Tanja Oblak Crnic - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Tanja Oblak Crnic
Gazette (Leiden, Netherlands), 2005
The main focus of this article is related to the forms of mediated content that are offered in on... more The main focus of this article is related to the forms of mediated content that are offered in online space. Two specific aspects of new cyber-textuality are discussed - the notion of hyper-textuality and the potential of interactivity. Both characteristics are understood as new challenges that reflect specific communication potentials of the internet. In an empirical sense, the article tries to show the extent these significant forms of mediation are used in online media news. For this reason a comparison between media content in print and online media has been made. The findings reveal the lack of interactivity in practice and explore its diversity as a communication form between media producers and reader. Regarding the hypertextuality, the analysis shows the complexity of this concept, which in the realm of news media online is still maturing.
Czech Sociological Review
This article seeks to identify who in Slovenia remains digitally offline and how such a status re... more This article seeks to identify who in Slovenia remains digitally offline and how such a status relates to socio-demographic factors (e.g. gender, age and education), class and cultural capital. The author assumes that the absence of new technology should be addressed in relation to existing patterns of cultural consumption and media preferences, and she attempts to understand the problem of digital exclusion within the context of other types of structural inequalities. Since digital technology is understood not just as a technical tool but as a social phenomenon directly related to everyday practices, the individual's class position and cultural capital, digital exclusion is not viewed simply as a narrow problem of access. Instead of looking at the binary gap between technology haves and have-nots, the author takes the multilevel structure of digital access into account. The fi ndings of a quantitative survey involving a representative sample of 820 residents in the two biggest Slovenian cities-Ljubljana and Maribor-show that, fi rst, three types of digital exclusion exist: digitally unmotivated with high cultural capital; overall excluded with weak cultural capital; and digitally self-excluded with moderate cultural capital. Second, the study suggests that all three digital exclusion groups are, more than by class, divided by cultural engagement and media taste, which provides important possibilities for future research.
Communications
Due to radical changes in media consumption, manifested in the widespread mediatization and proli... more Due to radical changes in media consumption, manifested in the widespread mediatization and proliferation of the uses of personal media in everyday life, research about media audiences can no longer focus on a single medium. In order to identify ideal-typical combinations of media platforms and aesthetic cultures in the population of the two largest Slovenian cities, the concept of media repertoires was used. The study shows that our respondents’s media consumption is structured into four typical media repertoires: integrators, digital natives, television viewers and newspaper readers. These four repertoires also represent distinct socio-cultural formations. In social terms, (digital) audiences therefore do not constitute a homogenous social community, but should be understood as class-differentiated discursive cultures or ‘meaning systems’.
... treba zanemariti, a riječ je o naglom razvoju Web reprezentacija. Učinci procesa normalizacij... more ... treba zanemariti, a riječ je o naglom razvoju Web reprezentacija. Učinci procesa normalizacije tako ukazuju na vanu ulogu novih oblika komunika-cije u kibernetskom prostoru gdje Web reprezentacije imaju ključno mjesto. ...
Sociologický Casopis, 2014
This article seeks to identify who in Slovenia remains digitally offline and how such a status re... more This article seeks to identify who in Slovenia remains digitally offline and how such a status relates to socio-demographic factors (e.g. gender, age and education), class and cultural capital. The author assumes that the absence of new technology should be addressed in relation to existing patterns of cultural consumption and media preferences, and she attempts to understand the problem of digital exclusion within the context of other types of structural inequalities. Since digital technology is understood not just as a technical tool but as a social phenomenon directly related to everyday practices, the individual's class position and cultural capital, digital exclusion is not viewed simply as a narrow problem of access. Instead of looking at the binary gap between technology haves and have-nots, the author takes the multilevel structure of digital access into account. The fi ndings of a quantitative survey involving a representative sample of 820 residents in the two biggest Slovenian cities-Ljubljana and Maribor-show that, fi rst, three types of digital exclusion exist: digitally unmotivated with high cultural capital; overall excluded with weak cultural capital; and digitally self-excluded with moderate cultural capital. Second, the study suggests that all three digital exclusion groups are, more than by class, divided by cultural engagement and media taste, which provides important possibilities for future research.
