scholarly journals From Facebook to 'Placebook': a critical approach to mobile network labour

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Loney
Keyword(s):  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Initial Public Offering ◽  
Mobile Network ◽  
Growth Strategy ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Critical Approach ◽  
Network Nodes ◽  
Critical Interpretation ◽  
Public Offering ◽  
Physical Spaces

This paper puts forth a critical interpretation of Facebook Inc.'s mobile growth strategy within a present mobile network society. Using Facebook's own promotional and platform policy texts - many authored at a time when the company prepared for public trading - a promotional rhetoric inviting mobile users to actively partake in the site's 'engaging experiences' will be surveyed. The analyst adopts a view that engaging Facebook on mobile devices can be interpreted as an emerging form of hyper-mobile net work generating surplus value filtered towards particular interests (network 'nodes'). I argue that Facebook's source code can be likened to a worksite, albeit a highly decentralized one that, through mobile, bridge virtual influence to physical spaces. To meet such a task, end-users' mobile-specific technical rights will be discussed so far as they interface with other revenue-generating actors. Using a critical discourse analysis framework, this paper explores a grammar of interests portrayed at a key point in Facebook's company history, connecting Facebook's imagined mobile landscape to its initial public offering period.

scholarly journals From Facebook to 'Placebook': a critical approach to mobile network labour

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Loney
Keyword(s):  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Initial Public Offering ◽  
Mobile Network ◽  
Growth Strategy ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Critical Approach ◽  
Network Nodes ◽  
Critical Interpretation ◽  
Public Offering ◽  
Physical Spaces

This paper puts forth a critical interpretation of Facebook Inc.'s mobile growth strategy within a present mobile network society. Using Facebook's own promotional and platform policy texts - many authored at a time when the company prepared for public trading - a promotional rhetoric inviting mobile users to actively partake in the site's 'engaging experiences' will be surveyed. The analyst adopts a view that engaging Facebook on mobile devices can be interpreted as an emerging form of hyper-mobile net work generating surplus value filtered towards particular interests (network 'nodes'). I argue that Facebook's source code can be likened to a worksite, albeit a highly decentralized one that, through mobile, bridge virtual influence to physical spaces. To meet such a task, end-users' mobile-specific technical rights will be discussed so far as they interface with other revenue-generating actors. Using a critical discourse analysis framework, this paper explores a grammar of interests portrayed at a key point in Facebook's company history, connecting Facebook's imagined mobile landscape to its initial public offering period.

scholarly journals Representation of immigrants in New Zealand print media: A critical discourse analysis

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Neda Salahshour
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Print Media ◽  
Global Financial Crisis ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Critical Approach ◽  
Economic Resource ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
Entry Points

<p>Representation of Immigrants in New Zealand Print Media: A Critical Discourse Analysis  New Zealand is often perceived as one of the most diverse countries in terms of its population, with “more ethnicities in New Zealand than there are countries in the world” (Statistics New Zealand, 2013). According to the 2013 census, 39% of people who live in Auckland, New Zealand’s most immigrant-populated city, were born overseas. In such a setting, the issue of social harmony becomes important. Media institutions hold power and therefore their representations play a significant role in how immigrants are perceived and whether they are embraced and welcomed or resisted. It is for this reason that media discourse deserves attention.  Research in this area in the context of New Zealand has been limited and furthermore has leaned towards content analysis or a purely qualitative analysis of a specific diaspora. Addressing these issues, my research aims to gain a better understanding of how immigrants are discursively constructed in the New Zealand Herald newspaper during the years 2007 and 2008. Given that the Global Financial Crisis began to make its presence felt in 2008, this study also sought to investigate expected discrepancies in the representation of immigrants during economically challenging times.  Grounded within a critical approach, this study adopts methodic triangulation; that is, the data is analysed using two complementary analytical frameworks, namely that of corpus-assisted discourse analysis (Baker, KhosraviNik, Krzyzanowski, McEnery, & Wodak, 2008) and the Discourse-Historical Approach (Reisigl & Wodak, 2009). Using these two frameworks, I use statistical information as entry points into the data and explore significant collocations which contribute to the construction of dominant representations. This analysis is followed by an in-depth analysis of systematically sampled news articles with the aim of identifying the ii various discursive and argumentation strategies commonly employed in print media.  The findings from both analyses point to a rather ambivalent representation of immigrants. On the one hand, immigrants are constructed as being qualified and playing an important role in filling skill shortages in New Zealand. This positive construction depicts immigrants as an economic resource which ought to be capitalized. In addition, liquid metaphors, previously argued to dehumanize immigrants and construct them as uncontrollable (KhosraviNik, 2009) are surprisingly used in my data to construct the immigration of large numbers of immigrants to New Zealand as essential. On the other hand, immigrants are also constructed as threateningly Other or passive victims. Therefore, immigrants are not only constructed as beneficial to New Zealand society but are also represented as being problematic.  This study identifies a unique representation of immigrants in the New Zealand Herald which could perhaps be explained by the unique socio-political and geographical context of the country. The triangulation and methodic rigour of this study also ensure that the findings are generalizable to the whole dataset and contribute to current understandings of immigrant representation and approaches to the study of discourse and representation.</p>

