Category: Media Policy

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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

WPCC – open call for papers

WPCC – open call for papers

Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture (WPCC)  is issuing an open call for papers for its Summer 2021 issue of up to nine papers.  WPCC is an open access peer-reviewed journal, published online established in 2004 and edited from CAMRI (Communication and Media Research Institute) at the University of Westminster by Dr Anthony McNicholas and colleagues.  WPCC is indexed in many services including CrossRef, DOAJ, Clarivate Analytics Emerging Citation Index and others accumulating over 250,000 views and downloads since its relaunch in Autumn 2015 by the University of Westminster Press.
www.westminsterpapers.org

The interdisciplinary nature of the field of Media and Cultural Studies is reflected in the diverse methods, contexts and themes of the papers published. Areas of interest include – but are not limited to – the history and political economy of the media, popular culture, media users and producers, political communication and developments arising from digital technologies in the context of an increasingly globalized and networked world. Contributions from both established scholars and those at the beginning of their academic career are equally welcome.

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 (1500-300o words) and book reviews (1,500-3,000 words) will also be considered and audio and short video submissions, all with abstracts and keywords as standard.

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

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. 


www.westminsterpapers.org

New Law for Intellectual Commons Needed – Broumas
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New Law for Intellectual Commons Needed – Broumas

Released this week the latest title in the CDSMS series edited by Christian Fuchs by lawyer and activist Antonios Broumas makes the case for a new body of law to harness the potential and social value of the intellectual commons. Using case studies of cultural commons initiatives it clearly articulates why the commons have intrinsic value deserving of legal protection. At the heart of these new proposals is a recognition and expansion of the public domain and the need for greater personal and social rights and freedoms for individuals to properly participate in the realms of culture and science.

Extracts from the book titled Intellectual Commons and the Law: A Normative Theory for Commons-Based Peer Production follow:

[T]he intellectual commons are suppressed by the dominant value system of commodity markets and its universal equivalent of value in the form of money upon the intellectual commons. Such pressure, which may even lead to the extinction of intellectual commons communities, comes into contradiction with the overall conclusion regarding their social value and potential. Even though such communities may as a rule not be as productive as corporations in terms of money circulation, profits, jobs and taxes, this does not make them unproductive in terms of social value. On the contrary, the communities of the intellectual commons contain and emanate a wealth of social values, which ought to be protected through legal means.

***

Rather than proposing reforms within the property-oriented framework of contemporary expansive intellectual property laws, the current book advances a normative line of argumentation in favour of an independent body of law for the regulation of the intellectual commons, i.e. both the open access commons of the public domain and any other type of regime oriented towards the shared use of intellectual works. The appropriate protection and promotion of these two sectors of our intellectual commonwealth aspires to construct a vibrant non-commercial zone of creativity and innovation in parallel to intellectual property-enabled commodity markets of intellectual works.

***

Following the above, it is held that states are morally committed to respecting, protecting and fulfilling the freedom to contribute to the intellectual commons, thereby abstaining from its restriction through intellectual property laws, which are not compatible with international human rights treaties. In addition, the critical normative theory of the intellectual commons holds that the freedom to contribute to the intellectual commons ought to acquire statutory content substantive enough to give commoners the ability for its meaningful practice.

UWP has published several book titles all available open access including Peer to Peer (Bauwens et al), Incorporating the Digital Commons by Benjamin Birkinbine, The Commons: Economic Alternatives in the Digital Age (Vangelis Papadimitropoulos). Communication and Capitalism: A Critical Theory also discusses the ‘Communication Society as a Society of the Commons’.

Intellectual Commons and the Law was published on the 25 November 2020.