable to debate issues around integration, tolerance and identity. A rejection of mainstream news media editorial guidelines by social media users eventually resulted in their consumption of populist right-wing (‘alternative’) news media and active transgression of anti-discriminatory speech norms.
  Citation: Convergence
  PubDate: 2024-07-19T02:43:18Z
  DOI: 10.1177/13548565241258956
Memetic memory as vital conduits of troublemakers in digital culture
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  Authors: Alexander O Smith, Jordan Loewen-Colón
  Abstract: Convergence, Ahead of Print.
  Recent fears of data capitalism and colonialism often argue using implicit assumptions about cybernetic technology’s ability to automate data about culture. As such, the level of data granularity made possible by cybernetic engineering can be used to dominate society and culture. Here we unpack these implicit assumptions about the datafication of culture through memes, which both act as cultural data and cultural memory. Using Alexander Galloway’s critical method of protocological analysis and descriptions of media tactics, we respond to fears of cybernetic domination. Protocols – the source by which cybernetic technologies enable automated datafication – enables us to respond to fears with optimism, and it further enables a more extensive development of how memetic memory functions. Our development shows that memetic memory often emerges before cybernetic datafication, offering moments of resistance from cybernetic domination. Further, this development enables a vitalist development of memetic memory, borrowing from Bergsonian theory and related contemporary media theories. Such a work contributes by providing cybernetic context in which culture, characterized through memes, resists cybernetic domination. In the process of this contribution, it also contributes a novel theory of memetic memory. Inspired by recent posthuman new media theory, we provide a novel reading of Richard Dawkins’ genetically inspired meme as well as Limor Shifman’s notion of memetic ‘stance’. Taken together, we contribute the beginnings of a memetic theory of vitalism which speaks more readily with critical cybernetic discourse.
  Citation: Convergence
  PubDate: 2024-07-19T02:34:30Z
  DOI: 10.1177/13548565241262421
Queer media in the age of streaming video
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  Authors: Whitney Monaghan
  Abstract: Convergence, Ahead of Print.
  This article contributes to an emerging field of research on the classification and organisation of film and television on streaming video platforms. While scholarship has begun to grapple with the complexities of the streaming video landscape, critical frameworks have yet to be established for examining issues of LGBTIQA+ inclusion in this context. This article explores questions about what queer media is in the streaming video era and how is this shaped by the information practices of streaming video services. Classification and organisation of titles is a significant factor in the discoverability of content on streaming video platforms. In the context of queer media, classification practices also impact the visibility of marginalised LGBTIQA+ identities, communities, and cultures. Beyond this, the categorisation practices of streaming video providers play a significant role in shaping and communicating cultural values about queer media. From an Australian vantage point, this article maps the contours of queer media in the streaming video environment, focusing on Subscription Video on Demand (SVOD) and Broadcast Video on Demand (BVOD) services. By investigating the categories that streaming video providers use to organise and highlight LGBTIQA+ film and television, this article identifies how queer media is defined as a cultural category through use of labels such as ‘pride’, the categories and subcategories that approach queer media as a constellation of niche interests, and an underlying emphasis on ‘good’ characters and positive LGBTIQA+ narratives.
  Citation: Convergence
  PubDate: 2024-06-24T03:40:58Z
  DOI: 10.1177/13548565241264155
Repairing what’s not broken – Algorithm repair manual as
reflexivity device
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  Authors: Ana Pop Stefanija, Jo Pierson
  Abstract: Convergence, Ahead of Print.
  In this article, we outline an innovative participatory method for reflexive engagement with algorithmic systems and the underlying processes of datafication that accompany them. Faced with the challenges of thinking critically and reflexively about algorithmic systems, both as non-expert individuals and expert researchers, we develop and elaborate on an approach for engaging participants in thinking with, – through and – about algorithmic artifacts. In developing our approach, we start from the premise that algorithms are always broken, and we devise Repair Manuals as productive reflexivity devices that will enable for reflective and reflexive encounters with algorithmic artifacts. Borrowing from the approaches developed by Shannon Mattern and Joseph Dumit, we take algorithmic data artifacts as entry points to embark on an investigative, self-learning and sense-making journey of the inevitable entanglement between the individuals and the all-encompassing algorithmic systems. The results from our study show that this approach offers valuable opportunities and insights both for educators and for researchers, and can be used equally for empowerment and educational goals.
  Citation: Convergence
  PubDate: 2024-06-20T04:24:14Z
  DOI: 10.1177/13548565241261978
Video-on-demand catalog and interface analysis: The state of research
methods
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  Authors: Ramon Lobato, Alexa Scarlata, Tyson Wils
  Abstract: Convergence, Ahead of Print.
