Internet, digital media and society Books

Book SynopsisTrade Review"A New Yorker Best Book of the Year""A Financial Times Best Politics Book of the Year""A Foreign Affairs Best Book of the Year""Timely and indispensable." * Atlantic *"A fascinating new book." * The Economist *"[A] well-researched and entertaining book."---Tony Barber, Financial Times"Entertaining and disquieting."---Gideon Rachman, Financial Times"With meaty graphs and well-organized evidence . . . Guriev and Treisman advance subtler arguments, as they show that authoritarian rulers can come to power by democratic means and stay there."---Adam Gopnik, New Yorker"If we failed to end tyrants, we played our part in helping to mould them. As Sergei Guriev and Daniel Treisman observe in their intelligent, important book Spin Dictators, throughout this time something far more interesting and dangerous was happening. The most sophisticated dictators were reforming themselves, and the lesson they internalised was not the need to be democratic – that, after all, went against who they were – but the need to look democratic."---David Patrikarakos, Spectator"As Sergei Guriev and Daniel Treisman persuasively argue in Spin Dictators, their absorbing, meticulous study of the evolution of authoritarianism in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, craft and deception have in recent decades supplanted fear and terror as the defining characteristics of today’s autocratic rulers. . . . In diagnosing a critical problem and proposing a prophylactic, Guriev and Treisman have performed a great service to the field of geopolitics."---Michael M. Rosen, Washington Examiner"Sergei Guriev and Daniel Treisman have written the most astute account of the system that has risen to challenge liberal democracy in the 21st century. Their book, Spin Dictators: The Changing Face of Tyranny in the 21st Century, describes the methods which have made it possible for Putin, Viktor Orban, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and others to rule over societies that in most cases had developed reasonably well functioning democracies. Other scholars and journalists have written about the tactics used by 21st century autocrats to secure control over the institutions of a free society. But Guriev and Treisman have assembled the most thorough analysis of the building blocks of contemporary dictatorships."---Arch Puddington, American Purpose"A deeply researched tour d’horizon of the evolving dark arts of authoritarian politics."---G. John Ikenberry, Foreign Affairs"The authors carefully document dozens of strategies used by authoritarian regimes around the world to successfully pass themselves off as populist supporters of democracy when the actual goal is tyranny and absolute power. As depressing as this scenario may be, the authors do politically concerned readers an immense favor, enabling us to recognize these tactics and, with that knowledge, ultimately oppose this new breed of dictator." * Booklist *"Thoroughly enjoyable and enlightening."---Joshua Huminski, Diplomatic Courier"The dictatorships of the 20th century rested on violence and direct coercion. This book argues that the 21st century has seen the emergence of a new kind of spin dictatorship — in places as diverse as Hungary, Singapore and Turkey — that adopts the forms of democracy while subverting the substance."---Gideon Rachman, Financial Times"An excellent overview of the authoritarian landscape of the early twenty-first century and how it operates within a global environment. It is well-researched, and its references are comprehensive. The excellent narrative provides a compact history and analysis of political leadership in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries."---Erwin Warkentin, European Legacy ​​​​​​​

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Book SynopsisWe are so used to living in a media-saturated world that we do not notice just how much damage is being done to us daily by the images we see and the articles and posts we read. If you are often anxious or find it hard to sleep, or you regularly want to give up on your fellow human beings, the reason may come down to the relentless influence of the modern media. How Modern Media Destroys Our Minds is a guide for navigating the media today. The book encourages the reader to consider the many peculiarities of the modern media: its excessive focus on scandal, its emphasis on novelty, its capacity to breed envy and self-hatred, its high-minded defence of itself, its ever shorter attention span and its obsession with fame. The book teaches us how to liberate ourselves from the media, in order to achieve calm and a more generous, original and imaginative state of mind. We are shown how to redress the balance and emerge with a stronger, more positive outlook on life.

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Book Synopsis'The Chaos Machine is an essential book for our times' - Ezra KleinThe Chaos Machine is the story of how the world was driven mad by social media. The election of populists like Trump and Bolsonaro; strife and genocide in countries like Myanmar; the rampant spread of COVID-19 conspiracy theories as deadly as the pandemic itself; all of these are products of a breakdown in our social and political lives, a breakdown driven by the apps, companies and algorithms that compete constantly for our attention.Max Fisher is a leading New York Times technology reporter whose work has covered the way that social media sites - driven increasingly by artificial intelligence rather than human ingenuity - push users towards more and more extreme positions, deepening the divisions in society in pursuit of greater engagement and profit. With extraordinary access to the most powerful players in Silicon Valley, and with testimonies from around the world of the havoc being wreaked by our online selves, The Chaos Machine shows us how we got to this uniquely perilous moment - and how we might get out of it.Trade ReviewSocial media isn't just changing our lives. It's changing the world, and even its creators and would-be overseers have only the foggiest ideas about how. In this meticulously reported, grippingly told account, Max Fisher chases the results across continents, and paints a disturbing picture of not just where we are, but where we're going. The Chaos Machine is an essential book for our times * Ezra Klein, author of the New York Times bestseller Why We’re Polarized *Max Fisher blends together deep reporting, riveting stories, and a global canvas in this gripping and definitive work on the damage wrought by social media. The Chaos Machine is essential reading if you want to understand a force that is reshaping the world and the very real consequences it is having on people everywhere * Ben Rhodes, author of the New York Times bestseller The World as It Is: A Memoir of the Obama White House Date *In this timely book, Max Fisher reveals how powerful social-media giants set all of humanity on an alternative course to the future. The Chaos Machine boldly exposes how a few technology companies chose profit over people, helped spread salacious misinformation, and ultimately ripped the fabric of society apart. I hope everyone will read this important investigation with an open mind, because we must choose a different path forward, and fast * Amy Webb, author of The Big Nine: How the Tech Titans and Their Thinking Machines Could Warp Humanity *Well argued, engaging and often necessarily discomfiting * Irish Independent *A stark warning about the extent to which Facebook et al distort our perception of reality * Guardian *Fisher's book brings us face to face with chaos machines and their ruinous human consequences - Literary Review

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Book SynopsisDavid Ogilvy is remembered as one of the most influential admen of all time. His bestselling book Ogilvy on Advertising gave no-nonsense, essential advice to those in marketing, PR, advertising and other related industries wanting to improve their success rate. It has become the industry handbook. Ogilvy wrote his book before the Digital Revolution, and in this sequel, Miles Young brings the same erudite scrutiny to advertising in the digital age as he examines the challenges that agencies and their clients have faced with the arrival of 'digital'. He demonstrates how to respond astutely and successfully to the myriad possibilities the digital world has to offer. The book is comprehensive in its reach, touching on all areas, from brand response to social media, pervasive creativity, smart content and good storytelling, to cautions about the power of big data, and what we can learn from the latest neuroscience findings and emerging markets. Backed up by sound research and an illustrious career working out of offices in the UK, US and Hong Kong, Young cuts through the 'noise' surrounding digital to outline some essential truths and offer sound practical advice. Trade ReviewIn this stylish textbook for students of advertising, Ogilvy & Mather nonexecutive chairman Young offers a smart take on the current state of advertising and how his storied firm has evolved as society has been transformed by the internet … Publishers Weekly Table of ContentsOverture • Section I Content and the New World: The Digital Revolution, Pervasive Creativity, The Post-Modern Brand, Globalization 3.0, Today's Brand • Section II The Faces of Content/How to Bring Content to Life: Storytelling, The Taxonomy of Content, Creativity and Technology, Distribution Systems of Content, Creating Content • Section III The Fuel of Content Data: Levers of Content • Section IV Clients, Culture and Courage • Epilogue: Agility and the Agency of the Future.

