[Publications] Alternative imaginations

Published in July 2022, it can be downloaded for free.

Lim, M. (2022). Alternative Imaginations: Confronting and Challenging the Persistent Centrism in Social Media-Society Research. Journal of Asian Social Science Research, 4(1), 1-22.

https://doi.org/10.15575/jassr.v4i1.59

Abstract

This article attempts to intervene the current trend in social media research that, to a certain degree, reflects the centrality of technology. Beyond the broad trend of technocentrism, I identify and outline four other major oversights or challenges in researching the social media/society relationship, namely online data centrism, moment centrism, novelty centrism, and success centrism. Stemmed from these four types of centrism, I offer an alternative imagination, namely a set of alternative pathways in social media research that value histories and historical context, interdisciplinarity, longue durée, and complexity. By revealing these oversights, this article aims to contribute to our collective attempt to interrogate the relationship between social media and society (and technology/society) critically. This alternative imagination might help animate, reveal, and make transparent various societal dynamics that otherwise would be invisible and, thus, might contribute to a better, deeper, and more comprehensive understanding of the technology/society relationship.

#publications #socialmedia #research #technocentrism

Algorithms of Rage to rhythms of Change

“Algorithms of Rage to Rhythms of Change: Notes on a Research Journey”

A Closing Keynote Speech at “Visions of Change” Conference

University of Calgary, 11 May 2022

by: Merlyna Lim, Canada Research Chair in Digital Media & Global Network Society & ALiGN Media Lab Director, Carleton University

Part I: “Algorithms of Ragehttps://youtu.be/TLodwU5ZvrU – 5’59”

Part II: “The Rhythm of Ushttps://youtu.be/8F1noEbb_d – 8’16”

Part III: “The AlgoRhythms of Rohingya and Hasan’s bicyclehttps://youtu.be/E9RyM3TrYxM – 7’06”

Part IV: “Burning Bodies: The Offbeat that Binds Ushttps://youtu.be/VChCQZ6Xyas – 7’56”

Part V: “Closing remarks: Rhythms of Change?https://youtu.be/Uk-5U_fC4W8 – 2’29”

#rhythm #algorithm #change #pandemic #covid19 #coronavirus

Driven by Emotion

An article written based on my research and the interview with me.

“Social media algorithms feed emotions–the more a post is hated or loved the higher its score and its propensity to go viral. While that love-hate dichotomy may be great for business, it’s not so great for society. Read about it in Another Take: http://ow.ly/nzFy50IxA6v

http://ow.ly/nzFy50IxA6v

[Publications] #Coronaconspiracy

Just published! If you’re interested in learning about the relationship between the Covid-19 pandemic crisis, conspiracy theories, social media affordances, and algorithms, then this article is for you.

Lim, M. (2022). #Coronaconspiracy: Algorithms, Users, and Conspiracy Theories in Social Media. M/C Journal, 25(1). https://journal.media-culture.org.au/index.php/mcjournal/article/view/2877

Check out some other articles in this special #Conspiracy issue. They’re interesting!
#socialmedia #algorithm #conspiracytheory #conspiracies #covid19

The Evolution of Intellectual Freedom

I’m presenting “The Evolution of Merlyna’s a Critical Monkey’s Intellectual Freedom” (bottom) 😆.

It was part of my last public lecture which basically attempted to provide an alternative imagination of possible career/life pathways. It’s my take vis-a-vis a (valid) critic of the state of intellectual freedom in academia by a brilliant Jorge Cham/PhD comic in 2011 (top). I think Cham’s is on point, but luckily his comic doesn’t apply to me.

~ eh, ini beneran lho dari slide kuliah umumku 😆 ~

I believe in (trying my best in) being curious, having fun, and staying critical. Also “naughty” — and becoming naughtier as I get older 🙈😋. And never stop to be really bothered by injustice–hey, a critical monkey can be really angry, too 🙊. No, never follow the “money” or the “safest” pathway. No, it’s not easy or smooth; sometimes you fail and/or people/institutions failed you, but speaking for myself and myself alone, I never and will never regret this choice. FYI, I am one of the lucky ones who survived academia and became a tenured professor several years ago by fully exercising my own freedom, doing research that I believed in. I hope to swing up-side-down while holding a banana when I am an emerita professor (if I ever become one someday) and grin satisfactorily when I RIP 😝😎.

~ aku katanya kelakuan mirip monyet, tapi ngga suka pisang sih 😆 ~

I made an initial drawing, then my talented artist-friend Rivi Rian 😍🥰😍 decorated it with beautiful viney leaves.

p.s. some grad students who took my class probably had seen this critical monkey appeared in their assignments 😁.

[Publication] Dis/connection in the Global South

Just published:
Lim, M. (2020). The politics and perils of dis/connection in the Global South. Media, Culture & Society.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0163443720914032

Using empirical vignettes of repression against minority groups in the Global South, in this essay I introduce the term ‘dis/connection’ into the existing discourse on disconnection to illustrate how the interplay between connection and disconnection serves as a tactic and a technique of both repression and resistance.

The essay was written in its entirety during my visiting senior research fellowship in London at LSE in the Fall 2019. I thank LSE Southeast Asia for their support.

On International Women’s Day

March 8th is the International Women’s Day. On this day, I’m deeply honoured to be recognized alongside these 9 amazing women.

In my journey, from a little girl with red ribbons in Dayeuhkolot to who I am today, I am indebted to the generations of women before me who paved the way for all the opportunities women enjoy today. I am inspired by the remarkably brave and resilient women in my life who exist, resist, and persist, despite the patriarchy. I am proud of the next generation of women who challenge the status quo and fight for equal rights every single day.

Here’s to all extraordinary women I have had a privilege to know in my life, in Dayeuhkolot, Indonesia, Canada, and all over the world! 

https://newsroom.carleton.ca/story/honouring-women-leaders-researchers/

#IWD2020 #InternationalWomensDay #EachforEqual

Cyber-urban space

So, by the invitation of the editorial team, my term “cyber-urban space” is officially included in The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Urban and Regional Studies (edited by Anthony M. Orum)

The encyclopedia entry is available here:

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/…/10…/9781118568446.eurs0069

or, it’s also available for free download from here https://bit.ly/30bXdbx

Enjoy reading!

Mobilizing Emotion, Not Knowledge

Carleton University’s Faculty of Public Affairs runs a story of my research, as follows:

Mobilizing Emotion, Not Knowledge

As Canada prepares for a federal election, Canada Research Chair Professor Merlyna Lim is analyzing how social media users—human and otherwise—are mobilizing emotions rather than facts.

In the months leading up to the Canadian election, Facebook accounts with names like “Trudeau Has Got To Go”, “Overthrow Trudeau”, and Justin Trudeau is an Idiot” focus on ridiculing the Prime Minister.

On the opposite end of the political spectrum are accounts attacking Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer, with names such as “Andrew Scheer Is An Idiot”, “Scheer Nonsense”, and “Schmeer 2019”.

Political cartoons and jokes are an age-old tradition. But Communication and Media Studies Professor Merlyna says that in the age of social media, hateful speech and misinformation spreads incredibly quickly—intensifying the polarization within politics.

CLICK TO READ ON

End of year sharing: all publications from 2018 [free download]

At the end of 2018, let me share you all files of my publications that were out this year. Here they are, feel free to download, share, and re-share.

p.s. publications from previous years are available to download from here.

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Lim, M. (2019). Disciplining Dissent:Freedom, Control, and Digital Activism in Southeast Asia, in R. Padawangi (ed.) Routledge Handbook of Urbanization in Southeast Asia, Routledge, 478-494. [Download PDF]

Lim, M. (2018). Roots, Routes, Routers: Communications and Media of Contemporary Social Movements (Journalism & Communication Monographs Series). [Download PDF]

Lim, M. (2018). Dis/Connecting: The co–evolution of socio–cultural and material infrastructures of the internet in Indonesia. Indonesia, 105(April): 155-172. [Download PDF]

Lim, M. (2018). Challenging technological utopianism. Canadian Journal of Communication, 43(3): 375-379. [Download PDF]

Mitchell, S.S.D. & Lim, M. (2018). Too Crowded for Crowdsourced Journalism: Reddit and Citizen Participation in the Syrian Crisis. Canadian Journal of Communication, 43(3): 399-419. [Download PDF]

Lim, M. (2018). Unveiling Saudi Feminism(s): Historicization, Heterogeneity, and Corporeality in the Women’s Movements. Canadian Journal of Communication, 43(3): 461-79. [Download PDF]

Lim, M. (2018). Sticks and Stones, Clicks and Phones: Contextualizing the Role of Digital Media in the Politics of Transformation, in C. Richter & C. Harders, & A. Antonakis-Nashif (eds.) Digital Media and the Politics of Transformation in the Arab World and Asia, Berlin: Springer VS, 9–34. [Download PDF]