Annales Histoire Sciences Sociales
In this paper we aimed to analyse the ways in which everyday context and family climate determine... more In this paper we aimed to analyse the ways in which everyday context and family climate determine the complex structure of youth computer cultures, particularly the patterns that young people use in relation to computer activities and their place within the youth life. A representative quantitative survey among Slovenian youngsters aged 15-24, still living with their parents and going to school, revealed three different types of youth computer culture: The strongest factor predicting the passive, TV-like entertainment computer culture is the outgoing and entertaining free time pattern; the active and informative computer use is the most strongly positively predicted by the culturally engaged free-time pattern; the interactive and socially oriented computer culture is predicted only by the outgoing and entertaining free time pattern. The analysis also showed that the quality of the relationship between parents and children as perceived by the youngsters has no effect on youth compute...
POVZETEK: Mobilni telefon je več kot tehnično orodje – je simbol varnosti, dosegljivosti, osebne ... more POVZETEK: Mobilni telefon je več kot tehnično orodje – je simbol varnosti, dosegljivosti, osebne priljubljenosti, estetskega okusa. Kot osebna komunikacijska tehnologija je pomenljiv ravno v luči simbolno dodanih vrednosti, ki so družbeno in ne le tehnično pogojene. Zato se prispevek na dveh med seboj povezanih ravneh sprašuje o pomenih, ki jih sooblikujejo uporabniki mobilne telefonije: najprej prikazuje analizo na ravni odnosov uporabnikov do kulturne potrošnje telefona, nato pa še na ravni posameznikovih osebnih praks. Pri tem se avtorica vpraša, v kolikšni meri so razlike v dodeljenih pomenih odraz generacijskih ločnic, ki so procesu domestifikacije tehnologij v zasebni sferi tako rekoč inherentne. Ker je mesto mobilne telefonije v življenju posameznika pogojeno s simbolno umestitvijo v vsakdanji ritem, izhajamo iz teze, da zahteva raziskovanje učinkov mobilne telefonije vpogled v »simbolne svetove« uporabnikov, v njihovo razlago odzivov ter morebitnih pričakovanj, ki jih vzpost...
A significant decreasing trend in political participation could be observed in so-called Western ... more A significant decreasing trend in political participation could be observed in so-called Western democracies in the last decades of the 20th century. In this framework, researchers largely agree on the key factors of participation: from generational differences and socio-economic status through civic values to civic competencies. The emergence and expansion of the Internet have brought new opportunities to expand political participation practices and to include in these practices certain groups which have so far been less active. By analysing the presence of various forms of participation via the Internet in Slovenia, we assess a thesis on the (possible) expansion of space for political participation and search for answer(s) to research questions about the relationship between traditional forms of political participation in general and digital forms of participation: a) are online forms merely combining with other traditional forms of participation; or b) are they emerging as a new ...
Javnost - The Public, 2004
Javnost - The Public, 2012
Namen članka je podrobneje pojasniti, kdo so digitalno izključeni, ter digitalno izključenost pov... more Namen članka je podrobneje pojasniti, kdo so digitalno izključeni, ter digitalno izključenost povezati z razredno neenakostjo in s kulturnim kapitalom. Neenakost v odnosu do interneta namreč ni zgolj tehnološke narave, temveč gre za kompleksno prepletanje individualnih dispozicij, družbene lokacije, ekonomskih, političnih in kulturnih virov. Obravnava digitalne izključenosti pa odsotnost tehnologije le redko umešča v kontekst siceršnjih kulturnih distinkcij, kar vnaša razmeroma tehnično-ekonomske razlage v smislu »trajnega razkoraka« med digitalnimi bogataši in digitalno revnimi, ne da bi bili pri tem upoštevani drugi dejavniki, ki možnosti za dostop do tehnologije in odločanje o njeni rabi oblikujejo. Namen empirične analize je identifi cirati tipične skupine digitalno izključenih ali »offl ine« prebivalcev in pokazati njihovo strukturo glede na razredne kazalnike, medijsko in kulturno potrošnjo. Tipe digitalne izključenosti avtorica preverja s kvantitativno empirično študijo, ki je bila izvedena na naključnem vzorcu 820 prebivalcev Ljubljane in Maribora, in pokaže, kako je razumevanje digitalne izključenosti neposredno povezano z distinkcijami na ravni kulturne participacije, razreda in medijskega okusa.
Javnost - The Public, 2008
Southeastern Europe, 2012
The idea of electronic democracy implies a form of democracy which would develop as the result of... more The idea of electronic democracy implies a form of democracy which would develop as the result of the implementation of new communication technologies within existing democratic processes. Ideas of electronic democracy are not always accompanied by positive associations, but come also with apprehension of the probable dangers for existing democratic processes. This paper addresses the question of technological democratization through two interrelated steps. First, it focuses on the history of e-democracy and its implementation in different models of democracy. Then, in the second part, it reveals the main proponents of e-democracy as an idea that could transform the existing representative democratic system. Since many obstacles, that are not only technologically driven, the text here extracts the critique of such intentions and beliefs. However, communication technologies seem to be effective tools for citizens to select governors and participate in the formation of laws and polici...
JeDEM - eJournal of eDemocracy and Open Government
The paper challenges the theoretical assumptions of deliberative communication in online contexts... more The paper challenges the theoretical assumptions of deliberative communication in online contexts of two empirical case studies in the Slovenian Web sphere: a governmental portal Predlagamvladi.si (I proposetothegovernment.si) and a citizen portal Danesjenovdan.si (Todayisanewday.si). A common denominator of both portals, which were developed for online gathering of public proposals directly from the citizens, is in the combination of public dialogue and polling, the former preceding the latter, the whole process resulting in a final decision regarding the proposal. However, a more detailed analysis and comparison of both portals help to explain also the crucial differences between the institutional or strong public sphere on the one hand and the civic or weak public spheres on the other, which consequently limit the deliberation potentials in the digital context.
Medijske studije, 2017
The proliferation of new media since the late 1990s has launched a new period of revitalising the... more The proliferation of new media since the late 1990s has launched a new period of revitalising the concept of interactivity but from very different angles and with several empirical research perspectives. The article's main aim is to show the variety of ways in which researchers have conceptualised, examined and analysed interactivity within media and journalism studies. The paper provides insights into the various readings of the changes within the field and offers a cautious view of the concept's potential. Based on a selective meta-analysis of different approaches, we propose to distinguish three perspectives on interactivity: communication-and media-centred perspectives, audience-or user-centred perspectives, and production-or journalist-centred perspectives. This distinction enables us to differentiate between what is considered interactive, and who this interaction involves according to several scholars within media and journalism studies. Key words: interactivity, digital media, online journalism, online news, audiences
Teorija in praksa : revija za družbena vprašanja, 2017
Modern democracy needs citizens, but citizenship has become a complex concept owing to the change... more Modern democracy needs citizens, but citizenship has become a complex concept owing to the changes that digital media and social platforms have brought to political participation and civic engagement, which political institutions can no longer ignore. This article questions the way political parties conceive of digital citizenship and how they incorporate new media into their own communication practices. While changes in civic engagement and political participation are most prevalent among young people, the primary focus of this article is the problem of how political parties represent young people as emerging citizens and their potential future voters. Our study uses recent research on young citizens and the responses of political parties to young citizens to provide answers. We also perform a qualitative analysis of their representatives within a sample of Slovenian political parties. The aim of the article is to present a general map of youth as an emerging citizenry within the digital culture in order to identify the problems political parties are facing in their inability to identify with young people as digital citizens.
eJournal of eDemocracy and open government, 2015
The paper challenges the theoretical assumptions of deliberative communication in online contexts... more The paper challenges the theoretical assumptions of deliberative communication in online contexts with two oppositional empirical case studies in the Slovenian web sphere: the governmental portal "Predlagam vladi" ("I propose to the government") and the citizen portal "Danes je nov dan" ("Today is a new day"). The common characteristics of both portals, which were intentionally developed for the online gathering of public proposals directly from the citizens, lie in their combination of public dialogue with polling that results in final decision-making. However, a more detailed analysis and comparison of both portals also helps explain the crucial differences between the institutional or strong public sphere on one hand and the civic or weak public spheres on the other, which consequently limit the democratisation of public engagement in a digital context.
Anthropological Notebooks, 2018
This article presents an ethnographic study conducted within five distinct Slovenian families , t... more This article presents an ethnographic study conducted within five distinct Slovenian families , the aim of which was to discuss how different models of family communication intersect with the regulations of mobile devices and responses to regulatory strategies within the same families. Following the four ideal types of family communication (pro-tective, consensual, pluralistic, and laissez-faire) and many studies that have confirmed a correlation between media use and family communication, this article primarily focuses on the ambivalent roles of smartphones within family relationships. According to the results based on in-depth interviews with parents and their children, the study finds that parents mediate children's use of mobile phones with three distinct tactics: through co-use of devices, surveillance of usage, and strict rules that limit the use of phones within the homes. Children resist such regulations, yet again in different ways: through persuasion, by avoiding the rules and hiding their practices, and through partnership with parents. The role of family communication in this regard is not linear but quite complex: It seems that within the families oriented more towards conversation, children learn how to affect and potentially transform the rules, while for the families oriented towards conformity, this is not always the case.