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Book SynopsisThis essential guide to doing social research in this fast-evolving digital age explains how the digital revolution is transforming the way social scientists observe behavior, ask questions, run experiments, and engage in mass collaborations.Trade Review"Winner of the 2019 PROSE Award in Textbook / Social Sciences, Association of American Publishers""Winner of the AAPOR Book Award, American Association for Public Opinion Research"

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Book SynopsisDavid Ogilvy is well known and respected as the most successful adman of all time. His bestselling book, Ogilvy on Advertising gives valuable advice to young hopefuls and veterans of the industry wanting to improve their success rate.Table of Contents0

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Bronze Medal for the Arthur Book Award, Council on Foreign Relations""Winner of the Zerilli-Marimo Prize, Academy of Moral and Political Sciences""Timely and indispensable." * Atlantic *"A fascinating new book." * The Economist *"[A] well-researched and entertaining book."---Tony Barber, Financial Times"Entertaining and disquieting."---Gideon Rachman, Financial Times"With meaty graphs and well-organized evidence . . . Guriev and Treisman advance subtler arguments, as they show that authoritarian rulers can come to power by democratic means and stay there."---Adam Gopnik, New Yorker"If we failed to end tyrants, we played our part in helping to mould them. As Sergei Guriev and Daniel Treisman observe in their intelligent, important book Spin Dictators, throughout this time something far more interesting and dangerous was happening. The most sophisticated dictators were reforming themselves, and the lesson they internalised was not the need to be democratic – that, after all, went against who they were – but the need to look democratic."---David Patrikarakos, Spectator"As Sergei Guriev and Daniel Treisman persuasively argue in Spin Dictators, their absorbing, meticulous study of the evolution of authoritarianism in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, craft and deception have in recent decades supplanted fear and terror as the defining characteristics of today’s autocratic rulers. . . . In diagnosing a critical problem and proposing a prophylactic, Guriev and Treisman have performed a great service to the field of geopolitics."---Michael M. Rosen, Washington Examiner"Sergei Guriev and Daniel Treisman have written the most astute account of the system that has risen to challenge liberal democracy in the 21st century. Their book, Spin Dictators: The Changing Face of Tyranny in the 21st Century, describes the methods which have made it possible for Putin, Viktor Orban, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and others to rule over societies that in most cases had developed reasonably well functioning democracies. Other scholars and journalists have written about the tactics used by 21st century autocrats to secure control over the institutions of a free society. But Guriev and Treisman have assembled the most thorough analysis of the building blocks of contemporary dictatorships."---Arch Puddington, American Purpose"A deeply researched tour d’horizon of the evolving dark arts of authoritarian politics."---G. John Ikenberry, Foreign Affairs"The authors carefully document dozens of strategies used by authoritarian regimes around the world to successfully pass themselves off as populist supporters of democracy when the actual goal is tyranny and absolute power. As depressing as this scenario may be, the authors do politically concerned readers an immense favor, enabling us to recognize these tactics and, with that knowledge, ultimately oppose this new breed of dictator." * Booklist *"Thoroughly enjoyable and enlightening."---Joshua Huminski, Diplomatic Courier"The dictatorships of the 20th century rested on violence and direct coercion. This book argues that the 21st century has seen the emergence of a new kind of spin dictatorship — in places as diverse as Hungary, Singapore and Turkey — that adopts the forms of democracy while subverting the substance."---Gideon Rachman, Financial Times"An excellent overview of the authoritarian landscape of the early twenty-first century and how it operates within a global environment. It is well-researched, and its references are comprehensive. The excellent narrative provides a compact history and analysis of political leadership in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries."---Erwin Warkentin, European Legacy ​​​​​​​

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Book SynopsisA firsthand account and incisive analysis of modern protest, revealing internet-fueled social movements’ greatest strengths and frequent challengesTrade Review“Tufekci believes that digital-age protests are not simply faster, more responsive versions of their mid-century parents. They are fundamentally distinct.”—Nathan Heller, New Yorker"This comprehensive, thought-provoking work makes a valuable contribution to understanding recent political developments and provides a clear path by which grassroots organizers can improve future efforts."—Publishers Weekly"Twitter and Tear Gas is packed with evidence on how social media has changed social movements, based on rigorous research and placed in historical context."—Hannah Kuchler, Financial Times“Tufecki has written an important book that offers a granular assessment of contemporary digital protest. . . Altogether, Tufecki offers a textured chronicle of the dynamics of several movements and the hopes of activists.”—Silvio Waisbord, Social Forces"A striking and original conclusion: today’s low barrier for organizing a movement can also lead to its long-term frustrations. Tufekci’s superb book will define the debate on social protest for years to come."—Dani Rodrik, author of Economic Rules: The Rights and Wrongs of the Dismal Science"Tufekci is undoubtedly the most qualified person in the world to explain the meaning of political collective actions catalyzed and coordinated by social media. She knows the technology, the social science, and the politics—and she is the rare academic observer who was at the scene, from Istanbul to Cairo to New York."—Howard Rheingold, author of Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution"Incisive and illuminating, Tufekci’s book arrives at the perfect moment, right when we desperately need our activism to become smarter and more effective than ever before, or else."— Astra Taylor, author of The People’s Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital Age and co-founder of the Debt Collective"Many have asked why people rebel, but few describe how. Here, Tufekci uses firsthand observation to offer an intelligent and informed examination of the tools and nature of today’s political protests."—Vali Nasr, author of The Dispensable Nation and The Shia Revival"For all the claims that new technologies afford grassroots movements new power, research on the topic is rare. Tufekci's book provides just that—and a cautionary conclusion."—Doug McAdam, author of Deeply Divided: Racial Politics and Social Movements in Postwar America

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"A Choice Outstanding Academic Title of the Year""An important contribution. . . . [Algorithms for the People] should be in all technology and social science collections." * Choice *

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Book SynopsisDavid Ogilvy is 'The Father of Advertising' and in this new format of his seminal classic, he teaches you how to sell anything.'The most sought-after wizard in the advertising business.' Times MagazineFrom the most successful advertising executive of all time comes the definitve guide to the art of any sale.Everything from writing successful copy to finding innovative ways to engage people and from identifying with your audience to the various ways to sell a lifestyle, Ogilvy on Advertising looks at what sells, what doesn't and why. And, in doing so, he teaches what you can do to sell the most brilliant item of all... yourself.From a titan of not just the advertising industry, but the business world, this book is David Ogilvy's final word on what you're doing wrong in any pitch and how you can finally fix it.

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Book SynopsisTechnology has fractured democracy, and now there’s no going back. All around the world, the fringes have stormed the palace of the elites and unleashed data miners, dark ads and bots on an unwitting public. After years of soundbites about connecting people, the social media giants are only just beginning to admit to the scale of the problem. We stand on the precipice of an era where switching your mobile platform will have more impact on your life than switching your government. Where freedom and privacy are seen as incompatible with social well-being and transparency. Where your attention is sold to the highest bidder. Our laws don’t cover what is happening and our politicians don’t understand it. But if we don’t fight to change the system now, we may not get another chance.Trade Review‘Excellent.’ * New Statesman *‘Democracy Hacked gets beyond the headlines – a compelling, informed and highly readable account of how democracy is being disrupted by the tech revolution, and what can be done to get us back on track. One of the best expositions I’ve read yet of what is the biggest political challenge of our generation.’ -- Jamie Bartlett, author of The People Vs Tech and The Dark Net‘Enormously wide-ranging and deeply researched, this is the definitive account of how digital technology has changed the entire political landscape, with profound consequences for democracy. From Brexit to Trump, and from Estonia to the Philippines, Martin Moore uncovers the real stories behind the fake ones. You’ll discover that the truth is often stranger than fiction and that the future is more open than you think.’ -- David Runciman, author of How Democracy Ends‘The world is belatedly waking up to some frightening realities about the intersection of digital technologies and the health of democracies. Martin Moore’s book is a sharp wake-up call – ambitious in its sweep and urgent in its important message.’ -- Alan Rusbridger, author of Breaking News‘Eye-opening… An important, timely, and clearly written look at a crucial subject.’ * Booklist *‘Moore demonstrates how data has affected elections across the world, in the Philippines, Turkey, India, Iran, Britain and beyond... Engrossing, instructive, and urgently necessary.’ * Kirkus *

