Koen Leurs houdt gastcollege in Londen!
DIGITAL PRACTICES: CONNECTED MIGRANTS
Guest lecturer: Dr Koen Leurs
With reference to the notion ‘polymedia’ Madianou and Miller (2013) argue that social, emotional and moral dimensions explain migrant technology users’ choices. Such choices take place at the juxtaposition of medium-specific affordances and desires to maintain relationships and identification. Medium-specific affordances intersect in particular ways with the specific desires, expectations and experiences of young people in comparison with adults. Young people find themselves in a state of becoming and digital platforms have become key spaces to explore questions of identity, belonging and autonomy. The specific experiences of migrant youth using digital media add another layer of complexity, as the metaphorical journey of diaspora and migration complicates their search for identification. This week we look at these tensions but also experiment with innovative methodological approaches for social media analysis.
Seminar questions:
- In which ways may social media use enhance cosmopolitanism and in which ways may it result in individualism, encapsulation and isolation?
- What are specific appeals of social media for youth/migrant populations?
- What are the pros and cons of using creative, participatory and digital methods in researching digital practices?
WORKSHOP CASE STUDY during the seminar sessions: NETWORKED SELVES
Key question for multimedia resources exercise:
- What do your digital network maps say about your connections (and yourselves)?