Theme 3: Research and theory // Comments

Please see the following comments:

1. http://denise-theoryandmethod.blogspot.se/2015/09/theme-3-research-and-theory-22.html?showComment=1443527573784#c6466310877627447445
   
   
2. http://meglia.blogspot.se/2015/09/post-theme-3.html?showComment=1443527992019#c2997374710066384685
   
   
3. http://securepathofscience.blogspot.se/2015/09/theme-3-research-and-theory-reflection.html?showComment=1443528370979#c2120386821026440235
   
   
4. http://theorymethodmediatech.blogspot.se/2015/09/theme3-research-and-theory-after.html?showComment=1443528647489#c5792022359289259103
   
   
5. http://dm2572fan.blogspot.se/2015/09/post-theme-3.html?showComment=1443528900552#c4110072787603429105
   
   
6. http://oscarlimback.blogspot.se/2015/09/theme-3-research-and-theory-after.html?showComment=1443529277878#c4804296684657474074
   
   
7. http://paullinderoth.blogspot.se/2015/09/theme-3-research-and-theory-after.html?showComment=1443529573998
   
   
8. http://tamfmtol.blogspot.se/2015/09/theme-3-post-research-and-theory.html?showComment=1443529882601#c902918256857772857
   
   
9. http://duckyduckyducky.blogspot.se/2015/09/post-seminar-3_28.html?showComment=1443530171077#c5925689766972747202
   
   
10. http://mashasthoughts123.blogspot.se/2015/09/seminar-3-reflection.html?showComment=1443530498159#c817109080822229392
    
    

Theme 3: Research and theory // Reflection

As an introduction to the lecture, we figured out that a common use of the word theory implies that something is unproven or speculative which is better characterized by the word hypothesis.  A theory is a set of proposition that aims to identify objects and their relation to each other. Furthermore, a theory is an abstract entity that aims to describe, explain and enhance understanding of the world and in some cases to provide predictions of what will happen in the future and to give a basis for intervention and action. Theory is something we construct it does not exist by itself. Knowing is about seeing. Theory is about the connections between phenomena, and explaining WHY, HOW and under WHAT circumstances acts, events, structures, and thoughts occur. Scientific theories attempt to explain the causal logic between cause and event. This is why theory ca be contrasted with praxis or practice. However, it is important to note that this distinction can be put in question, as theory is a form of practice and practice also always has a theoretical dimension. Due to these findings, you can say that truth is related to the state of knowledge right now. Truth is relative.

Furthermore, we discussed the question “What is men?” during the lecture. In our group, we brainstormed the following keywords: Technology; Cognition/mind; Very developed species; Feelings; Curiosity; Language; Culture; Social interaction/empathy; structured time/space. In class, we came to the following findings: A combination of the human bodies and consciousness; High developed species; Create and think;  Homo faber; High requirement of spiritual energy; Morality; Right/wrong; Know how to lie; Feigning; Living towards death; Egalitarian; Sexual. Furthermore, we mentioned Post-humanism, which is basically our keyword technology.

In the seminar, we discussed in small groups different aspects of the lecture and started with the different theory types Analysis, Explanation, Prediction, Explanation and Prediction (EP), and Design and Action mentioned in the paper. Furthermore, we tried to explain theory in our own words and came up with a differentiation of theory and hypothesis. To us, theory is an attempt to explain the causal logic between cause and event. But there is a difference between scientific and philosophical theory. We figured out that hypothesis is a statement or guess for research purpose which tries to explain two variables. In addition to this, we discussed that you can find truth for a hypothesis through falsification. In class, we stated that theory is what is practice not. In addition to this, we mentioned Thomas S. Kuhn, who “was an American physicist, historian, and philosopher of science whose controversial book ‘The Structure of Scientific Revolutions’ was influential in both academic and popular circles, introducing the term ‘paradigm shift’, which has since become an English-language idiom.”* A paradigm shift is a phrase to describe a change or "revolution" in the basic concepts of a scientific discipline.

All in all, I have understood the term theory better after the seminar since it was easier to get because of the simplified explanation even though my approach before the lecture was on the right track. Nevertheless, I would have find it useful if we would have discussed the chosen papers and focused a bit more on the questions since I am still not sure if I have classified my paper correctly regarding the characterization of theory types. Indeed, we discussed the different types briefly and tried to find an answer by comparing our papers with each other but we were still not sure if we were right.

  

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Kuhn

Theme 4: Quantitative research

From IEEE MultiMedia volume 22, I choose the paper “A Survey of Current YouTube Video Characteristics” published by Xianhui Che in 2015. The paper studies YouTube videos to better understand their characteristics and to demonstrate consistency with previous research. In addition to this, the paper also presents new categories of features emerging. Due to Google's acquisition of YouTube in 2007, there has been some changes in user policy and service infrastructure. The choosen paper has an impact factor of 1.694.

Which quantitative method or methods are used in the paper? Which are the benefits and limitations of using these methods?

The paper depicts the latest YouTube traffic profiles and delivers updated and valuable information for future researchers with a customized Web spider which crawled over more than one million Videos. Crawling has been a popular methodology for collecting and characterizing YouTube videos. The authors compare different statistics with their own findings since these measurements present similar scopes of investigation, covering video categories and duration as well as file sizes.

What did you learn about quantitative methods from reading the paper?

Since this paper uses a different way to achieve quantity data using a web spider, I did not learn something about quantitative methods in general. The paper describes how the web spider works and what it did to collect metadata information from YouTube video content. Nevertheless, this “new” way of collecting data is interesting to me since it fits more to this research field than e. g. a questionnaire.

Which are the main methodological problems of the study? How could the use of the quantitative method or methods have been improved?

Regarding the used method and the amount of collected data, I do not see a main methodological problems of the study. This paper can benefit telecommunication providers in the evaluation and estimation of cache usage in network services. Furthermore, methodological approach in form of a web spider can also be used to analyze similar levels of mass provision within digital media service. The only problem of the study might be the copyright and access issue which were justified by the authors.

One of the keywords in the text “Drumming in Immersive Virtual Reality: The Body Shapes he Way We Play” written by Konstantina Kilteni, Ilias Bergstrom, and Mel Slater is “Immersive Virtual Reality”. This term refers to transporting people to a virtual place where they experience events and take part in activities. This study focusses on the hypothesis if e.g. different skin colours have an impact on the person’s behaviour in the virtual reality. In this virtual reality, the users play African drums and see, instead of their own hands, the hands of a Caucasian formally dressed male or a dark-skinned casually dressed male. The study shows that using an avatar could indeed have influence on the behaviour.

Which are the benefits and limitations of using quantitative methods?

Quantitative methods describe the behaviour in the form of models, contexts and numerical expressions as accurately as possible. It will generally consist of a survey or observation of a possible large and representative random sample using methods such as a written survey questionnaires or a quantitative interview. These measured values are compared and put in relation to each other or with other variables. Afterwards the results then will be generalized to the population. Often a predetermined hypothesis is checked based on the data. The information gained is in quantitative methods in data reduction. In order to ensure equal conditions for the emergence of the measurements in a study, quantitative methods are usually fully standardized and structured, e.g. each respondent receives exactly the same conditions in answering the questions to make the statements of respondents comparable with each other. One limitation of using quantitative methods is that the cause of a finding or an attitude such as dissatisfaction is not determined.

Which are the benefits and limitations of using qualitative methods?

Compared to quantitative methods, the qualitative methods are characterized by much greater openness and flexibility. In the qualitative observation such as e. g. shadowing, there is just the subjectivity of the observed and the observer interesting. By doing so, a high content validity and a deeper information content of the results is achieved, without being able to make, however, representative and numerical statements. Qualitative methods are applied exploratory and hypothesis-that theorizing is gradual and will be further developed during the investigation. The aim of qualitative research is to map the reality based on the subjective view of the relevant conversation. A limitation of using qualitative methods is that they are relatively time consuming and costly. The requirements for the qualification of the interviewer / observer are quite high, the quality of data is to some extent also dependent on it. The evaluation is relatively expensive, especially when compared to the quantitative methods. Furthermore for qualitative data, you cannot derive any numerical quantities.

Theme 2: Critical media studies // Comments

I also commented on the following blogs:

1.     http://denise-theoryandmethod.blogspot.se/2015/09/theme-2-critical-media-studies-22.html?showComment=1443011135402#c4925334910831474058

2.     http://meglia.blogspot.se/2015/09/post-theme-2.html?showComment=1443014538317#c7563765307120324606

3.     http://securepathofscience.blogspot.se/2015/09/theme-2-critical-media-studies.html?showComment=1443011868588#c917999118877672833

4.     http://theorymethodmediatech.blogspot.se/2015/09/theme-2-critical-media-studies-after.html?showComment=1443012111608#c84879937327618530

5.      http://dm2572fan.blogspot.se/2015/09/post-theme-2.html?showComment=1443014100125

6.     http://oscarlimback.blogspot.se/2015/09/theme-2-critical-media-studies-after.html?showComment=1443012545968#c8591787616860337748