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Book SynopsisExplains what happened to musicfor both artists and fanswhen music went online. Playing to the Crowd explores and explains how the rise of digital communication platforms has transformed artist-fan relationships into something closer to friendship or family. Through in-depth interviews with musicians such as Billy Bragg and Richie Hawtin, as well as members of the Cure, UB40, and Throwing Muses, Baym reveals how new media has facilitated these connections through the active, and often required, participation of the artists and their devoted, digital fan base.Before the rise of social sharing and user-generated content, fans were mostly seen as an undifferentiated and unidentifiable mass, often mediated through record labels and the press. However, in today's networked era, musicians and fans have built more active relationships through social media, fan sites, and artist sites, giving fans a new sense of intimacy and offering artists unparalleled informationTrade ReviewBaym's enthusiasm and experience makes this academic study accessible to professional musicians as well as musicology and communication scholars. * Library Journal *Nancy K. Baym was researching the impact of emerging technologies and music when most of us did not have the foresight to anticipate the changing music landscape. This is not her first pioneering work, and it certainly won't be her last, but it is, as always, fun and intriguing. An innovative wordsmith and an engaging storyteller, Baym explains how musicians transition from technologies designed to render them remote deities to those that invite them to be irrevocably intimate. Her observations carry weight and her interpretations are timely and timeless. She is a sharp researcher with a curious mindthe type that unfailingly seduces, educates and inspires you with their writing. -- Zizi Papacharissi,University of Illinois at ChicagoNancy K. Bayms Playing to the Crowdis a major advance in our understanding of new media, music and audiences. Through careful ethnographic and historical work, Baym offers a definitive reception history of popular music as it went online. She also offers a transformative theory of music in the age of social media. Methodologically rich, beautifully written, and full of great storytelling, Playing to the Crowdexplains the novel aspects of our emergent online environment, all while linking it to music as a cultural practice that transcends any one context, and insisting that we understand online relationships as fundamentally human relationships. It will change the way you think about music, technology and people. -- Jonathan Sterne,author of MP3: The Meaning of a FormatBaym’s book sheds light on the previously unexplored territory of musicians’ own management of their social media presence through ethnography, and for this reason many sections of this volume deserve a place in music and media syllabi for undergraduate and graduate studies, particularly to study Western cultural contexts and popular music scenes. * Yearbook for Traditional Music *

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Book Synopsis**HOW TO WIN AN INFORMATION WAR: THE PROPAGANDIST WHO OUTWITTED HITLER AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER NOW**WINNER OF THE GORDON BURN PRIZE 2020A TIMES and GUARDIAN BOOK OF THE YEAR''Quietly frightening.'' Guardian''Essential reading.'' Irish Times''Consistently chilling.'' Herald''Shocking and entertaining.'' Daily TelegraphWhen information is a weapon, everyone is at war.We live in a world of influence operations run amok, a world of dark ads, psy-ops, hacks, bots, soft facts, ISIS, Putin, trolls, Trump. We've lost not only our sense of peace and democracy but our sense of what those words even mean. As Peter Pomerantsev seeks to make sense of the disinformation age, he meets Twitter revolutionaries and pop-up populists, behavioural change' salesmen, Jihadi fan-boys, Identitarians, truth cops, and much more. Forty years after his dissid

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Book SynopsisThe ebook edition of this title is Open Access, thanks to Knowledge Unlatched funding, and freely available to read online. Emerging alongside the progression of women's rights in the twenty-first century is the development of the men's rights movement, parts of which have culminated into the contemporary 'manosphere.' Consisting of online communities that ascribe to misogynistic ideologies, which objectify, disparage, and dehumanise women, the manosphere also houses those who identify as involuntary celibate (incel). Drawing on ethnographic research and interviews, this book provides an original and timely insight into the development of the manosphere, how and why people join and self-identify as incel, the extent to which the influence and philosophy of incel and the incelsphere draws on and is penetrating mainstream culture and political discourse, and its harmful impact. The Incel Rebellion is essential reading for a broad range of practitioners and scholars across criminology, sociology, terrorism studies, gender, media and cultural studies, and politics, as well as expanding the field of cybercrime research and beyond.Trade ReviewDrawing on extensive empirical research and a masterful use of socio-criminological understanding, Dr Sugiura's new book offers an incisive and timely analysis of the realities and the threats of the incel community. I hope this book will soon become a key reference point for anyone with an interest in the relationship between misogynistic ideologies and the wider socio-political climate, online harms, and qualitative digital research approaches. -- Dr Anita Lavorgna, Associate Professor in Criminology, University of SouthamptonIn Incel Rebellion Lisa Sugiura provides a rare empirical insight into the subcultures and practices of incel communities in the manosphere. The result is a compelling and innovative account of how some men find their way into incel communities, as well as the links between such spaces and wider misogyny in our increasingly digital society. This book is an outstanding contribution to the field of digital criminology and will be an essential resource for those studying cybercrime and other online harms. -- Anastasia Powell, Associate Professor Criminology & Justice Studies, RMIT University (Melbourne)The Incel Rebellion: The Rise of the Manosphere and the Virtual War Against Women is an extremely timely and brilliant exploration of a pressing and immediate area of concern; one that has direct implications for safety, security, policy, and the general moral health of society. Cutting across various disciplines, including gender studies, criminology, and terrorism studies, Dr Sugiura masterfully navigates a number of important and complex considerations, including why people self-identify as incels, and what motivates them to join these types of communities. The jewel in the crown is the author's collection and use of qualitative interviews with current and former incels. As far as I'm aware, this is the first empirical academic study of its kind, and the rich data brings this fascinating area of research alive. This book is an absolute must for anyone interested in this topic and should form part of the foundation for any future work. -- Dr Suraj Lakhani Lecturer in Criminology and Sociology, Sussex UniversitySugiura's Incel Rebellion is a must read for anyone wanting to understand the history and ideology around the Incel community. In a time where male supremacy is becoming an increasing security concern, Sugiura expertly details the links existing between the so-called 'manosphere', white supremacy, and the mainstream political arena. In addition to providing a stellar account of the history of male supremacism, Sugiura reflects on the methodological and ethical issues that come from being a woman studying misogyny, an account that will no doubt be extremely valuable for future researchers wishing to conduct similar studies. Most importantly, this book provides clear evidence that extreme misogyny is not just a problem for the fringe, but rather has crept into the mainstream infecting the normative culture of our western societies. -- Ashton Kingdon - Doctoral Fellow at the Centre for Analysis of the Radical RightTable of ContentsChapter 1. An Introduction to Incel Chapter 2. The Emergence and Development of the Manosphere Chapter 3. Join the Incel Rebellion Chapter 4. Weirdos or Extremists? Chapter 5. Legitimising Misogyny Chapter 6. Conclusion

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Book SynopsisSAVE THE INTERNET, SAVE THE WORLD (OF MUSIC)! It’s 1999 and Chris is living her dream: working at Vinyl Destination by day and fighting for (musical) justice by night (okay, maybe during the day too) in the world’s coolest teen girl vigilante fight club. But when the girls of Vinyl Destination enter a Battle of The Bands – to investigate and, of course, win – they learn that the shadowy corporate masters of the music industry plan to destroy the fledging world of digital music and blame it on Y2K. Now it’s time for Chris and the gang to dial up 56k (or more, pretty please) of justice so they can save the day once again! The critically-acclaimed team of writer Carly Usdin (The Avant-Guards) and Russ Manning Award-nominated artist Nina Vakueva (League of Legends: Ashe) reunite for a follow-up to Heavy Vinyl: Riot on The Radio, which was recognized as one of the 2018 YALSA Great Graphic Novels for Teens.

