<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>In this article, we advocate for media studies to adopt a systematic evolutionary-complexity model, in order to link the study of human culture and knowledge practices to the biosphere and geosphere, arguing that such global phenomena require a new kind of cultural science. For this purpose, we extend Juri Lotman's model of the semiosphere to the “digital semiosphere”, superseding inherited adversarial models in both mainstream media and media studies. We contrast the mediation of Covid-19 with that of the climate crisis, using Lotman's model to propose that, in the digital semiosphere, the global emergence of girl-led climate activism and far-right Covid-19 conspiracy groups indicates how new social classes are organising around the means of their own mediation. We discuss ways to study and forecast such emergent processes using the means of cultural data analytics and related approaches.</p>
</abstract>

In this article, we advocate for media studies to adopt a systematic evolutionary-complexity model, in order to link the study of human culture and knowledge practices to the biosphere and geosphere, arguing that such global phenomena require a new kind of cultural science. For this purpose, we extend Juri Lotman's model of the semiosphere to the “digital semiosphere”, superseding inherited adversarial models in both mainstream media and media studies. We contrast the mediation of Covid-19 with that of the climate crisis, using Lotman's model to propose that, in the digital semiosphere, the global emergence of girl-led climate activism and far-right Covid-19 conspiracy groups indicates how new social classes are organising around the means of their own mediation. We discuss ways to study and forecast such emergent processes using the means of cultural data analytics and related approaches.

Emergent self-mediating classes in the digital semiosphere: Covid-19 conspiracies and the climate justice movement

Nordic Journal of Media Studies

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

In this article, we advocate for media studies to adopt a systematic evolutionary-complexity model, in order to link the study of human culture and knowledge...

Emergent self-mediating classes in the digital semiosphere: Covid-19 conspiracies and the climate justice movement

Publicado en línea: 06 jul 2021

Páginas: 118 - 140

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/njms-2021-0007

Palabras clave
cultural semiotics, cultural science, climate activism, conspiracy theories, cultural forecasting

© 2021 John Hartley et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Figure 1

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Emergent self-mediating classes in the digital semiosphere: Covid-19 conspiracies and the climate justice movement

Publicado en línea: 06 jul 2021

Páginas: 118 - 140

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/njms-2021-0007

Palabras clavecultural semiotics, cultural science, climate activism, conspiracy theories, cultural forecasting

© 2021 John Hartley et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Palabras clave
cultural semiotics, cultural science, climate activism, conspiracy theories, cultural forecasting