Slang is a nonstandard informal vocabulary peculiar to a group. In this digital age, the reproduction and evolution of slang words has become faster due to the digital platforms that they are often...Show moreSlang is a nonstandard informal vocabulary peculiar to a group. In this digital age, the reproduction and evolution of slang words has become faster due to the digital platforms that they are often used in. Research has been done on the lexical aspects of slang and slang in general (Sornig (1981); Metcalf (2002)), and on forms of digital slang (McCulloch (2019)), but none view slang as a mode of translation and applied it to to other types of text besides messages on social media. This thesis will address where digital slang terms come from, and if their origins can help explain how likely they are to be understood by someone who speaks regular English. To do so I will annotate a slang translation of Harry Potter, and research the etymological origins of the slang to try to discover - using Metcalf’s (2002) FUDGE theory - which slang terms are more likely to be understood. I expect to find that the slang terms that more closely resemble regular English words are more likely to be understood.Show less
De manier waarop journalisten zich profileren is sinds de komst van sociale media sterk veranderd. Waar zij voorheen geacht werden om afstand tot onderwerpen en verhalen te behouden, is het...Show moreDe manier waarop journalisten zich profileren is sinds de komst van sociale media sterk veranderd. Waar zij voorheen geacht werden om afstand tot onderwerpen en verhalen te behouden, is het tegenwoordig vanzelfsprekend dat journalisten zich geopinieerd uitspreken en persoonlijke informatie delen op sociale platformen als Twitter en Instagram. Dit duidt op een verandering in de traditionele journalistieke waarden. Een verklaring hiervoor is, volgens de literatuur, de normalisatie van een nieuwe medialogica binnen de journalistiek, waaruit de wens ontstaat om een personal brand op te bouwen. Dit zou journalisten namelijk talloze economische, activistische en egocentrische voordelen opleveren, die zij in een tijd van toenemende concurrentie en economische crisis hard nodig hebben. Vooral freelance journalisten zouden hierbij gebaat zijn, omdat zij aan de hand van een succesvol online brand gemakkelijker opdrachten kunnen verkrijgen. Deze scriptie onderzoekt middels kwalitatieve interviews met tien freelance journalisten en een inhoudsanalyse van hun sociale profielen op welke manier zij zich profileren, hoe zij hun keuzes in hun online activiteiten motiveren en hoe zich dit relateert tot traditionele journalistieke waarden als ‘objectiviteit’, ‘transparantie’ en ‘autonomie’. De resultaten van dit onderzoek vormen een uitgebreide typering van het online gedrag van freelance journalisten en hun opvattingen over sociale media. Hieruit kan worden geconcludeerd dat de respondenten de traditionele journalistieke waarden niet zo zeer herdefiniëren, maar dat er onder hen wel duidelijke verschuivingen te zien zijn in de prioritering van de journalistieke waarden. Dit betekent dat waarden als ‘autonomie’ en ‘transparantie’ tegenwoordig belangrijker worden geacht dan waarden als ‘objectiviteit’ of ‘onpartijdigheid’. Met een nieuw paradigma als ‘constructieve journalistiek’ wordt de verschuiving van deze waarden verklaard en gerechtvaardigd. Daarnaast wijzen de respondenten op het vervagen van de conceptuele grenzen van de journalistiek en benadrukken zij het belang van subcategorieën binnen het werkveld. Zo heeft de specifieke journalistieke functie waar een journalist zich mee identificeert belangrijke implicaties voor de hantering van journalistieke normen en waarden. Toch blijkt personal branding voor alle respondenten niet het belangrijkste doel van hun sociaalmediagebruik, waardoor de invloed op de journalistieke waarden beperkt blijft.Show less
In recent years, Automated Influence, understood as “the use of artificial intelligence to collect, integrate and analyse people’s data, and to deliver targeted interventions based on this analysis...Show moreIn recent years, Automated Influence, understood as “the use of artificial intelligence to collect, integrate and analyse people’s data, and to deliver targeted interventions based on this analysis, intended to shape their behaviour” (familiarly referred to as ‘algorithms’) has stirred up many debates among the public, as well as within academia (Benn & Lazar 2022, 127). While much of the discussion has focused primarily on issues of privacy in the light of Big Data, this thesis seeks to analyze how Automated Influence impacts the deliberative, discursive, and fundamentally social space on which society depends on, in particular for collective decision-making/politics. I argue that Automated Influence deployed on social media platforms violates people’s fundamental interest in social agency, which is defined as the ability of a person to act and reflect on her own motives all the while taking part in the fundamentally social process of forming, defending, and adapting the reasons according to which she acts. Moreover, it undermines people’s autonomy and social trust, which both serve as preconditions for their exercise social agency. After reviewing contemporary EU regulation seeking to address some of the problematic aspects related to Automated Influence, I explain why there cannot be a purely top-down approach to mitigating the harms emanating from Automated Influence, which results in my conclusion that only through educating people about its potential harms could mitigate the problem in the long run.Show less