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Book SynopsisA 2021 BOOK TO LOOK OUT FOR' THE INDEPENDENTA mouthpiece for our anxieties and a tonic for our hearts.' Charly CoxFunny and honest.' Pandora SykesOffers readers of all stripes and ages a great overview of relationships in the digital era'. Matt HaigIn Millennial Love journalist Olivia Petter explores the questions, quirks and anxieties that consume the contemporary dating landscape.Olivia scrutinises the myths surrounding modern romance and asks why, despite having endless technology designed to aid communication, it's harder to meet someone now than ever before.The book is based on the Independent's chart-topping podcast of the same name and expands on some of the issues discussed on the show, including why contraception is a feminist issue, how dating apps have altered our understanding of attraction, and how ''Love Island'' became the unlikely lens through which the consequences of so many of these things were exposed.Other topics covered include read receipt anxiety, why we need tTrade Review‘Millennial Love is easy to read and Petter is an engaging guide to sensitive, personal subjects. The author is also remarkably candid about her own insecurities and mistakes, and brave enough to detail some of her own harrowing experiences. Hopefully, this honest, important book will leave a lot of young readers feeling more reassured and better informed about their own lives.’ THE INDEPENDENT ‘A mouthpiece for our anxieties and a tonic for our hearts, Petter perfectly dissects why we’re not insane when it comes to love, the realities are their own madness.’ CHARLY COX ‘Funny and honest.’ PANDORA SYKES ‘Olivia Petter is a great journalist and a sharp-eyed chronicler of modern life and offers readers of all stripes and ages a great overview of relationships in the digital era’. MATT HAIG ‘This is a sharp, funny and reassuring memoir-cum-chronicle of the modern dating landscape, charting everything from the trope of “the cool girl” to the tribulations of contraception in a voice that melds journalistic scrutiny with commendable frankness. Petter’s is a world in which Sylvia Plath, Love Island, Pandora Sykes and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days collide with satisfying verve…’ Vanity Fair London ‘Honest, hilarious and heart-breaking’ Mail Plus ‘Olivia Petter archly discusses and deconstructs the trials and tribulations of dating today with the help of former podcast guests including Munroe Bergdorf and Elizabeth Day, to brilliant effect.’ BURO London

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Book SynopsisA 2021 BOOK TO LOOK OUT FOR' THE INDEPENDENTA mouthpiece for our anxieties and a tonic for our hearts.' Charly CoxFunny and honest.' Pandora SykesOffers readers of all stripes and ages a great overview of relationships in the digital era'. Matt HaigHave you ever been ghosted?Found yourself stalking your partner's ex for days on Instagram?Spent hours swiping right (or left) to no avail?Yep, us too.Finding love today is overwhelming. Thanks to apps, social media, and even reality TV, the way we date is constantly changing. But how is it possible that, despite having so much technology designed to aid connection, it feels harder to meet someone now than ever before?In Millennial Love, journalist Olivia Petter expertly investigates this question, providing a reassuring and relatable exploration of modern dating.Trade Review’An insightful, honest guide to the vagaries of modern love.’ ELIZABETH DAY AUTHOR OF MAGPIE & HOST OF HOW TO FAIL ‘All’s not fair in love and dating, and Petter is here to remind us that even when we are single, we are not alone. This book is a modern guide for falling in love (and in lust) in the digital era, where the lines of toxic behaviour (consent, ghosting, stalking, etc) are blurred. This love addict thoroughly enjoyed it.’Camille Charriere ‘An important read for anyone dating in the time of dating apps.’ Aja Barber, author of Consumed ‘Millennial Love is easy to read and Petter is an engaging guide to sensitive, personal subjects. The author is also remarkably candid about her own insecurities and mistakes, and brave enough to detail some of her own harrowing experiences. Hopefully, this honest, important book will leave a lot of young readers feeling more reassured and better informed about their own lives.’ THE INDEPENDENT ‘A mouthpiece for our anxieties and a tonic for our hearts, Petter perfectly dissects why we’re not insane when it comes to love, the realities are their own madness.’ CHARLY COX ‘Funny and honest.’ PANDORA SYKES ‘Olivia Petter is a great journalist and a sharp-eyed chronicler of modern life and offers readers of all stripes and ages a great overview of relationships in the digital era’. MATT HAIG ‘This is a sharp, funny and reassuring memoir-cum-chronicle of the modern dating landscape, charting everything from the trope of “the cool girl” to the tribulations of contraception in a voice that melds journalistic scrutiny with commendable frankness. Petter’s is a world in which Sylvia Plath, Love Island, Pandora Sykes and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days collide with satisfying verve…’ Vanity Fair London ‘Honest, hilarious and heart-breaking’ Mail Plus

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Book SynopsisA David and Goliath story about Ireland's role as prime real estate for the world's largest tech multinationals, and the considerable impact it has had on us as individuals.At the start of the millennium, the Tech giants landed on Ireland's shores. Dublin, once one of Europe's poorest cities, became a beacon of Silicon Valley's promise of progress and power. As the face of the capital was remade in the image of Big Tech, Irish society embraced technology like no other. Romantic Ireland was dead and gone: social media was here to stay.In this provocative account, Aoife Barry explores the human cost of Ireland's Faustian pact with Big Tech, from the local communities uprooted by Google to the traumatised moderators squirrelled in the capital's pockets, keeping the internet safe at a terrible price. Unsettling, insightful, and wryly funny, she paints a portrait of a country addicted to the internet, refreshing the news, refreshing Twitter, scrolling and scrolling towards a feverish future

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Book SynopsisIn recent decades, we have witnessed an explosion in the number of visual images we encounter, as our lives have become increasingly saturated with screens. From Google Images to Instagram, video games to installation art, this transformation is confusing, liberating and worrying all at once, since observing the new visuality of culture is not the same as understanding it. Nicholas Mirzoeff is a leading figure in the field of visual culture, which aims to make sense of this extraordinary explosion of visual experiences. As Mirzoeff reminds us, this is not the first visual revolution; the 19th century saw the invention of film, photography and x-rays, and the development of maps, microscopes and telescopes made the 17th century an era of visual discovery. But the sheer quantity of images produced on the internet today has no parallels. In the first book to define visual culture for the general reader, Mirzoeff draws on art history, theory and everyday experience to prTrade ReviewA dizzying and delightful book * New Scientist *Deploying a blend of semiotics, sociology, and art history, Mirzoeff shows us how to interpret everything from old masters to selfies, from Rashomon to a map of the Mississippi. Mirzoeff says he owes much of his approach to John Berger, and this is evident in the way he argues how inevitably political visual images are... Mirzoeff draws on theorists such as Benjamin, Foucault, and Deleuze, but thankfully is much clearer and easier to read than any of those writers * Independent on Sunday *In our fluid world, we need reminding how strange our visual culture has become. Artist John Berger did that job for the 1970s with his classic book Ways of Seeing; now Nicholas Mirzoeff teaches us how to "read" an astronaut's 2012 space-walk selfie - and how to decode military photos smothered with labels that claim to show weapons we cannot in fact see -- New Scientist 'Books of the Year'

