Theory

Question 1

A group

Answer 1

A collection of people with the same goal/activity/connection

Question 2

A network

Answer 2

A structure of interaction and connections between people

Question 3

Characteristics of the Network society

Answer 3

• Platforms (and media) as context for networks
• Effects are less important than structures and systems
• The individual is explored in relation to others

Question 4

How has the internet had a globalizing effect?

Answer 4

• National borders mean less
• English language is normalized
• Information comes from different sides

Question 5

the Information Society

Answer 5

A society in which information is a significant economic, political and cultural activity

Question 6

Characteristics of the Information Society

Answer 6

• Rise of the service sector
• Decline of agricultural-based economy
• Predominance of “information-based work”
• Knowledge is a key factor in the economy, more important than physical manufacturing

Question 7

Webster’s Five types of Theories to look at the Information Society

Answer 7

Technological:

• Emphasis on ICT’s
• Society has moved from the “Industrial Revolution” to an “Information age”

Economic:

• Concerned with the economics of information –> Assesses the size and growth of the information industries
• Emphasis on the importance of knowledge to the economy

Occupational:
- Focus on occupational change (service workers now in the majority)

Spatial:
- Emphasis on the information networks which connect locations and have impact on the organisation of time and space.

Cultural:
- culture nowadays is more heavily information-laden than ever before, we are existing in a media-saturated environment.

Question 8

The IS in Developing countries:

Answer 8

• Lack of infrastructure makes it hard for them to fully become a IS.
• The dominant discourse on IS offers a narrow vision of development focussing growth and GDP
• The digital divide still a reality in these countries

Question 9

The Network Society

Answer 9

• Based on the foundations of the IS and focuses on networks and their organizational forms.

Question 10

Characteristics of networks

Answer 10

• The new economy is organized around global networks of capital, management and information whose access to technological knowledge is essential
• the work process is individualized
• Real power is in networks and not in specific cities

Question 11

Characteristics of the gig economy

Answer 11

• Work transacted through online platforms
• users work whenever they want
• A rate is paid for a specific task
• Payment is intermediated by the platform

Question 12

The sharing economy

Answer 12

Systems that facilitate the sharing of underused assets

Question 13

Similarities between the sharing - and gig economy

Answer 13

Things in common:

• Trust systems
• Critical mass is necessary

Question 14

benefits of the gig economy

Answer 14

• Flexibility and Freedom
• Mobility
• Global productivity
• Minorities overrepresented (ethnical and special needs)

Question 15

Downsides of the gig economy

Answer 15

• Almighty companies
• Who is responsible? companies tend to dodge responsibility in negative experiences
• Lack of transparency
• Incumbent’s lack of competitiveness
• Some workers are working full time on these platforms, but don’t get health benefits for example
• Wage degradation

Question 16

“Humans as a service”

Answer 16

Technology enables companies to let people work for them for 10 minutes and then fire them again

Question 17

Reception theory

Answer 17

• Based on the encoding/decoding model: the text is encoded by the writer, and decoded by the reader.
• Audiences play an active role in reading texts, and each person has the ability to interpret the same text differently.
• A text without a reader has no meaning.

Question 18

Different ‘readings’ of a text

Answer 18

• Dominant reading: The reader shares the writer’s ‘code’, and fully accepts the programmers’ preferred reading.
• Negotiated reading: The reader partly shares the programmers’ code, and broadly accepts the preferred reading, but modifies it in a way that reflects their own position.
• Oppositional reading: The reader does not share the programmers’ code and rejects the preferred reading.

Question 19

Advertainment

Answer 19

• Promotional practices that integrate brand communications within the content of entertainment products
• Brad communications are now present in the content of a broad range of entertainment vehicles.

Question 20

Political correctness

Answer 20

Adhering to the speaker’s idea of ‘prevailing norms’

Question 21

3 views on the definition of Cancel Culture

Answer 21

• View 1: A movement to silence ‘free thinkers’
• View 2: A wave of accountability for people who normally face none
• View 3: Disorganized harassment mixed in with valid criticism

Question 22

Activism vs. Slacktivism

Answer 22

Activism: 
-Participating in the discourse
contributing to communal knowledge
- Adding you voice
- Being an ally
- Punching up / speaking truth to power

Slacktivism:

• Liking posts
• tagging others
• Changing your pfp
• “Feeding the algorithm”

Question 23

Stereotypes

Answer 23

A widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular person, place or thing.

Question 24

Archetype

Answer 24

A very typical example of a certain person or thing. An original which has been imitated. An easily recognised type of character that can be found in many stories.

Question 25

Countertype

Answer 25

A positive image or idea that emphasizes the positive features about a person, place or thing and challenges the stereotype associated with it.

Question 26

Bias

Answer 26

Whatever causes an unfair action or representation that often leads to harm

Question 27

Digital democracy

Answer 27

A collective use of digital media and networks for politics, online and offline or combined, with a particular view of democracy.

• Promise 1: Information retrieval and exchange. This has been fulfilled, since huge amounts of information are available, up-to-date and easy to find.
• Promise 2: Debate and community building. This has been fulfilled as well, there are millions of debates, chats etcetera. But unequal participation does occur, and results are usually not that great.
• Promise 3: Partcipation in digital media. Also fulfilled, due to the enormous growth of weblogs, personal websites etecetera. But, media companies keep in control, questions are being raised about the professionalism of input, and there is more elite participation than average citizen participation.
• Promise 4: enhancement of citizen political decision making. Not fulfilled, because direct democracy collides with the structure of our political system (referenda). However, the future will contain some mix with direct and representative democracy due to the interactive properties of computer networks.

Question 28

Perspectives in daily life on networks

Answer 28

• Feeling overwhelmed: processes started before we were born, systems we can not control or even see, and we are rarely customers of networks.
• Feeling empowered: we can express ourselves, we can interact with many more people, we can affect our place within the network.

Question 29

Simulacrum

Answer 29

A representational image or presence that deceives; the product of simulation usurping reality (Disneyworld, a false icon of God)

Question 30

How does technology create, inform, and restrict our ability to be active in networks?

Answer 30

Create: new opportunities to interact faster/better

Inform: changes how we interact, changes norms around interacting

Restrict: Through design with an agenda, through technical limitations, by changing norms

Question 31

Criticisms on the network society

Answer 31

• The global divide: not all countries are a part of the internet
• Social divide: social equality is at stake since certain categories of people participate more than others
• Democratic divide