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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Data-Driven Public Diplomacy: A Critical And Reflexive Assessment, Hamilton Bean, Edward Comor
Data-Driven Public Diplomacy: A Critical And Reflexive Assessment, Hamilton Bean, Edward Comor
FIMS Publications
This essay presents a critical and reflexive assessment of contemporary efforts
to innovate the measurement and evaluation of public diplomacy. Analyzing a
recent and pivotal report called “Data-Driven Public Diplomacy,” it explains
how the institutional and ideological residue of the Cold War underwrites
these initiatives in the context of American activities in its contemporary “War
on Terror.” Inspired by Marx’s concept of the fetish—n under-represented
conceptual approach to public diplomacy research—he authors critique
the thinking of public diplomacy scholars and officials, arguing that both an
omnipresent past and a powerful form of technological fetishism are discernible
in the “Data-Driven Public …
Technological Fetishism And Us Foreign Policy: The Mediating Role Of Digital Icts, Edward Comor
Technological Fetishism And Us Foreign Policy: The Mediating Role Of Digital Icts, Edward Comor
FIMS Publications
This article looks back at an Obama administration foreign policy initiative called Internet freedom and discusses US responses to anti-American extremism involving digital communications technologies. It does this by using Marx’s concept of the fetish to argue that technological fetishism played a constitutive and mediating role in policymaking. Through this analysis – relating international relations with political economy and Marxist theory – the empowering implications of these technologies for American state interests are shown to be also disempowering. Most US officials were likely to be aware that digital communications technologies did not have the inherent powers that their policies implied …
Journalistic Labour And Technological Fetishism, Edward Comor, James R. Compton
Journalistic Labour And Technological Fetishism, Edward Comor, James R. Compton
FIMS Publications
Abstract This article applies Marx’s concept of the fetish generally and technological fetishism specifically to how digital ICTs are influencing the craft of journalism. A theoretical analysis of technological fetishism is linked to the findings of a 2013 survey among Canadian journalistic workers. These workers are found to hold mixed and often contradictory views on how digital technologies are shaping their work and profession. We understand ICTs as constitutive of journalism and as a technological fetish which mediates its development. In this context, the survey respondents are not ‘wrong’ to recognize that digital technologies seem to possess inherent powers. Because …
Journalistic Labour And Technological Fetishism, Edward Comor, James R. Compton
Journalistic Labour And Technological Fetishism, Edward Comor, James R. Compton
FIMS Publications
This paper applies and develops Marx’s concept of the fetish generally and technological fetishism specifically to how digital ICTs are influencing the craft of journalism. Although largely theoretical, its analysis of technological fetishism is applied to the findings of a survey conducted in 2013 among Canadian journalistic workers. The paper finds that these workers hold mixed and often contradictory views on how digital technologies are shaping their work and profession. By understanding ICTs to be both constitutive of journalism and, more precisely, the technological fetish as a mediating force in its development, the paper argues that the survey respondents are …