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Book SynopsisWe live in the midst of a revolution in communication technologies that affects the way in which people feel, think, and behave. The media have become the space where power strategies are played out. In the current technological context mass communication goes beyond traditional media and includes the Internet and mobile communication. In this wide-ranging and powerful book, Manuel Castells analyses the transformation of the global media industry by this revolution in communication technologies. He argues that a new communication system, mass self-communication, has emerged, and power relationships have been profoundly modified by the emergence of this new communication environment. Created in the commons of the Internet this communication can be locally based, but globally connected. It is built through messaging, social networks sites, and blogging, and is now being used by the millions around the world who have access to the Internet.Drawing on a wide range of social and psychologicTrade ReviewReview from previous edition Manuel Castells has shaped himself into the most prominent and influential theorist and analyst of the modern communications and network age. He is the Marshall McLuhan of our time. * John Lloyd, Financial Times *a challenging and intriguing work [in its] ambitions, scope and concepts. * Paschal Preston, Media, Culture & Society, Volume 32 (6), 2010 *A sustained inquiry into the nature of political and economic power in the modern world. * Steven Livingston, Political Communicatoin (27) *Castells has done it again, a masterpiece of global perspective and enviable erudition. Moving beyond his trilogy on the information age, Castells focuses on how cultural, economic and particularly political power relationships are constituted and sustained through systematic communication flows. A new line of analysis draws on neuroscience and cognitive psychology to track the role of emotion in political communication. Case studies include global media deregulation, the politics of scandal, framing the war in Iraq, ecological social movements, the Obama presidential candidacy and a fascinating comparison of media control dynamics in Russia and China. * Advance praise from W. Russell Neuman, Evans Professor of Media Technology, University of Michigan *How could Manuel Castells have predicted that now is the time of the perfect storm? I do not know. But I do know that his new book coincides with the largest downturn in global economies since the 1930s, with the most important American election since the 1960s, with a most radical transformation of world politics in many generations, and with the most profound reevaluation of the lives of modern citizens, from what they value to how they communicate. We have become used to Castells' careful scholarship and penetrating analyses but in this new book he cuts deeper into the heart of the matter. Sometimes he provides illuminating answers and where he cannot, he frames the questions that must be answered. This is a powerful and much needed book for a world in crisis. * Advance praise from Antonio Damasio, David Dornsife Professor of Neuroscience, Director, Brain and Creativity Institute, University of Southern California *Manuel Castells unites the mind of a social scientist with the soul of an artist. His trilogy took us to the edge of the millennium. This book takes us beyond to the critical crossroads of the 21st century, where technology, communication, and power converge. * Advance praise from Rosalind Williams, Dibner Professor and Director, Program on Science, Technology and Society, Massachusetts Institute of Technology *In this timely book, Professor Castells turns his attention from the impact of the internet on the economy to its impact on communications and politics. I can warmly recommend it to all communications practitioners. But his clear analysis and vivid case studies make this book of interest to anyone who wants to understand the nature of power in today's democracy and the meaning of the campaign that swept Barack Obama into the White House. * Advance praise from Margot Wallström, Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for Communication Policy *Table of ContentsOpening ; Introduction to the Revised Edition ; 1. Power in the Network Society ; 2. Communication in the Digital Age ; 3. Networks of Mind and Power ; 4. Programming Communication Networks: Media Politics, Scandal Politics, and the Crisis of Democracy ; 5. Reprogramming Communication Networks: Social Movements, Insurgent Politics, and the New Public Space ; 6. Toward a Communication Theory of Power

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Book SynopsisOnline social media are changing the face of politics in the United States. Beginning with a strong theoretical foundation grounded in political, communications and psychology literature, Tweeting to Power examines the effect of online social media on how people come to learn, understand and engage in politics. Gainous and Wagner propose that platforms such as Facebook and Twitter offer the opportunity for a new information flow that is no longer being structured and limited by the popular media. Television and newspapers, which were traditionally the sole or primary gatekeeper, can no longer limit or govern what information is exchanged. By lowering the cost of both supplying the information and obtaining it, social networking applications have recreated how, when and where people are informed. To establish this premise, Gainous and Wagner analyze multiple datasets, quantitative and qualitative, exploring and measuring the use of social media by voters and citizens as well as the straTrade ReviewTweeting to Power is the most ambitious and well-researched study of social media's political consequences to date. Using an impressive array of qualitative and quantitative data, Gainous and Wagner systematically track how Twitter and Facebook are influencing Congress, political parties and the American public. This book is much more than a narrow study of social media, however. By situating their evidence in long-standing theoretical debates, Gainous and Wagner tackle more fundamental questions about the functioning of American democracy in the age of the internet. Tweeting to Power is essential reading for anyone interested in technology's impact on election campaigns, political communication and public opinion. * Kevin Wallsten, California State University, Long Beach *Social media have already become a fundamental part of politics in the digital age. In Tweeting to Power, Jason Gainous and Kevin M. Wagner use an impressive array of quantitative and qualitative data to explore a wide variety of questions about the impacts of social media on American politics. In doing so, they make an important new contribution to ongoing debates about the political implications of the internet. * Michael Xenos, Center for Communication Research, University of Wisconsin-Madison *Table of ContentsChapter 1: Social Media - The New Dinner Table? ; Chapter 2: Evolution or Revolution - Why Facebook and Twitter Matter? ; Chapter 3: Congress 2.0 - Internet-Style Politics ; Chapter 4: Congress 2.0 - Who's Tweeting? ; Chapter 5: Public Opinion 2.0 - Read My Feed ; Chapter 6: Public Opinion 2.0 - The New Social Capital ; Chapter 7: Congress 2.0 - Controlling the Flow of Information ; Chapter 8: Public Opinion 2.0 - The Direct Conduit ; Chapter 9: Congress 2.0 - Tweeting for Support ; Chapter 10: Social Media Tomorrow - Tweeting the Future? ; Appendix ; Notes ; References ; Index

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Book SynopsisThis volume tackles the issues of globalization and sexuality. Looking at how pleasures of the body are framed, shaped and commercialized in the new global economy, the book explores the impact on gender relations, politics, the ways in which we imagine our own sense of self, and other issues.Trade Review"This valuable resource is compelling and easy-to-read, accessible to anyone interested in how technology and the global economy are shaping the ways we think." - Booklist "Altman is a wonderfully clear writer and thinker with a magpie skill for accumulating relevant nuggets of information. This makes Global Sex both illuminating and fascinating.... It is dazzlingly ambitious in its scope, ranging from fellatio in the White House and bulimia in Fiji to AIDS in Africa and transgender in Taiwan." - New Internationalist "A gripping portrait of a world barely able to keep pace with enormous, rapid-fire changes.... Offering neither a dire warning nor a reason to rejoice, his savvy, energetic book truly maintains a global perspective." - Publishers Weekly

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Book SynopsisIntegrating a broad range of research on how people learn, this text shows that televised presentations - at their best - actually excel at transmitting information and facilitating learning. The author critiques political offerings in terms of their compatibility with our learning capabilities.

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Book SynopsisIntegrating a broad range of research on how people learn, this text shows that televised presentations - at their best - actually excel at transmitting information and facilitating learning. The author critiques political offerings in terms of their compatibility with our learning capabilities.

