|
| |
|
|
Analysis of the Internet Discussions According to Goffman's Theory of Focused Interaction
Čížková, Anna ; Hájek, Martin (advisor) ; Tremčinský, Martin (referee)
This bachelor thesis examines the phenomenon of internet discussions on Facebook. The starting theoretical framework for the thesis is Erving Goffman's focused interaction and the principles of fun in games theory in terms of focused interaction. The aim of this study is to find out whether the elements of fun occur in the researched environment and what form they take up. Research units were specified as discussions on the official Facebook websites of chosen online news portals. These discussions are embodied in the comments section below shared political article. 70 research units were subjected to conversation analysis. The results of the analysis show that most of the examined internet discussions can be determined as focused interaction and the elements of the game are strongly present in the discussions. The real situation in a virtual environment, however, differs from the way game elements manifest themselves in the face-to-face interaction, in which Goffman defined the concept of focused interaction originally. This work also deals with the situation of the participants leaving the interaction. In this case, it appeared that not all the characteristics of the internet discussions can be interpreted in terms of fun in games theory. Some aspects of the interaction in a virtual environment...
|
|
| |
|
|
Sociology of PC gamers and its overlap into the "offline" world based on the Blitzchung Controversy
Sadovský, Samuel ; Tremčinský, Martin (advisor) ; Tesárek, Jan (referee)
In October 2019 the gaming world was "shaken" by the so called Blitzchung controversy, an incident during which a professional player of the videogame Hearthstone Ng Wai "Blitzchung" Chung was penalized after he supported the Hong Kong protestors during a live inteview of an official tournament. Chung was basically denied the basic human right of free speech. Considering the importance of this incident in the context of the gaming world, it is a unique case which showcases the potential existance of the causal relationship of games → real world. This study showcases relationships between the gaming world and other nongaming areas and subjects (education, government, politics and others) which are presented using selected studies and cases which are further expanded by the case study based on the Blitzchung controversy that chronologically describes observed phenomenons and characterizes participating actors. Structured interviews with selected respondents supplement the case study findings. This work mainly draws from theories that target gamers and the gaming world and tries to find answers to questions connected to the influence of the gaming world, it's potential as an environment suitable for political and other discussions and relevancy of gaming communities in the local and global discourse.
|
|
|
The clash of hyperobjects: plastic oceans strike back
Kvizda, Jakub ; Tremčinský, Martin (advisor) ; Sedláčková, Tereza (referee)
Ocean plastics permeate ever deeper into the lives of a growing number of humans and nonhumans and as such present an enormous environmental problem. However, its form is not self-evident, as well as the fact that we speak of a problem at all. In this paper, therefore, I trace processes of reality enactment of ocean plastics that were and still continue to be performed in many practices (e.g. scientific or activist), and their framing as a problem. With the help of Bruno Latour's concept of collective, I put the emergence of the whole problem into historical context. Ocean plastics were for many years of their gradual accumulation not visible, leading to their growth into a massive and dangerous hyperobject. It was registered by work of many particular practices thanks to which we have gradually learned to see ocean plastics. However, this was not merely a neutral discovering of their reality - this reality was being in these practices variously enacted which had as an effect its multiplication. Thus, I analyze realities forming within three projects - The Ocean Cleanup, Wasteland, Adidas x Parley - including mutual negotiations about ontology and aesthetics (sensual perception) of the problem that make possible speaking of a single ocean plastics problem. Its important part is an imaginary. Most...
|
|
|
Analysis of the Internet Discussions According to Goffman's Theory of Focused Interaction
Čížková, Anna ; Hájek, Martin (advisor) ; Tremčinský, Martin (referee)
This bachelor thesis examines the phenomenon of internet discussions on Facebook. The starting theoretical framework for the thesis is Erving Goffman's focused interaction and the principles of fun in games theory in terms of focused interaction. The aim of this study is to find out whether the elements of fun occur in the researched environment and what form they take up. Research units were specified as discussions on the official Facebook websites of chosen online news portals. These discussions are embodied in the comments section below shared political article. 70 research units were subjected to conversation analysis. The results of the analysis show that most of the examined internet discussions can be determined as focused interaction and the elements of the game are strongly present in the discussions. The real situation in a virtual environment, however, differs from the way game elements manifest themselves in the face-to-face interaction, in which Goffman defined the concept of focused interaction originally. This work also deals with the situation of the participants leaving the interaction. In this case, it appeared that not all the characteristics of the internet discussions can be interpreted in terms of fun in games theory. Some aspects of the interaction in a virtual environment...