  The global proliferation of internet-distributed video-on-demand (VOD) services has left in its wake a rich but scattered corpus of research into the catalogs and interfaces of these services. Using empirical methods and sources including scraping, observation, digital simulations, and third-party datasets, researchers have found many ways to study VODs, their content, and their recommendations. Our article provides a critical review of this research landscape. We describe the evolution of two key methods: catalog analysis and interface analysis. We then explain how these methods intersect with each other and also with audience research. Throughout, we assess the value and limitations of various methods, showing how they fit within a wider research landscape that involves multiple ‘ways of knowing’ VOD. The practicalities and politics of access to VOD data are considered throughout.
  Citation: Convergence
  PubDate: 2024-06-19T03:07:43Z
  DOI: 10.1177/13548565241261992
Book Review: Computing taste: Algorithms and the makers of music
recommendation
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  Authors: Stephen Yang
  Abstract: Convergence, Ahead of Print.
  
  Citation: Convergence
  PubDate: 2024-06-18T10:47:15Z
  DOI: 10.1177/13548565241262420
VR/AR artworks in the museum: Redefining preservation through
collaboration
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  Authors: Myrto Aristidou, Theopisti Stylianou-Lambert
  Abstract: Convergence, Ahead of Print.
  The rapidly evolving nature of emerging technologies renders artworks made using such technologies a challenging category of objects to be handled by institutions. This paper presents real scenarios of how art made with Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) is acquired, exhibited and finally preserved by museums and art institutions, presenting a clear picture of a particular period. Though an extensive body of literature and studies deal with the preservation of ‘New Media’, very few focus on the challenges faced by museums and private institutions when it comes to artworks that use VR/AR. We used in-depth interviews with eight museum professionals working in six key institutions that engage with VR/AR artworks, and four artists, who create such works, in order to define current institutional practices, understand the challenges museum professionals face when dealing with VR/AR artworks, and identify the preservation-related concerns of artists working with these technologies.
  Citation: Convergence
  PubDate: 2024-06-15T10:15:09Z
  DOI: 10.1177/13548565241261995
Knocking on doors: The use of blogging sites by visually impaired people
in the USA preliminary study
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  Authors: Ibrahim Helmy Emara
  Abstract: Convergence, Ahead of Print.
  This paper discusses the findings of a small-scale study in which semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 bloggers that are specialized in visual impairment. The study sample included four independent bloggers and six bloggers working for organizations that serve visually impaired people in the US. The study was set to investigate the usage of blogging sites, examine methods of presenting visual media, and identify serious difficulties imposed on visually impaired bloggers. Usage of hyperlinks, interactions between bloggers and readers, and accessibility of blogging sites are probed. Significant findings of the study show that bloggers have generally received positive feedback from blog readers. Study participants were satisfied with the accessibility level of blogging sites, as some viable textual alternatives to visual media elements are provided. However, inconvenient time constraints and writing about topical issues were among the most critical challenges facing visually impaired bloggers.
  Citation: Convergence
  PubDate: 2024-06-14T12:25:03Z
  DOI: 10.1177/13548565241261963
Book Review: Distant viewing: Computational exploration of digital images
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  Authors: Maibell Ong
  Abstract: Convergence, Ahead of Print.
  
  Citation: Convergence
  PubDate: 2024-06-14T12:18:37Z
  DOI: 10.1177/13548565241262419
Behind-the-scenes of the parliament: Influencer genres and political
authenticity on Swedish politicians’ YouTube channels
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  Authors: Johanna Arnesson, Christina Grandien
  Abstract: Convergence, Ahead of Print.
  Affordances and aesthetics of digital media platforms have given politicians new ways to connect with potential voters and actively manage their own self-image. Digital political communication is also often influenced by current trends in PR or commercial marketing; for example, the tools and tactics of social media influencers. Based on qualitative case studies of YouTube channels belonging to two Swedish party leaders, this article examines the adaptation of influencer practices in the politicians’ online presence, and what impact it has on the presentation of themselves and their politics. It analyses how different genres of beauty and lifestyle influencers are embraced and adapted to a political context, as well as the ways in which specific audio-visual elements are used to construct the mediated performance of political authenticity, giving viewers ‘behind-the-scenes’ access to the politicians’ personal as well as professional life. The analysis shows how the adaption of videos in confessional genres such as story time, Q&A, and vlog, which feature personal expressions of emotions and experiences, is illustrative of an increased personalisation of political communication, where the dimension if intimacy is emphasised.
