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Greek Sociological Association Conference

On October 31, 2024, Konstantinos Theodoridis attended the 9th Conference of the Greek Sociological Association, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens where he presented the paper “The role of social media in the production and consumption of culture: The case of cultural spaces on Instagram” in relation to the LOCUS project findings.

LOCUS Final Conference: Social Media, Youth and Consumption of Cultural Spaces

The research project LOCUS “sociaL media, yOuth, and Consumption of cUltural Spaces,” which is funded by the “3rd Call for H.F.R.I. Research Projects to support Postdoctoral Researchers,” and implemented at the Department of Communication, Media, and Culture, Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences, with Konstantinos Theodoridis as Principal Investigator, organised on 22 October 2024 the Final Conference.

The main objective of the Final Conference was the LOCUS Research Team to present the overall findings of the research project. In addition, there was an opportunity to disseminate the key points of the research to the cultural organisations – case studies of the project. As part of the activities during the conference, a policy forum was organised as a thematic session bringing together academics, researchers and cultural organisations.

During the opening speeches, the President of the Scientific Council of the H.F.R.I., Xenia Chryssochoou, who highlighted the importance of the Foundation’s actions and the funding of projects for young researchers, especially in a time when a collective effort is being made to halt the phenomenon of brain drain, as well as the Associate Professor, Angeliki Gazi and member of the Advisory Board mentioned about the relevance of the research project and the value of its multi-methodological approach.

Finally, as part of the LOCUS project activities, there was an opportunity to invite Professor in Sociology Steven Miles, Manchester Metropolitan University and also member of the Advisory Board as a Keynote Speaker with the title of his presentation being “You just wear what you want don’t yer?: Some reflections on the impact of consumption on young people’s identities in times of social and cultural instability”.

Final Conference Program

European Sociological Association Conference 2024

On August 28, 2023, Konstantinos Theodoridis presented during the European Sociological Association Conference, Porto, Portugal the paper “Cultural Spaces, Places and the Digitalisation of Consumption” in relation to the LOCUS project.

Η Ψηφιακή Εθνογραφία στην εποχή των Μέσων Κοινωνικής Δικτύωσης: Αποτυπώνοντας τον κόσμο μας σε ψηφιακή μορφή

Η τεχνολογική επανάσταση άλλαξε ριζικά τον τρόπο με τον οποίο ο σύγχρονος άνθρωπος αλληλεπιδρά με τον ψηφιακό κόσμο. Η εμφάνιση του διαδικτύου και η εξάπλωση των μέσων κοινωνικής δικτύωσης μας προσέφεραν νέες δυνατότητες όπως το να επικοινωνούμε και να αλληλεπιδρούμε με φίλους, οικογένεια, συνεργάτες και άλλους ανθρώπους από διαφορετικούς πολιτισμούς, υπερβαίνοντας τις χρονικές και τις γεωγραφικές αποστάσεις και τους περιορισμούς της φυσικής παρουσίας. Επιπλέον, ο ψηφιακός κόσμος προσέφερε ένα νέο τρόπο ψυχαγωγίας (π.χ. streaming), εκπαίδευσης, εργασίας, αγοράς προϊόντων και υπηρεσιών, ενώ παρέχει πρόσβαση σε πληθώρα πληροφοριών και ειδήσεων επιτρέποντας τη γρήγορη ενημέρωση των χρηστών. Αυτά τα νέα κοινωνικά περιβάλλοντα δεν προσφέρουν μόνο έναν τρόπο επικοινωνίας και πρόσβασης σε πληροφορίες, αλλά μετατρέπουν τους χρήστες σε ‘υβριδικές οντότητες’ σύμφωνα με τους Paoli και D’Auria (2021), δίνοντας τους την ικανότητα να δημιουργήσουν την ψηφιακή τους ταυτότητα, να γίνουν δημιουργοί περιεχομένου και να εκφράσουν τις προτιμήσεις τους.  

Σε αυτούς τους σύγχρονους ψηφιακούς κόσμους οι χρήστες μπορούν να εκφραστούν ελεύθερα χωρίς περιορισμούς ενώ η ανωνυμία τους μπορεί να οδηγήσει σε πιο αυθεντικές και ειλικρινείς εκφράσεις του εαυτού τους. Ο ψηφιακός χώρος αντανακλά τις προσωπικές και κοινωνικές πραγματικότητες των ανθρώπων. Η χρήση τους επηρεάζει την καθημερινή τους ζωή, τις κοινωνικές τους σχέσεις, τον τρόπο με τον οποίο επικοινωνούν με τους άλλους, την ψυχολογία τους, την εκπαίδευση τους και την ίδια την κοινωνίας μας.  Συνεπώς, η κατανόηση των ψηφιακών αυτών κόσμων αλλά και της συμπεριφοράς και των αλληλεπιδράσεων των χρηστών που λαμβάνουν χώρα σε αυτούς είναι απαραίτητη.

Μέσω της ψηφιακής εθνογραφίας, οι ερευνητές/τριες έχουν πρόσβαση σε μια πλούσια πηγή δεδομένων που επιτρέπει την μελέτη της ψηφιακής συμπεριφοράς των χρηστών. Η ψηφιακή εθνογραφία είναι ουσιαστική για την κατανόηση των χρηστών, των προτιμήσεών τους, της αποτύπωσης της συμπεριφοράς τους, των πολιτιστικών διαφορών τους και των αντιδράσεων τους μέσα στον ψηφιακό κόσμο. Η παρατήρηση και η ανάλυση του περιεχομένου των μέσων κοινωνικής δικτύωσης μπορεί να αποκαλύψει τις τρέχουσες τάσεις που κυριαρχούν, σημαντικά θέματα και πολιτιστικές τάσεις, αξίες και προτιμήσεις που κυριαρχούν στα πλαίσια μιας κοινωνίας.

Στο πλαίσιο αυτό το έργο LOCUS (sociaL media, yOuth and Consumption of cUltural Spaces) μέσω της χρήσης της ψηφιακής εθνογραφίας στο ευρύτερο πλαίσιο μιας πολυμεθοδολογικής ερευνητικής προσέγγισης έχει ως στόχο να διερευνήσει τις αλληλεπιδράσεις των νέων ηλικίας μεταξύ 16-30 ετών με τους πολιτιστικούς χώρους μέσα από το πρίσμα των μέσων κοινωνικής δικτύωσης και να κατανοήσει τις εμπειρίες τους, τις προτιμήσεις τους και τις συμπεριφορές τους. Η ψηφιακή εθνογραφία αποτελεί μία από τις προσεγγίσεις που χρησιμοποιούνται  για την παρακολούθηση και την κατανόηση των συμπεριφορών και των πρακτικών των νέων σε μέσα κοινωνικής δικτύωσης, προσφέροντας μια εικόνα των αλληλεπιδράσεων τους και επιτρέποντας την πλούσια συλλογή δεδομένων σε πραγματικό χρόνο. Η έρευνα εστιάζει σε τρεις μελέτες περίπτωσης στην πόλη της Αθήνας και συγκεκριμένα στο Κέντρο Πολιτισμού Ίδρυμα Σταύρος Νιάρχος (ΚΠΙΣΝ), στη Στέγη του Ιδρύματος Ωνάση και το Μουσείο της Ακρόπολης. Το έργο στοχεύει να εξερευνήσει και να κατανοήσει τον τρόπο που οι νέοι επικοινωνούν στα μέσα κοινωνικής δικτύωσης τις συνήθειες τους, τις προτιμήσεις και τον τρόπο αλληλεπίδρασης τους στους ψηφιακούς χώρους πολιτισμού και συγκεκριμένα στο Instagram των τριών περιπτώσεων μελέτης. Τα αποτελέσματα του έργου θα συμβάλουν στην ενημέρωση των πολιτιστικών οργανισμών προκειμένου να κατανοήσουν σε βάθος τη σημασία των social media στη σχέση που διαμορφώνουν οι νέοι και οι νέες με τους χώρους πολιτισμού και να μεγιστοποιήσουν την αλληλεπίδραση μαζί τους.  Οι νέοι και οι νέες βρίσκονται στον  πυρήνα της ψηφιακής εποχής και η ενεργή συμμετοχή τους στους ψηφιακά διαμεσολαβημένους χώρους πολιτισμού θα συμβάλλει στη διαμόρφωση του σύγχρονου πολιτιστικού τοπίου.

