BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//Talks.cam//talks.cam.ac.uk// X-WR-CALNAME:Talks.cam BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:The Space of the World: Digital Platforms and the Prospects for Hu man Solidarity in the 21st Century - Nick Couldry\, London School of Econ omics and Political Science DTSTART:20230202T170000Z DTEND:20230202T183000Z UID:TALK195418@talks.cam.ac.uk CONTACT:Anusha Arumugam DESCRIPTION:REGISTER HERE: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-space-of-the -world-digital-platforms-prospects-for-human-solidarity-tickets-5165768542 77?utm-campaign=social\n\nABSTRACT: In this seminar\, Nick Couldry will re flect on the global space of social communications and interaction that ha s been constructed over the past three decades through a commercialized in ternet and the emergence of digital platforms whose business model depends on the extraction of data from their users and the shaping of user behavi our in order to optimize user behaviour that will generate advertising val ue. What if those conditions – valid perhaps in their own commercial ter ms – have guaranteed a space of human interaction that is larger\, more polarized\, more intense\, and more toxic than is compatible with human so lidarity? This would be a major problem for humanity that social theory mi ght play some role in deconstructing and potentially even solving\, by for mulating alternatives. So how might we imagine a different space of the wo rld that would be less likely to be toxic\, and more likely to generate th e solidarity and effective cooperation that humanity needs if it is to hav e any chance of addressing its huge\, shared challenges? \n\nNick Couldry is a sociologist of media and culture. He is Professor of Media Communicat ions and Social Theory at the London School of Economics and Political Sci ence\, and in since 2017 also a Faculty Associate at Harvard’s Berkman K lein Center for Internet and Society. He is the author or editor of fiftee n books including The Mediated Construction of Reality (with Andreas Hepp\ , Polity\, 2016)\, Media\, Society\, World: Social Theory and Digital Medi a Practice (Polity 2012) and Why Voice Matters (Sage 2010). His latest boo ks are The Costs of Connection: How Data is Colonizing Human Life and Appr opriating Life for Capitalism (with Ulises Mejias: Stanford UP\, 2019)\, M edia: Why It Matters (Polity: 2019) and Media\, Voice\, Space and Power: E ssays of Refraction (Routledge 2021). Nick is also the co-founder of the T ierra Común network of scholars and activists (https://www.tierracomun.ne t/ ) and of the European Media Salon (https://www.european-media-salon.org /events ). \n LOCATION:In person\, SG2\, Alison Richard Building\, University of Cambrid ge END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR