Social media platforms (such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok or X) and search engines (such as Google) employ artificial intelligence to inconspicuously collect and analyse a vast amount of data about our lives in order to personalise the content that we see there. These processes, designed to boost engagement with platforms, are essential to platform business models and play a key role in maximising their profitability. At the same time, they challenge our privacy, influence information choices and shape behaviours and decisions. Despite their profound impact on our lives, platform dynamics are difficult to comprehend, as the workings of platforms are opaque, complex and constantly changing.
“We enjoy the appealing digital services offered by platforms, but at the same time we unknowingly participate in their opaque business-supporting practices, which involve tracking, surveillance, data collection and the subtle manipulation of our attention, choices and decisions,” says Guna Spurava.
In her dissertation, Spurava examines how media education can respond to these issues and how it should be developed to better equip people for navigating today’s information landscape dominated by for-profit social media and search platforms. Through interviews with experts from the library field and the labour market, Spurava addresses platform-related challenges from a professional perspective. She also focuses on the crucial role of young people in fostering platform awareness in society.
Citizens’ right to be educated about platforms and their impact must be recognised
By introducing the concept of platform awareness, the dissertation advocates for media education to extend beyond established literacy frameworks, such as media literacy, digital literacy or information literacy. As Spurava’s research suggests, fostering platform awareness in a digitalised society means developing a comprehensive understanding of the complex interplay between the social, technological, economic and political dimensions of platform power. This involves educating citizens about potential biases in the information provided by platforms, which may be influenced by financial and political motives.
“Such biases can affect societal and political decision-making, ultimately leading to adverse consequences for citizens and the entire society. Addressing them through media education and effective regulation is essential,” Spurava emphasises.
As the dissertation concludes, policy changes are essential to develop media education towards platform awareness. With its strong foundation in media education and established national policies in this area, Finland is well positioned to pioneer policies that assert citizens’ rights to be educated about platforms and their societal and political implications.
Guna Spurava, originally from Latvia, has a professional background in the media industry and long-term academic experience in digital media research. She is currently a researcher at Tampere University’s Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences, where she focuses on the potential of human-centred artificial intelligence.
The completion of the dissertation was supported by the Finnish Media Industry Research Foundation.
Public defence on Friday 15 November
MSocSc Guna Spurava’s doctoral dissertation in the field of media education titled Towards Platform Awareness in Media Education will be publicly examined at the Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences at Tampere University at 12 o’clock on Friday, 15 November 2024. The venue is auditorium D11, Main Building, City centre campus (address: Kalevantie 4, 33100, Tampere). The Opponent will be Professor Päivi Maria Rasi-Heikkinen from the University of Lapland, Finland. The Custos will be Professor Sirkku Kotilainen from Tampere University’s Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences.