Jan-Felix Schrape

Masses, Crowds, Communities, Movements: Collective Action in the Internet Age

This article investigates two questions: One, how might the very differently structured social collectives on the Internet – masses, crowds, communities and movements – be classified and distinguished? And two, what influence do the technological infrastructures in which they operate have on their formation, structure, and activities? For this, we differentiate between two main types of social collectives: non-organized collectives, which exhibit loosely coupled collective behavior, and collective actors with a separate identity and strategic capability. Further, we examine the newness, or distinctive traits, of online-based collectives, which we identify as being the strong and hitherto non-existent interplay between the technological infrastructures that these collectives are embedded in and the social processes of coordination and institutionalization they must engage in, in order to maintain their viability over time. Conventional patterns of social dynamics in the development and stabilization of collective action are now systematically intertwined with technology-induced processes of structuration.

The renaissance of techno-utopianism as a challenge for responsible innovation

ABSTRACTResponsible research and innovation aspires to anticipate and assesses potential implications of innovations. Hence, emerging technologies are a crucial issue for this mode of foresight and governance. The case of nanotechnology demonstrated that discourses on those emerging technologies are increasingly shaped by techno-utopian narratives. We argue that these narratives are here to stay, because they are an expression of a contemporary medialization of science and technology. Since the RI community can neither ignore nor escape these techno-utopian narratives, it might engage in a hermeneutic reading of these visions as performative fiction. We use the case of desktop 3D printing to demonstrate in what way an analysis of techno-utopianism is able to reveal how responsibility for innovation gets redistributed.

Materializing Digital Futures

Based on two paradigmatic case studies—Web 2.0 and 3D printing—this chapter explores the semantic patterns of popular media utopias and unfolds the thesis that their continuing success is based on their multireferencial connectability and compatibility to a broad variety of sociocultural and socioeconomical discurses. Further, we discuss the ambivalences and social functions of utopian concepts in the digital realm.

Social Media, Massenmedien und Öffentlichkeit

Das Internet lost als Universalmedium die technischen Grenzen zwischen den eingespielten Medienformen zunehmend auf. Von den damit verbundenen Potentialen aber unmittelbare Veranderungen in den grundsatzlichen Strukturen gesellschaftlicher Offentlichkeit abzuleiten, ware ein technikdeterministischer Fehlschluss, der in den letzten Jahren immer wieder zu ubersteigerten Veranderungsvorstellungen gefuhrt hat. Vor diesem Hintergrund entwickelt vorliegender Beitrag auf der Grundlage von empirischen Beobachtungen und strukturtheoretischen Uberlegungen ein Einordnungsmodell fur Social Media und Massenmedien, das zunachst die unterschiedlichen Wirkungsbereiche beider Medienformen herausarbeiten will, um daran anknupfend drei explizit onlineinduzierte Verschiebungen in den Offentlichkeitstrukturen zu identifizieren.

Open Source Communities: The Sociotechnical Institutionalization of Collective Invention

Open source development has become an integral part of the software industry and a key component of the innovation strategies of all major IT providers. Against this backdrop, this article seeks to develop a systematic overview of open source communities and their socio-economic contexts. It begins with a reconstruction of the genesis of open source software projects and their changing relationships to established IT companies. This is followed by the identification of four ideal-type variants of current open source projects that differ significantly in their modes of coordination and the degree of corporate involvement. Further, the article examines why open source projects have mainly lost their subversive potential while, in contrast to former cases of collective invention, remaining viable beyond the emergence of predominant solutions and their commercial exploitation. In an industry that is characterized by very short innovation cycles, open source projects have proven to be important incubators for new product lines and branch-defining infrastructures. They do not compete against classical forms of production but instead complement and expand these.

Kollektivität und Macht im Internet

Das Internet ist zu einer wesentlichen infrastrukturellen Grundlage sozialen Handelns und Verhaltens geworden und eroffnet kollektiven Formationen der unterschiedlichsten Art neue Artikulations- und Aktivitatsmoglichkeiten. Dazu gehoren Massenphanomene wie beispielsweise feedbackgebende Kunden auf Shopping-Portalen wie Amazon, Nutzerkollektive von Social-Networking-Diensten wie Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp oder Snapchat, Publikations- und Rezeptionsnetzwerke auf YouTube, massenhaftes Filesharing, spontan auftretende Emporungswellen im Social Web (‚Shitstorms‘) oder um Hashtags gruppierte Diskussionszusammenhange auf Twitter. Dazu zahlen aber auch organisierter auftretende Interessen- und Produktionsgemeinschaften im Kontext der Open-Source-Softwareentwicklung oder der Erarbeitung freier Inhalte (z. B. Wikipedia) sowie soziale Bewegungen, die zur Mobilisierung und Koordinierung gesellschaftlichen Protests seit einiger Zeit auch auf das Internet bzw. Social Media zuruckgreifen.

