A Scholarly Definition of Artificial Intelligence (AI): Advancing AI as a Conceptual Framework in Communication Research
Gil de Zúñiga, H., Goyanes, M., & Durotoye, T. (2023). A Scholarly Definition of Artificial Intelligence (AI): Advancing AI as a Conceptual Framework in Communication Research. Political Communication, 41(2), 317–334.
Research on Artificial Intelligence (AI) in communication research is gaining broader interest. This interdisciplinary interest has yet to be supported by a systematic scholarly definition and by a holistic theoretical framework in communication research. First, combining prior theoretical efforts from diverse disciplines in the social sciences, especially journalism, and communication, this study introduces a wide-ranging working AI scholarly definition in communication research as the tangible real-world capability of non-human machines or artificial entities to perform, task solve, communicate, interact, and act logically as it occurs with biological humans. We also propose its theoretical operationalization based on two dimensions: level of performance and level of autonomy, advancing an elementary conceptual framework drawing on AI’s levels of potential actions or performance the AI may accomplish, including 1) performing tasks, 2) taking decisions, and 3) making predictions; as well as AI’s level of autonomy, or the agency results contingent on the degrees of human input, interaction, or supervision involved.
Scheffauer, R., Durotoye, T., & de Zúñiga, H. G. (2023). Incidental news exposure and political consumerism–Exploring nuances. Telematics and Informatics, 84, 102044.
With the rise of the internet and social media, many people find their news online, often only incidentally. Burgeoning research in this line of inquiry has explored the connection between incidental exposure to news (INE) and participatory political behaviors. However, certain peculiarities still need to be addressed in this area. Working with panel survey data from the United States, in this study, we uncover the relationship between incidental news exposure and political consumerism as well as nuances thereof. While there is a positive connection between overall INE and consumerism, our findings reveal that different effects emerge depending on the place of incidental exposure (on social media, traditional media, or online), thus highlighting that the focus on social media INE applied in many studies needs to be broadened. Furthermore, we find differences between those who boycott and buycott, challenging the traditional composition of the political consumerism measurement.
Durotoye, T. (2020). Intermediality and critical engagement in Nigerian twitter memes. In Handbook of Research on Politics in the Computer Age (pp. 291-314). IGI Global.
The ingenious deployment of the digital media by online users in Nigeria offers opportunities in this chapter to monitor the trajectories of netizens' engagement with public dialogues on Nigerian Twitter. By exploring the dimensions of intermedial exchanges (i.e., intermediality), this study will analyze how digital users explore innovative digital media tools such as Twitter memes in reinstating their views on critical discourses in the Nigerian polity. The author adopts a mixed methods design, which includes quantitative content analysis, discourse and semiotics analyses. Two prominent Nigerian Twitter accounts—@KraksTV and @I_pissVodka—are purposively selected for this chapter, and the author will evaluate memes posted between April 2018 and May 2018 by paying close attention to the themes and issues propagated. The author concludes that intermediality promotes a dynamism of opinion characterized by technological innovation, in which Twitter meme is categorized, enabling the expression of political agency and furtherance of critical engagement.
