The Digital Ecosystem: Big Tech, Privacy and Marketing - JKM539

• Title: The Digital Ecosystem: Big Tech, Privacy and Marketing
• Czech title: Digitální ekosystém: Technologičtí giganti, soukromí a marketing
• Guaranteed by: Department of Marketing Communication and Public Relations (23-KMKPR)
• Faculty: Faculty of Social Sciences
• Actual: from 2024
• Semester: summer
• E-Credits: 3
• Examination process: summer s.:
• Hours per week, examination: summer s.:1/1, C [HT]
• Capacity: 30 / 30 (unknown)
• Min. number of students: unlimited
• 4EU+: no
• Virtual mobility / capacity: no
• State of the course: taught
• Language: English
• Teaching methods: full-time
• Note: course can be enrolled in outside the study plan; enabled for web enrollment
• Guarantor: Ing. Bc. Hana Moravcová, Ph.D.
• Teacher(s): Mgr. Markéta Klásková; Ing. Bc. Hana Moravcová, Ph.D.
• Class: Courses for incoming students

Annotation

This course explores the digital ecosystem, focusing on its mechanisms and impact on digital marketing and data markets. Students will examine cookies, online tracking techniques, infrastructure for targeted marketing, and other elements shaping the digital world. The course engages with critical discussions on the rise of Big Tech, implications for digital market structures, surveillance capitalism, privacy concerns, democratic challenges, and the EU’s digital regulations.
Understanding the dynamics of the digital ecosystem is essential for master’s students in communication studies. This course bridges the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical application, preparing students to navigate and shape the evolving digital landscape. Learning about digital ecosystems is accompanied by a common research project, guided step-by-step by lecturers, offering a unique opportunity for in-depth application of the scientific approach in a supportive learning environment.

Last update: Moravcová Hana, Ing. Bc., Ph.D. (22.01.2025)

Course completion requirements

Complete the Group Research Assignment

Students will conduct a quantitative survey on privacy concerns in groups throughout the course. This includes a short face-to-face questionnaire (privacy index) and recording participants' direct interactions with selected websites. The results will be presented in groups at the end of the course.

Requirements:

• Proactive involvement in class discussions
• Attendance and engagement in four Group Seminars (week 3+4 and week 12+13).

• Collection of data (5 short interviews per each student).

• Final group presentation

Please find the sources in Moodle 2: https://dl2.cuni.cz/course/view.php?id=5842

Last update: Klásková Markéta, Mgr. (17.02.2025)

Literature

Acquisti, A., Brandimarte, L., & Loewenstein, G. (2020). Secrets and likes: The drive for privacy and the difficulty of achieving it in the digital age. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 30(4), 736-758.

Bradford, A. (2020). The Brussels Effect: How the European Union Rules the World. Oxford University Press.

Bradford, A. (2023). Digital Empires: The Global Battle to Regulate Technology. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197649268.001.0001

John W. Cioffi, Martin F. Kenney & John Zysman (2022) Platform power and regulatory politics: Polanyi for the twenty-first century, New Political Economy, 27:5, 820-836.

Colangelo, G. (2023). DMA begins. Journal of antitrust enforcement, 11(1), 116-122. https://doi.org/10.1093/jaenfo/jnac033

Farrand, B., & Carrapico, H. (2022). Digital sovereignty and taking back control: from regulatory capitalism to regulatory mercantilism in EU cybersecurity. European Security, 31(3), 435–453.

Hoeffler, C., & Mérand, F. (2023). Digital sovereignty, economic ideas, and the struggle over the digital markets act: a political-cultural approach. Journal of European Public Policy, 31(8), 2121–2146.

Kollnig, K., & Shadbolt, N. (2023). How Decisions by Apple and Google obstruct App Privacy. Technology and Regulation, 2023, 10-21. https://doi.org/10.26116/techreg.2023.002

Strycharz, J., & Segijn, C. M. (2022). The Future of Dataveillance in Advertising Theory and Practice. Journal of advertising, 51(5), 574-591.

Wooldridge, J. M. (2020). Introductory econometrics: a modern approach (Seventh edition). Cengage.

Zuboff, S. (2021). The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: Updated Edition. PublicAffairs.

 

Last update: Klásková Markéta, Mgr. (17.02.2025)

Syllabus

1. Introduction (17. 2.)

2. Privacy Paradox and Index Construction (24. 2.)

3. Group Seminar I: Research Project Design (3. 3.)

4. Group Seminar II: Pilot Study + Economics of Big Tech (10. 3.)

5. Evolution of Digital Communication Markets (17. 3.)

6. Architecture of Content Targeting (24. 3.)

7. Critical Perspective I: Surveillance Capitalism (31. 3.)

8. Critical Perspective II: Threats to Democracy (7. 4.)

9. Digital Sovereignty and EU Regulatory Politics (14. 4.)
   

10. Easter Holiday (21.4.) - no lecture

11. guest lecture (28. 4. - date may change)

12. Group Seminar III: Data Processing (5. 5.)

13. Group Seminar IV: Presentations (12. 5.)

Last update: Klásková Markéta, Mgr. (15.02.2025)

Learning outcomes

Knowledge

• Understand the digital ecosystem's key mechanisms, including cookies, targeted marketing, and online tracking.

• Analyse the societal, economic, and ethical implications of Big Tech, surveillance capitalism, and hyper-personalisation.

• Explain the privacy paradox: the gap between privacy concerns and actual online behaviours.

• Explore the challenges posed by digitalisation to democracy and public discourse.

• Gain a thorough understanding of EU digital regulations, their impact on global digital markets and unintended consequences 

Skills and Competences

• Design and conduct a quantitative survey on privacy concerns and behaviours.

• Collaborate effectively in teams to collect, interpret and present data

• Apply knowledge of the digital ecosystem to real-world marketing and communication challenges.

• Critically evaluate regulatory frameworks and propose solutions to enhance governance in the digital domain.

Last update: Moravcová Hana, Ing. Bc., Ph.D. (22.01.2025)