Category: Creative Industries

Q&A with Guy Osborn on the importance of parks as plural spaces in urban areas

Festivals & The City, edited by Andrew Smith, Guy Osborn and Bernadette Quinn, is an open access UWP title that explores how festivals and events affect urban places and public spaces, and focuses particularly on their role in fostering inclusion. Its 15 chapters are drawn from a range of different European cities, including Venice, Edinburgh, London, Manchester, Rotterdam and Barcelona. They explore a variety of events and festivals, including those focused on heritage, music and craft beer.

Here editor Guy Osborn, Professor in the Westminster Law School, Co-Director of the Centre for Law, Society and Popular Culture and editor of the Entertainment and Sports Law Journal, gives an insight into his research interest and where it’s taking him next.

Q: How did you first become interested in the subject of urban festival spaces? 

I guess my interest in law and popular culture, and particularly music and sport, was my way in. Also I had worked with Andrew Smith on a project relating to how the Olympics had used parks as fan zones, particularly Hyde Park, so how public spaces were used for private events was an issue of interest to me. 

Q: Do you have a favourite urban festival? Where and why is it special to you?

The Great Escape in Brighton. I have been going to this as a fan/punter for many years. It’s special for all sorts of reasons, not least because it’s an annual event where I meet up with pals who I first met at university many moons ago. But it also allows me to see lots of up and coming bands. 

Q: Does your research indicate an increase in the use of festivilised urban spaces post-pandemic compared with pre-pandemic?

That’s an interesting question – I’m not sure we know enough yet to say for certain. Our research was very much centred on a year in the life of one park, Finsbury Park, and it just so happened that the pandemic interrupted our field work! Certainly Finsbury Park has continued to have events, Pulp and Arctic Monkeys, for example recently, and local groups have ben divided on this as before. What is also apparent is that local authorities are strapped for cash and are trying to monetise their assets where they can.

Q: Do you think public urban areas can be genuinely plural spaces in the global north?

Yes, that’s what they are essentially for, or what they should be for. Parks are really important.

Q: What is next for you in terms of your research in this area?

One of my next big projects that is somewhat related is examining event tickets – the means via which access is granted to events such as a festival. More closely related to the book project, Andrew and I have talked of doing a sort of social and cultural history of music festivals in London – we just need some funding or someone to commission us!  

You can download and read Festivals & The City for free here

Featured Post

AI for Everyone? Critical Perspectives

UWP is pleased to announce that it will soon be publishing a new book exploring the role of contemporary AI and issues that need to be addressed concerning it. The volume will be edited by Pieter Verdegem of the University of Westminster. And it will be published open access in the series, Critical Digital and Social Media Studies edited by Christian Fuchs.

Description
We are entering a new era of technological determinism and solutionism in which governments and business actors are seeking data-driven change, assuming that AI is now inevitable and ubiquitous. But we have not even started asking the right questions, let alone developed an understanding of the consequences. Urgently needed is debate that asks and answers fundamental questions about power. This book brings together critical interrogations of what constitutes AI, its impact and its inequalities in order to offer an analysis of what it means for AI to deliver benefits for everyone.

The book is structured in three parts: Part 1, AI: Humans vs. Machines, presents critical perspectives on human-machine dualism. Part 2, Discourses and Myths about AI, excavates metaphors and policies to ask normative questions about what is ‘desirable’ AI and what conditions make this possible. Part 3, AI Power and Inequalities, discusses how the implementation of AI creates important challenges that urgently need to be addressed.

Bringing together scholars from diverse disciplinary backgrounds and regional contexts, this book offers a vital intervention on one of the most hyped concepts of our times.

Contents

  1. 1. Introduction: Why We Need Critical Perspectives on AI
    Pieter Verdegem

Part 1: AI – Humans vs. Machines

2.Artificial Intelligence (AI): When Humans and Machines Might Have to Coexist 
Andreas Kaplan

3. Digital Humanism: Epistemological, Ontological and Praxiological Foundations 
Wolfgang Hofkirchner

4. An Alternative Rationalization of Creative AI by De-Familiarizing Creativity: Towards an Intelligibility of Its Own Terms 
Jenna Ng

5. Post-Humanism, Mutual Aid
Dan McQuillan

Part 2: Discourses and Myths About AI

6. The Language Labyrinth: Constructive Critique on the Terminology Used in the AI Discourse
Rainer Rehak

7. AI Ethics Needs Good Data
Angela Daly, S. Kate Devitt and Monique Mann

8. The Social Reconfiguration of Artificial Intelligence: Utility and Feasibility
James Steinhoff 

9. Creating the Technological Saviour: Discourses on AI in Europe and the Legitimation of Super Capitalism
Benedetta Brevini

10. AI Bugs and Failures: How and Why to Render AI-Algorithms More Human?  Alkim Almila Akdag Salah

Part 3: AI Power and Inequalities 

11. Primed Prediction: A Critical Examination of the Consequences of Exclusion of the Ontological Now in AI Protocol
Carrie O’Connell and Chad Van De Wiele

12. Algorithmic Logic in Digital Capitalism
Jernej A. Prodnik

13. Not Ready for Prime Time: Biometrics and Biopolitics in the (Un)Making of California’s Facial Recognition Ban
Asvatha Babu and Saif Shahin

14. Beyond Mechanical Turk: The Work of Brazilians on Global AI Platforms  Rafael Grohmann and Willian Fernandes Araújo

15. Towards Data Justice Unionism? A Labour Perspective on AI Governance  Lina Dencik

The Authors

Index 

(Paperback): 978-1-914386-16-9 (PDF): 978-1-914386-13-8 (EPUB): 978-1-914386-14-5

ISBN (Kindle): 978-914386-15-2

DOI: 10.16997/book55

Misinformation in Africa – literacy and regulation
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Misinformation in Africa – literacy and regulation

Amongst the startling conclusions of a new report published yesterday Misinformation Policy in Sub-Saharan Africa: From Laws and Regulations to Media Literacy are:

Misinformation literacy requires specific knowledge and skills

Media literacy is barely taught in seven of the eleven countries studies in Sub-Saharan Africa

Anti- false news laws nearly doubled in the 11 countries studied 2016-2020

Laws and regulations missed the declared target, hit media freedom

The volume, published in the CAMRI Policy Briefs and Reports series consists of two separate policy reports:

The State of Media Literacy in Sub-Saharan Africa 2020 and a Theory of Misinformation Literacy

Bad Law – Legal and Regulatory Responses to Misinformation in Sub-Saharan Africa 2016–2020

AUTHORS
Peter Cunliffe-Jones, Assane Diagne, Alan Finlay, Sahite Gaye, Wallace Gichunge, Chido Onumah, Cornia Pretorius, Anya Schiffrin

Description

Misinformation Policy in Sub-Saharan Africa is a single volume containing two research reports by eight authors examining policy towards misinformation in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The volume first examines the teaching of ‘media literacy’ in state-run schools in seven Sub-Saharan African countries as of mid-2020, as relates to misinformation. It explains the limited elements of media and information literacy (MIL) that are included in the curricula in the seven countries studied and the elements of media literacy related to misinformation taught in schools in one province of South Africa since January 2020. The authors propose six fields of knowledge and skills specific to misinformation that are required in order to reduce students’ susceptibility to false and misleading claims. Identifying obstacles to the introduction and effective teaching of misinformation literacy, the authors make five recommendations for the promotion of misinformation literacy in schools, to reduce the harm misinformation causes.

The second report in the volume examines changes made to laws and regulations related to ‘false information’ in eleven countries across Sub-Saharan Africa 2016-2020 from Ethiopia to South Africa. By examining the terms of such laws against what is known of misinformation types, drivers and effects, it assesses the likely effects of punitive policies and those of more positive approaches that provide accountability in political debate by promoting access to accurate information and corrective speech. In contrast to the effects described for most recent regulations relating to misinformation, the report identifies ways in which legal and regulatory frameworks can be used to promote a healthier information environment.

Format: e-Book, PDF free from www.uwestminsterpress.co.uk/site/books

PDF 978-1-914386-05-3
ePub 978-1-914386-06-0
Kindle 978-1-914386-07-7

www.uwestminsterpress.co.uk

Slave to the Algorithm? Changing the Tune
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Slave to the Algorithm? Changing the Tune

UWP are pleased to announce a forthcoming title DIGITAL PLATFORMS AND ALGORITHMIC SUBJECTIVITIES* exploring the changing nature of subjectivities produced in an era of changing boundaries between the social and personal and the economic and technological for its Critical Digital and Social Media Studies series edited by Christian Fuchs. The title is edited by Emiliana Armano, Marco Briziarelli and Elisabetta Risi (State University of Milan, University of New Mexico and IULM University of Milan respectively and will be published open access thanks to the support of Knowledge Unlatched.

*Amended 27 July 2021

DESCRIPTION

Algorithms are a form of productive power – so how may we conceptualise the newly merged terrains of social life, economy and self in a world of digital platforms? How do multiple self-quantifying practices interact with questions of class, race and gender? This book considers algorithms at work – for what purposes encoded data about behaviour, attitudes, dispositions, relationships and preferences are deployed – and black box control, platform society theory and the formation of subjectivities. It details technological structures and lived experience of algorithms and the operation of platforms in areas such as crypto-finance, production, surveillance, welfare, activism in pandemic times. Finally, it asks if platform cooperativism, collaborative design and neomutualism offer new visions. Even as problems with labour and in society mount, subjectivities and counter subjectivities here produced appear as conscious participants of change and not so much the servants of algorithmic control and dominant platforms.