7.     http://paullinderoth.blogspot.se/2015/09/theme-2-critical-media-studies-after.html?showComment=1443013102148#c4653978626743557520

8.     http://tamfmtol.blogspot.se/2015/09/theme-2-post-critical-media-studies.html?showComment=1443013394532#c858181493568278046

9.     http://duckyduckyducky.blogspot.se/2015/09/post-seminar-3.html?showComment=1443013805181#c8737059021464852216

10. http://mashasthoughts123.blogspot.se/2015/09/seminar-2-reflection.html?showComment=1443011527357#c8444674722223244811

Theme 2: Critical media studies // Reflection

As an introduction to the seminar, we discussed realism in contrast to nominalism. Realism in the arts is the attempt to represent subject matter truthfully, without artificiality and avoiding artistic conventions. (1) Furthermore, we explained that according to Nominalism we are all individuals. In the world according to Plato, we look at shadows or reflections of something and what we perceive with our eyes is only a reflection. Therefore in Nominalism, concepts are just names and are not real. This example was really helpful since I did not get it quit right in the beginning.

Furthermore, we concentrated on what is important in Adorno and Horkheimer’s text. I have learnt that my approach is correct but not what Adorno and Horkheimer tried to express. In contrast to my approach that Nominalism undermines National Socialism, we figured out that it actually upholds it. Nominalism is a way for fascism to have a status quo. It becomes dangerous if we only take for granted what we see since you have no vision what could be. Therefore, we should probably find new kinds of concepts, e. g. concepts of Human Rights. In addition, we mentioned that the concepts of gender politics can be revolutionary.

Regarding mass media and Enlightment, we figured out that movies portray life as it is instead of something we can strive to. Benjamin hoped that ordinary people will be in the superstructure and that it becomes more common. Work will change ideas but ideas will not change work. If you change the production you might change the ideas, e.g. change physically things in factories. Therefore, my approach that society determines the culture is correct. Furthermore, we discussed that art has revolutionary potential since it might grow from a substructure. Due to zooming or cutting, you will get a fragmented picture of the world looks like. If the change is big enough than it will change the superstructure. Benjamin thinks that movies depict ordinary people and give them dignity. In contrast to this, Adorno and Horkheimer think that ordinary people do not have revolutionary potential, since young girls are always shown as secretaries.  This was quit helpful for me, since I understand the difference between them but was not able to give an example.

During the discussion about “Aura”, I could contribute by saying that the first car or first iPhone had (more) aura than later models

(1) chttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Realism_(arts)>

Theme 3: Research and theory

I believe that the journal IEEE MultiMedia is important for media technology research since its technical information covers a broad range of issues in multimedia systems and applications and provides a forum for researchers and practitioners to present new findings and discuss experiences with multimedia systems and applications. The journal’s subjects are Communication, Networking & Broadcasting as well as Computing & Processing. It has an impact factor of 1,694.

From IEEE MultiMedia volume 22, I choose the article “Social Media, Democracy, and Democratization” published by Daniel Gayo-Avello in 2015. The paper is about the confluence of social media with political action. Since Gayo-Avello calls it “a complex field raising important questions”, the paper addresses the blending of social media and politics. First, Gayo-Avello states that not all social media users are similar. He differentiates between media elites, such as politicians and journalists, and non-elite users, such as common citizens. To support his theory, Gayo-Avello states why political discussions in social media are not always rational due to e.g. the generally lack of strong arguments and coherency. Therefore, the article “Social Media, Democracy, and Democratization” states that promises of social media to boost political engagement and democracy are still unfulfilled. Accoring to Gayo-Avello, social media is the product of communicative capitalism, and the goal is not to boost political action. He suggests to continually work on information provenance in social media and credibility assessment.

Briefly explain to a first year university student what theory is, and what theory is not.

A theory is an abstract scientific model or concept that tries to explain a part of reality. Furthermore, a theory could be a way of thinking, that tries to solve problems without inclusion of practice.

  

Describe the major theory or theories that are used in your selected paper. Which theory type (see Table 2 in Gregor) can the theory or theories be characterized as?

In the paper “The Nature of Theory in Information Systems”, Gregor describes five different theory types: Analysis, Explanation, Prediction, Explanation and Prediction (EP), and Design and Action. In Gayo-Avello’s “Social Media, Democracy, and Democratization”, he describes what the problem is and how, why and when it occurred. At the end, Gayo-Avello suggests on how to improve the prospects of political action in social media. According to the table it would probably be the number five “Design and Action”.

  

Which are the benefits and limitations of using the selected theory or theories?