Gazette (Leiden, Netherlands), 2005
The main focus of this article is related to the forms of mediated content that are offered in on... more The main focus of this article is related to the forms of mediated content that are offered in online space. Two specific aspects of new cyber-textuality are discussed - the notion of hyper-textuality and the potential of interactivity. Both characteristics are understood as new challenges that reflect specific communication potentials of the internet. In an empirical sense, the article tries to show the extent these significant forms of mediation are used in online media news. For this reason a comparison between media content in print and online media has been made. The findings reveal the lack of interactivity in practice and explore its diversity as a communication form between media producers and reader. Regarding the hypertextuality, the analysis shows the complexity of this concept, which in the realm of news media online is still maturing.
Czech Sociological Review
This article seeks to identify who in Slovenia remains digitally offline and how such a status re... more This article seeks to identify who in Slovenia remains digitally offline and how such a status relates to socio-demographic factors (e.g. gender, age and education), class and cultural capital. The author assumes that the absence of new technology should be addressed in relation to existing patterns of cultural consumption and media preferences, and she attempts to understand the problem of digital exclusion within the context of other types of structural inequalities. Since digital technology is understood not just as a technical tool but as a social phenomenon directly related to everyday practices, the individual's class position and cultural capital, digital exclusion is not viewed simply as a narrow problem of access. Instead of looking at the binary gap between technology haves and have-nots, the author takes the multilevel structure of digital access into account. The fi ndings of a quantitative survey involving a representative sample of 820 residents in the two biggest Slovenian cities-Ljubljana and Maribor-show that, fi rst, three types of digital exclusion exist: digitally unmotivated with high cultural capital; overall excluded with weak cultural capital; and digitally self-excluded with moderate cultural capital. Second, the study suggests that all three digital exclusion groups are, more than by class, divided by cultural engagement and media taste, which provides important possibilities for future research.
Communications
Due to radical changes in media consumption, manifested in the widespread mediatization and proli... more Due to radical changes in media consumption, manifested in the widespread mediatization and proliferation of the uses of personal media in everyday life, research about media audiences can no longer focus on a single medium. In order to identify ideal-typical combinations of media platforms and aesthetic cultures in the population of the two largest Slovenian cities, the concept of media repertoires was used. The study shows that our respondents’s media consumption is structured into four typical media repertoires: integrators, digital natives, television viewers and newspaper readers. These four repertoires also represent distinct socio-cultural formations. In social terms, (digital) audiences therefore do not constitute a homogenous social community, but should be understood as class-differentiated discursive cultures or ‘meaning systems’.
... treba zanemariti, a riječ je o naglom razvoju Web reprezentacija. Učinci procesa normalizacij... more ... treba zanemariti, a riječ je o naglom razvoju Web reprezentacija. Učinci procesa normalizacije tako ukazuju na vanu ulogu novih oblika komunika-cije u kibernetskom prostoru gdje Web reprezentacije imaju ključno mjesto. ...
Sociologický Casopis, 2014
This article seeks to identify who in Slovenia remains digitally offline and how such a status re... more This article seeks to identify who in Slovenia remains digitally offline and how such a status relates to socio-demographic factors (e.g. gender, age and education), class and cultural capital. The author assumes that the absence of new technology should be addressed in relation to existing patterns of cultural consumption and media preferences, and she attempts to understand the problem of digital exclusion within the context of other types of structural inequalities. Since digital technology is understood not just as a technical tool but as a social phenomenon directly related to everyday practices, the individual's class position and cultural capital, digital exclusion is not viewed simply as a narrow problem of access. Instead of looking at the binary gap between technology haves and have-nots, the author takes the multilevel structure of digital access into account. The fi ndings of a quantitative survey involving a representative sample of 820 residents in the two biggest Slovenian cities-Ljubljana and Maribor-show that, fi rst, three types of digital exclusion exist: digitally unmotivated with high cultural capital; overall excluded with weak cultural capital; and digitally self-excluded with moderate cultural capital. Second, the study suggests that all three digital exclusion groups are, more than by class, divided by cultural engagement and media taste, which provides important possibilities for future research.