  Citation: Convergence
  PubDate: 2024-06-14T07:22:01Z
  DOI: 10.1177/13548565241260486
Audiovisual prominence and discoverability in Europe: Stakeholders’
alliances under construction
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  Authors: Maria Trinidad Garcia Leiva
  Abstract: Convergence, Ahead of Print.
  This paper seeks to shed light on the EU regulation and policy for prominence and discoverability of EU works and of services of general interest from the point of view of main European audiovisual agents as represented by corresponding organisations. Their positions are characterised following a stakeholder analysis and in relation to the advocacy coalition framework. The study draws on evidence from statements and positions, policy documents, reports and other secondary source materials, as well as findings from interviews. After a brief conceptual introduction and a legal and policy review, an explanation of the analytical framework used follows, together with a structured analysis of stakeholders’ views regarding the content, implementation and impact of EU regulation and policy for prominence and discoverability of EU works and of services of general interest. Conclusions revolve around the existence, or not, of advocacy coalitions, emerging key policy issues, and challenges to be met.
  Citation: Convergence
  PubDate: 2024-06-13T05:07:37Z
  DOI: 10.1177/13548565241260490
Digital divide in the Middle East and North Africa: Introduction to the
special issue
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  Authors: Glenn W Muschert, Massimo Ragnedda
  Abstract: Convergence, Ahead of Print.
  Despite having high literacy rates and a robust digital infrastructure, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region still faces digital inequalities. This collection of articles explores the complexities of digital disparities within MENA, taking into account cultural, economic, and historical factors. Each article in this section examines the impact of digital inequality on society, the economy, and culture, emphasizing the need for context-specific approaches. The goal of this thematic issue is to encourage international study and address social challenges stemming from digital divides in MENA by critically discussing digital disparities and their effects.
  Citation: Convergence
  PubDate: 2024-06-12T11:32:19Z
  DOI: 10.1177/13548565241260458
Agency in a datafied society: an introduction
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  Authors: Andreas Hepp, Stephan O. Görland
  Abstract: Convergence, Ahead of Print.
  In media and communication research the datafied society has become a core concept for describing a society in which data-based sense making has become a fundamental principle of the construction of reality. In datafied societies it is often suggested that the possibilities of human agency are evolving, while also recognizing that a new form of machinic agency has become a ubiquitous phenomenon of daily life. The thematic issue Agency in a datafied society takes up such a discussion and aims to contribute to further clarification through theoretical and empirical articles. This introduction aims to achieve two objectives: First, it addresses the intellectual risks posed by empirical and conceptual ambiguity linked to vague interpretations of a datafied society. In tandem, it systematically categorizes the diverse applications of the term agency in the context of investigating a datafied society. Both serve as a foundation for situating the further contributions to this special issue in within the broader discourse of the field.
  Citation: Convergence
  PubDate: 2024-06-12T10:21:54Z
  DOI: 10.1177/13548565241254692
A framework for examining hybridity: The case of academic explanatory
journalism
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  Authors: Michelle Bartleman, Elizabeth Dubois, Isabel Macdonald
  Abstract: Convergence, Ahead of Print.
  Across a number of disciplines, hybridity is regularly invoked when two previously distinct elements – whether objects, concepts, frameworks, practices, models, mediums or institutions – are brought together. However, this is often done with a vague theoretical nod. Labeled a hybrid and left at the level of broad theory, scholarship has tended to ignore a critical issue: what happens when the disparate elements of a hybrid are introduced in practice' This conceptual paper takes the case of academic explanatory journalism, a nascent intentional collaborative practice between academic authors and journalist editors, in order to illustrate how the theoretical concept of hybridity plays out in practice. This particular case presents a number of opportunities and benefits within a Western democratic context. However, our examination highlights that without a more nuanced discussion of how hybridization plays out in real life, its potential benefits are compromised. We propose a five-step framework that can be applied to other examples of hybridity, across varied disciplines beyond media and communication studies. This five-step framework helps uncover the complications that might arise when disparate elements are hybridized, moving from theory into practice. The approach helps create the space and understanding needed to design solutions pre-emptively.
  Citation: Convergence
  PubDate: 2024-06-04T02:41:49Z
  DOI: 10.1177/13548565241255044
Loot boxes as part of a layered platform ecosystem: A multidisciplinary
perspective
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  Authors: Maarten Denoo, Pieterjan Declerck, Valerie Verdoodt, Eva Lievens, Bieke Zaman
  Abstract: Convergence, Ahead of Print.
