User:Peach/peach-thesis-outline

Chapter 1: Online Culture, Memes and Social Media

Chapter 1 is dedicated to defining the concepts I want to talk about in the later chapters. Since I a lot of my focus will be on social networking, I want to explore related topics within the time period where social networking became relevant, for the purpose of my thesis I want to look at a time period from early 2000s to today. First two sub chapters are dedicated to defining distinct models of websites, ones that provide the content to an audience and others that allow audience to post their own content. The last two sub chapters are about communities and content they create.

Chapter 2: Viral Advertising and Propaganda

In this chapter I want to explore content that is created with the purpose of going viral. In social media as propaganda tool, I want to look at both official and unofficial political propaganda. In the chapter radicalization, I want to look into the things users are shown without their input such as ads and more importantly, recommendation of content similar to what they're already consuming. Recommendation algorithm of YouTube and it's alleged role in introducing audiences to right wing content is a potential case study.

Chapter 3: Misinformation and Online Trolling

After exploring radicalization via social media and recommendation algorithms, in chapter 3 I want to explore misinformation (and people who create it), outrage, online toxicity and how dangerous ideologies and conspiracy theories gain traction online.

Chapter 4: Silver Lining

Chapter 4 is about the things we can do to amplify voices of people who dedicate themselves to justice and equality. I want to study the ways people organize and build communities online, and I want to explore viral content as a potential tool for effective communication.