[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

Roots, Routes, Routers

Lim_JCMo_2018

I am excited to announce that Roots, Routes, Routers: Communications and Media of Contemporary Social Movements is out as a monograph, accompanied by commentary by wonderful colleagues and experts in media & social movements – Emiliano Treré, Orley Durán & Clemencia Rodríguez, and María Paula Martínez.

link: http://journals.sagepub.com/toc/jmoa/20/2

or if you don’t have access to it, here is a PDF  version.
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Continue reading “Roots, Routes, Routers”

Podcast: social media, politics and the ‘freedom to hate’

“The Jakarta gubernatorial election, held earlier this year, was perhaps the most divisive and bitterly fought campaign seen in modern Indonesian politics. Social media and the internet played a large role in the campaign, which was characterised by racism and sectarianism. But how much can we blame the internet for the bitterness of the campaign and how much is it explained by Indonesia’s conservative turn more generally? How did technology impact on this election? Are we seeing a new platform for organisation and political activism in Indonesia, based on a freedom to hate?”
Talking Indonesia Podcast host, Dr. Jemma Purdey, exploring these questions in her interview with me. Click the link below to listen.

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Freedom to Hate: Social Media, Algorithmic Enclaves, and the Rise of Tribal Nationalism in Indonesia

Sometimes, when emotion runs high, I take a really long walk, daydream, debate with myself, and then write a lot. Oh well, probably “write a lot” needs to be expanded to: sleep, write, write, write, sleep, sleep, sleep :-D. My latest article article was produced in one of such moments. Of course, this situation is neither an aberration nor a norm.  It is just it is.  Some other times,  I just sulk & watch a lot of Netflix movies or bang mellow songs on the piano & depress my office-mates ;-). Or just sleep a lot. Eh, not true. I do sleep a lot whether emotion runs low, high, or in-between. In sleep I trust, indeed ;-D

So, here is the article. As you can tell from its title, it’s a gloomy article.

Lim, M. (2017). Freedom to Hate: Social Media, Algorithmic Enclaves, and the Rise of Tribal Nationalism in Indonesia. Critical Asian Studies.
http://www.tandfonline.com/…/…/10.1080/14672715.2017.1341188

Continue reading “Freedom to Hate: Social Media, Algorithmic Enclaves, and the Rise of Tribal Nationalism in Indonesia”

Malaysian #Bersih Sweeping the Unclean

Here is my last #publication from 2016; an article on Malaysian #Bersih electoral reform movement, focusing mostly on the roles and limitations of social media platforms and their contributions to the shaping of the movement’s imaginaries, practices, and trajectories.
 
Feel free to download, if you’re interested.
 
See you with more work in 2017!

Networked Politics

“[…] it is misleading to claim that online deliberation and online mobilization practices have really deepened democracy.”

“We want to emphasize that the Internet enables multiple, overlapped and diverse networked political spheres to emerge. These are contested spheres that are sometimes messy, chaotic, segmented and even anarchic. Not all of these aim to advance and deepen democracy, but within these convivial spheres individuals and groups have more chance to be political.”

Continue reading “Networked Politics”