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Primary fields of research

My research is placed at the intersection between infrastructure studies, political economy of communication, and critical data studies. My focus is evenly on the role of the internet in everyday life as well as the societal implications of big data, digital infrastructures, and emergent business models, and counts the following topics:

• Datafication and online tracking with a specific focus on digital infrastructures, visibility, and political economies
• Methodological development and digital methods in digital media and communication research
• Sociological media and communication theory

Current research

I currently work on four interraleted research projects:

Mobile Surveillance Infrastructures explores mobile datafication and monetisation from the perspective of apps and other infrastructures directly related to mobile communication and mobile data flows, including app stores, operating systems, and third-party services.

Infrastructures of tracking investigates cookie-based tracking of users across websites and maps data flows and ownership structures as they relate to sites and trackers in Denmark and the rest of the EU.

Capabilities at the intersection between digital communication and datafication discusses and develops the Capability Approach within the field of media and communications in order to operationalise the approach and apply it to studies of communication, wellbeing, and justice, also within the realm of feminist media studies.

The Peoples' Internet (PIN), an international project led by Professor Klaus Bruhn Jensen and funded by the Carlsberg Foundation, charts the current and future state of the internet in three central regions - China, the US, and Europe.

 

I have previously studied TV audiences and particularly TV series across Europe in the international research project Mediating Cultural Encounters Through European Screens (MeCETES). My specific focus was on measurements of viewing and engagement (online and offline) as well as on quantitative studies of TV series distribution.

Teaching

I teach and supervise Communication and IT students at the BA and MA level in topics including:

• Media and communication theory
• Empirical methodologies
• Digital methods
• Digital infrastructures and platforms
• Media reception and user studies
• Project management

Selected publications

1. Published

   Invasive Species of the App Ecosystem: Exploring the Political Economy of Mobile Communication

   Lai, Signe Sophus & Flensburg, Sofie, 30 Apr 2021, In : Journal of International Communication. p. 2301–2318 18 p.

   Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review

2. Published

   Human Capabilities in a Datafied Society. Empirical approaches to studying the interplay between digital communication and internet infrastructures

   Lai, Signe Sophus, 15 Jan 2021, Det Humanistiske Fakultet, Københavns Universitet. 312 p.

   Research output: Book/Report › Ph.D. thesis › Research

3. Published

   A proxy for privacy: Uncovering the surveillance ecology of mobile apps

   Lai, Signe Sophus & Flensburg, Sofie, 15 Jul 2020, In : Big Data & Society.

   Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review

4. Published

   Infrastructures of tracking: Mapping the Ecology of Third-Party Services Across Top Sites in the EU

   Helles, Rasmus, Lomborg, Stine & Lai, Signe Sophus, 5 Oct 2020, In : New Media & Society. 22, 11, p. 1957-1973 19 p.

   Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review

5. Published

   Comparing Digital Communication Systems: An empirical framework for analysing the political economy of digital infrastructures

   Flensburg, Sofie & Lai, Signe Sophus, 24 Oct 2020, In : N O R D I C O M Review. 41, 2

   Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review

6. Published

   Appscapes in everyday life. Studying mobile datafication from an infrastructural user perspective.

   Lai, Signe Sophus & Flensburg, Sofie, 11 Dec 2020, In : MedieKultur: Journal of media and communication research. 36, 69

   Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review

7. Published

   Networks of power: Analysing the evolution of the Danish internet infrastructure

   Flensburg, Sofie & Lai, Signe Sophus, 5 May 2020, In : Internet Histories. p. 1-22 22 p.

   Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review

8. Published

   Mapping digital communication systems: Infrastructures, markets and policies as regulatory forces

   Flensburg, Sofie & Lai, Signe Sophus, 25 Dec 2019, In : Media, Culture & Society.

   Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review

9. Published

   Tracing communicative patterns: A comparative ethnography across platforms, media and contexts

   Lai, Signe Sophus, Pagh, Jesper & Zeng, F. H., Jul 2019, In : N O R D I C O M Review. 40, 1, p. 141-157 17 p.

   Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review

10. Published

    Transnational European Television Drama: Production, Genres and Audiences

    Bondebjerg, Ib, Redvall, Eva Novrup, Helles, Rasmus, Lai, Signe Sophus, Søndergaard, Henrik & Astrupgaard, C., 4 Nov 2017, Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. 318 p.

    Research output: Book/Report › Book › Research › peer-review