Identities and social ties in digital social environments

Teacher(s)

Maes Renaud;

Language

French

Learning outcomes

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :

Skill 1 - Develop communication strategies that integrate the different aspects of digital culture. Learning outcomes 1. Prospectively analyze the digital communication of an organization, its sector of activity and its social, cultural, technological, economic, political and legal context. 6. Identify new professional communication needs created by the evolution of society and digital technologies; be at the initiative of new practices or new professions to meet these new needs. Skill 4 - Mobilize and produce knowledge in communication strategy and digital culture in a supported and methodical way, as part of critical reflection or a research project. Learning outcomes 1. Have in-depth knowledge of the main theoretical and methodological approaches to research on communication and digital culture. 2. Based on multidisciplinary knowledge, develop critical and informed reflection on digital technologies and their human and societal issues. 3. Carry out an original research project, judiciously mobilizing various theoretical, methodological and technological resources. 4. Report research and its results in a clear, coherent and structured manner, in writing and orally, and respecting the requirements of scientific communication. 5. Based on research results, formulate recommendations regarding the organization's communication strategy and/or conceptualize new communication systems or practices. 6. Update your knowledge and practices by implementing monitoring techniques on communication and digital trends and innovations.

Content

This EU addresses the question of transformations in identities and social ties by situating them at the crossroads of societal developments and technological developments in terms of communication. Through authors, concepts and approaches in sociology and communication sciences, it highlights the opportunities and risks of the Internet for “living together” and engagement in the public sphere.
The themes and issues mainly worked on within the framework of this EU are:

• The relationship between communication, technology and society (technical determinism, criticism of the internet, social determinism, co-construction of the social and the technical, etc.)
• Usage studies (including certain contributions from science and technology studies).
• Digital inclusion, the digital divide, digital literacies.
• Self-production/presentation/exposure and self-narrative online (including social uses of self-metrics), intimacy on the web, implications for engagement.
• Digital sociabilities (online social networks, online communities, virtual communities, networked publics, etc.), relational uses of digital communication technologies, the influence of the Internet on social bonds and social capital, the issues for commitment...
• The spatio-temporal issues of communication technologies: the densification and doubling of time, connection/disconnection, practices of “despatialization” and “respatialization,” the privatization of public spaces and the publicization of private spaces (including the question of civilities) ...
• Power and socio-digital networks: relations of influence, the transformation of control and “networked” power (see governmentality...), the socio-political aspects of web metrics and big data (see the dataveillance, sousveillance, interveillance...).

Lesson Plan
Part 1: Identity and digital culture

1. Identity and complex society
2. Digital narrative identity
3. Suffering identities
4. Identities and dis-identifications
5. The responsibility of the digital subject

Part 2: Technologies, uses and virtual identity.

1. Technological development and innovation
2. Social uses of technologies
3. Construction of virtual identity, connected communities and individuals
4. Societal developments: individualization and acceleration, mobility and control.

Teaching methods

The EU alternates, on the one hand, ex cathedra course sessions with collective discussion sessions on texts read and presented by the students and delving into certain aspects of the subject, and on the other hand, reflection or collective analysis sessions on current topics or concrete cases (brought by the teacher and/or students, as well as invited experts).

EU specific supports

• Slides available online on the course website (Moodle)
• Part 1: slides of theoretical presentations + portfolio of readings and student presentations available on the site (Moodle).
• Part 2: presentation slides + abstract and bibliography of courses available on the site (Moodle).

Evaluation methods

Each student has to submit an individual work of 10 to 15 pages (table of contents and bibliography included), consisting of:

• Either in a case study, including a perspective drawing on the lessons of both parties (in particular the different theoretical approaches);
• Either in a critical synthesis of the entire course (both parts);
• Or in the in-depth discussion of a chapter/specific content of the course, chosen from the two parties, but whose discussion necessarily integrates contributions from the other party.

Each work is submitted by the student to the two teachers, in electronic format (pdf). It is posted on the course website (Moodle) on the dates (first and second session) indicated in the exam timetable.
Each work is evaluated separately by the two teachers, the final mark being made up of the average of the two evaluations.

Bibliography

Granjon, F. (2012), Reconnaissance et usages d'Internet : Une sociologie critique des pratiques de l'informatique connectée, Paris : Presses de l'école des Mines.
Cardon, D. (2010), La démocratie Internet, Paris : Le Seuil.
Rosanvallon, P. (2008), La Contre-démocratie. La politique à l’âge de la défiance, Paris : Le Seuil.
Fourmentraux, J.-P. (dir.) (2015), Identités numériques. Expression et traçabilité, Paris : CNRS.

Faculty or entity

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