Steps Toward Cosmopolitanism in the Study of Media Technologies

Online human rights? Towards a cosmopolitan framework for Internet policymaking in the digital era

“…Drawing on this body of work, Boczkowski & Siles (2014) apply the notion of cosmopolitanism to the study of media and technology. These authors posit that one way of mapping the study of media technologies such as the Internet is by organizing the research along two main domains of inquiry: a) the production or consumption of media technologies and b) the materiality or the symbolic aspects of content (see Figure 1).…”

“…These authors posit that one way of mapping the study of media technologies such as the Internet is by organizing the research along two main domains of inquiry: a) the production or consumption of media technologies and b) the materiality or the symbolic aspects of content (see Figure 1). Boczkowski & Siles (2014) contend that a renewed understanding of the social and cultural significance of media technologies in people's lives can only occur if research is conducted at the intersection of these two axes; hence the "cosmopolitan" label. They thus argue for integrating the study of production, consumption, content, and materiality in the analysis of the media technologies.…”

“…Following the proposal by Boczkowski & Siles (2014), this quadrant explores the relations, and mediations, between the actors with the capacity of generating communicative products and the substance and expression of that content. Under this optic, the values and belief systems impressed in media constructs are studied to set the degrees in which a product fulfils its goals in relation with several elements of the final result.…”

“…This part of the framework is responsible for the common ground attributed to audience studies, stipulating the impact of certain contents on the viewers and users, and questioning the degree of interpretation and appropriation held during the process (Boczkowski & Siles 2014). In relation to the inquiry over Internet, the quadrant has the potential of defraying, in a more specific way, the implications of the Internet usage, exposing tendencies and shifts in consumption behaviour.…”

“…The cosmopolitan approach, advanced by Boczkowski and Siles (2014) to understand the development of media technologies, provides a model for integrating the study of production, content, consumption, and materiality in a communicative process. In this sense, this optic may be used as a potential framework for understanding the multiple forces that interact on and through the Internet.…”