Digital Media Logic and the Algorithmic Generalized Other: An Online Open Lecture by Prof. David Altheide
As part of the 10th Workshop Towards Development of Mediatisation Research, organised by the Department of Mediatization at Maria Curie-Skłodowska University (UMCS), the Wrocław Academic Centre (WCA) and the Academia Europaea Wrocław Hub, we are pleased to invite you to an open online lecture by David Altheide, Regents’ Professor Emeritus at Arizona State University.
Date: Friday, 27 November 2026
Time: 17:00–18:00 CET (8:00–9:00 am PST)
Format: Online (MS Teams)
Join the lecture:
MS Teams: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/34276240701277?p=CXnCqOpNJyH7uAHzAi
Registration:
No prior registration is required. The lecture is open to everyone and can be accessed directly via the MS Teams link above.
About the lecture:
Media Logic is foundational for many derivations of mediated communication. The logics-including formats, grammar, rhythm, etc.– of various media operating in a historical social context are constitutive of the everyday taken-for-granted social order. Nested within an ecology of communication, this includes information technology and a specific medium; the message assemblers and creators; and the audience which also serves as interpreters, validators, amplifiers, and recruiters as a kind of chorus. Meaning and sense-making reflect this logic which is embedded in social performances as symbolic interaction. The communicative model for the process of constructing and enacting social order is the “generalized other,” or how established expectations are internalized and guide conduct to engage in shared meanings. I suggest that this has changed with digital media that routinely and haphazardly challenge an established communicative order with an “algorithmic generalized other,” which refers to the complex interplay between technology, social interaction, and individual identity in the digital age. This will be illustrated with the Trump Administrations Gonzo Governance that uses digital media campaigns and disinformation to promote the politics of fear and destabilize established institutions. As one authority noted, “This is digital astroturfing, plain and simple… The more people see an idea online, the more inured to it they become and the more commonplace and acceptable it becomes.
We warmly invite researchers, academics, students and everyone interested in media, communication and the social implications of digital technologies to attend.
Participation is free of charge.