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Book SynopsisMedia has long been considered a primary site for political discourse in Western liberal democracies, but now, with the advent of social media, giant multinational digital platforms such as Google, and online journalism, the way we do politics, talk politics, and cover politics has completely transformed.Trump, Trudeau, Tweets, Truth considers the ways that technology has led to an irreversible transition in power distribution, political journalism, and public discourse. Discussing how the military-industrial complex of the 1950s gave way to today''s celebrity-distribution complex, Bill Fox examines the amount of power accorded to people well-known for being well-known, from Donald Trump to Justin Trudeau. Taking on a Canadian perspective, Fox addresses the disturbing cries of fake news in the post-truth age and demonstrates how journalism, no longer the domain of a select few political reporters and editors, has become decentralized and disaggregated.In a world tTrade Review“Not only propellingly readable, [Trump, Trudeau, Tweets, Truth] is also written in a style appropriate to its subject matter. A living sponge for everything he has read and heard over the course of his formal studies of the subject, Fox unspools key points and observations in one long filament of aperçus.” The Hill Times

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Book SynopsisAcknowledgements Introduction: Understanding the Digital Humanities; D.M.Berry An Interpretation of Digital Humanities; L.Evans & S.Rees How We Think: Transforming Power and Digital Technologies; N.K.Hayles Digital Methods: Five Challenges; B.Rieder & T.Röhle Archives in Media Theory: Material Media Archaeology and Digital Humanities; J.Parikka Canonicalism and the Computational Turn; C.Bassett The Esthetics of Hidden Things; S.Dexter The Meaning and the Mining of Legal Texts; M.Hildebrandt Have the Humanities Always been Digital? For an Understanding of the 'Digital Humanities' in the Context of Originary Technicity; F.Frabetti Present, Not Voting: Digital Humanities in the Panopticon; M.Terras Analysis Tool or Research Methodology: Is There an Epistemology for Patterns?; D.Dixon Do Computers Dream of Cinema? Film Data for Computer Analysis and Visualization; A.Heftberger The Feminist Critique: Mapping Controversy in Wikipedia; M.Currie How to See One Million Images? A Computational MTrade Review'Berry and colleagues present us with several current and future trajectories of the digital humanities, both building and questioning its trends. Through the last 40 years of computational research, the humanities have appropriated and developed many techniques for doing their work computationally, but only in the last ten years has the excess of computational capacity begun to bring central questions about the nature of the humanities to light. David Berry and his colleagues sit on the cutting edges of these questions, and their work will inform those debates for years to come.' - Jeremy Hunsinger, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, USA 'This book introduces and debates important questions regarding the use of digital technologies in numerous academic approaches in humanities and social sciences. These new media technologies are impacting across the disciplinary spectrum and pose challenges to traditional scholarship. Dr Berry's book gives us a timely insight into these various challenges and into the kinds of new 'digital humanities' that are emerging. Clearly written and providing a wide range of examples and case studies it is an important contribution to the growing literature on digital humanities.' - Christian De Cock, University of Essex, UKTable of ContentsAcknowledgements Introduction: Understanding the Digital Humanities; D.M.Berry An Interpretation of Digital Humanities; L.Evans & S.Rees How We Think: Transforming Power and Digital Technologies; N.K.Hayles Digital Methods: Five Challenges; B.Rieder & T.Röhle Archives in Media Theory: Material Media Archaeology and Digital Humanities; J.Parikka Canonicalism and the Computational Turn; C.Bassett The Esthetics of Hidden Things; S.Dexter The Meaning and the Mining of Legal Texts; M.Hildebrandt Have the Humanities Always been Digital? For an Understanding of the 'Digital Humanities' in the Context of Originary Technicity; F.Frabetti Present, Not Voting: Digital Humanities in the Panopticon; M.Terras Analysis Tool or Research Methodology: Is There an Epistemology for Patterns?; D.Dixon Do Computers Dream of Cinema? Film Data for Computer Analysis and Visualization; A.Heftberger The Feminist Critique: Mapping Controversy in Wikipedia; M.Currie How to See One Million Images? A Computational Methodology for Visual Culture and Media Research; L.Manovich Cultures of Formalization: Towards an Encounter Between Humanities and Computing; J.van Zundert, A.Antonijevic, A.Beaulieu, K.van Dalen-Oskam, D.Zeldenrust & T.Andrews Trans-disciplinarity and Digital Humanity: Lessons Learned from Developing Text Mining Tools for Textual Analysis; Y.Lin Index

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Book Synopsis''Levy portrays a tech company where no one is taking responsibility for what it has unleashed'' Financial Times''This fascinating book reveals the imperial ambitions of Facebook''s founder'' James Marriott, Sunday Times''The inside story of how Facebook went from idealism to scandal'' Laurence Dodds, TelegraphToday, Facebook is nearly unrecognizable from the simple website Zuckerberg''s first built from his dorm room in his Sophomore year. It has grown into a tech giant, the largest social media platform and one of the biggest companies in the world, with a valuation of more than $576 billion and almost 3 billion users. There is no denying the power and omnipresence of Facebook in daily life. And in light of recent controversies surrounding election-influencing fake news accounts, the handling of its users'' personal data and growing discontent with the actions of its founder and CEO, never has the company been more central to the national conversation. Based on years of exclusive reporting and interviews with Facebook''s key executives and employees, including Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg, Steven Levy''s sweeping narrative digs deep into the whole story of the company that has changed the world and reaped the consequences.Trade ReviewThis absorbing book will inspire important conversations about big tech and privacy in the twenty-first century * Booklist *This fascinating book reveals the imperial ambitions of Facebook's founder * James Marriott, The Sunday Times *A tour de force of access journalism * Natasha Singer, The New York Times *Steven Levy is the founding guru of technology journalism * Brad Stone, author of The Everything Store and The Upstarts *Levy's narrative is richly detailed, thanks to interviews with Facebookers past and present...His account of Zuckerberg's abbreviated Harvard tenure and Facebook's early years feel fresh, with plenty of colour that reminds you the HBO show Silicon Valley did not have to reach far for its satire * NPR.org *Comprehensive and captivating history * Wall Street Journal *Levy writes with verve... [he] is able to trace the origins of the Cambridge Analytica scheme to Facebook's disregard for the privacy concerns of the first users... He doesn't shy from asking the tough questions * Washington Post *Fresh, up-to-date and insiderish * The Economist *Levy portrays a tech company where no one is taking responsibility for what it has unleashed... The book closes with a recognition that Facebook is bulldozing ahead with new innovations - from Facebook dating to its Libra digital currency project - while Zuckerberg continues to shrug off any ethical queries about his past behaviour * Financial Times *

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Book SynopsisThe Charlatans'' Tim Burgess invites you to the greatest listening party of all time. In 2020 when the world was forced to hit pause on live in-person gigs, Tim Burgess found an ingenious way to bring people together by inviting artists and bands, from Paul McCartney and New Order to Michael Kiwanuka and Kylie, to host real-time album playbacks via Twitter.Relive 100 of the most memorable listening parties here with stories from bands and fans, rarely seen backstage images, and unique insider info from those who created these iconic albums.Hey Twitter, let''s all say a big thanks to Tim for these brilliant events this year! We really needed them. So much great music being talked about.'' - Sir Paul McCartney Twitter being used for something really positive. - Mary BeardTrade Review...The Listening Party is a refreshingly different rock book, as it gained interviews that would never normally have been approved... In years to come when artefacts are gathered to represent the 2020-21 Pandemic, The Listening Party will be pride of place. * Record Collector *