Digital Ethnography in the Era of Social Media: Capturing Our World in Digital Form

The technological revolution has radically changed the way modern humans interact with the digital world. The emergence of the internet and the proliferation of social media have offered us new possibilities, such as communicating and interacting with friends, family, colleagues, and others from different cultures, transcending temporal and geographical distances and the limitations of physical presence. Furthermore, the digital world has offered a new mode of entertainment (e.g. streaming), education, work, product purchasing, and service provision, while providing access to a plethora of information and news, enabling users to stay quickly informed. According to Paoli and D’Auria (2021), these new social environments not only offer a means of communication and information access but also transform users into ‘hybrid entities’, giving them the ability to create their digital identity, become content creators, and express their preferences.

In these modern digital worlds, users can express themselves freely without constraints, while their anonymity can lead to more authentic and sincere expressions of themselves. The digital space reflects people’s personal and social realities. Their use affects their daily lives, their social relationships, how they communicate with others, their psychology, their education, and our society itself. Therefore, understanding these digital worlds, as well as the behaviour and interactions of users within them, is essential.

Through digital ethnography, researchers have access to a rich source of data that allows the study of users’ digital behaviour. Digital ethnography is essential for understanding users, their preferences, their behavior patterns, their cultural differences, and their reactions within the digital world. Observing and analysing the content of social media can reveal current trends, significant issues and cultural trends, values, and preferences prevailing within a society.

In this context, the project LOCUS (sociaL media, yOuth and Consumption of cUltural Spaces), through the use of digital ethnography within the broader framework of a multi-methodological research approach, aims to explore the interactions of young people aged 16-30 with cultural spaces through the lens of social media and to understand their experiences, preferences, and behaviours. Digital ethnography is one of the approaches used to monitor and understand the behaviours and practices of young people on social media, providing a picture of their interactions and enabling the rich collection of real-time data. The research focuses on three case studies in the city of Athens, specifically the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC), the Onassis Stegi, and the Acropolis Museum. The project aims to explore and understand how young people communicate on social media, their habits, preferences, and their way of interacting in digital cultural spaces, specifically on the Instagram accounts of the three case studies. The results of the project will contribute to informing cultural organisations to deeply understand the importance of social media in the relationship that young people have with cultural spaces and to maximise their interaction with them. Young people are at the core of the digital age, and their active participation in digitally mediated cultural spaces will contribute to shaping the contemporary cultural landscape.

Envisioning the Future of Communication II Conference

On December 11, 2023, Konstantinos Theodoridis attended the international conference “Envisioning the Future of Communication II: Challenges – Trends – Opportunities” at the Department of Communication & Digital Media where he presented the paper “Digital media, consumer culture and the city: An investigation of the relationship between youth lifestyles with cultural spaces” in relation to the LOCUS project.

Announcement – Conference held as part of the research project LOCUS ‘Social Media, Youth, and Consumption of Cultural Spaces’

The research project LOCUS “sociaL media, yOuth, and Consumption of cUltural Spaces,” which is funded by the “3rd Call for H.F.R.I. Research Projects to support Postdoctoral Researchers,” and implemented at the Department of Communication, Media, and Culture, Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences, with Konstantinos Theodoridis as scientific supervisor, organized on Thursday 26 October a conference as part of its activities.

