Media studies Books

Book SynopsisWinner, 2020 Outstanding Book Award, given by the International Communication AssociationHonorable Mention, 2020 Nancy Baym Book Award, given by the Association of Internet ResearchersHow the transformation of social media platforms and user-experience have redefined the entertainment industryIn a little over a decade, competing social media platforms, including YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat, have given rise to a new creative industry: social media entertainment. Operating at the intersection of the entertainment and interactivity, communication and content industries, social media entertainment creators have harnessed these platforms to generate new kinds of content separate from the century-long model of intellectual property control in the traditional entertainment industry. Social media entertainment has expanded rapidly and the traditional entertainment industry has been forced to cede Trade ReviewA seminal book that captures and contextualizes the rapid emergence of an evolutionary media form by connecting the past with the present, while successfully arguing for the legitimacy of Social Media Entertainment as a foundation of our future. -- Jordan Levin, Former CEO of Awesomeness and The WB television networkIf you really want to understand the convergence between Silicon Valley and Hollywood, read this book. Stuart Cunningham and David Craig have written a superb book on the global transition towards online screen culture. -- José van Dijck, author of The Culture of Connectivity and The Platform SocietyIts easy to say & everythings changed. But its monumental to actually develop a map of the changing economic and cultural dynamics of entertainment production in the age of social media. Cunningham and Craigs masterful book will be foundational for scholars and students for years to come. -- Tarleton Gillespie, author of Custodians of the InternetProvides a remarkably broad, detailed, and necessary guide to these new organizations, economies, and personalities that rival the mass media. This book will guide the future of Media Studies. -- Nancy Baym, author of Playing to the CrowdThis is a bold, important book full of thoughtfully researched arguments about how to move the field of media studies forward to address the forms and delivery systems of today. -- Ellen Seiter, author of The Creative Artist's Legal GuideStuart Cunningham and David Craig have developed a deeply informed, theoretically contextualized set of arguments that come to this: SME is shaking up the media landscape. * International Journal of Communication *Cunningham and Craig examine how social media has changed Hollywood and Silicon Valley ... a good read for students who want to go into broad-casting or online media. * Communication Booknotes Quarterly *[This] is a book that digs into what our privacy means in the digital era. The text looks at what is considered privacy by means of the internet, the government, and ourselves as users [...] This book is a good reader for anyone who is a user of one or multiple accounts on the internet whether it is business or personal. * CBQ *

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Book SynopsisA revealing look at the pleasure we get from hating figures like politicians, celebrities, and TV characters, showcased in approaches that explore snark, hate-watching, and trolling The work of a fan takes many forms: following a favorite celebrity on Instagram, writing steamy fan fiction fantasies, attending meet-and-greets, and creating fan art as homages to adored characters. While fandom that manifests as feelings of like and love are commonly understood, examined less frequently are the equally intense, but opposite feelings of dislike and hatred. Disinterest. Disgust. Hate. This is anti-fandom. It is visible in many of the same spaces where you see fandom: in the long lines at ComicCon, in our politics, and in numerous online forums like Twitter, Tumblr, Reddit, and the ever dreaded comments section. This is where fans and fandoms debate and discipline. This is where we love to hate. Anti-Fandom,a collection of 15 original and innovative essays, provides a fTrade ReviewTogether, the chapters in Anti-Fandom provide much of the groundwork needed to provide a framework for anti-fan theory, and anyone looking to jump into this emerging area of study will find this book both interesting and useful. * CBQ *

