The internationalisation of media studies implies not only the inclusion of geographically diverse experiences of media use, but the exploration of alternative frameworks from our rich global landscape that can facilitate a deeper and more nuanced understanding of the complex reality of media and its diverse users. Many of the ‘seminal’ frameworks for understanding communication and media have been applied to Asian experiences without much critical evaluation or juxtaposition with alternative perspectives. This volume presents an alternative perspective for examining Asian experiences of media use and aims to inspire a wave of exploration of indigenous concepts for understanding media use in other contexts.
Soriano, C. & Cao, R. (forthcoming). Of Owned, Shared, and Public Access ICT: Constructs of Privacy and Publicness in Marginal Spaces. In (A. Telleria, Ed.) Between the Public and Private in Mobile Communication: London & New York: Routledge
Lim, S. S. and Soriano, C (2016). A (digital) giant awakens: Invigorating media studies through Asian perspectives. In Lim, S.S. & Soriano, C. (Eds). Asian Perspectives on Digital Culture. Emerging Phenomena, Enduring Concepts (pp. 3-16). London & New York: Routledge.
Soriano, C. & Lim, S.S. (2016). Ritual and communal connection in mobile phone communication: Representation of kapwa, bayanihan and "People Power" in the Philippines. In Lim, S.S. & Soriano, C. (Eds). Asian Perspectives on Digital Culture, Emerging Phenomena, Enduring Concepts (pp. 100-118). Routledge.
Sapitula, M and Soriano C. (2016). My Letter to Heaven via Email. Translocal Piety and Mediated Selves in Urban Marian Piety in the Philippines. In Lim, S.S. & Soriano, C. (Eds). Asian Perspectives on Digital Culture, Emerging Phenomena, Enduring Concepts (pp 33-51). Routledge.
Soriano, C. (2015). Review: Proenza, F. J. (Ed.), Public Access ICT across Cultures. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press. Kasarinlan: Philippine Journal of Third World Studies, 30(1), 130-133.
Soriano, C. (2015). Review: Rogers, R. (2013). ‘Digital Methods’. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press. Television and New Media, 16(8), 772.
Soriano, C. (2015). Article Review of "Noli Me Tangere" (Touch me Not): When is sex work not sex work?. Sabangan Journal, pp. 93-97
Soriano, C. (2013). Review: G. Lovink, 'Networks without a Cause: Critique of Social Media'. Mobile Media & Communication, 1(3), 373-374
Published conference proceeding Syliongka, L, Lam, AJ, Soriano, C., Roldan, MDG, Magno, F. Cheng, C, & Oco, N. (2015). Combining Automatic and Manual Approaches: Towards a Framework for Discovering Themes in Disaster-related Tweets. In Proceedings of the 24th International Conference on World Wide Web (WWW '15 Companion). International World Wide Web Conferences Steering Committee, Republic and Canton of Geneva, Switzerland, 1239-1244. DOI=10.1145/2740908.2742125 http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/2740908.2742125
White Papers / Commissioned Works
Magno, F. & Soriano, C. (2013). E-Government Services for Overseas Filipino Workers. Study funded by the National Research Council of the Philippines and the Department of Science and Technology.
Soriano, C.R. (2010). Online Deliberative Spaces and the Ethno-religious Divide in the Philippines: Deliberative Democracy or Agonistic Pluralism? Published by the National University of Singapore-Communications and New Media White Paper Series.
How social media changed the way we consume news. SBS Radio, 28 April 2017 http://www.sbs.com.au/yourlanguage/filipino/en/content/how-social-and-digital-media-changed-way-we-consume-news
How social media changed the way we talk about issues. SBS Radio, 2 Sept 2016. http://www.sbs.com.au/yourlanguage/filipino/en/content/how-has-social-media-changed-way-we-talk-about-issues
RESEARCH
Ongoing:
1. Youth and digital cultures in Metro Manila slums. The study examines the nature and varied modes of access and use of the internet and media use by youth in low-income communities in urban Manila, what characterize mobile and internet youth cultures and socio-technical practices in this locale, and how internet access might be transforming this particular urban cultural landscape. Specifically, the study maps the ecology of internet access in five slum communities, highlighting three prominent modes: the prepaid and free mobile internet, the “piso net” (one peso net) and the “computer shop”. The study explores the intersections of socio-cultural space, media ecology, and youth culture in the differential modes of internet access and cultures of use within these communities. Focus is on understanding the social aspects of urban poor youth’s internet cultures as this is intertwined with the economic, political, and spatial: a) how do we map the differential modes of access and use of the internet by youths in slums, and how do these modes of access influence use and social-technical practices? b) how does internet access facilitate the creation of glocal or “virtual third spaces” that nurture new/different forms of bonds or transgress the limitations of physical space and their social positions? *This project is funded under the DLSU Challenge Grant and the Australia-APEC Women in Research Fellowship
2. "World Class Work" or "Digital Sweatshops"? Ethnographic inquiry on online freelancing in the Philippines (with Dr. Jason Vincent Cabanes, University of Leeds). Being in the very early stages, this project's initial aim is to produce a nuanced picture of the nature and conditions of working class Filipinos involved in online freelancing work. This entails: 2.1 mapping the ecology of emerging forms of digital labour involving Filipinos; 2.2 understanding the dynamics of such forms of labour by attending to both the perspectives of industry drivers and the experiential dimensions of Filipinos who engage in these jobs; and 2.3 identifying issue areas and recommending possible interventions to support the workers and organisations within the industry. *This project is part of the Newton Tech4Dev Network
Past Research:
1. Democratization of technologies: Online political mobilization from the margins. My research contributes to the scholarship on the democratization of technologies and their appropriation by marginalized and culturally minoritized groups in the peripheries of global society. Particularly, my research explored how minority groups-- ethnic, ethno-religious, and queer, strategically use online new media technologies and investigate the interdependence of activist media practices with the complex terrain of the powers of the state, capital and global forces and local circumstances that surround them.
2. Technology advertising and culture. This research area explores cultural representations of mobile communication services in contemporary advertising. Using semiotic analysis of mobile advertisements in Southeast Asia (more broadly) and Philippines (particularly), the research identifies representations of culture in light of the competing pulls of traditional Filipino values and emerging societal dynamics. The research is also interested in identifying how advertising produces particular cultural roles and ideologies (rituals, gender roles) to influence consumption.
