Distributed for DIAPHANES
Social Media-New Masses
Mass gatherings are at the center of contemporary discussions about community formation, communication, and social control. As new digital technologies and social media platforms have emerged, the concept of the mass gathering has evolved in parallel to take account of the different ways masses and crowds may form, including digital masses like flash mobs and protest groups. At the same time, these new digital masses provide a remarkable opportunity to reevaluate the broader historiographical framework surrounding mass gatherings.
With Social Media—New Masses, Inge Baxmann, Timon Beyes, and Claus Pias have brought together a diverse group of sociologists, media and cultural studies theorists, and historians of knowledge and technology who, together, outline the contours of this expanding field of research and analyze the differences between the old and new conceptions of masses and the distinct conditions and political consequences for each. Contributors to the volume include Marie-Luise Angerer, Dirk Baecker, Christian Borch, Christoph Engemann, Charles Ess, Wolfgang Hagen, Peter Krapp, Mirko Tobias Schäfer, and Sebastian Vehlken.
With Social Media—New Masses, Inge Baxmann, Timon Beyes, and Claus Pias have brought together a diverse group of sociologists, media and cultural studies theorists, and historians of knowledge and technology who, together, outline the contours of this expanding field of research and analyze the differences between the old and new conceptions of masses and the distinct conditions and political consequences for each. Contributors to the volume include Marie-Luise Angerer, Dirk Baecker, Christian Borch, Christoph Engemann, Charles Ess, Wolfgang Hagen, Peter Krapp, Mirko Tobias Schäfer, and Sebastian Vehlken.
Table of Contents
An Introduction in Ten Theses
I. Which Crowds?
Introduction (Inge Baxmann)
Christian Borch
Crowd Mediation
On Media and Collective Dynamics
Christiane Heibach
From Masses to Collectives
Dimensions of a Discursive Paradigm Shift
Florian Sprenger
Inertia, Acceleration, and Media/Theory
Irina Kaldrack and Theo Röhle
Creating Subsets of the Masses
Taxonomies, Orders, and Crowds in Facebook’s Open Graph Protocol
Roland Meyer
Augmented Crowds
Identity Management, Face Recognition, and Crowd Monitoring
II. Which Media?
Introduction (Claus Pias)
Wolfgang Hagen
Discharged Crowds
On the Crisis of a Concept
Michael Andreas
“Open” and “Free”
On Two Programs of Social Media
Dirk Baecker
The Sociology of Media
Sebastian Vehlken
Reality Mining
On New (and Former) Methods of Social Simulation
Christopher Engemann
Human Terrain System
Social Networks and the Media of Military Anthropology
III. Which Public Spheres?
Introduction (Tim Beyes)
Sascha Simons
The Ornament of Mass Customization
On the Collective Consciousness of Dispersed Examiners
Carolin Wiedemann
Collectivity without Identity
Anonymous, Flexible Infrastructures, and the Event of the Common
Mirko Tobias Schäfer
Unstable (Counter) Publics
Online Platforms as Hybrid Forums for Socio-Political Debates
Christoph Bieber
Towards and Ethics of the Leak?
WikiLeaks as a Programmed Public Sphere
Peter Krapp
Between the Madness and the Wisdom of Crowds
Computer Games and the Distraction Economy
IV. Commentaries
Marie-Luise Angerer
Short-Circuiting the Masses
Charles Ess
Falling Between Two Chairs – or Three, or…
List of Contributors
I. Which Crowds?
Introduction (Inge Baxmann)
Christian Borch
Crowd Mediation
On Media and Collective Dynamics
Christiane Heibach
From Masses to Collectives
Dimensions of a Discursive Paradigm Shift
Florian Sprenger
Inertia, Acceleration, and Media/Theory
Irina Kaldrack and Theo Röhle
Creating Subsets of the Masses
Taxonomies, Orders, and Crowds in Facebook’s Open Graph Protocol
Roland Meyer
Augmented Crowds
Identity Management, Face Recognition, and Crowd Monitoring
II. Which Media?
Introduction (Claus Pias)
Wolfgang Hagen
Discharged Crowds
On the Crisis of a Concept
Michael Andreas
“Open” and “Free”
On Two Programs of Social Media
Dirk Baecker
The Sociology of Media
Sebastian Vehlken
Reality Mining
On New (and Former) Methods of Social Simulation
Christopher Engemann
Human Terrain System
Social Networks and the Media of Military Anthropology
III. Which Public Spheres?
Introduction (Tim Beyes)
Sascha Simons
The Ornament of Mass Customization
On the Collective Consciousness of Dispersed Examiners
Carolin Wiedemann
Collectivity without Identity
Anonymous, Flexible Infrastructures, and the Event of the Common
Mirko Tobias Schäfer
Unstable (Counter) Publics
Online Platforms as Hybrid Forums for Socio-Political Debates
Christoph Bieber
Towards and Ethics of the Leak?
WikiLeaks as a Programmed Public Sphere
Peter Krapp
Between the Madness and the Wisdom of Crowds
Computer Games and the Distraction Economy
IV. Commentaries
Marie-Luise Angerer
Short-Circuiting the Masses
Charles Ess
Falling Between Two Chairs – or Three, or…
List of Contributors