Annales Histoire Sciences Sociales
In this paper we aimed to analyse the ways in which everyday context and family climate determine... more In this paper we aimed to analyse the ways in which everyday context and family climate determine the complex structure of youth computer cultures, particularly the patterns that young people use in relation to computer activities and their place within the youth life. A representative quantitative survey among Slovenian youngsters aged 15-24, still living with their parents and going to school, revealed three different types of youth computer culture: The strongest factor predicting the passive, TV-like entertainment computer culture is the outgoing and entertaining free time pattern; the active and informative computer use is the most strongly positively predicted by the culturally engaged free-time pattern; the interactive and socially oriented computer culture is predicted only by the outgoing and entertaining free time pattern. The analysis also showed that the quality of the relationship between parents and children as perceived by the youngsters has no effect on youth compute...
POVZETEK: Mobilni telefon je več kot tehnično orodje – je simbol varnosti, dosegljivosti, osebne ... more POVZETEK: Mobilni telefon je več kot tehnično orodje – je simbol varnosti, dosegljivosti, osebne priljubljenosti, estetskega okusa. Kot osebna komunikacijska tehnologija je pomenljiv ravno v luči simbolno dodanih vrednosti, ki so družbeno in ne le tehnično pogojene. Zato se prispevek na dveh med seboj povezanih ravneh sprašuje o pomenih, ki jih sooblikujejo uporabniki mobilne telefonije: najprej prikazuje analizo na ravni odnosov uporabnikov do kulturne potrošnje telefona, nato pa še na ravni posameznikovih osebnih praks. Pri tem se avtorica vpraša, v kolikšni meri so razlike v dodeljenih pomenih odraz generacijskih ločnic, ki so procesu domestifikacije tehnologij v zasebni sferi tako rekoč inherentne. Ker je mesto mobilne telefonije v življenju posameznika pogojeno s simbolno umestitvijo v vsakdanji ritem, izhajamo iz teze, da zahteva raziskovanje učinkov mobilne telefonije vpogled v »simbolne svetove« uporabnikov, v njihovo razlago odzivov ter morebitnih pričakovanj, ki jih vzpost...
A significant decreasing trend in political participation could be observed in so-called Western ... more A significant decreasing trend in political participation could be observed in so-called Western democracies in the last decades of the 20th century. In this framework, researchers largely agree on the key factors of participation: from generational differences and socio-economic status through civic values to civic competencies. The emergence and expansion of the Internet have brought new opportunities to expand political participation practices and to include in these practices certain groups which have so far been less active. By analysing the presence of various forms of participation via the Internet in Slovenia, we assess a thesis on the (possible) expansion of space for political participation and search for answer(s) to research questions about the relationship between traditional forms of political participation in general and digital forms of participation: a) are online forms merely combining with other traditional forms of participation; or b) are they emerging as a new ...
Javnost - The Public, 2004
Javnost - The Public, 2012
Namen članka je podrobneje pojasniti, kdo so digitalno izključeni, ter digitalno izključenost pov... more Namen članka je podrobneje pojasniti, kdo so digitalno izključeni, ter digitalno izključenost povezati z razredno neenakostjo in s kulturnim kapitalom. Neenakost v odnosu do interneta namreč ni zgolj tehnološke narave, temveč gre za kompleksno prepletanje individualnih dispozicij, družbene lokacije, ekonomskih, političnih in kulturnih virov. Obravnava digitalne izključenosti pa odsotnost tehnologije le redko umešča v kontekst siceršnjih kulturnih distinkcij, kar vnaša razmeroma tehnično-ekonomske razlage v smislu »trajnega razkoraka« med digitalnimi bogataši in digitalno revnimi, ne da bi bili pri tem upoštevani drugi dejavniki, ki možnosti za dostop do tehnologije in odločanje o njeni rabi oblikujejo. Namen empirične analize je identifi cirati tipične skupine digitalno izključenih ali »offl ine« prebivalcev in pokazati njihovo strukturo glede na razredne kazalnike, medijsko in kulturno potrošnjo. Tipe digitalne izključenosti avtorica preverja s kvantitativno empirično študijo, ki je bila izvedena na naključnem vzorcu 820 prebivalcev Ljubljane in Maribora, in pokaže, kako je razumevanje digitalne izključenosti neposredno povezano z distinkcijami na ravni kulturne participacije, razreda in medijskega okusa.
Javnost - The Public, 2008
Southeastern Europe, 2012
The idea of electronic democracy implies a form of democracy which would develop as the result of... more The idea of electronic democracy implies a form of democracy which would develop as the result of the implementation of new communication technologies within existing democratic processes. Ideas of electronic democracy are not always accompanied by positive associations, but come also with apprehension of the probable dangers for existing democratic processes. This paper addresses the question of technological democratization through two interrelated steps. First, it focuses on the history of e-democracy and its implementation in different models of democracy. Then, in the second part, it reveals the main proponents of e-democracy as an idea that could transform the existing representative democratic system. Since many obstacles, that are not only technologically driven, the text here extracts the critique of such intentions and beliefs. However, communication technologies seem to be effective tools for citizens to select governors and participate in the formation of laws and polici...
