Format negotiation as an emerging field for media linguistics?

Case studies from (fluid) digital environments (Article)

Abstract

Foregrounding negotiations as forms of meta‑interactions that align user practices with platform affordances and algorithmic constraints, we introduce format (Schildhauer & Brock 2024) as an analytical lens for media linguistics. Format captures (i) potentiality (the range of mediated affordances) and (ii) procedurality (the negotiated actualisation of those affordances). Two empirical studies illustrate its utility. A Zoom‑seminar analysis shows participants co‑constructing a digital seminar‑workshop format by negotiating reaction and turn‑taking features. A multimodal study of twelve YouTube commentary videos (and their comments) reveals ongoing renegotiation of self‑censorship as a format feature in response to algorithmic pressures and audience expectations. Findings demonstrate that format negotiation operates on multiple scales (local vs global, explicit vs implicit, established vs emergent) and across communicative levels, from comment sections to the whole platform. By integrating format more firmly into media-linguistic theory, the article suggests a new research avenue for exploring mediated communication in fluid Web 3.0 environments.