EMSOC

User Empowerment in a Social Media Culture

Media and communication are changing fundamentally due to scientific breakthroughs and digitisation in information and communication technologies (ICT). This has led to increased convergence and a shift from mass media and personal media to media for ‘mass self-communication’. Mediated communication becomes increasingly participative and personalised by means of social computing (Web 2.0). We are entering a social media culture, which epitomises the mutual shaping between participative media technologies on the one hand and social communication and collaboration on the other hand. In this realm the user is the central actor, but only to the extent that s/he is actually empowered to grasp the
opportunities and face the challenges in the digital media environment. The goal of this project is to critically assess the belief of the user being (dis)empowered in a social media culture.

Based on the societal stakeholders’ needs, questions and challenges the project goals have been translated into four central valorisation goals:

1. Monitoring: research on and generation of reliable indicators and measures for monitoring the social media use and experience among the Flemish population
2. Policy and regulation: supporting stakeholders in making evidence-based policy and regulatory decisions
3. Learning: improving new media education and training systems
4. Awareness raising: contributing to the stakeholders’ activities in sensitising people for issues of inclusion, media literacy and privacy in a social media culture.

As SBO projects start from the ‘utilisation’ perspective in society, the research on user empowerment in a social media culture is structured around the three main areas of interest in society where user (dis)empowerment is taking place related to social computing:

1. Inclusion: there is no automatic link between social media and user empowerment as not all users are able, willing or even permitted to be involved and participate through digital media.
2. Media literacy: not all users have the required capabilities to optimally use and apply social computing in their own life and work.
3. Privacy: to what extent are users self-reflexive about and sufficiently aware of changes in privacy and personal data, i.e. how their digital activities are being monitored, processed, analysed and commodified by third parties.

Duration of the project

The project runs from 01/12/2010 - 30/11/2014.

Staff involved

Clusters

Financed by

  • IWT