The objective of the conference was to provide an interdisciplinary approach to research issues related to social media, youth, and cultural policy in the digital environment. Researchers from various scientific fields participated in thematic sessions, presenting data from contemporary studies, as well as exceptionally interesting theoretical and methodological approaches. During the discussions, the importance of social media in the current context was highlighted, with the aim of understanding issues related to the identities of young people, culture, and consumption.

The event was welcomed by the President of the Scientific Council of H.F.R.I., Xenia Chrysochou, who highlighted the importance of the Foundation’s actions and the funding of projects for young researchers, especially in a time when a collective effort is being made to halt the phenomenon of young researchers leaving for abroad. Additionally, the event was welcomed by the Rector of Panteion University, Christina Koulouri, and the Assistant Professor and member of the project’s Advisory Committee, Angeliki Gazi.

Below are photos from the scientific conference.

LOCUS Conference: Social Media, Youth, and Consumption of Cultural Spaces

We would like to inform you that on Thursday, October 26, 2023, in the Sakis Karagiorgas II Amphitheatre of Panteion University, a conference will take place as part of the research program LOCUS: “sociaL media, yOuth and Consumption of cUltural Spaces” (Social media, youth, and consumption of cultural spaces) which is implemented by the Department of Communication, Media, and Culture.

The research program is supported by the Hellenic Foundation for Research & Innovation (H.F.R.I.) as part of the Action “3rd Call for H.F.R.I. Research Projects to support Postdoctoral Researchers.”

Conference Program

Establishing our Youth Advisory Group!

 

We’re excited that we developed our youth advisory group! The group has brought together young people between 16-30 years old. They are so enthusiastic for contributing to our discussions about culture, social media and social inclusion!

In particular we would like to acknowledge the members of our Youth Advisory Group, whose ideas, thoughts, inspiration and experiences about best practices  were invaluable! We are so grateful to their contribution in order to inform the interview guide. Those who dedicated their time and affort to this project are: 

 

1) Marina Matzari

My name is Marina Matzari and I am a graduate of the Department of Social Anthropology of Panteion University. I am an employee in the field of Sales and I am seeking to continue my studies at postgraduate level. At the centre of my interest are issues related to culture, its role as a reflection of social reality, as a field of confrontation with various hegemonic discourses, as well as the rapid diffusion of cultural formations as a structural element of our globalised era. 

2) Marilia Platsa

Marilia Platsa is an undergraduate student at the Law School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. She has completed her parallel studies at the minor level at the American College of Greece, majoring in International Relations and Business. She is currently in charge of the Public Law section of the legal journal De Jure Journal. In parallel with her studies, she has carried out internships in a multinational law firm, in a large energy group, in the Permanent Representation of Greece to the EU., as well as the Central Service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

3) Despina Sarrigeorgiou
 
My name is Despina Sarrigeorgiou and I am a student in the 3rd Grade of Lyceum, in the Humanities Orientation Group. I started dancing at the age of three and it is my great love (ballet, contemporary, modern, hip-hop, commercial and latin). I provide secretarial support to ICICTE, and I participate in European Erasmus+ projects, notably the EU-Heart, VRTeacher, Digital Teachers projects. I am interested in human rights, in particular, in promoting gender equality and defending people’s diversity however it is expressed.

4) Konstantinos Raptis

Konstantinos Raptis is an undergraduate student of the Communication, Media and Culture Department at the Pandeion University of Social and Political Sciences majoring in “Advertising & Public Relations”. He has also been part of ESN, the “Ad & Pr Lab In-House Agency” named “The Owls” for the purpose of “REBRAND” of the aforementioned university, as well as co-ordinator of the “Ad & Pr Lab”. He works as a social media & e-shop manager while maintaining special contact with the fields of communication and culture through seminars in psychology and dealing with the arts respectively.

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