|
|
|
Sociological Aspects of Aritificial Intelligence
Zálešák, Tomáš ; Bureš, Jiří (advisor) ; Tremčinský, Martin (referee)
This text is a literature review with the goal of introducing the topic of artificial intelligence (AI) as a sociologically relevant phenomenon to research. The text has three chapters that together form a basic platform to understand many different aspects of the topic. The first chapter is concerned with the technical aspects of AI and is based on technical literature. These aspects are important for understanding of the current surge of interest in AI that has arisen in the recent years. The technical aspects also help us understand the strengths and weaknesses of AI by understanding its inner workings. The second chapter introduces an overview of sociologically relevant works of authors dealing with the social effects and other aspects of AI. Works of four of these authors are chosen as examples of the breadth of possible ways of looking at AI and as sources for further understanding. The third chapter chooses two examples from the vast amount of areas of application AI in the real world to deepen the overall understanding. This chapter balances out the previous more theoretical chapters by looking at the state of the art in the fields of medicine and transportation and applies knowledge acquired in the previous chapters. The output of the text is a sort of introductory guide through the...
|
|
|
Collectors of Old Video Games: Colleagues, Hunters, Jews
Handl, Hugo ; Hrešanová, Ema (advisor) ; Tremčinský, Martin (referee)
Virtual social network Facebook is, taken its popularity a wide-spread nature important problem and as such relationships born within it and communities, connected to this social network present a topic, which ought to be given attention. In this thesis I focus on a relatively recent community on Facebook in the context of Czech republic, community of old video game collectors. Subjects of this thesis are two Facebook groups, selected because of their popularity: their member base and its activity and also on the basis of their orientation not mainly on exchange relating to items collected, but also interactions between members in the form of admiration of collected items and sharing their own collecting with other members. Aim of this thesis is to examine this aspect of groups of collectors of old video games and find out in what way do members of groups contribute to development within them, what position do they take in regards to community of collectors and forming relationships within it and motivation followed by them in the way they act and think about community of collectors and their own collecting in according ways. These aspects are more specifically explored through concepts of collecting, community, humour, material aspect and their inter- connectedness. Sources of data are:...
|
|
|
Identity plug-ins: Towards post-human theory of informational privacy
Tremčinský, Martin ; Grygar, Jakub (advisor) ; Numerato, Dino (referee)
The text is concerned with informational privacy in infosphere. Infosphere according to Luciano Floridi presents a new type of techno-scientific ecology in which western societies organize themselves and operate. Privacy is conceptualized as a labor of division in the infosphere, where every (quasi)subject is mobilizing various actors in order to protect her outer boundaries and resist objectification. The labor of division in infosphere is then compared with similar types of labor in different ecologies and societies (i.e. Amazonia and Mongolia) in sake of identification of crucial agents carrying out this labor of division based on negotiations of categories such as human/non-human or self/non-self. The text distinguishes three types of actors of division according to three interconnected intruders; traders, overseers and criminals. The argument then is that through mobilization of various dividing actors depending on the type of intruder, different (quasi)subjects emerge, thus subjectivity in the infosphere is a political project co- constructed by non/human dividing actors. The last chapter than proposes general ethical directions which might be helpful in the future, when considering the problems of lack of privacy.
|
|
|
Culture of Fear: Discourse Analysis of Šluknovsko Media Event
Tremčinský, Martin ; Hájek, Martin (advisor) ; Kotlík, Pavel (referee)
This paper deals with the discourse analysis of media case Šluknovsko, which erupted in 2011. It focuses on the construction of the risk arising from Šluknovsko crisis, relying mainly on Beck's theory of risk society. Paper through the analysis of newspaper articles from the autumn of 2011 shows how base on a local crisis based national and global risk associated with ethnic minorities are constructed. At the same time paper shows how the media construction of risk is connected with a process called glocalization, in which are locally limited and specific incidents correlated with transnational processes, in order to create global risks. Furthermore, this paper identifies actors, based on local narratives that are constructed in the case, which are, according to media, responsible for dealing with a crisis and the resulting risks. In conclusion, the author considers the potential impacts that such a risk discourse can have on government policy.
|
guest ::
