Jacob Ørmen
Biographic Data
| ID | 291124 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Jacob Ørmen |
| GIVEN NAMES | Jacob |
| FAMILY NAME | Ørmen |
| SIGNATURE | ØRMEN J |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Copenhagen |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4807-8395 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 18 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 23 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 18 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2015 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
The moral in the machine: Rentier mechanisms in content recommender system on digital platforms
Platforms often champion user value as the primary objective to optimize for in recommender systems. However, as commercial marketplaces platforms must also balance the interests of other stakeholders, such as advertisers, creators, investors, and regulators. This easily creates conflicts of interest – whose value is more important to consider in recommendation systems. To address this issue, I develop a moral economy framework to platform studie…
From static to dynamic evaluation: The potentials and challenges of dashboards to account for NRSs
Recommender systems are dynamic systems used across digital platforms that personalize curation based on the individuals’ history of interactions. News recommender systems (NRSs) can enhance personal relevance and loyalty while reducing the power laws of curation. However, NRSs also denote a displacement of editorial agency and control due to technical complexity and limited transparency in personalized exposure. This study aims to bridge the gap…
Diamond hands to the moon: Idiocultural mobilization and politicization of personal finance on r/wallstreetbets
In January 2021, the shares of the brick-and-mortar video games retail chain GameStop exploded in value. At the same time, billboards on highways and ads in Times Square in New York City used cryptic visuals and seemingly meaningless emojis with diamonds and rockets. Mainstream media soon had an explanation: This was the story of how the subreddit r/wallstreetbets had mobilized thousands of retail investors in a fight against evil hedge funds. Ba…
At the mercy of the objects, we study: Epistemic consequences of proprietary digital research infrastructures
This article asks how our capacities to conduct critical research on digital power are influenced by depending, empirically and methodologically, on powerful market actors controlling the underlying research infrastructure. Building on discussions at the intersection between digital methods, political economy and infrastructure studies, we zoom in on three cases of widely used commercial data tools and repositories for academic studies. Mapping o…
The platform behind the curtain: Obfuscated brokerage on retail trading platforms
Retail trading platforms have gained popularity in recent years as brokers for ordinary people to trade speculative assets such as stocks and cryptocurrencies. These platforms earn revenue from their users' risky trading and through derivative products, where the platform benefits as the traders lose. The platforms thus operate with conflicts of interest: what is good for the platform and its users are not necessarily the same. We explore how ret…
Institutional Polymorphism: Diversification of Content and Monetization Strategies on YouTube
Through guidelines, terms of service and algorithmic curation, digital platforms such as YouTube encourage creators to produce content that fits with the commercial goals of the platform. Scholars have argued that this pressure to conform might lead to uniformity, or isomorphism, in the ways organizations manage their presence on platforms. This article contributes to the debate on isomorphism by taking a bottom-up approach and ask to which exten…
The output imperative: Productivity and precarity on YouTube
Research into the video platform YouTube has argued that so-called creators are faced with difficult working circumstances, much like those in the rest of the cultural industries. Stories of ‘YouTuber burnout’ have circulated, indicating the consequences of trying to keep up with demands. This article demonstrates the existence of increasing pressures to produce fresh content on the platform, the output imperative, and offers tentative explanatio…
Towards the engagement economy: Interconnected processes of commodification on YouTube
A dominant way for digital platforms to generate revenue has been through the sale of audiences to advertisers encapsulated by the idea of the attention economy. This model has been challenged in recent years due to competitive and political pressures on platforms. In this paper, we use YouTube as a case to understand how processes of commodification are changing on digital platforms. We demonstrate that YouTube furthers the commodification of co…
Dynamics of Digital Markets
The focus of this panel is the material, organizational, and cultural conditions of digital markets. While the notion of economy refers to the more general production, distribution and allocation in society, the idea of markets represents specific contexts of economic exchange typical of capitalist economies (Carruthers & Babb, 2013). A more elaborate understanding of digital markets and their relationships with digital platforms can expand our u…
The social uses of the Internet: Introduction to the special section