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Book SynopsisFrom Wall Street Journal columnist Spencer Jakab, the real story of the GameStop squeeze - and the surprising winners of a rigged game. ''Jakab adeptly skewers the popular but dangerously wrong narrative of Reddit''s David thumping Wall Street''s Goliath, and shows how the casino always wins in the end. DeepF***ingRespect for an important book with lessons far more durable than GameStop''s stock market levitation.'' Robin Wigglesworth, author of Trillions During one crazy week in January 2021, a motley crew of retail traders on Reddit''s r/wallstreetbets forum had seemingly done the impossible - they had brought some of the biggest, richest players on Wall Street to their knees. Their weapon was GameStop, a failing retailer whose shares briefly became the most-traded security on the planet and the subject of intense media coverage. The Revolution That Wasn''t is the riveting story of how the meme stock squeeze unfoldeTrade ReviewJakab adeptly skewers the popular but dangerously wrong narrative of Reddit's David thumping Wall Street's Goliath, and shows how the casino always wins in the end. * Robin Wigglesworth, author of Trillions *Ever since the GameStop saga erupted into the headlines in the winter of 2021, we've all been waiting for the definitive take. This book is it. * Bethany McLean, bestselling co-author of The Smartest Guys in the Room and All The Devils Are Here *The saga of GameStop and other meme stocks is revealed with the skill of a thrilling whodunit. Jakab writes with an anti-Midas touch. If he touched gold, he would bring it to life. * Burton G. Malkiel, author of A Random Walk Down Wall Street *The real story of the GameStop short squeeze. Jakab walks us through every twist and turn with nuanced insight and sheds a clarifying light on the shifts happening in today's retail revolution. * Jaime Rogozinski, founder of Reddit’s WallStreetBets *An unputdownable post-mortem of the freakiest tale of pandemic-age finance - and of how investing became gamified. Jakab speaks with the key characters and highlights the structural issues, deploys the nihilistic "degen" jargon and recounts priceless anecdotes, cutting through the narrative to tell us what really happened during the GameStop short squeeze * Gian M. Volpicelli, Senior Writer, Wired *A gripping account of the social movement that took over the investing world in 2020-2021. The heroes here thought they were sticking it to the man, but became the man's stick. Jakab tells this story with warmth and humor, making financial concepts accessible to a lay audience. You will be entertained. * Scott Galloway, Professor of Marketing at NYU Stern School of Business, and New York Times bestselling author of The Four and Post Corona *A timely and hugely important book. The GameStop saga shows what happens when the little guy takes on Wall Street at its own game: there can only be one winner. Spencer Jakab is a top-drawer journalist who understands this industry inside out. I can't recommend this book highly enough. * Robin Powell, journalist, author and editor of The Evidence-Based Investor *An important look at how markets - and people - defy prediction and occasionally lose their minds. * Morgan Housel, bestselling author of The Psychology of Money *When an ailing video games retailer saw its shares soar into the stratosphere for no reason other than that newbie traders wanted to put one over on arrogant hedge funds, it was hard not to cheer David's felling of Goliath. But in this meticulous examination of the Gamestop saga, Spencer Jakab reminds us of a simple truth - the house, or in this case Wall Street, always wins in the end. * Rory Cellan-Jones, former BBC technology correspondent *Thrumming narrative ... Anybody who buys and sells stocks, and anyone who "invests" in anything old or new, should read this book. * Los Angeles Times *

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Book SynopsisTable of ContentsPrefaceAcknowledgementsIntroduction1. Terra Nova 2.02. The Real Problem3. Social Contract 2.04. In the Face of Others5. Open Ended ConclusionsBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisTable of ContentsPrefaceAcknowledgementsIntroduction1. Terra Nova 2.02. The Real Problem3. Social Contract 2.04. In the Face of Others5. Open Ended ConclusionsBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisThe militarized legacy of the digital cloud: how the cloud grew out of older network technologies and politics.We may imagine the digital cloud as placeless, mute, ethereal, and unmediated. Yet the reality of the cloud is embodied in thousands of massive data centers, any one of which can use as much electricity as a midsized town. Even all these data centers are only one small part of the cloud. Behind that cloud-shaped icon on our screens is a whole universe of technologies and cultural norms, all working to keep us from noticing their existence. In this book, Tung-Hui Hu examines the gap between the real and the virtual in our understanding of the cloud. Hu shows that the cloud grew out of such older networks as railroad tracks, sewer lines, and television circuits. He describes key moments in the prehistory of the cloud, from the game “Spacewar” as exemplar of time-sharing computers to Cold War bunkers that were later reused as data centers. Countering

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Book SynopsisA short, informal account of our ever-increasing dependence on a complex multiplicity of messages, records, documents, and data.We live in an information society, or so we are often told. But what does that mean? This volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series offers a concise, informal account of the ways in which information and society are related and of our ever-increasing dependence on a complex multiplicity of messages, records, documents, and data. Using information in its everyday, nonspecialized sense, Michael Buckland explores the influence of information on what we know, the role of communication and recorded information in our daily lives, and the difficulty (or ease) of finding information. He shows that all this involves human perception, social behavior, changing technologies, and issues of trust.Buckland argues that every society is an “information society”; a “non-information society” would be a contradiction in terms. B

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisHow companies like Amazon and Netflix know what “you might also like”: the history, technology, business, and social impact of online recommendation engines.Increasingly, our technologies are giving us better, faster, smarter, and more personal advice than our own families and best friends. Amazon already knows what kind of books and household goods you like and is more than eager to recommend more; YouTube and TikTok always have another video lined up to show you; Netflix has crunched the numbers of your viewing habits to suggest whole genres that you would enjoy. In this volume in the MIT Press's Essential Knowledge series, innovation expert Michael Schrage explains the origins, technologies, business applications, and increasing societal impact of recommendation engines, the systems that allow companies worldwide to know what products, services, and experiences “you might also like.”Schrage offers a history of recommendation that reaches back

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Book SynopsisHow digital technology—from Facebook tributes to QR codes on headstones—is changing our relationship to death.Facebook is the biggest cemetery in the world, with countless acres of cyberspace occupied by snapshots, videos, thoughts, and memories of people who have shared their last status updates. Modern society usually hides death from sight, as if it were a character flaw and not an ineluctable fact. But on Facebook and elsewhere on the internet, we can't avoid death; digital ghosts—electronic traces of the dead—appear at our click or touch. On the Internet at least, death has once again become a topic for public discourse. In Online Afterlives, Davide Sisto considers how digital technology is changing our relationship to death.Sisto describes the various modes of digital survival after biological death—including Facebook tributes, chatbots programmed to speak in the voice of a dead person, and QR codes on headstones—and dis

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Book SynopsisWith a focus on socially engaged art practices in the twenty-first century, this book explores how artists use their creative practices to raise consciousness, form communities, create change, and bring forth social impact through new technologies and digital practices.Suzanne Lacy's Foreword and section introduction authors Anne Balsamo, Harrell Fletcher, Natalie Loveless, Karen Moss, and Stephanie Rothenberg present twenty-five in-depth case studies by established and emerging contemporary artists including Kim Abeles, Christopher Blay, Joseph DeLappe, Mary Beth Heffernan, Chris Johnson, Rebekah Modrak, Praba Pilar, Tabita Rezaire, Sylvain Souklaye, and collaborators Victoria Vesna and Siddharth Ramakrishnan. Artists offer firsthand insight into how they activate methods used in socially engaged art projects from the twentieth century and incorporated new technologies to create twenty-first century, socially engaged, digital art practices. Works highlighted in this book spaTable of ContentsForeword: The Medium is Not the (Only) Message… Introduction Section 1: Seeds & Tools 1. Modest in Nature, We are All Lichen and other Lessons Learned with Carbon Sponge 2. Pandemic Makeover: Reimagining Place & Community in a Time of Collapse 3. Bio-Digital Pathways: Mushrooming Knowledge, Expanding Community 4. Valises for Camp Ground: Arts, Corrections and Fire Management in the Santa Monica Mountains 5. Cultivating Techno-Tamaladas Section 2: Windows & Mirrors 6. A Human Atlas: Immersive Storytelling for the Twenty-first Century 7. Borderland Collective: In Practice and Dialogue 8. We Are Worth Everything: Survivors As Themselves 9. An Interview with Ari Melenciano 10. Making Politics: Engaged Social Tactics 11. Social Practice Artworks Centerpiece Decolonial Healing: In Defense of Spiritual Technologies Section 3: Magical Machines 12. Space and Time: Science Fiction as an Imaginative Catalyst for Social Change 13. Witch-Plant-Machine: Speculative Histories and Planetary Justice 14. Cybernetic Loops and Fermented Technologies of Participatory Poetry: Reflections on the Kimchi Poetry Machine 15. Impossible Spaces and Other Embodiments: Co-constructing Virtual Realities 16. One Breath Poem: A Telematic Revolution Section 4: Expansions 17. Community Building Through Collaboration 18. Online Intimacies and Artful Life in Turtle Disco Zoomshells 19. Community Accessible Archives; What You Leave, When You Leave 20. living liveness 21. Being in Between: Challenges of Art Science Collaborations Section 5: Reimagination 22. PPE Portrait Project: Image, Ethics, Health 23. Can This Be a Community When You’re Trying To Sell Me A Luxury Watch? 24. Justice and Representation Within the Limits of Contemporary Photography 25. Technology of Touch: How Craft Can Lead to Social Change