Software Firm Cost Structure and Its Impact on IPOs in the E-Commerce Era

2010 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-31
Author(s):  
Richard B. Carter ◽  
Troy J. Strader
Keyword(s):  
Initial Public Offering ◽  
Cost Structure ◽  
Growth Strategy ◽  
Strategic Issues ◽  
Marginal Costs ◽  
Cost Structures ◽  
Software Firm ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Public Offering

The first decade of the e-commerce era saw an increase in activity in the software development industries as new firms were created and existing firms made acquisitions. Many firms pursued a growth strategy and this growth required capital that was often obtained through an initial public offering (IPO) of equity. Software firm cost structures are very different from traditional physical goods firms because their marginal costs are much lower, but what is not known is whether this affects their financing strategies. In this study we compare software firm and traditional firm IPOs using data from 780 IPOs offered during the late dot-com era (1998-2002) to identify differences in firm and offer characteristics, investment risk, initial returns, and underwriting activity. We find that the characteristics and performance of software firm IPOs are significantly different from IPOs offered by raditional firms during this time period providing supporting for our conclusion that firm cost structure should be considered when analyzing IPOs and other strategic issues.

Framing and blaming in times of economic crisis: The rise and fall of the “Rudd Recession”

2015 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 814-836
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Global Financial Crisis ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Diffusion Resistance ◽  
Critical Periods ◽  
Critical Approach ◽  
The Global Financial Crisis

This article takes a critical approach to the language used by Australian politicians during the global financial crisis of 2007–8. Critical periods in history provide a rich substrate for the appearance of new expressions with the potential to frame the debate, influencing the ways events are interpreted and blame attributed. Passing unnoticed into usage, such memes have the potential to become part of unexamined background knowledge and covertly co-opt hearers and users into shared systems of value and belief. The study focusses on one specific neologism deployed by opposition politicians, firstly in an attempt to create the erroneous impression that a recession was occurring and secondly that it was the fault of the Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd. Patterns of occurrence were tracked against local and international events, indicating a life cycle with several distinct phases: chance emergence, a strategic deployment, cross-genre diffusion, resistance and eventual rejection. Keywords: Alliteration; critical discourse analysis; economic crisis; blame; political discourse; slogans; social media; memes.

Reflections on discourse and critique in China and the West

2010 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 489-507 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Chilton ◽  
Hailong Tian ◽  
Ruth Wodak
Keyword(s):  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Shared Understanding ◽  
Critical Approach ◽  
The West ◽  
Political Traditions ◽  
Chinese Scholars ◽  
Discourse Practice ◽  
Intellectual Environment

The term “critical”, as used by scholars writing under the banner of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), is in need of review in a new global intellectual environment in which diverse philosophical and political traditions are increasingly in contact with one another. This essay is particularly concerned with the question of how a shared understanding of the concept of the critical can be developed among Western and Chinese scholars. To this end the paper gives an overview of notions of critique in the historical traditions of China and the West, addressing issues of conceptualisation, discourse practice and translation. This leads us to consider, from a “critical” point of view, what the appearance of the “critical” approach may mean in the Chinese context. The need for continued dialogue oriented to a deepened understanding of existing ideas and approaches is highlighted.

scholarly journals The Empire and the Egyptians

2006 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-168
Author(s):  
Elisabeth Eide
Keyword(s):  
Field Theory ◽  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Western World ◽  
Critical Approach ◽  
Analytical Approaches

Abstract This article explores how three different analytical approaches to texts may work together to a certain extent in a critical approach to journalistic representation, in this case of the “non-western” world. Focusing on short news items dealing with the nationalist uprising in Egypt in 1919, the texts are analysed using critical discourse analysis, but also inspired by Said’s Orientalism critique, Bourdieu’s field theory including the notion of journalism as an autonomous field, albeit with a weak autonomy.

