Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English English
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS

The Construction of Values in Digital Spheres

Project description

The construction of values on social media

Social media is an important arena where values are expressed, contested and shaped. With billions of people sharing videos on YouTube and posting on Facebook and Twitter daily, researchers are checking the relationship between these digital platforms and values. How are values constructed through social media? Which values are emphasised in these spheres? To what extent are social media platforms associated with the globalisation of values? The EU-funded DigitalValues team will explore user-generated content in five languages through an array of inductive methods. The project will develop a novel theory of value construction as an intersection between individuals, technologies and socioeconomic contexts. The results will be key to deciphering cultural and social processes governing the 21st century.

Objective

In recent decades, social media has emerged as a central arena for the construction of values. Artifacts such as YouTube videos, Facebook posts, and tweets reflect and shape what people across the globe consider important, desirable, or reprehensible. Understanding this pervasive value ecology is key to deciphering the political, cultural, and social processes governing the twenty-first century. In this project, I will conduct the first comprehensive study of values in social media. I will explore the following over-arching questions: How are values constructed through social media? Which values are emphasized in these spheres? To what extent are social media platforms associated with the globalization of values? In addressing these fundamental issues, I will apply an entirely new approach for the conceptualization and study of values.
Carried out comparatively in five languages, DigitalValues will explore the interaction between three facets of value construction: (a) explicit uses of the terms “value” and “values”; (b) the implicit construction of values in genres of user-generated content; and (c) users’ interpretation and evaluation of values through both private meaning-making and public social practices of commenting, sharing, and liking. The project is theoretically, empirically, and methodologically groundbreaking in a number of ways: (1) it will be a pioneering large-scale study employing inductive methods to explore the construction of values through everyday cultural artifacts; (2) as a foundational study of values in social media, it will yield a novel theory of value construction as an intersection between individuals, technologies, and sociocultural contexts; (3) it will generate new methods for infering values from verbal texts, combining qualitative, quantitative, and automated analyses; (4) finally, it will yield a comprehensive map of values as expressed across languages and platforms, leading to a new understanding of the globalization of values.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.

You need to log in or register to use this function

Keywords

Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)

Programme(s)

Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

ERC-COG - Consolidator Grant

See all projects funded under this funding scheme

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) ERC-2018-COG

See all projects funded under this call

Host institution

THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 1 985 000,00
Address
EDMOND J SAFRA CAMPUS GIVAT RAM
91904 JERUSALEM
Israel

See on map

Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 1 985 000,00

Beneficiaries (1)

My booklet 0 0