Constellations of Liveness in Social Media (PhD Project)
The research will consist of an investigation of the functioning of liveness in constellations of mediated communication. First, I shall conduct a discourse analysis of the academic literature on liveness, suggesting a relation between the concept of liveness and an ideal of interpersonal communication. Following, I analyze “constellations of liveness” in three social media platforms (eJamming, YouTube and Facebook), through a combination of methods of textual analysis, methods of interface and software studies and digital methods. In the case studies, the role(s) of liveness in mediating social relations will be explored.