This Special Section takes stock of a shift toward an integrated and global digital media environment with a set of articles comparing and contrasting the social uses of the Internet in China, Europe, and the United States. Departing from James Lull’s typology of the social uses of television, the articles address both general media use patterns and the specific private and public uses to which the Internet is put in these different social and cu…
Converging cultures of communication: A comparative study of Internet use in China, Europe, and the United States
Global Internet use is circumscribed by local political and economic institutions and inscribed in distinctive cultural practices. This article presents a comparative study of Internet use in China, the United States, and five European countries. The empirical findings suggest a convergence of cultures, specifically regarding interpersonal communication, alongside characteristic national and sociodemographic configurations of different prototypes…
Quantitative approaches to media and communication research
This chapter outlines the core elements of the quantitative research process with an emphasis on how media and communication scholars have applied such methods in practice. It offers reflections on some of the limitations and challenges to quantitative approaches. Quantitative approaches constitute an essential component of the methodological toolkit of contemporary media and communication research. Ethics is a general concern in empirical resear…
A Division of Labor: The Role of Big Data Analysis in the Repertoire of Internet Research Methods
In recent years, large-scale analysis of log data from digital devices - often termed ""big data analysis"" (Lazer, Kennedy, King, & Vespignani, 2014) - have taken hold in the field of internet research. Through Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and commercial measurement, scholars have been able to analyze social media users (Freelon 2014) and web audiences (Taneja, 2016) on an uprecedented scale. And by developing digital research tools…
Big data and explanation: Reflections on the uses of big data in media and communication research
In the article, we argue that the advent of data mining techniques and big data in media and communication studies present problems that involve fundamental methodological questions, requiring us to revisit existing ways in which the link between theory, operationalization and data are explained and justified. We note that the discourse of instrumental optimization that surrounds big data clouds epistemic debates about their appropriate integrati…
From Consumer Demand to User Engagement: Comparing the Popularity and Virality of Election Coverage on the Internet
Previous research has identified a strong consumer demand for sensationalized and conflict-oriented news coverage. With the rise of social network services as central spaces for encountering news, there is a need to move beyond the notion of consumer demand (measured by attention to news stories) to a broader conception of user engagement (encompassing attention as well as social interactions online). This article seeks to remedy this by analyzin…
Not So Distinct After All: Assessing Social Stratification of News Users on the Web
Studies in journalism and cultural sociology have long identified differences in the types of news consumed by people from diverse sociodemographic backgrounds. Relying on population surveys, they have primarily found readers or viewers of popular news types such as tabloid newspapers to be vastly different from those of so-called serious types, notably broadsheets. This article contributes to this debate in two ways: first of all by studying soc…
Johan Jarlbrink & Ingela Wadbring: Distansläsning ock nätverksanalys: Digital metoder för gamla och nya medier. [Johan Jarlbrink & Ingela Wadbring: Distance reading and network analysis: Digital metho…
Jacob Ørmen
Smartphone log data in a qualitative perspective
Log data from smartphones have primarily been used in large-scale research designs to draw statistical inferences from hundreds or even thousands of participants. In this article, we argue that more qualitatively oriented designs can also benefit greatly from integrating these rich data sources into studies of smartphones in everyday life. Through an illustrative study, we explore a more nuanced perspective on what can be considered “log data” an…
Towards the engagement economy: Interconnected processes of commodification on YouTube
A dominant way for digital platforms to generate revenue has been through the sale of audiences to advertisers encapsulated by the idea of the attention economy. This model has been challenged in recent years due to competitive and political pressures on platforms. In this paper, we use YouTube as a case to understand how processes of commodification are changing on digital platforms. We demonstrate that YouTube furthers the commodification of co…
From Consumer Demand to User Engagement: Comparing the Popularity and Virality of Election Coverage on the Internet
Previous research has identified a strong consumer demand for sensationalized and conflict-oriented news coverage. With the rise of social network services as central spaces for encountering news, there is a need to move beyond the notion of consumer demand (measured by attention to news stories) to a broader conception of user engagement (encompassing attention as well as social interactions online). This article seeks to remedy this by analyzin…
Smartphone log data in a qualitative perspective
Log data from smartphones have primarily been used in large-scale research designs to draw statistical inferences from hundreds or even thousands of participants. In this article, we argue that more qualitatively oriented designs can also benefit greatly from integrating these rich data sources into studies of smartphones in everyday life. Through an illustrative study, we explore a more nuanced perspective on what can be considered “log data” an…