This thesis uses a comparative analysis to determine whether the underlying strategies that China employs in their propaganda efforts in regards to Taiwan during the modern age of social media and...Show moreThis thesis uses a comparative analysis to determine whether the underlying strategies that China employs in their propaganda efforts in regards to Taiwan during the modern age of social media and the internet are the same as the strategies that were employed in this field in the era between the defeat of the KMT in China and the invention of social media.Show less
Since the first oil-boom of the 1970s, the Arab Gulf countries have witnessed rapid socio-economic developments as a result of expansive oil-revenues. These rapid socioeconomic developments were...Show moreSince the first oil-boom of the 1970s, the Arab Gulf countries have witnessed rapid socio-economic developments as a result of expansive oil-revenues. These rapid socioeconomic developments were multifaceted, but in a region known for its social conservatism, it is interesting to explore the evolution of the position of women amid socio-economic changes. The expression of female agency offers numerous possibilities to explore this evolution in Arab-Gulf societies from a woman’s perspective, but it also offers challenges to Western academics as contemporary literature on female agency in the Arab Gulf is limited. In this thesis, I present a case study of the social media accounts of six Arab-Gulf women with a relatively large social media following. Research has been conducted into their social media posts to explain a changing attitude in female agency in the Arab Gulf, in terms of clothing, self-expression and positioning in their society. As all six women are part of the wealthier echelons of their society, it is interesting to observe that there is little cohesion in their posts to changing societal progress in terms of women’s rights. While the women seem to acknowledge societal change through their posts, none of them used their relatively large social media following to explicitly call out leaders to demand rights or to express gratitude for obtained rights. This research highlights the need for further exploration into the expression of female agency through the use of social media in a digitalizing world.Show less
Donald Trump was a highly controversial figure in the 2016 and 2020 elections. He presented himself as America’s hero (Mercieca, 2020). Trump's 2016 campaign was marked by an unique and...Show moreDonald Trump was a highly controversial figure in the 2016 and 2020 elections. He presented himself as America’s hero (Mercieca, 2020). Trump's 2016 campaign was marked by an unique and idiosyncratic rhetoric and campaigning style in which social media play a large role and especially his use of Twitter was remarkable (Polak, 2018). Trump’s rhetoric was full of pathos-driven techniques like: America first exceptionalism, hyperboles, repetition, fear appeals, ad populum and ad hominem arguments (Mercieca, 2020) while his rhetoric lacked complexity (Skinnel, 2018). Furthermore, Trump was known to distort facts (Skinnel, 2018). Although Trump was suspended from Twitter, begin January 2021, shortly after losing the election and the storming of the capitol took place, he has recently made a re-entrance on Twitter. The author of this paper wishes to contribute to the current research on Trump’s unique rhetorical style which continues to have a strong influence in America and do so by analysing Trump’s Twitter use during the 2020 elections, making use of a corpus based approach supplemented by a qualitative analysis of his rhetoric.Show less
More than 95%. This is the highly alarming number of incidents of sexual violence in Japan that are not reported to the police according to a study from 2018.1 In fact, in Japan, sexual crimes...Show moreMore than 95%. This is the highly alarming number of incidents of sexual violence in Japan that are not reported to the police according to a study from 2018.1 In fact, in Japan, sexual crimes continue to carry a heavy stigma and society’s approach to it remains sexist and archaic.2 From 2017, #MeToo, a hashtag constituted of two simple but powerful words has travelled around the world enabling women to voice their allegations of sex crimes. This movement could have been the opportunity to break the silence about sexual violence in Japan, nonetheless, it did not seem to take root in the country. This thesis aims to shed light on the struggle endured by victims of sexual violence in Japan who dared to speak up in a society unwilling to understand their pain. This thesis intends to dive into this matter and analyse how the adverse reactions to allegations of sex crimes reflect Japanese society’s stance toward the #MeToo movement.Show less
Why do many women feel the constant need to enhance their looks? How do they navigate their way in the beauty regime around them? With the help of interviews and a review of postcolonial feminist...Show moreWhy do many women feel the constant need to enhance their looks? How do they navigate their way in the beauty regime around them? With the help of interviews and a review of postcolonial feminist theories, this Master thesis explores the influences of the patriarchal, modern/colonial, and capitalist regimes on women's body image in Lebanon. Many women in Lebanon use beauty to get ahead since other ways of advancement are limited. The legacy of civil war, economic situation, and the state regime keep gender oppression institutionalized. Beautification is a short-term panacea helping individual women to rise to the top within the existing system, yet fails to address the roots of structural gender-based oppressions.Show less