  By considering diverse disciplinary perspectives on the psychological impact, design and regulation of loot boxes, this paper departs from a shared need for a holistic comprehension of the platform ecosystem in which contemporary videogames are played, developed and governed. The rationale of this paper is grounded in the rapid evolution of monetisation in videogames, which has not only generated scientific interest towards digital consumption, but also engendered concerns for player health, particularly in the realm of gambling-like loot boxes. We perform an empirical Walkthrough of FIFA22’s Ultimate Team (FUT) mode to identify four layers in FUT’s platform ecosystem, which constitute different scenarios of use and which, taken together, raise issues of uncertainty and persuasion for players. Although we focus on FIFA22, our study extends to other videogames with microtransactions, revealing implications for media, design and legal frameworks. Our findings underscore the value of a qualitative, interpretative approach to analysing videogame consumption at the intersection of various platforms and business models.
  Citation: Convergence
  PubDate: 2024-06-03T11:45:49Z
  DOI: 10.1177/13548565241254513
If you’re reading this, it’s meant for you: The reflexive ambivalence
of algorithmic conspirituality
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  Authors: Kelley Cotter, Amy Ritchart, Ankolika De, Kali Foyle, Shaheen Kanthawala, Haley McAtee, TX Watson
  Abstract: Convergence, Ahead of Print.
  Growing awareness of the ubiquity of algorithms online has established a new discursive space for making sense of their role in individuals’ lives and society writ large. Within this space, social media users have come to think of algorithms as uniquely powerful forces shaping everyday experiences. This article explores how people make sense of algorithms, as seen through (dis)belief in algorithmic conspirituality, where users ascribe divine significance to algorithmic curation on TikTok. We ask: how do users understand algorithmic conspirituality, and under what circumstances do they believe (or not) in the mystical power of algorithms' Drawing on focus groups and interviews with TikTok users (n = 25), we observed what we call reflexive ambivalence. This refers to a reflexive process in which participants examined their cognitive and affective responses to algorithmic conspirituality videos to untangle seemingly contradictory logical and mystical mentalities. With this insight, we complicate past work by demonstrating the co-occurrence and interdependency of rational, technical vs. affective, socially situated ways of knowing algorithms. We additionally highlight conditions under which belief in algorithmic conspirituality gained plausibility for our participants and how they rationalized the phenomenon as grounded in the worldly realm.
  Citation: Convergence
  PubDate: 2024-06-03T10:04:16Z
  DOI: 10.1177/13548565241258949
From subculture to mainstream: Nostalgia, criticism and negotiation in a
fan community
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  Authors: Leticia-Tian Zhang
  Abstract: Convergence, Ahead of Print.
  Extensive research has been conducted on social media and fandom, particularly on how digital platforms facilitate community formation and cultural production among fans. However, there remains a gap in understanding how these communities react to and interpret changes such as commercialization or mainstreaming of their platforms. This study addresses this gap by focusing on Bilibili’s danmu culture, a vibrant fan community that is transitioning from a subculture to a mainstream entity. The platform culture lies in danmu, a commentary system that allows for video-superimposed moving texts on the screen. Existing research on danmu mainly focuses on the mediated playful and creative audience participation. However, little is understood about the perception and critical evaluation of danmu commenting within its participatory community. This study investigates the vernacular criticism of danmu amongst users on Bilibili by analyzing user discussions around a remix video called ‘This is danmu culture!’. Findings reveal three overarching themes: nostalgia for past danmu creations, criticism of present danmu practices, and negotiation of danmu culture. Central to these themes is the commenters’ identification as part of an elite fan community that is gradually fading. Bilibili, once a sanctuary for anime, comic, and game enthusiasts, now finds itself caught in the tension between subculture and mainstream audiences, resulting in increasing polarization.
  Citation: Convergence
  PubDate: 2024-05-30T07:29:46Z
  DOI: 10.1177/13548565241256563
Service withdrawal: The uncertain future of the games-as-a-service model
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  Authors: Louis-Etienne Dubois, Alex Chalk
  Abstract: Convergence, Ahead of Print.
  The last decade has seen a rapid growth of service-based offerings – also known as Game-as-a-Service or GaaS – in the video game industry, among which are some of the most popular franchises, such as Fortnite or League of Legends. Yet, even though these games are designed to be played and supported for an indefinite period of time, many studios have recently chosen to curtail services after introducing them, making for unclear outlooks on the future of this business model. Hence, based on secondary sources – including company documents, industry press and dedicated player forums – this multiple case study sets out to investigate the reasons behind studios’ decision to discontinue parts of five popular GaaS. Three main motives for withdrawing services emerge from the cases. Namely, rather than supporting services, studios decide to (1) attend to the company, to (2) attend to players and (3) to attend to the core product itself. The results contribute to the nascent GaaS literature, in particular with respect to business models and product-life cycle considerations. Implications for studios are offered in closing.