scholarly journals Broadening the Study of Participation in the Life Sciences: How Critical Theoretical and Mixed-Methodological Approaches Can Enhance Efforts to Broaden Participation

2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. rm3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather Metcalf
Keyword(s):  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Life Sciences ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Critical Approach ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Professional Societies ◽  
Diversity And Inclusion ◽  
Quantitative Analyses ◽  
Methodological Approaches ◽  
And Mathematics

This research methods Essay details the usefulness of critical theoretical frameworks and critical mixed-methodological approaches for life sciences education research on broadening participation in the life sciences. First, I draw on multidisciplinary research to discuss critical theory and methodologies. Then, I demonstrate the benefits of these approaches for researchers who study diversity and inclusion issues in the life sciences through examples from two critical mixed-methods studies of prominent issues in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) participation and recognition. The first study pairs critical discourse analysis of the STEM workforce literature, data, and underlying surveys with quantitative analyses of STEM pathways into the workforce. This example illustrates the necessity of questioning popular models of retention. It also demonstrates the importance of intersecting demographic categories to reveal patterns of experience both within and between groups whose access to and participation in STEM we aim to improve. The second study’s critical approach applies research on inequities in prizes awarded by STEM professional societies toward organizational change. This example uses data from the life sciences professional societies to show the importance of placing data within context to broaden participation and understand challenges in creating sustainable change.

scholarly journals Roma Representation in Danish Roma Policy and Public Discourse—A Critical Analysis

Societies ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlotte Lassen Olesen ◽  
Leena Eklund Karlsson
Keyword(s):  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Growth Strategy ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Policy Discourse ◽  
Media Discourse ◽  
Europe 2020 ◽  
Majority Population

Imagined stereotypes of Roma are prevailing across Europe and have an impact of discrimination and social exclusion of the Roma. In 2011, Denmark published their National Roma Inclusion Strategy as a response to the Europe 2020 Growth Strategy. This study analyses how the Roma are represented in the national policy and in ongoing discourse regarding Roma in newspaper articles published around the time of the publication of the Strategy. A critical discourse analysis was conducted, and the findings show that a profound stigmatization of the Roma was common and acceptable in both Danish nationalistic media discourse and in the paternalistic policy discourse. The Roma were represented as an alienated, non-empowered group in contrast to the majority population and lacking any useful qualities. There was a lack of Roma voices in both policy and newspapers. The discourses regarding Roma in Denmark are lacking both Roma influence and initiatives to change Roma conditions.

Electronic deconstruction

2012 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-124 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kieran O'Halloran
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Jacques Derrida ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Critical Approach ◽  
Corpus Linguistic ◽  
Interpretative Bias

This article introduces a corpus-based procedure for revealing tensions in a text which seeks to persuade an audience into a particular point of view on a particular topic, tensions which may otherwise be difficult to see; the text is thus deconstructed and loses credibility. I refer to this corpus-based, critical approach to revealing tensions in such texts as Electronic Deconstruction. In drawing on corpus linguistic method for this end, as well to help reduce interpretative bias, the article bears resemblance to Corpus-based Critical Discourse Analysis. However, in two crucial respects it is different. This is because: i) its corpus-based, deconstructive focus is cohesion in a text which seeks to persuade an audience into a particular point of view and ii) it takes its theoretical stimulus from the work of Jacques Derrida.

Institutional power in and behind discourse

Target ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 387-405 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meifang Zhang ◽  
Hanting Pan
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Text Analysis ◽  
Social Power ◽  
Systemic Functional Linguistics ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Critical Approach ◽  
Institutional Power ◽  
Governmental Institutions ◽  
Made In

This article takes a critical approach to the study of the SARS notices and their translations from the perspective of discourse analysis. Drawing upon the insights of systemic functional linguistics (SFL) and critical discourse analysis (CDA), this study explores how language is used by different governmental institutions in shaping their social power and hierarchy. By conducting a comparative study of the SARS notices and their translations, focusing on speech roles, speech functions, modality types and modality orientation, the authors argue that choices made in producing the texts reflect the institutions’ social roles and their relationship with each other and with the audience. They also argue that the application of concepts from SFL in detailed text analysis and from CDA in the overall discussion may better reveal how different models of discourse analysis can supplement each other and be applied to translation studies.

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