Advanced seminar in media technology by Magdalena Obermaier (Dr. rer. soc., LMU Munich), postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Media and Communication at LMU Munich, Germany.

Topic

Anti-social communication such as cyberbullying and hate speech seems to spread increasingly in digital media, especially on social networking sites. Being target of such aggressive attacks can have severe consequences ranging from negative emotions and less well-being to depression and social exclusion.

Also, uninvolved witnesses (i.e., bystanders) are at risk of perceiving the climate of opinion distorted in the direc­tion of the views expressed in the hateful utterances or to counter hatefully themselves, what, in turn, could contribute to social polarization ten­dencies. Hence, bystander intervention, for instance by engaging in counter speech, is essential for combatting anti-social communication in digital media.

This applies in particular to its potential persuasive effects and devastating consequences for targets and for society as a whole, especially when considering the challenging legal situation. Hence, the presentation is discusses under what circumstances bystanders of cyberbullying or hate speech intervene. And, how can design aspects of digital media (e.g., technical options for flagging, installing reflective messages) possibly influence bystander behaviour?

The findings demonstrate among other things that the feeling of responsibility is key to boost the intention to intervene. These results, the potential influence of design aspects in bystander intervention, and possible limitations will be discussed in the seminar.

Bio

Magdalena Obermaier (Dr. rer. soc., LMU Munich) is a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Media and Communication at LMU Munich, Germany. Her research interests include effects of anti-social behavior (e.g., hate speech and cyberbullying) and counter voices online (e.g., bystander behavior and counter speech). Furthermore, she focuses on media effects and persuasion (e.g., media trust) as well as journalism research (e.g., relationship between journalism and PR).

Fika will be served generously.