東華大學圖書館 |

A Network Approach to Understanding Public Attention, Public Opinion, and Communication Flows in the Digital Media System.

紀錄類型:	書目-電子資源 : Monograph/item
正題名/作者:	A Network Approach to Understanding Public Attention, Public Opinion, and Communication Flows in the Digital Media System./
作者:	Zhang, Yini.
出版者:	Ann Arbor : ProQuest Dissertations & Theses, : 2020,
面頁冊數:	163 p.
附註:	Source: Dissertations Abstracts International, Volume: 82-04, Section: A.
Contained By:	Dissertations Abstracts International82-04A.
標題:	Communication. -
電子資源:	https://pqdd.sinica.edu.tw/twdaoapp/servlet/advanced?query=28092248
ISBN:	9798672178561

A Network Approach to Understanding Public Attention, Public Opinion, and Communication Flows in the Digital Media System.
Zhang, Yini.

A Network Approach to Understanding Public Attention, Public Opinion, and Communication Flows in the Digital Media System. - Ann Arbor : ProQuest Dissertations & Theses, 2020 - 163 p.

Source: Dissertations Abstracts International, Volume: 82-04, Section: A.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--The University of Wisconsin - Madison, 2020.

This item must not be sold to any third party vendors.

This dissertation centers around the core question of how digital media impact the U.S. political communication landscape. To answer this question, I focus on media as practices, i.e., how social actors use digital media and what social consequences it leads to. Specifically, I study how social actors signal attention to and express opinion on issues of public interest through social media and how such practices interact with news media attention and coverage, which provides a window into the dynamics of the shifting digital media system and the changing contour of the public. Building on the actor network theory that posits the mutually constitutive relationship between actors and their networks, I propose a network approach that positions social actors on social media in the networked space of social interactions (including relations and communications) and places social interactions on social media in the networked space of social actors. I analyze public attention and public opinion emerging on Twitter through the lens of network and reveal the dynamics of Twitter networks (what I call "flocks") and their interactions with news media networks. Results show that embedded in networks of online social relations (i.e., following relationships), social actors within a Twitter flock exhibit homogenous attention and opinion patterns, and that such Twitter flocks interact with each other and with news media networks in complex ways. First, the moderate and center-left news media network still possesses significant power in driving the attention and setting the agenda for partisan news media networks and Twitter flocks, though there are some bottom-up flows of communication from Twitter flocks to news media networks. Also, the interaction between partisan news media networks and partisan/activist Twitter flocks gives rise to partisan media spheres, with the conservative media sphere reacting to the progressive media sphere more than the other way around. Results also show that activism discourses on Twitter can originate from vastly different Twitter flocks situated in networks of communications (i.e., retweeting relationships). These flocks exhibit varying attention dynamics, and news media might have played a role in sustaining attention and driving expression of partisan flocks. These results speak to the continuing splintering of the public into passionate and engaged publics in the digital media system where person-to-person networks can be more easily programmed via social media. Such networks of social actors that aggregate attention and synthesize opinions can exert direct influence on powerful legacy news media via networked visibility and power. However, the possibility of fringe or undemocratic groups of actors hijacking public attention poses new challenges for news media and the concept of the public. Furthermore, the sorting of individuals into homogenous networks on social media, the connection between social media networks and news media networks within partisan quarters, and the oppositional reactiveness between the partisan spheres together reflect a deepening partisan divide in the digital media system. Nevertheless, the robust roles of legacy news media in driving attention and creating a shared public communication space stands as a glimmer of hope against the onslaught of partisan division and polarization. Methodologically, these results demonstrate the unique vantage point that the network approach provides for analyzing social actors and their behaviors in the networked and overloaded digital media system and for providing nuanced understandings of dynamics of communication and interactions.