JeDEM - eJournal of eDemocracy and Open Government
The paper challenges the theoretical assumptions of deliberative communication in online contexts... more The paper challenges the theoretical assumptions of deliberative communication in online contexts of two empirical case studies in the Slovenian Web sphere: a governmental portal Predlagamvladi.si (I proposetothegovernment.si) and a citizen portal Danesjenovdan.si (Todayisanewday.si). A common denominator of both portals, which were developed for online gathering of public proposals directly from the citizens, is in the combination of public dialogue and polling, the former preceding the latter, the whole process resulting in a final decision regarding the proposal. However, a more detailed analysis and comparison of both portals help to explain also the crucial differences between the institutional or strong public sphere on the one hand and the civic or weak public spheres on the other, which consequently limit the deliberation potentials in the digital context.
Medijske studije, 2017
The proliferation of new media since the late 1990s has launched a new period of revitalising the... more The proliferation of new media since the late 1990s has launched a new period of revitalising the concept of interactivity but from very different angles and with several empirical research perspectives. The article's main aim is to show the variety of ways in which researchers have conceptualised, examined and analysed interactivity within media and journalism studies. The paper provides insights into the various readings of the changes within the field and offers a cautious view of the concept's potential. Based on a selective meta-analysis of different approaches, we propose to distinguish three perspectives on interactivity: communication-and media-centred perspectives, audience-or user-centred perspectives, and production-or journalist-centred perspectives. This distinction enables us to differentiate between what is considered interactive, and who this interaction involves according to several scholars within media and journalism studies. Key words: interactivity, digital media, online journalism, online news, audiences
Teorija in praksa : revija za družbena vprašanja, 2017
Modern democracy needs citizens, but citizenship has become a complex concept owing to the change... more Modern democracy needs citizens, but citizenship has become a complex concept owing to the changes that digital media and social platforms have brought to political participation and civic engagement, which political institutions can no longer ignore. This article questions the way political parties conceive of digital citizenship and how they incorporate new media into their own communication practices. While changes in civic engagement and political participation are most prevalent among young people, the primary focus of this article is the problem of how political parties represent young people as emerging citizens and their potential future voters. Our study uses recent research on young citizens and the responses of political parties to young citizens to provide answers. We also perform a qualitative analysis of their representatives within a sample of Slovenian political parties. The aim of the article is to present a general map of youth as an emerging citizenry within the digital culture in order to identify the problems political parties are facing in their inability to identify with young people as digital citizens.
eJournal of eDemocracy and open government, 2015
The paper challenges the theoretical assumptions of deliberative communication in online contexts... more The paper challenges the theoretical assumptions of deliberative communication in online contexts with two oppositional empirical case studies in the Slovenian web sphere: the governmental portal "Predlagam vladi" ("I propose to the government") and the citizen portal "Danes je nov dan" ("Today is a new day"). The common characteristics of both portals, which were intentionally developed for the online gathering of public proposals directly from the citizens, lie in their combination of public dialogue with polling that results in final decision-making. However, a more detailed analysis and comparison of both portals also helps explain the crucial differences between the institutional or strong public sphere on one hand and the civic or weak public spheres on the other, which consequently limit the democratisation of public engagement in a digital context.
Anthropological Notebooks, 2018
This article presents an ethnographic study conducted within five distinct Slovenian families , t... more This article presents an ethnographic study conducted within five distinct Slovenian families , the aim of which was to discuss how different models of family communication intersect with the regulations of mobile devices and responses to regulatory strategies within the same families. Following the four ideal types of family communication (pro-tective, consensual, pluralistic, and laissez-faire) and many studies that have confirmed a correlation between media use and family communication, this article primarily focuses on the ambivalent roles of smartphones within family relationships. According to the results based on in-depth interviews with parents and their children, the study finds that parents mediate children's use of mobile phones with three distinct tactics: through co-use of devices, surveillance of usage, and strict rules that limit the use of phones within the homes. Children resist such regulations, yet again in different ways: through persuasion, by avoiding the rules and hiding their practices, and through partnership with parents. The role of family communication in this regard is not linear but quite complex: It seems that within the families oriented more towards conversation, children learn how to affect and potentially transform the rules, while for the families oriented towards conformity, this is not always the case.