  Citation: Convergence
  PubDate: 2024-05-28T01:58:27Z
  DOI: 10.1177/13548565241256888
Combating contamination and contagion: Embodied and environmental
metaphors of misinformation
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  Authors: Yvonne M Eadon, Stacy E Wood
  Abstract: Convergence, Ahead of Print.
  In recent years, government agencies, information institutions, educators and researchers have paid increasing attention to issues of misinformation, disinformation and conspiracy theorizing. This has prompted a seemingly endless supply of guides, frameworks and approaches to ‘combating’ the problem. In studies of mis- and disinformation, a constellation of analogous concepts are defined in multiple ways across multidisciplinary literatures and institutional contexts. Misinformation, disinformation and conspiracy theory are often conflated, lacking specific, portable definitions across fields of study. Linguistic metaphors are often leveraged in place of this definitional work. The larger conceptual metaphors that they connote contain normative assumptions that often impose values and moral imperatives, imply deficiencies, assume intent, and foreground individual agency or lack thereof. Metaphors are as restrictive as they are illuminating; once used, a metaphor also applies constraints to the way in which a phenomenon can be understood. Metaphors not only shape the ways in which science is communicated to the public, but also the kinds of questions that are asked, the theories and methods used, and the parameters of the research design. By analyzing instances of linguistic metaphor, this exploratory study identifies and develops two conceptual metaphors that are frequently evoked to discuss mis- and disinformation: embodied health metaphors and environmental health metaphors. The former includes linguistic metaphors like viral/virality, infodemic, infobesity, information hygiene, information dysfunction, and information pathology. The latter includes linguistic metaphors like information pollution, infollution, and digital wildfires. Uncritically invoking such metaphors adopts tacit arguments deriving from the original field of study (e.g., public health’s tendency to equate individual embodied health with virtue), or the image of the metaphor itself (digital wildfires implies quick spread and immediate danger), or both. Widespread and uncritical use of such metaphors, we argue, rewards speed and epistemic homogeneity in mis- and disinformation research – ultimately discouraging in-depth inquiry.
  Citation: Convergence
  PubDate: 2024-05-25T07:45:10Z
  DOI: 10.1177/13548565241255347
Collecting streaming services
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  Authors: Andreas Lenander Aegidius, Mads Møller Tommerup Andersen
  Abstract: Convergence, Ahead of Print.
  In the streaming era, the very thing that defines it is what threatens to impede access to important media history and cultural heritage. Streaming’s barriers to entry and its interim content catalogs challenge the actual collection and preservation of it for research and teaching purposes. If researchers and libraries do not work together to document and preserve these, we will keep losing important sources and data. From a collection perspective, we argue that streaming services consist of their catalog, metadata, and graphical user interfaces. First, we map the large-scale legal deposit collection of streaming at a national library as well as a media researcher’s small-scale targeted collection. Second, we compare the resulting collections of web sites and graphical user interfaces in order to discuss methodological challenges. The findings of this comparative analysis indicate the existing deficiencies in both collections and suggest potential improvements in the collection and preservation of streaming services.
  Citation: Convergence
  PubDate: 2024-05-22T07:55:59Z
  DOI: 10.1177/13548565241253906
Digitalization of cultural industries: Evidence from the official
Spider-Man movie TikTok account
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  Authors: Alicia Hernando Velasco, Mitsuko Matsumoto, Susana Dominguez-Santos, Pilar Lacasa
  Abstract: Convergence, Ahead of Print.
  The digitalization of culture and creative industries has presented both challenges and opportunities. To effectively engage audiences and ensure their constant interest, these industries must continually adapt their circulation strategies. The objectives of this study are threefold: 1) analyze the strategies employed by the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) to engage with the fan community; 2) examine the interplay between fiction and reality based on the relationships between characters and actors, as shown in social network posts; and 3) determine how the discourse in the film ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ is reconstructed on TikTok, leveraging its particular ‘affordances’ (Gibson, 1979). A mixed methodology approach was utilized, combining the use of Analisa.io software to provide a comprehensive view of the Spider-Man official account’s activities and user engagement with a detailed analysis of the thematic, multimodal, and discursive aspects of TikTok videos published by the account. The findings reveal that the MCU employs TikTok as a marketing tool for the new movie, utilizing three main strategies that align with the characteristics of transmedia storytelling and enhanced audience engagement: 1) strategic selection of publication moments for the growth of follower engagement; 2) extensive use of teasers; and 3) leveraging the presence of actors as a key element to facilitate fan identification.
  Citation: Convergence
  PubDate: 2024-05-21T12:20:21Z
  DOI: 10.1177/13548565241253904
Joe Rogan v. Spotify: Platformization and worlds colliding
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  Authors: Terje Colbjørnsen
  Abstract: Convergence, Ahead of Print.
  In May 2020, the music streaming service Spotify acquired exclusive rights to The Joe Rogan Experience, one of the world’s most popular podcasts. While the music streamer had started its foray into the podcasting world with acquisitions in 2019 of podcasting networks and production companies, the investment on Rogan was widely seen as a strong commitment. Rogan’s podcast is known to be humorous, crass, and often controversial. As the show dealt with highly contentious issues surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, criticism emerged, both from medical professionals, from artists and from within Spotify. The most widely published pushback came from artist Neil Young in January 2022, as he posed an ultimatum: ‘They can have Rogan or Young. Not both’. The Joe Rogan v. Spotify case can be seen as indicative of how the platformization of podcasting creates tensions and conflicts: Worlds collide as the logics of music publishing and news publishing crash with Rogan’s free reign podcasting world. As a result, Spotify, as a podcasting platform and publisher, finds itself in unfamiliar terrain. This paper connects the details of the case with theories of platformization, looking specifically at the role of Spotify as a comparatively new distributor of podcasts and a driving force to connect various audio formats. Drawing on media industry studies and scholarship on media policy and regulation, the paper ends with a discussion on how to understand the complexity of Spotify’s role as a publisher and a platform and Rogan’s role as a platform creator.
  Citation: Convergence
  PubDate: 2024-05-13T03:56:57Z
  DOI: 10.1177/13548565241253909
The emergence of virtual production – a research agenda
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  Authors: Jon Swords, Nina Willment
  Abstract: Convergence, Ahead of Print.
  Virtual production is increasingly seen as a way to make film and television more efficiently by harnessing the power of game engines to create unique locations and sets, offer directors more flexibility, and to cut carbon emissions. But while the technologies at the centre of virtual production are not new, their combination into filmmaking pipelines is in its infancy and the field is evolving fast. Indeed, so rapid is its evolution that pinning down what virtual production is, or might become, is a challenge in itself. What is clear, however, is that the approach is seen as an important element of filmmaking that is here to stay. In this article, we outline the emergence of virtual production and constituent technologies to pin down its current form. We also examine the emergent orthodoxies about what virtual production can do, what it can’t do and what it might allow filmmakers to do in the future. We finish the article by outlining a research agenda for further work on virtual production for scholars interested in its technologies, impact on working practices, how it might impact equality, diversity and equality agendas, and its implications for existing and emerging skills gaps across the film and TV industry.
  Citation: Convergence
  PubDate: 2024-05-10T01:37:32Z
  DOI: 10.1177/13548565241253903
Playing with persona: Highlighting older adults’ lived experience
with the digital media
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  Authors: Larissa Hjorth, Jacob Sheahan, Bernardo Figueiredo, Diane Martin, Mike Reid, Torgeir Aleti, Buschgens Mark
  Abstract: Convergence, Ahead of Print.
  During the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns (2020-2021), almost all facets of life were rendered digital – health, work, schooling, and logistics. In this phenomenon, not only did digital access become synonymous with social inclusion but inequalities were also amplified – particularly in the case of older adults (65 years and over). Contemporary older adults represent one of the most diverse spectrums of digital media users – spanning from technologically savvy to non-users. As the first generation of older adults to age in and through data in a data-saturated world, their understandings and experiences can teach us much about the possibilities and limitations of new media. Understanding these practices through cultural probes – like drawing, photos and writing prompts – can enable playful behaviours that not only elicit new thoughts and actions but also allow insight into some of the tacit lived experience that can support opportunities for technological use. In this paper, we ask: How can we playfully co-design through personas to enhance understandings of older adults’ lived experience of digital media' In this paper, we focus on the six co-design workshops in which we deployed personas as representations of digital experience to challenge, explore, provoke and help build nuanced tools for implementation. Through personas, speculative fiction and lived experience collide, offering some fascinating ways to rethink the digital-social dimension for older adults now and into the future.
  Citation: Convergence
  PubDate: 2024-05-08T12:34:07Z
  DOI: 10.1177/13548565241247415
Platform policy and online abuse: Understanding differential protections
for public figures
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  Authors: Rob Cover, Nicola Henry, Thuc Bao Huynh, Joscelyn Gleave, Viktor Grechyn, Sharon Greenfield
  Abstract: Convergence, Ahead of Print.
