Social media is a transformative digital technology, collapsing the “six degrees ofseparation” which have previously characterized many social networks, and breaking down many of the barriers to individuals communicating with each other. Some commentators suggest that this is having profound effects across society, that social media have opened up new channels for public debates and have revolutionized the communication of prominent public issues such as climate change. In this article we provide the first systematic and critical review of the literature on social media and climate change. We highlight three key findings from the literature: a substantial bias toward Twitter studies, the prevalent approaches to researching climate change on social media (publics, themes, and professional communication), and important empirical findings (the use of mainstream information sources, discussions of “settled science,” polarization, and responses to temperature anomalies).Following this, we identify gaps in the existing literature that should beaddressed by future research: namely, researchers should consider qualitativestudies, visual communication and alternative social media platforms to Twitter.We conclude by arguing for further research that goes beyond a focus on sciencecommunication to a deeper examination of how publics imagine climate changeand its future role in social life.
Pressure from politics and the public has created a greater demand for the media to be more accountable. Moreover, growing structural changes in the media landscape – including media concentration, commercialization, fiercer competition, an increasingly fragmented public, and the advent of new media – have also challenged how media should be accountable and responsive. This article looks at how Dutch broadcast media are responding to increasing pressure in terms of accountability and responsiveness through a case-‐study research from two leading broadcast news organizations. The need for more openness to and connection with the public is acknowledged, and among many journalists this is now even considered a necessity. However, when it comes to routinized daily application, there is a general resistance as it does not live within their professional autonomy and authority. New online instruments have created opportunities with more platforms and possibilities for the public to participate. However, at this point the online instruments put new constraints on the social system of organization with unforeseen activities and costs.
This is not a catalogue of finished work. This is also not a report of our collaboration on climate imaginaries. Instead, this zine offers a peek into an ongoing collaboration between artists, designers and researchers who have jointly turned their attention to the rising ocean. In riso-printed* collages, designers Carlo De Gaetano, Andy Dockett and Mariana Fernández Mora formulate their visual responses to the questions, insights and experiments we encounter on our journey. Previous research has shown that before people can accept, let alone create, the change necessary for the climate crisis, they need to first be able to imagine life in a changing climate. How can one facilitate imagination between generations and across species, geographies and materialities? Or liberate the imagination from recurring tropes that suggest climate change is of the future, elsewhere, affecting others, when so many people worldwide already live its devastating impact? These questions lie at the heart of our programme Climate Imaginaries at Sea. With the generous support of the NWA-arts route, CoECI and ARIAS, we will continue our work through artistic research studios that address global South, material and interspecies perspectives on climate change*, striving to make waves.
MULTIFILE