A benefit of the theory “Design and Action” is that it “Says how to do something”. The theory gives explicit prescriptions. The limitation of the theory on the other hand is that it lacks scientific data which mean that the theory can’t apply on every similar case and make a generalization.

Theme 1: Theory of knowledge and theory of science // Comments

I have commented on the following blogs:


1. http://denise-theoryandmethod.blogspot.se/2015/09/theme-1-theory-of-knowledge-and-theory_12.html?showComment=1442154278762
2. http://mashasthoughts123.blogspot.se/2015/09/seminar-1.html?showComment=1442154732396#c7454151263688569830
3. http://securepathofscience.blogspot.se/2015/09/theme-1-theory-of-knowledge-and-theory_14.html?showComment=1442408473413#c7571653144155881338
4. http://theorymethodmediatech.blogspot.se/2015/09/theme1theory-of-knowledge-and-theory-of.html?showComment=1442408803770#c9085454571096084890
5. http://cliodile.blogspot.se/2015/09/after-theme-1-theory-of-knowledge-and.html?showComment=1442409143717
6. http://oscarlimback.blogspot.se/2015/09/after-thelecture-and-seminary-last-week.html?showComment=1442409480686#c8212790649223635068
7. http://paullinderoth.blogspot.se/2015/09/theme-1-theory-of-knowledge-and-theory_14.html?showComment=1442409796683#c1832182730115506059
8. http://tamfmtol.blogspot.se/2015/09/theme-1-post-theory-of-knowledge-and.html?showComment=1442410116632#c8329599332600523208
9. http://duckyduckyducky.blogspot.se/2015/09/post-seminar-theme-1.html?showComment=1442410345128#c7880096926485622096
10. http://dm2572fan.blogspot.se/2015/09/post-theme-1.html?showComment=1442410740166
    
    

Theme 1: Theory of knowledge and theory of science // Reflection

I prepared myself for the theme by reading all the material on the weekend before the pre-theme deadline. By doing so I had time to reflect and try to make sense of the thoughts that arose. During the first seminar, we discussed different aspects and concepts from the previous lecture. We talked about a priori, synthetic knowledge, how we can judge different things by math and metaphysics, critic of pure reason and how knowledge of the world is always structured according to time and space.

In our group, we discussed in detail the 12 categories which structure aprioir knowledge according to Kant and focused on this quote by Kant “Perception without conception is blind, conception without perception is empty.”

• Quantity: unity, plurality, totality
• Quality: reality, negation, limitation
• Relation: substance, causality, community
• Modality: possibility, existence, necessity

Because of the discussion during the seminar, we clarified that Kant questioned how knowledge could be structured and not where knowledge might come from. Kant discusses basic forms, e.g. space and time, which are hardly reduced to a linguistic concept. Language can form our souls due to learning. In addition to these “basic” forms, we mentioned higher categories such as race and gender. Nevertheless, we figured out that there is no pure knowledge according to Kant, since our sense making is bound to experience, cultural context and environment. For example, unlike gas a person is bodily located in space and time; therefore it is not possible for a human being to avoid these forms. Even though Kant wants us to elevate us to God’s point of view, it is impossible to achieve due to the mentioned boundaries.  To quote Kant: "Let us assume that our faculties of knowledge do not conform to the objects, but the objects do conform to our faculties of knowledge."

Theme 2: Critical media studies

Dialectic of Enlightenment

What is "Enlightenment"?

To quote Kant; “Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-imposed immaturity.” For Kant, Enlightenment liberates us from authority and is advanced thoughts. Kant thinks that a lot of people followed the guiding institutions of society, e.g. the Church, without further thinking. In comparison to Kant’s definition, Adorno and Horkheimer are much more critical against the Enlightenment even though they define it the same way as Kant does. According to Adorno and Horkheimer, without authority society would lose its structure

What is "Dialectic"?

Dialectic is the art of investigating and discussing the truth of opinions. Since knowledge is perception, one has to investigate which experience is the most truthful, but also investigate all opinions that are not.

What is "Nominalism" and why is it an important concept in the text?

Nominalism is the theory that only individuals and no abstract entities exist, e.g. upper class and lower class. Adorno did not want the problem of universals inseparable from the philosophy of law and put it from the perspective of a "failed Enlightenment" in the era of National Socialism in a socio-historical context: Nominalism is the "prototype bourgeois thought”. According to Nominalism, if class is abstract than it does not exist which undermines e.g. Hitler’s concept of a master race.

What is the meaning and function of "myth" in Adorno and Horkheimer's Argument?

According to Adorno and Horkheimer, “Enlightenment wanted to dispel myths, to overthrow fantasy with knowledge.” Myths were created in order to explain what people did not understand because there was fear of the unknown.

