The MA in Communications and Technology (MACT) in conjunction with the Digital Synergies signature area is pleased to host a presentation on alternative social media by Robert W. Gehl on April 2 from 12:30-1:30 pm (MDT). Dr. Gehl is a Fulbright Canada Research Chair of Communication, Media and Film at the University of Calgary and author of several books on technology and society, including Weaving the Dark Web (2018 MIT Press) and Reverse Engineering Social Media (2014 Temple University Press).
Dr. Gehl's talk is titled "Rethinking the 'social' in 'social media': Insights into topology, abstration, and scale on the Mastodon social network"
Thursday 2 April 2020
12:20 - 1:30 pm (MDT)
Webcast
We welcome students, faculty, and other members of the campus community to join us. The event will also be webcast. RSVP today
Abstract
Online interactions are often understood through the corporate social media (CSM) model where social interactions are determined through layers of abstraction and centralization that eliminate users from decision-making processes. This study, based on a research collaboration with Diana Zulli (Purdue University) and Miao Liu (Beijing Normal University) demonstrates how alternative social media (ASM)-namely Mastodon-restructure the relationship between the technical structure of social media and the social interactions that follow, offering a particular type of sociality distinct from CSM. Drawing from a variety of qualitative data, this analysis finds that (1) the decentralized structure of Mastodon enables community autonomy, (2) Mastodon's open-source protocol allows the internal and technical development of the site to become a social enterprise in and of itself, and (3) Mastodon's horizontal structure shifts the site's scaling focus from sheer number of users to quality engagement and niche communities. To this end, Mastodon helps us rethink "the social" in social media in terms of topology, abstraction, and scale.
Biography
Robert W. Gehl is a Fulbright Canada Research Chair of Communication, Media and Film at the University of Calgary, as well as the incoming F Jay Taylor Endowed Research Chair of Communication at Louisiana Tech University. His books include Weaving the Dark Web (2018 MIT Press) and Reverse Engineering Social Media (2014 Temple University Press). His research has appeared in New Media and Society, Media Culture & Society, Social Media + Society, and Social Text.