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Activisme numérique au Maroc : illusion ou désillusion du Net ? (PDF)

Malika Abentak, Noufissa Machkouri

Résumé: Le militantisme numérique, l’activisme numérique ou encore le cyberactivisme prend de
plus en plus de l’ampleur dans la société numérique d’aujourd’hui. Fabien Granjon a remarqué qu’au niveau de l’Internet Militant, certains mouvements politiques et sociaux se sont emparés du Web, très vite et facilement, que les parties politiques ou les syndicats. Cependant, en dépit de cette présence forte et pesante de ces activistes sur le Net, les avis des chercheurs, écrivains et activistes semblent être divergents quant à la portée ou aux effets du cyberactivisme sur les changements politiques, économiques, sociaux des nations. Notre problématique s’annonce comme suit : quels sont les objectifs et les effets de l’activisme numérique sur les changements politiques, économiques, sociaux, éducatifs et culturels au Maroc ?

  This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Nostalgia in the Grocery Shop: A Typology of Brands from the Past (PDF)

Alexandra Bardan, Natalia Vasilendiuc

Abstract: This paper explores, within a historical and anthropological approach, a configuration of food brands from the past into the larger context of the local market, thirty years after the fall of Ceausescu’s regime, in 1989. After a brief presentation focusing on the emergence and the evolution of the new MarCom industry starting with the ‘90s, the theoretical framework of the study is considered, questioning the links between nostalgia and food, and further on between memory and material culture. The second part examines previous representations of past brands, looking also into a series of pertinent tools for an interdisciplinary approach combining field research, content analysis and visual ethnography. Our study further explores the way brands from the past may be considered, thus building a typology consisting of six categories: “Originals”, “Updated”, “Romanian Tastes”, “Archetypal Figures”, “Nostalgic” and “Collectibles”. Finally, brands from the “Originals” category are examined while also raising new questions about the social context of their consumption.

  This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Sentiment in TV Documentaries: An Interdisciplinary Approach  (PDF)

Sylvia Jaki, Tom De Smedt

Abstract. Documentaries play an important role in providing knowledge about historical and scientific topics to non-expert audiences. They continue to be widely popular despite the upcoming of manifold new forms of journalism in the digital age. The primary function of documentaries is to convey information. But to make sure that people find these formats attractive, they also need to be entertaining, for example on television. Critics often deem the ways in which TV documentaries try to entertain as detrimental to their academic quality (with the verdict: too opinionated and too emotionalizing). This paper is an interdisciplinary focused study, combining insight and approaches from media studies, media linguistics, and computational linguistics. It examines to what extent TV documentaries from the fields of history and science/technology contain judgements, opinions, or emotions. To do so, we have analyzed this subject, which has mostly been treated in qualitative studies, from a quantitative perspective by using sentiment analysis, an AI approach that originated in the field of consumer reviews. As sentiment analysis is still mostly text-focused, but documentaries are multimodal media products, we have also examined a side experiment to assess what role the verbal text plays in the perception of sentiment in documentaries.

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The Evolution of Citizen Participation in the Greek Online Newspapers (2014-2018): A Quantitative Analysis  (PDF)

Theodora Saridou, Andreas Veglis

Abstract. During the last two decades, the new media landscape has often been explored through the lens of audience participation in news production process. The diffusion of user-generated content both in news websites and on social media platforms has led media organizations to employ participatory formats that allow the audience to actively consume or co-produce content. As a result, journalists are often challenged by a vast amount of -vulnerable to problems- content that has to be handled in tandem with their other daily tasks. This paper focuses on the development of participatory journalism practices in Greek media. Specifically, in order to examine opportunities for users’ involvement in news organizations, a comparative quantitative study in all national daily political and financial online newspapers in Greece was conducted in 2014 and 2018. For this purpose, both the integration of participatory tools and the use of quality assurance methods in the relative websites were investigated. The findings indicate a rather reluctant attitude towards productive ways of engagement. Participation takes place through a limited number of tools and user-generated content is accepted only when filtered..

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Fake News, from Social Media to Television - Case Study of the Romanian Presidential Elections 2019  (PDF)

Rodica Melinda Sutu

Abstract. Fake news is not a new concept; it was brought in the spotlight by the 2016 United States presidential elections and became a buzz word for the media, politicians, academia, research community and the public. The politicians around the world appropriated the concept to describe news organizations when their coverage is not favorable and to justify their actions to restrict, undermine, sanction and intimidate the press. On the other hand, there are also news organizations and individuals that replaced journalism with propaganda, aimed at manipulating the political options of the audiences, through stories that are created to influence public perceptions for the benefit of a politician, organization or government. The case study of the Romanian 2019 Presidential elections, analyzed in this article, illustrates a wide range of attributes and typologies of fake news, showing how both social and main stream media contribute to the production and dissemination of false narratives.

  This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.