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Book SynopsisWhat identity means in an algorithmic age: how it works, how our lives are controlled by it, and how we can resist itAlgorithms are everywhere, organizing the near limitless data that exists in our world. Derived from our every search, like, click, and purchase, algorithms determine the news we get, the ads we see, the information accessible to us and even who our friends are. These complex configurations not only form knowledge and social relationships in the digital and physical world, but also determine who we are and who we can be, both on and offline. Algorithms create and recreate us, using our data to assign and reassign our gender, race, sexuality, and citizenship status. They can recognize us as celebrities or mark us as terrorists. In this era of ubiquitous surveillance, contemporary data collection entails more than gathering information about us. Entities like Google, Facebook, and the NSA also decide what that information means, constructing our worlds and the identities wTrade Review"We Are Datais a gem!... This finely crafted book should help us to take a giant collective leap forward." * International Journal of Communication *"We Are Dataspells out the implications of being made of data in the digital age: our new & algorithmic identity. John Cheney-Lippold shows how algorithmic logics that undergird the architecture, regulation, monetization, and uses of the Internet have changed the nature of human experience and identity. Through witty and accessible examples, he eloquently lays out the social and political consequences of transcoding lived identity into measurable types in our new world. Clearly written, carefully researched, timely and intelligent,We Are Datais a compelling and much-needed book." -- Alexandra Juhasz,Chair, Film Department, Brooklyn College"John Cheney-Lippolds deft examination of & measurable typesthe categories by which we are known and assessed, based on our datasheds light on contemporary societys encounter with information systems to scrutiny, and with those eager to identify us for their own ends.We Are Data goes beyond naming possible harms. It helps us think differently about what it means to be & seen by marketers, algorithms, or the NSA as members of shifting categoriesidentifications that structure us and our encounter with the world, but that we have little power to shape." -- Tarleton Gillespie,author of Wired Shut: Copyright and the Shape of Digital Culture"This book sparkles with brilliant insights. It offers us tools and a vocabulary through which we can think about the layers of identities that our data-conjured ghosts inhabit. I dont think I fully grasped the complexity of what these clouds of commercial data did with us and to us until I read We Are Data." -- Siva Vaidhyanathan,author of The Googlization of Everything—and Why We Should Worry"We Are Data is an inspiring and thought-provoking book to read, especially for those interested in the social, political, and cultural aspects of data. It draws on a wide range of well-known literature in the field of Internet and algorithm studies and further engages deeply with the philosophical aspects of the presented themes." * Mobile Media and Communication *"If knowledge is indeed the means by which we can begin to challenge the digital status quo, then Cheney-Lippold has done much to forearm us by so capably elucidating the problem." * LSE Review of Books *"The text moves beyond overdone topics of online privacy to look at how the lack of privacy of our data impacts identities It is the most appropriate for social science researchers and students." * Choice *"We Are Data shows us just how powerful data can be and how that data affects who we are and who we can be. Cheney-Lippold addresses how data is (and always has been) a part of our lives through the discussionof categorization, control, subjectivity, and privacy." * Technical Communication *"A heady and rewarding explanation of our lives in the data age. [Cheney-Lippold's] discussion of privacy...will fascinate many. Essential reading for anyone who cares about the internet's extraordinary impact on each of us and on our society." * Starred Kirkus Reviews *

