Introduction to the Minitrack on Critical and Ethical Studies of Digital and Social Media

This minitrack focuses on two themes: a) research that critically interrogates how and when digital and social media reify existing power structures or realign power for underrepresented or marginalized groups, and b) research that addresses ethical issues associated with doing research on digital and social media. Papers in this minitrack provide both conceptual and empirical approaches to these two themes, providing important interventions for thinking about information exchange in communities and societies, key ideas, paradigms, and methods. These works illustrate the critical or ethical dimensions of digital infrastructures, social media platforms, and data use.