Constructing Public Space| New “Danger Zone” in Europe: Representations of Place in Social Media–Supported Protests

Authors

  • Cornelia Brantner University of Vienna, Austria
  • Joan Ramon Rodriguez-Amat Sheffield Hallam University, United Kingdom

Keywords:

public space, protest, communicative space, Twitter, social media, activist communication, representations

Abstract

Social media–supported protests build circuits of collective interaction that grow across physical, material, digital, and virtual spaces. Extending the research on the governance of communicative spaces, we ask whether representations of place define the public space and whether their analysis suffices to grasp the powerful processes embedded within that space. Consequently, we analyze the available representations of place in the Twitter communication about the protests against the Akademikerball, which is a ball organized by the right-wing populist party, the Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ), in Vienna, Austria. The analysis shows multiple forms of representation, but further consideration of its limitations takes into account three other key features of the public space. Together with an examination of representations, the analysis of textures, structures, and connections inform four modes of analysis that ought to be explored simultaneously to comprehensively understand the governance of the communicative space that is occupied in social media–supported protests.

Author Biographies

Cornelia Brantner, University of Vienna, Austria

Post-doctoral Researcher, Department of Communication, University of Vienna, Austria  

Joan Ramon Rodriguez-Amat, Sheffield Hallam University, United Kingdom

Lecturer in Media, Communications and PR at the Cultural, Communication and Computing Research Institut, Sheffield Hallam University

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Published

2016-01-06

Issue

Section

Special Sections