Open Source Projects as Incubators of Innovation: From Niche Phenomenon to Integral Part of the Software Industry

Over the last 20 years, open source development has become an integral part of the software industry and a key component of the innovation strategies of all major IT providers. Against this backdrop, this paper seeks to develop a systematic overview of open source communities and their socio-economic contexts. I begin with a reconstruction of the genesis of open source software projects and their changing relationships to established IT companies. This is followed by the identification of four ideal-typical variants of current open source projects that differ significantly in their modes of coordination and the degree of corporate involvement. Further, I examine why open source projects have mainly lost their subversive potential while, in contrast to former cases of collective invention, remaining viable beyond the emergence of predominant solutions and their commercial exploitation: In an industry that is characterized by very short innovation cycles, open source projects have proven to be important incubators for new product lines and branch-defining infrastructures. They do not compete against classical forms of production but instead complement and expand these.

Zwischen Ermöglichung und Kontrolle. Kollektive Formationen im Web

Von spontanem Massenverhalten über den Zusammenschluss von Gleichgesinnten in Interessengemeinschaften bis hin zu Äußerungen politischen Protests im Rahmen sozialer Bewegungen – die Realitäten moderner Gesellschaften werden seit jeher durch die Aktivitäten kollektiver Formationen der verschiedensten Art mitgeprägt. So, wie das gesellschaftliche Leben im Allgemeinen zunehmend von den Onlinetechnologien durchdrungen wird, hat sich allerdings auch die Entstehung und Institutionalisierung kollektiven Verhaltens und Handelns verändert. Kollektive formieren und stabilisieren sich heute nicht mehr allein über soziale Prozesse, sondern zugleich über die technischen Infrastrukturen des Internets: über ubiquitär genutzte Kommunikationsdienste wie Facebook und Twitter oder auch – wie etwa im Falle von WikiLeaks, Anonymous oder Wikipedia – über eigene Plattformen. Die sozialen Effekte, die mit dieser technischen Einbettung kollektiver Aktivitäten einhergehen, sind ausgesprochen ambivalent. Die Plattformen und Dienste des Internets stellen nicht nur „technological tools that fundamentally enhance connectivity among people“ (Bimber et al. 2012: 3) bereit und erhöhen die Sichtbarkeit von politischem Protest bzw. gemeinschaftlichem Engagement, sondern zeichnen sich darüber hinaus durch eine in der Literatur lange unterschätzte verhaltensstrukturierende sowie regelsetzende Kraft aus und machen kollektives Verhalten und Handeln auf neue Weise observierund auswertbar. Wie sich dieses Spannungsfeld von Ermöglichung und Kontrolle konkret darstellt, variiert angesichts des mittlerweile sehr breiten Spektrums an Kollektivitäten im Onlinekontext erheblich. Vor diesem Hintergrund möchten wir in diesem Aufsatz zu einer Systematisierung kollektiven Verhaltens und Handelns im Web beitragen und die Rückwirkungen diskutieren, die für nicht-organisierte Kollektive und kollektive Akteure mit der Nutzung onlinebasierter Kommunikationsdienste einhergehen.

Collective Action in the Digital Age: An Actor-Based Typology

This article investigates two questions: One, how might the very differently structured social collectives on the internet—masses, crowds, communities and movements—be classified and distinguished? And two, what influence do the technological infrastructures in which they operate have on their formation, structure and activities? For this, we differentiate between two main types of social collectives: non-organized collectives, which exhibit loosely coupled collective behavior, and collective actors with a separate identity and strategic capability. Further, we examine the newness, or distinctive traits, of online-based collectives. We consider that newness to be comprised of the strong and hitherto non-existent interplay between the technological infrastructures that these collectives are embedded in and the social processes of coordination and institutionalization they must engage in order to maintain their viability over time. Conventional patterns of social dynamics in the development and stabilization of collective action are now systematically intertwined with technology-induced processes of structuration.

Collectivity and Power on the Internet: An Introduction

The internet allows for collectivity to unfold into an impressive and multi-layered phenomenon that engenders diverse forms of entirely spontaneous or informally structured social behavior and action. The first aim of this book is to to present a heuristic concept of spontaneous collective behavior and directed collective action. Second, the book examines the role and importance of the technical infrastructures of the internet alongside the social rules embedded in those infrastructures for the formation, stabilization and structuring of collective action and behavior. The third concern of this book is to work out the different levels and facets of the power of the internet companies and their influence on the structuring of collectives.