In today’s Lectorial we discussed institutions, and particularly the way that institutions can represent extremely different things to different people. To demonstrate this, we completed a little exercise where we came up with some attributes for a particular institution, for example:

Facebook:

• What is their relationship to their audience? What is their mode of address? Facebook is a platform that in some ways attempts to be “invisible” (i.e. Facebook is your friendships, not just the platform on which you maintain your friendships). Facebook also uses inclusive, informal language to encourage casual everyday use.
• What are their core values? Sharing, openness, building social ties and networks.
• What is their status? Facebook is a trusted Silicon Valley success story, enabling revolutionary forms and levels of communication around the world. But in some circles Facebook is seen as a monolithic overseer selling its user’s personal data to unscrupulous advertisers.
• How are they more than a business? To many people Facebook is a news source (for some, their only news source), a social gathering place, an indispensable communication tool, etc.. Facebook performs many functions outside their core money-making activity.
• What forms of regulation constrain their activities? Laws and codes of conduct restricting the use of identifying information (cookies, Do Not Track, etc.) could affect their ability to use targeted advertising. Privacy legislation is the primary way that Facebook would come up against regulatory activity.
• In what sense are they conduits for flows of power? In localised social groups (e.g. high schools, groups of friends, workplaces, etc.) Facebook either enables or denies certain people power. It is also big enough that it can affect real-world political issues, such a same-sex marriage debates in the United States.
• What other institutions are they related to, engaged with or aligned with? Facebook owns Instagram, another major social networking website/app. It also maintains relationships with major advertisers, governments and regulators all over the world.

I also completed the exercise for NPR, which is an institution I’m personally interested in and contrasts in many ways to an organisation like Facebook.

NPR:

• What is their relationship to their audience? What is their mode of address? NPR is primarily a broadcaster – traditional radio stations, plus creating content for syndication and online streaming. As a public broadcaster it retains a certain level of trust as it is less beholden to commercial imperatives than other major networks, and in general it is seen as an authority in the world of news and information exchange.
• What are their core values? Community, inclusion, education.
• What is their status? As the major public broadcaster in the American radio sector, NPR is very highly respected. However, it also garners criticism of left-wing bias, and as a (partially) publicly funded organisation it receives periodic accusations of being a waste of taxpayers’ money.
• How are they more than a business? NPR contributes to the ongoing cultural conversation in the United States, and also exports its ideals and values internationally. NPR is also a training ground for presenters who go onto perform on higher profile platforms.
• What forms of regulation constrain their activities? Broadcasting laws and regulations constrain.
• In what sense are they conduits for flows of power? As a mass media broadcaster, NPR’s inclusion or exclusion of particular people/groups/communities from its airwaves gives them great power to influence discourse.
• What other institutions are they related to, engaged with or aligned with? Partner radio stations, content providers, sponsors, other public radio organisations like PRX and Panoply.