  Public figures are subject to high rates of online abuse than everyday users. This article presents findings from a study on digital platforms’ higher threshold for protecting public figures in contrast to everyday users. Presenting a summary of extant literature on the experience, impact and harms of online abuse of public figures, we analyse 31 platform terms of service and related policies to understand the extent to which platforms openly differentiate between public figures and other users. We focus on platforms’ use of ‘newsworthiness’ and ‘public interest’ to justify the differential threshold. Using a cultural-informed approach, we analyse platforms’ reliance on ‘newsworthiness’ and ‘public interest’ justifications to argue that these justifications are utilised without regard for the histories, risk assessment, ethics and labour-intensive processes in which the concepts of newsworthiness and public interest became familiar among more traditional media forms such as news organisations.
  Citation: Convergence
  PubDate: 2024-05-08T05:37:02Z
  DOI: 10.1177/13548565241253907
Perspectives on citizen data privacy in a smart city – An empirical
case study
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  Authors: Evie Lucas, Seamus Simpson
  Abstract: Convergence, Ahead of Print.
  Digitisation is arguably an inevitable feature of contemporary urban development, yet privacy issues arising from the mass data collection, transmission and processing it entails continue to be a poorly understood and contentious issue for people living in cities. This article uses a case study approach to provide new evidence of the detailed perspectives of citizens and policy makers on data privacy in rapidly digitising urban environments, with a focus on one of the UK’s most prominent smart cities: Manchester. It adds to the literature on smart cities through the application of complementary scholarship from two areas – trust and participation – in order to analyse comparatively citizens’ views and concerns on data gathering activity in their city with efforts of policy makers to incorporate data privacy matters in their digital city planning. The article finds a clear – but reparable – data privacy disconnect between people and digital policy makers and explores how citizen data privacy concerns may be addressed through a lens of trust and participation.
  Citation: Convergence
  PubDate: 2024-04-23T05:07:04Z
  DOI: 10.1177/13548565241247413
Navigating the information environment about the Ukraine war
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  Authors: Nicoleta Corbu, Georgiana Udrea, Raluca Buturoiu, Elena Negrea-Busuioc
  Abstract: Convergence, Ahead of Print.
  The concern about misinformation in the public space has become more worrisome during the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine. In this context, we investigate what make people correctly recognize accurate information and detect misinformation about the war at the beginning of the conflict in Romania, a bordering country. By means of a national survey (N = 1006) conducted in April-May 2022, we looked for predictors of people’s capacity of navigating the information environment about the conflict. Data was gathered via an online panel conducted by Kantar as part of a cross-country project implemented in 19 countries. Findings show that people are relatively good at discerning between correct and misleading statements about the war. Prior negative attitudes about the Ukraine invasion, the level of concern about the war, not having a conspiracy mindset, self-perceived media literacy, and the extent to which people believe fact-checks to be effective in fighting misinformation are all predictors of the accuracy of misinformation detection of the respondents. These results offer insights into how ideologically based/motivated misinformation could be countered in a war crisis context, in a country bordering the conflict.
  Citation: Convergence
  PubDate: 2024-04-17T02:47:44Z
  DOI: 10.1177/13548565241247412
Book review
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  Authors: Natalia Kovalyova
  Abstract: Convergence, Ahead of Print.
  
  Citation: Convergence
  PubDate: 2024-04-04T02:27:56Z
  DOI: 10.1177/13548565241244463
Book Review: The Two Revolutions: A History of the Transgender Internet
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  Authors: Amy Gaeta
  Abstract: Convergence, Ahead of Print.
  
  Citation: Convergence
  PubDate: 2024-02-29T03:26:14Z
  DOI: 10.1177/13548565241236444
Book Review: Paul Roquet’s The Immersive Enclosure
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  Authors: Monique Santoso
  Abstract: Convergence, Ahead of Print.
  
  Citation: Convergence
  PubDate: 2024-02-28T12:50:30Z
  DOI: 10.1177/13548565241236440
Theaters, social media, and streams: Evaluating social word-of-mouth
patterns of pandemic-era blockbuster films on Twitter
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  Authors: Chris DeFelice, Lance Porter
  Abstract: Convergence, Ahead of Print.
  The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the U.S. film industry, prompting major studios to release blockbuster films on streaming platforms. This study examines the impact of pandemic-related changes on the film industry by analyzing social media conversations on Twitter as a proxy for success. We introduce a novel metric to measure social word-of-mouth (sWOM) longevity for 40 movies released across different genres and franchises. Results indicate that pandemic-era films experienced shorter sWOM lifespans than pre-pandemic counterparts, and streaming releases generated shorter sWOM conversations than theatrical releases. This suggests that streaming releases risk quicker cultural obsolescence due to limited social media discussion time. This study offers valuable insights for industry practitioners navigating the evolving cinematic landscape.
