The New Networks aims to investigate how digital interaction affects our ability and opportunities to participate in democratic processes. Although communication technology provides enormous possibilities for exchanging information, it has not become the liberating global community that early internet enthusiasts envisioned. In many aspects, it has become the means by which powerful tech companies commodify our attention. As media channels and social networks now offer new opportunities for influencing social behavior and political opinions, the question arises: is the general public now shaped by a new collective consciousness through digital social networks?

How does digital interaction affect our ability to form and express our own opinions, critically perceive and reflect on content in the digital sphere, and define the framework for interaction and dialogue?

The project aims to create situations for reflection on these questions through discursive and participatory design methods.

Marte Stadheim Teigen is a designer working with visual communication, experimental interaction design, and creative coding. She is particularly interested in the intersection between design, technology and data. Before starting her PhD she worked for several years in the commercial design industry, doing traditional graphic design and interaction design. In her PhD project she explores how digital interaction affects democratic considerations in public discourse through critical and discursive methods.