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Book SynopsisWith the increase of digital and networked media in everyday life, researchers have increasingly turned their gaze to the symbolic and cultural elements of technologies. From studying online game communities, locative and social media to YouTube and mobile media, ethnographic approaches to digital and networked media have helped to elucidate the dynamic cultural and social dimensions of media practice. The Routledge Companion to Digital Ethnography provides an authoritative, up-to-date, intellectually broad, and conceptually cutting-edge guide to this emergent and diverse area.Features include: a comprehensive history of computers and digitization in anthropology; exploration of various ethnographic methods in the context of digital tools and network relations; consideration of social networking and communication technologies on a local and global scale; Table of ContentsPart I – Debating Digital Ethnography 1. Computers in/and anthropology: the poetics and politics of digitization 2. From virtual ethnography to the embedded, embodied, everyday Internet 3. Vectors for fieldwork: computational thinking and new modes of ethnography 4. A performative digital ethnography: data, design, and speculation 5. The fieldsite as a network: a strategy for locating ethnographic research 6. Remote ethnography: studying digital politics in Spain and Indonesia from afar 7. Mixing it: digital ethnography and online research methods—a tale of two global digital music genres Part II – Relationships 8. Small places turned inside out: social networking in small communities 9. "Doing family" at a distance: transnational family practices in polymedia environments 10. Researching death online 11. Relational labor, fans, and collaborations in professional rock climbing Part III – Visibility and Voice 12. "Our media"? Microblogging and the elusiveness of voice in China 13. Participatory complications in interactive, video-sharing environments 14. Influencer extravaganza: a decade of commercial "lifestyle" microcelebrities in Singapore 15. Nah Leavin’ Trinidad: the place of digital music production among amateur musicians in Trinidad Part IV – Place and Co-Presence 16. Locating emerging media: ethnographic reflections on culture, selfhood, and place 17. Making "ournet not the Internet": an ethnography of homebrew high-tech practices in suburban Australia 18. Locative mobile media and the development of unplanned, fleeting encounters with pseudonymous strangers, and virtual acqu

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Book SynopsisFocusing on case studies of five key technologies, this book explores how music listeners gradually came to understand computers and digital files as suitable replacements for their stereos and CD.Table of ContentsList of Figures Acknowledgments Introduction: The Digital Music Commodity 1. Music as a Digital File 2. Making Technology Behave 3. This Business of Napster 4. Click to Buy: Music in Digital Stores 5. Music in the Cloud Conclusion: Exceptional Objects Notes Works Cited Index

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Book SynopsisIn a world of giddy celebrants and dire detractors, Milad Doueihi speaks with measured authority about what the rise of digital culture means. He ranges from literacy, citizenship, digital subjectivity, and social networks to texts, archiving, storage, and copyright—offering a rare view of the emerging digital space.Trade ReviewDigital Cultures is a wide-ranging and knowledgeable exploration of what it means to participate in online culture. Doueihi covers an impressive range of topics concerning the digital, which include literacy, citizenship, texts, and archiving and storage. The technology is explained in satisfying detail that nevertheless remains accessible throughout. A must-read for anyone interested in this or related fields. -- N. Katherine Hayles, author of How We Think: Digital Technologies and Transforming PowerDoueihi's argument [is] revelatory and important. He presents the diversity of digital practices and the importance of digital literacy in an increasingly complex textual environment. Moving beyond basic functional literacy, Doueihi asks how digitization configures a meta-literacy, "of what it means to be literate.'" -- Tara Brabazon * Times Higher Education *By showing how modes of communication and human relationships have changed since its rise, [Doueihi] makes a persuasive case that digital culture has broken free from print culture, which extends from the Gutenberg Bible of the 1450s to the present. Instant response, brevity, minimal spelling and grammar, novel syntax and different modes of composition have created new forms of literacy...Written in the "old" discursive format, Digital Cultures includes much to think about. The pace of change is fast, but Doueihi's insight is fresh. -- George Rousseau * Nature *

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Book SynopsisFrom hidden connections in big data to bots spreading fake news, journalism is increasingly computer-generated. Nicholas Diakopoulos explains the present and future of a world in which algorithms have changed how the news is created, disseminated, and received, and he shows why journalists—and their values—are at little risk of being replaced.Trade ReviewMoves us forward and spells out with absolute clarity just why algorithms are rewriting the media, and where the wins and the potential losses are. -- Sharon Wheeler * Times Higher Education *It deserves praise for shedding light on such an important subject…At a time of general anxiety about the future of media, Diakopoulos’ can-do attitude is a refreshing antidote. -- Andrew Lynch * Business Post *Diakopoulos provides deep discussion of the theory and practice of journalism automation, grounded in significant research and interviews with leading practitioners. The result is a trailblazing book full of information that has not appeared anywhere else. -- Jonathan Stray, Columbia Journalism SchoolAlgorithms are changing the ways stories are discovered, told, and distributed—for good and for ill. Automating the News expertly explains how the combination of computation and journalism is evolving, with insights of great interest to reporters, researchers, and readers. -- James T. Hamilton, Stanford UniversityThis book provides a comprehensive, evidence-based, and cautiously optimistic analysis of how automation is changing journalism—and how journalism in turn needs to change to make better use of automation. Diakopoulos documents how technology is increasingly supplementing—not replacing—human work in newsrooms, discusses the potential and very real limitation of new tools, and identifies ways in which reporting can evolve to better hold algorithms and those behind them accountable. An important and actionable analysis. -- Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, Reuters Institute, University of Oxford

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Winner of the 2019 PROSE Award in Textbook / Social Sciences, Association of American Publishers""Winner of the AAPOR Book Award, American Association for Public Opinion Research""Salganik is one of the first natural-born computational social scientists, a sociologist whose doctoral work was one of the early landmark projects in the field. Bit by Bit is 90% textbook, 10% biography, putting into personal context issues that Salganik was among the first to wrestle with. . . . The text is clearly written--even breezy, in parts. It puts the reader in the shoes of the researcher: What decisions were made, why, and were those the best choices? It is suitable for an advanced undergraduate or graduate class in methodology, with a rigorous, mathematical appendix and a range of useful problems at the conclusion of each chapter."---David Lazer, Science"This is a book to return to time and again. . . . Bit by Bit should be widely read by those engaging in social research, as well as beyond."---Farida Vis, Times Higher Education"An enticing and important field guide to the new frontier of digital social research that will be of interest whether one is trying to figure out how to do more evidence-based policymaking or simply sell more toothpaste online. Impeccably organized and beautifully written in clear and accessible prose, the book doubles as a methods textbook for university students studying social and data sciences (or any field where research is at the center)."---Beth Noveck, Forbes"Given the book’s breadth, it is a recommended read for all scholars interested in the role that the internet and big data can play in social research."---Tatsiana Amosaya, Canadian Journal of Sociology"The implications and potential for social science arising from the availability of large amounts of data have been comparatively overlooked. This book provides a welcome insight into what can be achieved, and also an exemplar curriculum for graduate studies."---Thomas King, Journal of the Royal Statistical Society"A timely and important must-read for anyone interested in the intersection of social science and big data."---Magdalena Wojcieszak, International Journal of Press/Politics"Salganik offers what is truly a Swiss Army knife for learning and teaching computational social science. The book is equal parts explanation of what computational social science is, lessons on how to do computational social science, and recommendations for how computational social science should grow as an interdisciplinary field."---Marshall A. Taylor, Teaching Sociology"This is an easy review. Buy this book. No matter your competence in data analysis, your experience in running experiments, or your ability to understand research papers, you will find nuggets of information that will be useful for your development as an economist – professional or not."---Ian Bright, Society of Professional Economists

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