ISBN: 9798672178561Subjects--Topical Terms:

524709
Communication.
Subjects--Index Terms:

Attention economy

A Network Approach to Understanding Public Attention, Public Opinion, and Communication Flows in the Digital Media System.
LDR:04945nmm a2200385 4500 001 2278405
005 20210628075019.5
008 220723s2020 ||||||||||||||||| ||eng d
020 $a 9798672178561
035 $a (MiAaPQ)AAI28092248
035 $a AAI28092248
040 $a MiAaPQ $c MiAaPQ
100 1 $a Zhang, Yini. $3 3556781
245 1 0 $a A Network Approach to Understanding Public Attention, Public Opinion, and Communication Flows in the Digital Media System.
260 1 $a Ann Arbor : $b ProQuest Dissertations & Theses, $c 2020
300 $a 163 p.
500 $a Source: Dissertations Abstracts International, Volume: 82-04, Section: A.
500 $a Advisor: Shah, Dhavan Vinod;Wells, Chris.
502 $a Thesis (Ph.D.)--The University of Wisconsin - Madison, 2020.
506 $a This item must not be sold to any third party vendors.
520 $a This dissertation centers around the core question of how digital media impact the U.S. political communication landscape. To answer this question, I focus on media as practices, i.e., how social actors use digital media and what social consequences it leads to. Specifically, I study how social actors signal attention to and express opinion on issues of public interest through social media and how such practices interact with news media attention and coverage, which provides a window into the dynamics of the shifting digital media system and the changing contour of the public. Building on the actor network theory that posits the mutually constitutive relationship between actors and their networks, I propose a network approach that positions social actors on social media in the networked space of social interactions (including relations and communications) and places social interactions on social media in the networked space of social actors. I analyze public attention and public opinion emerging on Twitter through the lens of network and reveal the dynamics of Twitter networks (what I call "flocks") and their interactions with news media networks. Results show that embedded in networks of online social relations (i.e., following relationships), social actors within a Twitter flock exhibit homogenous attention and opinion patterns, and that such Twitter flocks interact with each other and with news media networks in complex ways. First, the moderate and center-left news media network still possesses significant power in driving the attention and setting the agenda for partisan news media networks and Twitter flocks, though there are some bottom-up flows of communication from Twitter flocks to news media networks. Also, the interaction between partisan news media networks and partisan/activist Twitter flocks gives rise to partisan media spheres, with the conservative media sphere reacting to the progressive media sphere more than the other way around. Results also show that activism discourses on Twitter can originate from vastly different Twitter flocks situated in networks of communications (i.e., retweeting relationships). These flocks exhibit varying attention dynamics, and news media might have played a role in sustaining attention and driving expression of partisan flocks. These results speak to the continuing splintering of the public into passionate and engaged publics in the digital media system where person-to-person networks can be more easily programmed via social media. Such networks of social actors that aggregate attention and synthesize opinions can exert direct influence on powerful legacy news media via networked visibility and power. However, the possibility of fringe or undemocratic groups of actors hijacking public attention poses new challenges for news media and the concept of the public. Furthermore, the sorting of individuals into homogenous networks on social media, the connection between social media networks and news media networks within partisan quarters, and the oppositional reactiveness between the partisan spheres together reflect a deepening partisan divide in the digital media system. Nevertheless, the robust roles of legacy news media in driving attention and creating a shared public communication space stands as a glimmer of hope against the onslaught of partisan division and polarization. Methodologically, these results demonstrate the unique vantage point that the network approach provides for analyzing social actors and their behaviors in the networked and overloaded digital media system and for providing nuanced understandings of dynamics of communication and interactions.
590 $a School code: 0262.
650 4 $a Communication. $3 524709
650 4 $a Journalism. $3 576107
650 4 $a Mass communications. $3 3422380
653 $a Attention economy
653 $a Communication flows
653 $a Media system
653 $a Network society
653 $a Partisanship
653 $a Social network
690 $a 0708
690 $a 0459
690 $a 0391
710 2 $a The University of Wisconsin - Madison. $b Mass Communications - LS. $3 2097029
773 0 $t Dissertations Abstracts International $g 82-04A.
790 $a 0262
791 $a Ph.D.
792 $a 2020
793 $a English
856 4 0 $u https://pqdd.sinica.edu.tw/twdaoapp/servlet/advanced?query=28092248