In search of internet governance: Performing order in digitally networked environments

Abstract

Internet governance is a difficult horse to catch. Far from being a coherent field of study, it presents itself as scattered across a range of disciplinary approaches that come with distinct theoretical, methodological and analytical preoccupations. In this paper, we critically review existing literatures on governance of, on and through the internet and draw attention to the ways in which they help perform the worlds in which they have their place. Retelling the case of the 'Twitter Joke Trial', we highlight the contingent and at times conflicting roles attributed to people, technologies and institutions, as well as the concerns that come with these. Rather than striving for a coherent definition of 'internet governance', we draw on recent work in science and technology studies to show that acknowledging the performativity and multiplicity of different modes of governance can open up a productive line of inquiry into the recursive relationship between governance research and practice.

Between coordination and regulation: Finding the governance in Internet governance

“…Recently, an important conversation on researching governance in Internet governance has begun (DeNardis, 2014;Van Eeten and Mueller, 2013;Ziewitz and Pentzold, 2014). This article has sought to contribute to this theoretical reflection by bringing together two related, but still disconnected strands of research -one on governance and another on Internet governance.…”

Mecanismos de Dominação Simbólica nas Redes de Participação – Política Digital

“…A análise centrada apenas nas instituições e em suas característi-cas objetivas pode ignorar mecanismos subjetivos, não institucionalizados, muitas vezes relacionados a representações que orientam práti-cas estabelecidas e que podem revelar características fundamentais do ordenamento social que não seriam identificáveis a partir de análises centradas apenas em elementos formalmente instituídos (HOFMANN; KATZENBAcH; GOLLATZ, 2014;ZIEWITZ;PENTZOLD, 2014;EPsTEIN, D.;MUsIANI, 2016).…”

Manoeuvring in a digital dilemmatic space: making sense of a digitised society

“…The issues discussed above concerning file sharing, downloading and copyright claims can be understood within the framework of 'internet governance' (Ziewitz & Pentzold, 2014) and 'network control'. Zajácz (2013, p. 491) defines 'network control' as a 'decision-making ability over territory, capital and technology through which one part secures an uninterrupted flow of information while denying that ability to its opponent.'…”

“…ICT users should also be aware that all the information that is expressed digitally in social communities could one day result in a personal backlash. A joke on Twitter can end up in trial (Ziewitz & Pentzold, 2014) and there are numerous examples of comments or 'party pictures' published on Facebook or blogs having been lifted out of context and placed into a new frame of sense-making, thereby causing problems. In principle, every 'digital footprint' that we leave can be traced as whistleblowers like Edward Snowden have shown when national security agencies collect digital information.…”