Nick Couldry | LSE

Today, I am very honoured to be joined by a special guest. Nick Couldry. He is Professor of Media, Communications and Social Theory in the Department of Media and Communications at the London School of Economics and Political Science.
His work has been highly influential, I remember his work with Prof. Hepp on the mediated construction of reality was immensely eye-opening for me personally and for the past 10 years, Prof. Couldry increasingly focused on the implications of Big Data when it comes to questions regarding social and political order as well as power relations.

Some Key Takeaways:

• Professor Nick Couldry discusses similarities between data colonialism to historical colonialism by highlighting that our personal data is exploited (by Big Tech) similarly to how colonial powers exploited new lands.
• Data that is extracted from us, can be used against us, will be used to judge us, will be used to categorize us.
• Almost every aspect of human life is being datafied and therefore open to business opportunities. This leads to asymmetrical power relations that we collectively need to question.
• Generative AI can, if we let it, redefine what knowledge actually means, who our experts are and who has access to that knowledge. 
• We need to be careful of "civilizing narratives" that basically justify data extractions.
• We talk about methods of resistance, e.g. exposing biases in AI, collective approaches like getting off of social media to talk, etc.
• entrepreneurs and students (and everyone else too) need to critically reexamine their use of AI and data technologies because WE can redesign our society. 

Further Links: 

• Interview with Nick Couldry, conducted by Thomas Bächle
• Data Grab: The New Colonialism of Big Tech and How to Fight It 
• The Cost of Connection
• The Mediated Construction of Reality

Welcome to the international edition of my podcast Rath Up. I am your host Linda Rath and I interview entrepreneurs who I admire and look up to. I want to know more about their business AND …. What drives them? What inspires them? I believe you need so much more than just talent and skills to be successful in business. So, let’s find out what secrets our entrepreneurs will reveal to us.
If you have any questions or want to share some thoughts, feel free to contact me via Twitter @Lynda420. I am your host Linda Rath and I am looking forward to connecting with you in my next episode.

This episode is brought to you by Media Tech Hub Potsdam. It is one of 12 digital hubs in Germany, initiated by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy – and the only one with a focus on MediaTech. it encompasses a working space, an accelerator and an annual conference and i highly recommend you check it out if you want to start a business and look for networking opportunities. I am an entrepreneur myself and our startup Vragments used to be located at the media tech lab in Potsdam.

Credits:

• Music/Jingles by Mara Niese
• Produced by Linda Rath
• Photo kindly provided by Nick Couldry
• Photo Linda Rath by Stefan Walter for Causalux Fotos