We introduce this theoretical framework to understand how disadvantaged citizens are compelled to continually improve their digital skills and capacities to meet the demands of the digital welfare state. We then show how low‐literate Dutch citizens experience this regime in their everyday lives.

Just published with @joelleswart.bsky.social lead-author Alex Smit in @cogitatiosi.bsky.social:

The Regime of Self‐Optimization: Lived Experiences of Enforced Digital Inclusion by Low‐Literate Citizens www.cogitatiopress.com/socialinclus...

Excited to share our new pub in New Media & Society, co-authored with my supervisors @qfzhu.bsky.social @mjbroersma.bsky.social 🎉🎉

We explore how social norms are formed and guide prosocial behaviors within location-based meso-spaces.

Link👉: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Plaatselijke stortbui hier!

🌟New pub led by @yichen1001.bsky.social on how social norms guide interaction in neighborhood groups on instant messaging platforms! If you're interested in meso spaces, online group dynamics or how IM groups function as civic infrastructure, check out our paper in NMS with @mjbroersma.bsky.social🔓👇

🥳 More good news! The Digital Literacy Coalition (DLC), committed to increasing digital skills in Groningen & North Drenthe, receives substantial financial support from Nij Begun! @rug.nl @mjbroersma.bsky.social
Learn more about the project 👇 www.rug.nl/let/onze-fac...

Are you doing a PhD in Journalism Studies? Would you like to get feedback on your work from experienced scholars in the field? Then join us for the 6th Journalism Studies PhD Colloquium in Groningen on April 8th, 2026! Deadline for abstracts is 6 June 2025. For the full CfP, check: edu.nl/nfd7h

How can we effectively, and fairly, approach collaborative & comparative journalism research projects?

In our next @rug.nl CMJS lunch lecture, @marenet.bsky.social discusses "The value (and challenges) of collaborative and comparative journalism research: a South African perspective"

Who is sharing the news?

1st paper published from Iris Baas' PhD study, w/ proud supervisors Tommaso Caselli, @marcestevedelvalle.bsky.social, & I. We show that ideological critique does not necessarily translate into alternative media consumption on Dutch Twitter

firstmonday.org/ojs/index.ph...

On 8 April I'll give a talk w/ @sggroningen.bsky.social on journalism's role in a fractured world. I will start the evening exploring the challenges posed by digital media actors that amplify existing divisions in democratic societies in the content they produce sggroningen.nl/index.php/nl... (1/3)

Wat betekent GenAI voor het nieuwsgebruik en de nieuwswijsheid van kinderen en jongeren? @mjbroersma.bsky.social, Bart Verheij en ik hebben plek voor een PhD die zich wil verdiepen in dit onderwerp. De vacature vind je hier: lnkd.in/e73GCi4E, deadline sollicitaties 3 april. Meer weten? DM me gerust!

How does the rise of AI affect how young people are using news?

We have an open fully-funded and full-time PhD position in "Journalism, generative AI and critical digital literacy". More info ⬇️

Application deadline: April 3

www.rug.nl/about-ug/wor...

How does the rise of AI affect how young people are using news?

We have an open fully-funded and full-time PhD position in "Journalism, generative AI and critical digital literacy". More info ⬇️

Application deadline: April 3

www.rug.nl/about-ug/wor...

What would happen if we considered Silicon Valley as a locus of imperial machinations and as constituted by both imperialist and colonel encounters? j. Siguru Wahutu will discuss this in tomorrow's @unigroningen.bsky.social CMJS lunch lecture

Our paper on the discursive logics of online populism is now published in @Journal of Information Technology & Politics. With Kun He and @seldridge.com

You can read it here (open access) ⬇️:
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

And more articles to come from Denise's excellent research project for which she did longitudinal participant observations at afterschool care locations and primary schools! This research is part of the @unigroningen.bsky.social Digital Inclusion Lab. More info here: digital-inclusion.nl

In "Playful citizens", we study children’s news-related practices and subsequent acts of lived citizenship at school and in informal contexts. We argue that such practices are an effective tool for civic education, supporting children to develop news routines www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

In one study we we coin the concept “digital risky play” and conceptualize this type of digital play. We identify four categories of risk-managing tactics children employ, namely technological, physical, social, and emotional tactics www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Denise Mensonides did an excellent job defening her thesis "Navigating the digital playground: a child-centred study on the development of digital literacies". It's part of our NWO supported Informed Citizenship for All project. You can read Denise's work here: research.rug.nl/nl/publicati...

What if “things fall apart” and “the centre cannot hold”? In "Will the Center Hold? Relocating Journalism in the Digital", @seldridge.com and I discuss (with a nod to Yeats & Didion) how to understand if journalism will continue to hold a central space in society www.researchgate.net/publication/...

Which representations and (gameplay) activities in historical gaming spaces lend themselves well for extremist mobilization, and why? This Wednesday, Pieter van den Heede (@erasmusuniversity.bsky.social) will discuss this during our next CMJS lunch lecture @unigroningen.bsky.social

Studying internet censorship in China designed to disconnect individuals from connective actions, Kun He, @seldridge.com & @mjbroersma.bsky.social show how citizens navigate threats through innovative conenction tactics, while elites use enforced disconnection to evade public scrutiny