CONTENTS

Introduction. Platforms, Algorithms and Subjectivities.– Emiliana Armano, Marco Briziarelli, Joseph Flores, Elisabetta Risi

Part I: Conceptualizing an algorithmic society

  1. The Californian Ideology Revisited – Lawrence Quill & Hasmet Uluorta
  2. Platform Politics and a World Beyond Catastrophe – Ned Rossiter & Soenke Zehle
  3. Platforms in Time of Pandemic– Niccolò Cuppini, Mattia Frapporti & Maurilio Pirone
  4. Domus Capitalismi. Domesticated Subjectivities in Times of Covid-19 – Marco Briziarelli & Emiliana Armano  
  5. Black Box Power Zones of Uncertainty in Algorithmic Management – Heiner Heiland 
  6. Algorithmic Management in Food Delivery Platforms, between Digital Neo-Taylorism and Enhanced Subjectivity – Emiliana Armano, Daniela Leonardi & Annalisa Murgia
  7. Extracting Free Labour– Patrick Cingolani  
  8. On Value And Labor In The Age Of Platforms– Andrea Miconi

Part II: Phenomenology and experiences. 

9. The Digital Traces of Crypto-Finance– Alberto Cossu  
10. The Social Costs of the Gig Economy and Institutional Responses. Forms of Institutional Bricolage in Italy, France, and the Netherland – Maurizio Franzini & Silvia Lucciarini
11. Plat-Firming Welfare. Examining Digital Transformation in Local Care Services – Davide Arcidiacono, Ivana Pais & Flaviano Zandonai
12.Algorithmic Prosumers – Elisabetta Risi & Riccardo Pronzato
13. Performed Subjectivities in Ranking and Recommendation Systems – Tatiana Mazali & Nicoletta Gay
14. Labour Control and Commodification Strategies Within A Food Delivery Platform in Belgium – Milena  Franke  & Valeria Pulignano
15. Emerging Forms of Sociotechnical Organisation the Case of the Fediverse – Jacopo Anderlini & Carlo Milani
16. A Workers’ Inquiry into Canvas and Zoom Disrupting the Algorithmic University – Robert Ovetz

ABOUT THE EDITORS

Emiliana Armano, PhD in Labour Studies at the Department of Social and Political Sciences at the State University of Milan. She collaborates in research into informational capitalism, knowledge work, flexibility and precariousness, with a social inquiry and coresearch methodological approach.

Marco Briziarelli is professor of Department of Communication and Journalism of the University of New Mexico. He studies critical approaches to media and communication theory, especially as these fields intersect with broader issues in political and social theory, intellectual and cultural history. Dr. Briziarelli is also interested in media and social movements and critical conceptualization of digital labor. His work has appeared in triple C: Communication, Capitalism & Critique, CommunIcation and Critical/Cultural Studies and many other journals.

Elisabetta Risi, PhD in Information Society, is Research Fellow of the Department of Communication, Arts and Media of IULM University (Milan). She teaches disciplines related to digital methods and her research interests include critical study of society and media, platform society the relationship between communication practices, identity and social change.

RELATED PUBLISHING

UWP has previously published The Spectacle 2.0 by two of the book’s editors Marco Briziarelli and Emiliana Armano in the CDSMS series, the CAMRI Policy Brief Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things with AI FOR EVERYONE edited by Pieter Verdegem of the University of Westminster also scheduled for 2021.

WPCC – Open Issue – Final call for papers and extension
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WPCC – Open Issue – Final call for papers and extension

A reminder of the open call for papers for next WPCC issue for which deadline has been extended for one week.

DEADLINE FOR FULL PAPERS
Full papers are expected by 15 March 2021 (now extended to 23.59 on 22 March) submitted to the WPCC  submission system. All research and commentary articles will go through double peer-review. 

The open call especially welcomes contributions relating to North African, South Asia and Middle Eastern and East Asian Media, or on such topics as (but not limited to) AI, Big Data, media management, or topics relating to CAMRI’s research and teaching programme. However authors should not be deterred from submitting in areas outside these topic fields in the broad field of communication, cultural and media studies and on emerging topics. In addition to research articles (6,000-8,000 words), commentary (3,000 to 6,000 words), interviews (1500-3000 words) and book reviews (1500-3000 words) will also be considered and audio and short video submissions, all with abstracts and keywords as standard.. 

Submissions from authors new to WPCC are required to register in WPCC ‘s journal system. Those already registered will need to log-in with a new password following a change in the journal’s platform. (There should be a link from which to reset your password [‘Forgotten your password ] that will guide you through the simple process).

Publication dates: end May-July 2021.

WPCC is an open access journal and there are no fees for contributors. Published by the University of Westminster Press in conjunction with CAMRI. All content in this issue and in its archive is available free to read including special collections on ‘Television Studies‘, ‘Journalism and the Digital Challenge‘ and ‘Censorship and Propaganda‘. 

www.westminsterpapers.org