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Book SynopsisWinner, 2020 American Book Award, given by the Before Columbus FoundationHow games have been used to establish and combat Asian American racial stereotypes As Pokémon Go reshaped our neighborhood geographies and the human flows of our cities, mapping the virtual onto lived realities, so too has gaming and game theory played a role in our contemporary understanding of race and racial formation in the United States. From the Chinese Exclusion Act and Japanese American internment to the model minority myth and the globalization of Asian labor, Tara Fickle shows how games and game theory shaped fictions of race upon which the nation relies. Drawing from a wide range of literary and critical texts, analog and digital games, journalistic accounts, marketing campaigns, and archival material, Fickle illuminates the ways Asian Americans have had to fit the roles, play the game, and follow the rules to be seen as valuable in the US. Exploring key momentsTrade ReviewRevealing the orientalist origins of game studies and locating the very tenants of game theory in Japanese internment, Tara Fickle engages racialization as game-play itself. In doing so, Fickle explodes our understanding of economic survival and success by revealing the centrality of gambling rhetoric—and a willingness for risk-taking—in the appraisal of Japanese Americans as the ultimate model minority. An original and timely intervention that at last accounts for the dominant representation of Asian Americans as both the hard-worker and the obsessed gamer. -- Wendy Hui Kyong Chun, author of Updating to Remain the Same: Habitual New MediaRevealing the mutual constitution of gaming and racialization, The Race Card’s concept of ‘ludo-Orientalism’ offers a significant new way of understanding the historical discourse of Asian exclusionism, as well as more subtle forms of post-1960s anti-Asian racism. Focusing on representations of Asian Americans as pathological players, Fickle shows how racial discourse is linked to the speculative logic of American exceptionalism. -- Colleen Lye, author of America's Asia: Racial Reform and American Literature, 1893–1945Games of chance, video games, and game theory converge in this examination of the relationship between gamification and racialization in exploring the Asian American experience. ... argues that games are used as a form of soft power geared toward advancing an exclusionary view of national identity. * CHOICE *Fickle brilliantly illuminates the many facets of games as a rich site of potentiality for thinking about Asian and Asian American identity, and how they co-constitute parts of the same problem. The Race Card is both a scathing excoriation of the Orientalist roots of the study of play and games, and an intellectual framing of games as a critical access point for understanding power relations concerning constructions of Asian identity. Witty, controlled, righteously outraged, inspired and incredibly persuasive, The Race Cardsets a new bar for understanding the role of games and play, broadly defined, in the struggle of race relations. -- Soraya Murray * American Literary History *

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Book SynopsisHow do digital technologies shape the experiences and meanings of migration?As the numbers of people fleeing war, poverty, and environmental disaster reach unprecedented levels worldwide, states also step up their mechanisms of border control. In this, they rely on digital technologies, big data, artificial intelligence, social media platforms, and institutional journalism to manage not only the flow of people at crossing-points, but also the flow of stories and images of human mobility that circulate among their publics. What is the role of digital technologies is shaping migration today? How do digital infrastructures, platforms, and institutions control the flow of people at the border? And how do they also control the public narratives of migration as a crisis? Finally, how do migrants themselves use these same platforms to speak back and make themselves heard in the face of hardship and hostility? Taking their case studies from the biggest migration eTrade ReviewIn a provocative contribution, Chouliaraki and Georgiou illuminate the exclusionary workings of digital borders. This broad-ranging book launches a compelling critique of the constitutive power of digital infrastructures in shaping the crisis of migration. Timely and topical, The Digital Border will be essential reading across disciplines about transformations in border regimes. * Radha S. Hegde, author of Mediating Migration *Provides a striking critical analysis of the mutations and workings of border regimes. While its focus is the digitalization of border control, it more broadly places its analysis within an understanding of the border as a field of tensions, shedding light on its territorial and symbolic dimension as well as on the multiple regimes of securitization at work today. * Sandro Mezzadra, University of Bologna *The Digital Border’s contribution lies in many spaces but its ability to connect questions of power, technology, datafication, entrepreneurship, the commons and media narratives is impressive... That this book is timely goes without saying. It’s nuanced and thickly layered conceptual focus married to rich empirical cases does the work of appealing to different audiences at a time when imaginaries of crisis exist in a heightened form globally. As such, this book is the perfect companion to help debunk, re-imagine and understand the aggrieved world we find ourselves inhabiting in 2023. -- Ethnic and Racial Studies * Ethnic and Racial Studies *This book ... is a loud and well-crafted call for fundamental human rights and a deep analytical work that critically explores the structures and practices of inequality in citizenship and mobility. The book reveals a complex combination of humanitarianism and dehumanization of border work based on a pedagogy of crisis in Western societies that has the security-migration nexus at its core. * Nordic Journal of Migration Research *

