[Commlist] PhD course: The datafication of the media industry – infrastructures of data and networks in the future of media

*PhD Course: THE DATAFICATION OF THE MEDIA INDUSTRY – INFRASTRUCTURES OF 
DATA AND NETWORKS IN THE FUTURE OF MEDIA *

Location: AAU Copenhagen, Denmark

November 17-18, 2021

Organized by: The Technical Doctoral School of IT and Design at Aalborg 
University, Denmark

As many other industries, the media business is in the middle of a 
digital service transformation that changes both power relations, 
business structures and daily operations. The datafication of the media 
business is visible to citizens/consumers; it has a big societal impact 
and is possibly more radical in nature compared to many other industries.

The tech platforms - social media networks, global Video on Demand 
services, app stores and digital services in general - now shape both 
business conditions and politics. This development pushes traditional 
media such as newspapers, broadcasters and other publishers to move into 
a territory, which is novel for them: Datafication - understood e.g. as 
algorithmic recommendation, audience analysis and algorithmic content 
creation (‘robot journalism’). This algorithmic turn challenges many of 
the established cultural values in media, e.g. diversity, unbiasedness 
and human curation.

These values legitimate the media in their own understanding and in the 
public (political) understanding of their role in society. But is there 
a fundamental incompatibility between the new algorithmic instruments 
and the traditional values of the media? Do the algorithmic instruments 
constitute a chance for a new definition of what 'media' are, or will 
the mathematical logic of the algorithms destroy the human aspect of 
mass media communication?

The datafication of the media is propelled forward by the dynamics of 
IP-based communication, which changes the business foundation of media. 
'Old’ digital media communication technologies such as DVB (Digital 
Video Broadcasting) or DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting) give way to 
'Over-the-top' IP-based solutions such as Video on Demand. For users 
this may be experienced as an improvement of the user experience (or a 
burden of many new subscriptions), but for national cultural policies 
and for the security / stability of the media infrastructure, the shift 
to IP-based media has big implications.

This course offers an interdisciplinary approach to the transformations 
of the media industry and its implications for societies. Participants 
will present and discuss own research. Course lectures will present and 
discuss key literature as well as own research. Finally, presentations 
from the media industry will provide important insights.

Prior to the course participants will submit on their current research. 
After the course, participants will either submit an updated version of 
this paper, or a new paper reflecting on one of the PhD course topics. 
The approval of this paper is a prerequisite for passing the course

LECTURERS: Anders Henten, professor, CMI/ES, Reza Tadayoni, associate 
professor CMI/ES, Jannick Kirk Sørensen, associate professor CMI/ES, 
Jannie Møller Hartley, Associate Professor RUC, Head of Research and 
Innovation at Ekstrabladet, Kasper Lindskow

Apply at: https://phd.moodle.aau.dk/course/view.php?id=1599 
<https://phd.moodle.aau.dk/course/view.php?id=1599>(create a user 
login-in and sign up)

ECTS: 2

Contact: Jannick Kirk Sørensen, (js /at/ es.aau.dk)

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