Research subject Media Practices and Technological Media Studies

Media practices and technological media studies is a research area which combines studies of how media are being used in various, more or less colloquial, contexts, and studies of how the functionality and design of media can influence and be influenced by these contexts.

It is an interdisciplinary research area that makes use of theories and methods from several social, cultural and human sciences.

In the research conducted at JMK we study the interplay between sociocultural aspects concerning how media create and convey social and cultural meaning; how people use and incorporate media in their everyday lives; as well as how technological changes can impact on people’s relations to their environment, to knowledge, to each other, and to media technologies in themselves; and technological aspects, which include studies of how algorithms, infrastructures, data management, design and interactivity can influence decision making, user experiences, and distribution of power. Our research within this area concerns for example suicide discussions online, networked counter movements, cultural techniques, and critical studies of AI, social robots and other synthetic media.