Study these lectures and the articles in the other document
Example questions at the end of all lectures
,Lecture 1 Introduction utopia and dystopia
Changes in how we inform ourselves through the media landscape
- Decline in TV-usage and print (right after COVID)
- Rising disagreement and news avoidance
- Social media is the main source of news (41% of people between 18-24)
- Facebook is becoming less influential for news (video-let platforms as YT, Insta and TikTok are
more important)
- Media changes more prominent among younger groups
- Decline in interest in news in: Argentine, France, Spain, US and UK
- No decline in interest in news: Germany, Australia, South Korea, Netherlands, Finland
Social technologies = artificial agents as new species
- Ethical concerns: privacy, intimacy, personal responsibility
- Practical concerns: data protection, physical hazards, legality
Political ‘news’: democratic clash of the Digital Revolution:
- Extremism, polarization, conspiracy beliefs
- Populism and gullibility (?)
- Data has transformed to micro-target people
Utopia: a community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its
citizens
- Optimism
- Strong belief and invest in technical development
- Cultural change toward individuation and individual empowerment
Dystopia: a community or society that is undesirable or frightening
Industrial Revolution = a rapid major change in an economy marked by the general introduction of
power-driven machinery or by an important change in the prevailing types and methods of use of
such machines. Four types:
1784 First Mechanical production, railroads, stream power
1870 Second Mass production, electrical power, advent of assembly line
1969 Third Automated production, electronics, and computers
Now Fourth Artificial intelligence, big data, robotics → shift in physical, digital, and
biological systems, driven my AI, robotics, internet
,Lecture 2 Introduction to privacy
1. What is privacy?
Privacy is defined by time, culture, individual differences and contexts
Individualism (US, Western Europe):
- Privacy is seen as a fundamental right and more individuals may be more vocal about
protecting their personal space
- Emphasis on personal autonomy and individual rights
- Greater acceptance of personal disclosure and self-expression
Northern Europe (Scandinavia, UK, Germany, Netherlands):
▪ People generally prefer more personal space
▪ Unannounced visits may be considered intrusive
▪ Small talk with strangers is less common
Collectivism (East Asia, Middle East):
- Less concern about personal privacy when it conflicts with the needs or expectations of the
group
- Prioritization of group harmony over individual autonomy
- Tendency to share information within close-knit communities
Southern & Eastern Europe (Spain, Italy, Greece, Balkans):
▪ Physical closeness and spontaneous social interactions are more common
▪ Casual conversations with strangers are more accepted
▪ Hospitality traditions mean that it is more common for friends and family to drop
by unannounced
▪ France: physical greetings such as kissing on the check (la bise) are common,
even in unprofessional settings
Online communication: how much should we share online? Online communication comes with a
balance between self-expression and privacy (Walter). Greater disclosure means: more social and
personal benefits, but also a higher risk of privacy breaches.
Walter The privacy myth: many users assume their online communication is private, but the reality
is that online content is often public, permanent and replicable. The internet captures and
distributes information, designed for sharing and visibility. Expecting privacy doesn’t
automatically provide legal protection. The consequence of this myth:
- An unexpected audience may view your posts
- Content can resurface later
- Users have faced punishment or reputational damage due to past posts
- Responsibility largely falls on the user → legal protections are limited
- Users need informed understanding of digital systems
Theoretical perspectives
Westin 1967 Political science approach:
Privacy is interaction with others and the society as a whole
Altman 1975 Psychological approach:
Privacy is for the self (wellbeing and identity regulation)
Petronio 2002 Communication approach:
Privacy as information ownership and sharing
, Westin 1967 Privacy is a basic need which helps us adjust to day-to-day interactions. Privacy is
non-monotonic: you can have too little, enough, and too much privacy → more is
not always better.
Altman 1975 He formulated the Privacy Regulation Theory, which aimed at understanding why
individuals alternate between states of sociality and solitude. Privacy is a ‘selective
control of access to the self or to one’s group’. Five elements of privacy:
1. Dynamic process: individuals regulate what they want to share or not, depending on the
situational or social context
2. Individual vs. group level:
a. Individual: who can approach you, who gets emotional access, how much do you
want to reveal
b. Group: friends share secrets only with the circle, work teams holding confidential
discussions, cultural groups protecting norms, ‘family norms’
3. Desired vs. actual level: desired privacy may differ from others’ in a given context
4. Non-monotonic: there is no such thing as both too much and not enough privacy
5. By-directional (inwards and outwards)
a. Inward regulation: controlling access to yourself
b. Outward regulation: controlling what you reveal
Petronio 2002 Communication Privacy Management Theory, originally known as Communication
Boundary Management. We need to regulate the boundaries we put between
ourselves and others
Example questions at the end of all lectures
,Lecture 1 Introduction utopia and dystopia
Changes in how we inform ourselves through the media landscape
- Decline in TV-usage and print (right after COVID)
- Rising disagreement and news avoidance
- Social media is the main source of news (41% of people between 18-24)
- Facebook is becoming less influential for news (video-let platforms as YT, Insta and TikTok are
more important)
- Media changes more prominent among younger groups
- Decline in interest in news in: Argentine, France, Spain, US and UK
- No decline in interest in news: Germany, Australia, South Korea, Netherlands, Finland
Social technologies = artificial agents as new species
- Ethical concerns: privacy, intimacy, personal responsibility
- Practical concerns: data protection, physical hazards, legality
Political ‘news’: democratic clash of the Digital Revolution:
- Extremism, polarization, conspiracy beliefs
- Populism and gullibility (?)
- Data has transformed to micro-target people
Utopia: a community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its
citizens
- Optimism
- Strong belief and invest in technical development
- Cultural change toward individuation and individual empowerment
Dystopia: a community or society that is undesirable or frightening
Industrial Revolution = a rapid major change in an economy marked by the general introduction of
power-driven machinery or by an important change in the prevailing types and methods of use of
such machines. Four types:
1784 First Mechanical production, railroads, stream power
1870 Second Mass production, electrical power, advent of assembly line
1969 Third Automated production, electronics, and computers
Now Fourth Artificial intelligence, big data, robotics → shift in physical, digital, and
biological systems, driven my AI, robotics, internet
,Lecture 2 Introduction to privacy
1. What is privacy?
Privacy is defined by time, culture, individual differences and contexts
Individualism (US, Western Europe):
- Privacy is seen as a fundamental right and more individuals may be more vocal about
protecting their personal space
- Emphasis on personal autonomy and individual rights
- Greater acceptance of personal disclosure and self-expression
Northern Europe (Scandinavia, UK, Germany, Netherlands):
▪ People generally prefer more personal space
▪ Unannounced visits may be considered intrusive
▪ Small talk with strangers is less common
Collectivism (East Asia, Middle East):
- Less concern about personal privacy when it conflicts with the needs or expectations of the
group
- Prioritization of group harmony over individual autonomy
- Tendency to share information within close-knit communities
Southern & Eastern Europe (Spain, Italy, Greece, Balkans):
▪ Physical closeness and spontaneous social interactions are more common
▪ Casual conversations with strangers are more accepted
▪ Hospitality traditions mean that it is more common for friends and family to drop
by unannounced
▪ France: physical greetings such as kissing on the check (la bise) are common,
even in unprofessional settings
Online communication: how much should we share online? Online communication comes with a
balance between self-expression and privacy (Walter). Greater disclosure means: more social and
personal benefits, but also a higher risk of privacy breaches.
Walter The privacy myth: many users assume their online communication is private, but the reality
is that online content is often public, permanent and replicable. The internet captures and
distributes information, designed for sharing and visibility. Expecting privacy doesn’t
automatically provide legal protection. The consequence of this myth:
- An unexpected audience may view your posts
- Content can resurface later
- Users have faced punishment or reputational damage due to past posts
- Responsibility largely falls on the user → legal protections are limited
- Users need informed understanding of digital systems
Theoretical perspectives
Westin 1967 Political science approach:
Privacy is interaction with others and the society as a whole
Altman 1975 Psychological approach:
Privacy is for the self (wellbeing and identity regulation)
Petronio 2002 Communication approach:
Privacy as information ownership and sharing
, Westin 1967 Privacy is a basic need which helps us adjust to day-to-day interactions. Privacy is
non-monotonic: you can have too little, enough, and too much privacy → more is
not always better.
Altman 1975 He formulated the Privacy Regulation Theory, which aimed at understanding why
individuals alternate between states of sociality and solitude. Privacy is a ‘selective
control of access to the self or to one’s group’. Five elements of privacy:
1. Dynamic process: individuals regulate what they want to share or not, depending on the
situational or social context
2. Individual vs. group level:
a. Individual: who can approach you, who gets emotional access, how much do you
want to reveal
b. Group: friends share secrets only with the circle, work teams holding confidential
discussions, cultural groups protecting norms, ‘family norms’
3. Desired vs. actual level: desired privacy may differ from others’ in a given context
4. Non-monotonic: there is no such thing as both too much and not enough privacy
5. By-directional (inwards and outwards)
a. Inward regulation: controlling access to yourself
b. Outward regulation: controlling what you reveal
Petronio 2002 Communication Privacy Management Theory, originally known as Communication
Boundary Management. We need to regulate the boundaries we put between
ourselves and others
