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De-Platformized Media Infrastructures: Dynamicland as a Case Study of Epistemic Practice
Linnaeus University, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Department of Media and Journalism.
2026 (English)Independent thesis Advanced level (degree of Master of Fine Arts (Two Years)), 80 credits / 120 HE creditsStudent thesis
Abstract [en]

With the expansion of platform capitalism, the contemporary internet is increasingly dominated by centralized digital infrastructures. Mainstream platforms are gradually monopolizing knowledge production and modes of social collaboration through black-box systems and algorithmic governance. Against this background, this study uses Dynamicland (Dynamicland, n.d.) as a case study to explore how it constructs an alternative vision of collaborative knowledge production through multimodal media forms and to analyze how these media forms participate in constructing meaning around decentralization and collaboration.

The primary research question is how Dynamicland uses multimodal media forms to articulate an alternative vision of collaborative knowledge production. The study further examines which media forms are employed, how different media elements collectively construct meaning, and how decentralization and collaboration are expressed. This study integrates Actor-Network Theory (ANT), assemblage theory, media semiotics, and Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis (MCDA), employing a qualitative single-case study method to conduct a multimodal analysis of Dynamicland’s website, videos, project documents, and visual materials.

The study finds that Dynamicland actively counters the highly abstract and black-boxed technical logic of mainstream tech platforms through forms such as handwriting, paper based interaction, physical space, and hand-drawn diagrams. By emphasizing visible interfaces, material interaction, and embodied participation, it brings knowledge production back into a public space that is observable, understandable, and modifiable. At the same time, the decentralization emphasized by Dynamicland is a redistribution of epistemic authority. Within its system, participants are the co-producers of rules and infrastructure.

This study further argues that Dynamicland’s representations themselves constitute a political act. Through these multimodal representations, Dynamicland constructs an alternative imagination of technology, one in which technology can be open, embodied, and collaborative. By examining representation, this study expands our understanding of alternative media infrastructures and offers a new perspective in media studies on de-platformed infrastructures and collaborative knowledge production.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2026. , p. 57
Keywords [en]
media infrastructures, knowledge production, semiotic
National Category
Media and Communication Studies
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-148749OAI: oai:DiVA.org:lnu-148749DiVA, id: diva2:2086737
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Available from: 2026-08-26 Created: 2026-07-15 Last updated: 2026-08-26Bibliographically approved

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