  Citation: Convergence
  PubDate: 2024-02-24T03:00:36Z
  DOI: 10.1177/13548565241236441
Book Reviews
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  Authors: Wan-Yun Tsai
  Abstract: Convergence, Ahead of Print.
  
  Citation: Convergence
  PubDate: 2024-02-24T02:43:57Z
  DOI: 10.1177/13548565241236597
Screenness in Google Maps navigation: An agential realist analysis
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  Authors: Charu Maithani
  Abstract: Convergence, Ahead of Print.
  This article articulates screenness to comprehend the agency of screens in the postmedia condition. Being a common element in different kinds of media, screens contribute towards medial collaboration and relationality in postmedia where they do much more than display. Screenness, understood in Karen Barad’s agential realist framework, is performative and contingent upon the relations of the postmedia assemblage, considered here as an arrangement of technical, medial and human components brought together by the transferability and exchange across different media. The unstable, ever-changing relations in postmedia assemblages help in understanding the various operations of screens in image-making, display and dissemination practices. If screens can be understood in and through practices in which they emerge then their agency too is not static but changes as per the relations screens are in. To demonstrate the performative agency of screens – screenness – I will discuss intra-actions that can be gleaned via the activity of navigation using Google Maps application on a smartphone.
  Citation: Convergence
  PubDate: 2024-02-12T06:44:19Z
  DOI: 10.1177/13548565231220861
The making of critical data center studies
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  Authors: Dustin Edwards, Zane Griffin Talley Cooper, Mél Hogan
  Abstract: Convergence, Ahead of Print.
  In this article, the authors demonstrate how the data center has become a key site, object, and metaphor for interdisciplinary scholarship of the internet. While the data center is a fabrication of engineering, computer science, and cognate fields, it has been the critical gaze of scholars outside of those industries. Together, this scholarship has established the field of Critical Data Center Studies. Critiques of the data center – often thought of more generally as ‘internet infrastructure’, and more evocatively as ‘the cloud’ – have emerged from the social sciences, humanities, journalism, and the arts. The authors do this by answering questions about the current social, cultural, political, and environmental landscapes of the data center. Scrutiny of the foundational imaginaries of the internet, real estate deals by Big Tech, the industry’s enabling policies, their connections to energy and other public infrastructure – among many other factors – serves, at the very least, to situate the data center as a media object, as more than simply a material infrastructure, as more than data warehouse, and as more than ‘the cloud’. Further to this, the authors reflect on how the data center has been and continues to be studied, and why critical interventions have been so fruitful within a vast array of disciplines – from history and anthropology, to media studies, information studies, and science & technology studies – for shifting the focus from questions of infrastructural visibility to questions that weave together concerns of efficiency, policy, popular culture, and planetary devastation.
  Citation: Convergence
  PubDate: 2024-01-24T01:22:23Z
  DOI: 10.1177/13548565231224157
Slantwise disengagement: Explaining Facebook users’ acts beyond
resistance/internalization of domination binary
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  Authors: Venetia Papa, Theodoros Kouros
  Abstract: Convergence, Ahead of Print.
  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.
  Citation: Convergence
  PubDate: 2024-01-20T12:50:46Z
  DOI: 10.1177/13548565241227396
Sociohistorical development of sim racing in European and Asia-Pacific
esports: A cross-cultural qualitative study
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  Authors: Florian Lefebvre, Ville Malinen, Veli-Matti Karhulahti
  Abstract: Convergence, Ahead of Print.
  With the accelerated growth of the sim racing industry over the last few years, research on the phenomenon has started to emerge. Nonetheless, the history of sim racing remains unmapped. This study aims to fill the gap by investigating the development in sim racing in Europe and in Asia-Pacific between 1997 and 2021. Twenty four semi-structured interviews were carried out with experts representing sim racing associations, event organizers, and teams from Europe and Asia-Pacific. Data were analyzed using an inductive-deductive codebook approach. The results show the evolution of sim racing throughout five sociohistorical stages, which demonstrate how sim racing emerged as a hybrid of esports and motorsports and has kept evolving since ‘in-between’ their respective actors until today. The findings suggest that the slow evolution of sim racing has been particularly dependent on networked sociocultural actors, while positively affected by uncontrollable events like the COVID-19 pandemic. As a key implication, we find that the history of sim racing differs from that of esports by its multifaceted dependence on the motorsports ecosystem.
  Citation: Convergence
  PubDate: 2024-01-04T03:06:46Z
  DOI: 10.1177/13548565231222172

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