TY - JOUR

T1 - Persuasive territories in European cultural politics

T2 - critical and controlled knowledgescapes

AU - Thelle, Mikkel

AU - Thylstrup, Nanna Bonde

N1 - Communication technologies, Culture, Electronic resources, Europe, Information management, Internet, Museums, Taxonomy

PY - 2011

Y1 - 2011

N2 - Purpose – This paper aims to view the concept of persuasive technology as a framework for discussing cultural politics on the internet. Taking digital collections as a point of departure, the cases of Europeana and Google Books are to be discussed as promoting different assemblies of information, practice and identity politics. Through this discussion the study aims to show how the internet becomes territorialized through persuasive mechanisms.Design/methodology/approach – The study applies different concepts on the cases, derived from different fields of social theory, such as “soft power”, “assembly” and “folksonomy” in order to question the traditional view of persuasive technology as a concept instrumental to, for example, marketing agendas. Targeting the relation between policy and everyday practice, the paper aims to open a discussion of persuasive technology deeply embedded in digital cultural politics.Findings – The study points through a conceptual investigation to a new scene for critically debating persuasive technology as digital cultural politics. The cases in question emphasize the relation between microscopic practices and global agendas on the internet, and the study concludes that the concepts employed can qualify such a future debate.Research limitations/implications – The paper suggests a number of problems and questions, but since the cases have limited source material, the perspective is rather to suggest a change of terminology than analyzing Europeana or Google Books. What is found, though, is that a future critical debate of persuasive territories is more important than ever before.Originality/value – This paper points to a new potential in the use of persuasion as a concept in the study of cultural power relations.

AB - Purpose – This paper aims to view the concept of persuasive technology as a framework for discussing cultural politics on the internet. Taking digital collections as a point of departure, the cases of Europeana and Google Books are to be discussed as promoting different assemblies of information, practice and identity politics. Through this discussion the study aims to show how the internet becomes territorialized through persuasive mechanisms.Design/methodology/approach – The study applies different concepts on the cases, derived from different fields of social theory, such as “soft power”, “assembly” and “folksonomy” in order to question the traditional view of persuasive technology as a concept instrumental to, for example, marketing agendas. Targeting the relation between policy and everyday practice, the paper aims to open a discussion of persuasive technology deeply embedded in digital cultural politics.Findings – The study points through a conceptual investigation to a new scene for critically debating persuasive technology as digital cultural politics. The cases in question emphasize the relation between microscopic practices and global agendas on the internet, and the study concludes that the concepts employed can qualify such a future debate.Research limitations/implications – The paper suggests a number of problems and questions, but since the cases have limited source material, the perspective is rather to suggest a change of terminology than analyzing Europeana or Google Books. What is found, though, is that a future critical debate of persuasive territories is more important than ever before.Originality/value – This paper points to a new potential in the use of persuasion as a concept in the study of cultural power relations.

KW - Faculty of Humanities

KW - Communication technologies

KW - Culture

KW - Electronic resources

KW - Europe

KW - Information management

KW - Internet

KW - Museums

KW - Taxonomy

U2 - 10.1108/07378831111189705

DO - 10.1108/07378831111189705

M3 - Journal article

VL - 29

SP - 573

EP - 585

JO - Library Hi Tech

JF - Library Hi Tech

SN - 0737-8831

IS - 4

ER -