Due to the Venezuelan Exodus, Peru has received over 1,2 Million Venezuelan immigrants, provoking a turn towards the criminalization and securitization of migration. This study adopts a Discourse...Show moreDue to the Venezuelan Exodus, Peru has received over 1,2 Million Venezuelan immigrants, provoking a turn towards the criminalization and securitization of migration. This study adopts a Discourse-Historical Approach to investigate how Venezuelan immigrants in Peru are socio-politically criminalized in news articles by Exitosa Noticias shared on Facebook in February 2021. In a second part, the public response to these articles will be examined through an analysis of the Facebook comments, which can give an indication of discourse patterns on Venezuelan migration among a subgroup of the Peruvian population. The main findings are that news coverage by Exitosa Noticias and the dominant discourse perpetuated by their readership has strong elements of criminalization. By use of referential and predicational strategies, the Venezuelan immigrants are represented negatively in the comments and often linked to criminality.Show less
This thesis examines the role of social media in the Paro Nacional movement in Colombia in 2019-2020. Through a study of relevant literature, news articles, and a quantitative and qualitative...Show moreThis thesis examines the role of social media in the Paro Nacional movement in Colombia in 2019-2020. Through a study of relevant literature, news articles, and a quantitative and qualitative investigation of social media use, this analysis of social movement structures and the Paro Nacional movement leads to the identification of three functions of social media.Show less
Even though scholars have extensively researched the underrepresentation of women in U.S. politics, the focus has always been on the existing political system and the traditional campaign...Show moreEven though scholars have extensively researched the underrepresentation of women in U.S. politics, the focus has always been on the existing political system and the traditional campaign mechanisms. Drawing on the concepts counter-hegemony and counter-public and through conducting an Ethnographic Media Content Analysis, I research the possibilities of approaching politics in a different way, beyond the status quo. In doing so, I focus on the way in which Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is using social media platforms for political campaign purposes. Analyzing several performances of AOC in the media, I argue that, ultimately, AOC has created a counter-public in the media sphere, through which she serves the counter-hegemonic purpose of confronting the traditional ways of political campaigning. Subsequently, I examine the implications of AOC’s counter-public and discuss how it can be seen as an example for other women, that is, how her example of campaigning can contribute to increasing the representation of women in U.S. Politics when they shape their campaigns differently than the norm.Show less
This thesis will focus on the popularisation of the feminist movement. It will look into how several influential mainstream Instagram trends, such as the VSCO Girls and the Insta-Baddies,...Show moreThis thesis will focus on the popularisation of the feminist movement. It will look into how several influential mainstream Instagram trends, such as the VSCO Girls and the Insta-Baddies, incorporate feminist ideals in their aesthetic. Nowadays, stereotypical gender imagery is not only visible in advertisements, films and pop culture anymore, but also on social media. Platforms like Instagram and Snapchat, where imagery is the main component, have a humongous influence on its users’ way of thinking, and with that their self-image and self-esteem. Through the past decade, there has been risen more attention for these so-called toxic social media habits. New online social media trends try to reprogram the well-known stereotypes and toxic aspects. The focus of this thesis is, therefore, on the influence feminism has on visual media, specifically female performativity in Instagram posts. Do women challenge or perform the Male Gaze? Could there be said that current Instagram aesthetics execute feminist ideals? The trends will be analysed (loosely) based on the Roman stylistics of translatio, imitatio and aemulatio. This will show where we are currently finding ourselves in the progress of challenging the Male Gaze and executing feminist ideals online. It will show that there has been made quite some progress, especially in mainstream culture, but that there is still a long way to go as well.Show less
In the last couple of years, scholars have been arguing a decline in political participation, especially among young people. The Fridays for Future movement with thousands of young climate strikers...Show moreIn the last couple of years, scholars have been arguing a decline in political participation, especially among young people. The Fridays for Future movement with thousands of young climate strikers counters these statements. The aim of this thesis is to investigate the facilitating role of social media on youth political participation. This thesis analyses how social media contributes to the formation of a collective group identity of social movements, which in turn could lead to collective political action. To answer this question, content analysis of comments on three Instagram posts by Fridays for Madrid have been used, looking at the four foundations of collective group identity: solidarity, emotional attachment, group cohesion and activist-based identification. The results demonstrate the facilitating function of social media in the formation of collective group identity, by enabling more easily and frequently interaction between participants and the social movement compared to offline social movement activities.Show less