At the mercy of the objects, we study: Epistemic consequences of proprietary digital research infrastructures
This article asks how our capacities to conduct critical research on digital power are influenced by depending, empirically and methodologically, on powerful market actors controlling the underlying research infrastructure. Building on discussions at the intersection between digital methods, political economy and infrastructure studies, we zoom in on three cases of widely used commercial data tools and repositories for academic studies. Mapping o…
Not So Distinct After All: Assessing Social Stratification of News Users on the Web
Studies in journalism and cultural sociology have long identified differences in the types of news consumed by people from diverse sociodemographic backgrounds. Relying on population surveys, they have primarily found readers or viewers of popular news types such as tabloid newspapers to be vastly different from those of so-called serious types, notably broadsheets. This article contributes to this debate in two ways: first of all by studying soc…
Diamond hands to the moon: Idiocultural mobilization and politicization of personal finance on r/wallstreetbets
In January 2021, the shares of the brick-and-mortar video games retail chain GameStop exploded in value. At the same time, billboards on highways and ads in Times Square in New York City used cryptic visuals and seemingly meaningless emojis with diamonds and rockets. Mainstream media soon had an explanation: This was the story of how the subreddit r/wallstreetbets had mobilized thousands of retail investors in a fight against evil hedge funds. Ba…
Smartphone log data in a qualitative perspective
Log data from smartphones have primarily been used in large-scale research designs to draw statistical inferences from hundreds or even thousands of participants. In this article, we argue that more qualitatively oriented designs can also benefit greatly from integrating these rich data sources into studies of smartphones in everyday life. Through an illustrative study, we explore a more nuanced perspective on what can be considered “log data” an…
Johan Jarlbrink & Ingela Wadbring: Distansläsning ock nätverksanalys: Digital metoder för gamla och nya medier. [Johan Jarlbrink & Ingela Wadbring: Distance reading and network analysis: Digital metho…
Jacob Ørmen
From Consumer Demand to User Engagement: Comparing the Popularity and Virality of Election Coverage on the Internet
Previous research has identified a strong consumer demand for sensationalized and conflict-oriented news coverage. With the rise of social network services as central spaces for encountering news, there is a need to move beyond the notion of consumer demand (measured by attention to news stories) to a broader conception of user engagement (encompassing attention as well as social interactions online). This article seeks to remedy this by analyzin…
Not So Distinct After All: Assessing Social Stratification of News Users on the Web
Studies in journalism and cultural sociology have long identified differences in the types of news consumed by people from diverse sociodemographic backgrounds. Relying on population surveys, they have primarily found readers or viewers of popular news types such as tabloid newspapers to be vastly different from those of so-called serious types, notably broadsheets. This article contributes to this debate in two ways: first of all by studying soc…
Quantitative approaches to media and communication research
This chapter outlines the core elements of the quantitative research process with an emphasis on how media and communication scholars have applied such methods in practice. It offers reflections on some of the limitations and challenges to quantitative approaches. Quantitative approaches constitute an essential component of the methodological toolkit of contemporary media and communication research. Ethics is a general concern in empirical resear…
A Division of Labor: The Role of Big Data Analysis in the Repertoire of Internet Research Methods
In recent years, large-scale analysis of log data from digital devices - often termed ""big data analysis"" (Lazer, Kennedy, King, & Vespignani, 2014) - have taken hold in the field of internet research. Through Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and commercial measurement, scholars have been able to analyze social media users (Freelon 2014) and web audiences (Taneja, 2016) on an uprecedented scale. And by developing digital research tools…
Big data and explanation: Reflections on the uses of big data in media and communication research
In the article, we argue that the advent of data mining techniques and big data in media and communication studies present problems that involve fundamental methodological questions, requiring us to revisit existing ways in which the link between theory, operationalization and data are explained and justified. We note that the discourse of instrumental optimization that surrounds big data clouds epistemic debates about their appropriate integrati…
Dynamics of Digital Markets
The focus of this panel is the material, organizational, and cultural conditions of digital markets. While the notion of economy refers to the more general production, distribution and allocation in society, the idea of markets represents specific contexts of economic exchange typical of capitalist economies (Carruthers & Babb, 2013). A more elaborate understanding of digital markets and their relationships with digital platforms can expand our u…
