These are two entries for the Encyclopedia of Technology and Politics and I was happy to contribute with: “technicity-of-the-mediums” and “hashtag politics”.
Technicity-of-mediums
The concept of technicity-of-the-mediums relates to the relationship among the computational (or technical) mediums, the fieldwork and the researcher and her object of study. By referring to technical knowledge and demanding technical practices(either using or making software), the concept is used in two senses pointing on the one hand to the effort to become acquainted with the mediums (from a conceptual, technical and empirical perspective)and, on the other hand, to the object of technical imagination (the capacity of considering the features/practical qualities of technical mediums as a solution to methodological problems). Its definition is here unpacked by a description of the situations related to the development of a sensitivity to the technicity-of-the-mediums in the context of digital methods. That is an explanation of how to be acquainted with the mediums, while exposing the awareness component as a trigger for imagination in methodological design and implementation.
Omena, J. J. (2022). “Technicity-of-the-mediums”. In Elgar Encyclopedia of Technology and Politics. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing. Retrieved Nov 23, 2022, from https://www.elgaronline.com/view/book/9781800374263/b-9781800374263.technicity.mediums.omena.xml
Hashtag politics
Hashtag politics relates to the different ways in which actors engage with keywords, emojis or a sequence of letters and or numbers anticipated by the # symbol. The act of hashtagging serves different purposes, and it is complemented or reinforced by other textual and visual content. This practice covers almost every social interest and (non) controversial issues inside and outside the Web environments, changing how we understand our digital society. The politics of hashtags sits at the top of social practices, technological grammar and social media affordances, yet not restricted to these spheres. Collectively, groups of people, organisations or automated agents hold social and political power when they initiate, invoke, challenge, disseminate and maintain global or local debates through hashtagged content.
Omena, J. J. (2022). “Hashtag politics”. In Elgar Encyclopedia of Technology and Politics. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing. Retrieved Nov 25, 2022, from https://www.elgaronline.com/view/book/9781800374263/b-9781800374263.hashtag.politics.omena.xml
About the 2022 Encyclopedia of Technology and Politics
The Elgar Encyclopedia of Technology and Politics is a landmark resource that offers a comprehensive overview of how technological development is reshaping politics. Providing an unparalleled starting point for research, it addresses all the major contemporary aspects of the field, comprising entries written by over 90 scholars from 33 different countries on 5 continents.
Edited by Andrea Ceron, Associate Professor of Political Science, Department of Social and Political Sciences, University of Milan, Italy
Publication Date: 2022 ISBN: 978 1 80037 425 6 Extent: 356 pp
Janna Joceli Omena 
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