Mediatization, polarization, and intolerance (between environments, media, and circulation)

23 Frommediatization to deep mediatization Andreas Hepp 1 Abstract: Mediatization refers to the relationship between the transformation of media and communication on the one hand and culture and society, on the other. Starting from this initial approach to the concept of mediatization, this article has a threefold objective. First, it begins by outlining a more detailed explanation of mediatization. Second, it goes on to describe its current stage as one of deep mediatization, and, finally, it dis - cusses the necessity of extending the perspective of mediatiza- tion research to that of the making of a deep mediatization. This is necessary because, with deep mediatization, new kinds of col- lectivities have become driving forces for change. Actors within pioneer communities such as the Quantified Self Movement, the Maker Movement, and the Hacks/Hacker Movement are har- nessed as examples. Keywords: Mediatization. Transformation. Media environment. Datafication. Social movements. Pioneer communities. 1. Introduction Mediatization refers to an experience everybody knows from his or her everyday life: (digital) media saturate more and more domains of society and they are changing with this. More specifically, mediatization refers to the relationship 1 Andreas Hepp is Professor of Media and Communication and Director of ZeMKI, Center for Research in Media, Communication, and Information at the University of Bremen, Germany. Orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7292-4147, E-mail: ahepp@uni-bremen.de