The social uses of the Internet: Introduction to the special section
This Special Section takes stock of a shift toward an integrated and global digital media environment with a set of articles comparing and contrasting the social uses of the Internet in China, Europe, and the United States. Departing from James Lull’s typology of the social uses of television, the articles address both general media use patterns and the specific private and public uses to which the Internet is put in these different social and cu…
Converging cultures of communication: A comparative study of Internet use in China, Europe, and the United States
Global Internet use is circumscribed by local political and economic institutions and inscribed in distinctive cultural practices. This article presents a comparative study of Internet use in China, the United States, and five European countries. The empirical findings suggest a convergence of cultures, specifically regarding interpersonal communication, alongside characteristic national and sociodemographic configurations of different prototypes…
Institutional Polymorphism: Diversification of Content and Monetization Strategies on YouTube
Through guidelines, terms of service and algorithmic curation, digital platforms such as YouTube encourage creators to produce content that fits with the commercial goals of the platform. Scholars have argued that this pressure to conform might lead to uniformity, or isomorphism, in the ways organizations manage their presence on platforms. This article contributes to the debate on isomorphism by taking a bottom-up approach and ask to which exten…
The output imperative: Productivity and precarity on YouTube
Research into the video platform YouTube has argued that so-called creators are faced with difficult working circumstances, much like those in the rest of the cultural industries. Stories of ‘YouTuber burnout’ have circulated, indicating the consequences of trying to keep up with demands. This article demonstrates the existence of increasing pressures to produce fresh content on the platform, the output imperative, and offers tentative explanatio…
Towards the engagement economy: Interconnected processes of commodification on YouTube
A dominant way for digital platforms to generate revenue has been through the sale of audiences to advertisers encapsulated by the idea of the attention economy. This model has been challenged in recent years due to competitive and political pressures on platforms. In this paper, we use YouTube as a case to understand how processes of commodification are changing on digital platforms. We demonstrate that YouTube furthers the commodification of co…
The platform behind the curtain: Obfuscated brokerage on retail trading platforms
Retail trading platforms have gained popularity in recent years as brokers for ordinary people to trade speculative assets such as stocks and cryptocurrencies. These platforms earn revenue from their users' risky trading and through derivative products, where the platform benefits as the traders lose. The platforms thus operate with conflicts of interest: what is good for the platform and its users are not necessarily the same. We explore how ret…
From static to dynamic evaluation: The potentials and challenges of dashboards to account for NRSs
Recommender systems are dynamic systems used across digital platforms that personalize curation based on the individuals’ history of interactions. News recommender systems (NRSs) can enhance personal relevance and loyalty while reducing the power laws of curation. However, NRSs also denote a displacement of editorial agency and control due to technical complexity and limited transparency in personalized exposure. This study aims to bridge the gap…
Diamond hands to the moon: Idiocultural mobilization and politicization of personal finance on r/wallstreetbets
In January 2021, the shares of the brick-and-mortar video games retail chain GameStop exploded in value. At the same time, billboards on highways and ads in Times Square in New York City used cryptic visuals and seemingly meaningless emojis with diamonds and rockets. Mainstream media soon had an explanation: This was the story of how the subreddit r/wallstreetbets had mobilized thousands of retail investors in a fight against evil hedge funds. Ba…
At the mercy of the objects, we study: Epistemic consequences of proprietary digital research infrastructures
This article asks how our capacities to conduct critical research on digital power are influenced by depending, empirically and methodologically, on powerful market actors controlling the underlying research infrastructure. Building on discussions at the intersection between digital methods, political economy and infrastructure studies, we zoom in on three cases of widely used commercial data tools and repositories for academic studies. Mapping o…
The moral in the machine: Rentier mechanisms in content recommender system on digital platforms
Platforms often champion user value as the primary objective to optimize for in recommender systems. However, as commercial marketplaces platforms must also balance the interests of other stakeholders, such as advertisers, creators, investors, and regulators. This easily creates conflicts of interest – whose value is more important to consider in recommendation systems. To address this issue, I develop a moral economy framework to platform studie…
Computer Science (13 works) · Sociology (12 works) · Political science (7 works) · World Wide Web (7 works) · Economics (6 works) · Public relations (6 works) · Social media (6 works) · Social Media and Politics (6 works) · Social science (6 works) · Business (5 works)