"The Work of Art in the Age of Technical Reproductivity"

In the beginning of the essay, Benjamin talks about the relation between "superstructure" and "substructure" in the capitalist order of production. What do the concepts "superstructure" and "substructure" mean in this context and what is the point of analyzing cultural production from a Marxist perspective?

Walter Benjamin’s "The Work of Art in the Age of Technical Reproductivity" was created 1935 in Paris. The German cultural critic Benjamin has been influential across the humanities, especially in the fields of cultural studies and media theory and addresses the phenomena of moving images in cinema and newsreel. According to Benjamin, superstructure is a slowly changing structure. However, super- and substructure are dependent on each other. Superstructure is an ideology production with e.g. focus on culture. In addition, society and the future are shaped by substructures. According to Benjamin, society determines the culture.

Does culture have revolutionary potentials (according to Benjamin)? If so, describe these potentials. Does Benjamin's perspective differ from the perspective of Adorno & Horkheimer in this regard?

According to Benjamin, culture has revolutionary potentials. He thinks for example that photography can change the society in a revolutionary way because photography can give insight into specific matters and raise awareness in the manners of Enlightenment.  According to Adorno and Horkheimer, not culture but technology has revolutionary potentials.

Benjamin discusses how people perceive the world through the senses and argues that this perception can be both naturally and historically determined. What does this mean? Give some examples of historically determined perception (from Benjamin's essay and/or other contexts).

According to Benjamin, perception can be naturally and historically determined because people perceive the world through the senses. By naturally determined he means that this perception will and always has been the same (independent from time), whereas historically determined is a perception that changes depending on time. Historically determined perceptions could be e.g. beauty or art, which changes over the time. Even though the definition of beauty might have change over last centuries depending on culture and movement, there is still a naturally determined perception such as e.g. health.

What does Benjamin mean by the term "aura"? Are there different kinds of aura in natural objects compared to art objects?

By Aura, Benjamin means a “strange web of space and time” or “a distance as close as it can be.”  Aura is the uniqueness of objects in the moment, e.g. a painting in the Renaissance, which could be copied but it would not be in its original space and time. An aura is a “feel” that an object can emite to nearby observers. Natural aura has distance and shadows.

Theme 1: Theory of knowledge and theory of science

1. In the preface to the second edition of "Critique of Pure Reason" (page B xvi) Kant says: "Thus far it has been assumed that all our cognition must conform to objects. On that presupposition, however, all our attempts to establish something about them a priori, by means of concepts through which our cognition would be expanded, have come to nothing. Let us, therefore, try to find out by experiment whether we shall not make better progress in the problems of metaphysics if we assume that objects must conform to our cognition." How are we to understand this?

In general, Kant's aim in the "Critique of Pure Reason" is to determine the limits and scope of pure reason. He differentiates between two important distinctions; first, the a priori and a posteriori knowledge and second, analytic and synthetic judgments. On the one hand, posteriori knowledge is what we have gained from experience, on the other Hand priori knowledge is the necessary and universal Knowledge  we have independent from experience. An analytic judment, for instance, is contained in the concept in the subject. A synthetic judgment is informative rather than just definitional. From the above citation and Kant's preface to the second edition of "Critique of Pure Reason" in general, I understand that one should assume that the conception does not depend on the objects, but on the objects as they appear. They are determined by the intuitiv faculty. Knowledge is based both on intuition (sensibility) as well as on the mind. For example, natural consciousness gives the impression that the sun revolves around the earth. Even today, one speaks of the sunrise . Only with the help of the mind you come to another realization which contradicts an epistemological realism .

2. At the end of the discussion of the definition "Knowledge is perception", Socrates argues that we do not see and hear "with" the eyes and the ears, but "through" the eyes and the ears. How are we to understand this? And in what way is it correct to say that Socrates argument is directed towards what we in modern terms call "empiricism"?

In Plato's dialoque, Socrates argues that we do not see and hear "with" the eyes. In my opinion, this means that the body is just a tool to understand knowledge. There is a saying that the eyes are the window to your soul. Considering Socrates argument, it is our mind which processes and interprets Information into Knowledge. The theory of empiricism says that knowledge comes only or primarily from out senses. (Psillos, Stathis; Curd, Martin (2010)) Therefore, it is correct that Socrates argument is directed towards what we in modern terms call "empiricism". It means that what we have experienced so far has built our knowledge. Socrates argues that through perception we achive knowledge and perception is something that we all experience differently. We all perceive or "see/hear"  the same experience but we will all gain knowledge from it in a different way.