Jumping on the social media bandwagon

I recently attended the Media140 DigitalBusiness conference in Perth and liveblogged a panel discussion on Jumping on the social media bandwagon. Participants in the panel were: Louise Bourke, Venessa Paech, Kate Carruthers and Rod Farmer. Some useful information presented, with key points emerging concerning future social media innovations, importance of identity in social media use and more. Click to read more

ANZCA Conference 2009 – Couldry Keynote

Voice: Culture and politics beyond the horizon of neoliberalism Nick Couldry Goldsmiths, University of London His project is the “crisis of voice”, under the conditions of neoliberalism (market function as dominant concept in economics; but also, wider set of metaphors, practices etc – that embed the concept in operation of society). Also notes critical importance (citing Foucault) of regulation within the neoliberal project; cites Brown also – state needs to enforce market logics, extend them, inculcate them. What might come after neoliberalism? Neoliberalism simplifies, reduces; the critical stategy against it is also to simplify; provide a limit to neoliberalism. Neoliberalism’s obsession with competition creates an unstable form of social organisation. Neoliberalism has led, in various ways, to a form of network organisation in which people are not permanently ‘attached’ to groups or organisations, but are connected in a contingent and potentially fragile manner. Couldry is critical of the failure of proponents of networked digital media culture to see the link between neoliberalism and digital media networking (eg criticises Leadbeater); Hayek – neoliberalism involves the triumph of aggregations of individual ends; not social ends. Therefore, participatory network media – which appears to be all about aggregated individualism – seems to Couldry … Click to read more