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Book SynopsisExplores new perspectives on social media entertainmentThere is a new class of cultural producersYouTube vloggers, Twitch gameplayers, Instagram influencers, TikTokers, Chinese wanghong, and otherswho are part of a rapidly emerging and highly disruptive industry of monetized user-generated content. As this new wave of native social media entrepreneurs emerge, so do new formations of culture and the ways they are studied. In this volume, contributors draw on scholarship in media and communication studies, science and technology studies, and social media, Internet, and platform studies, in order to define this new field of study and the emergence of creator culture. Creator Culture introduces readers to new paradigms of social media entertainment from critical perspectives, demonstrating both relations to and differentiations from the well-established media forms and institutions traditionally within the scope of media studies. This volume does not seek to impose a uniform perspectivTrade ReviewThis lively collection puts forth a persuasive case for ‘creator culture’ as a major new force in media industries worldwide. Drawing from intricate analyses and ethnographies of creator practices across the globe, the scholars in this volume show how today’s social media entrepreneurs exist at the uneasy intersection of platforms, legacy media, and advertising. From unboxing videos to fashion influencers, these essays explore the cultural logics of online creators and their larger sociocultural contexts. An essential collection for scholars of branding, celebrity, and social media, and anyone interested in the future of entertainment. * Alice E. Marwick, author of Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity, and Branding in the Social Media Age *What could once be referred to confidently as ‘the media’ has fragmented into a diverse array of creators, platforms, audiences, communities, regulatory responsibilities, and business models. With Creator Culture, Cunningham and Craig have captured the zeitgeist of social media entertainment, bringing together an array of leading international researchers to critically analyze this emergent field. * Terry Flew, University of Sydney *

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Book SynopsisHow black Americans use digital networks to organize and cultivate solidarityUnrest gripped Ferguson, Missouri, after Mike Brown, an unarmed black teenager, was shot and killed by Officer Darren Wilson in August 2014. Many black Americans turned to their digital and social media networks to circulate information, cultivate solidarity, and organize during that tumultuous moment. While Ferguson and the subsequent protests made black digital networks visible to mainstream media, these networks did not coalesce overnight. They were built and maintained over years through common, everyday use.Beyond Hashtags explores these everyday practices and their relationship to larger social issues through an in-depth analysis of a trans-platform network of black American digital and social media users and content creators. In the crucial years leading up to the emergence of the Movement for Black Lives, black Americans used digital networks not only to cope with day-to-daTrade ReviewA masterwork of ethical, nuanced research on race and new media. Skillfully assembling analyses of multiple online media platforms, users, and practices, Florini examines how the 'interstitial hustle' of Black podcasters engaging audience across Facebook, Twitter, Patreon, and merchandising sites enables safety, political activism, and innovative content. -- André Brock, Jr., Georgia TechRanging across a host of new media, Beyond Hashtags places blackness at center of our understanding of digital distribution. In expanding what we think about politics, journalism, and society, Florini honors the expansive network of people working across media platforms to produce discourses around black identity and culture. -- Aymar Jean Christian, Northwestern UniversityWell suited for myriad human communication contexts… This is an engaging and accessible look into an often ignored yet painfully important element of the networked century. * Choice *

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Book SynopsisContributions by Jerold J. Abrams, José Alaniz, John Carey, Maurice Charney, Peter Coogan, Joe Cruz, Phillip Lamarr Cunningham, Stefan Danter, Adam Davidson-Harden, Randy Duncan, Stephen Graham Jones, Richard Hall, Richard Heldenfels, Alberto Hermida, Víctor Hernández-Santaolalla, A. G. Holdier, Tiffany Hong, Siegfried Kracauer, Naja Later, Ryan Litsey, Tara Lomax, Tony Magistrale, Matthew McEniry, Cait Mongrain, Grant Morrison, Robert Moses Peaslee, David D. Perlmutter, W. D. Phillips, Jared Poon, Duncan Prettyman, Vladimir Propp, Noriko T. Reider, Robin S. Rosenberg, Hannah Ryan, Lennart Soberon, J. Richard Stevens, Lars Stoltzfus-Brown, John N. Thompson, Dan Vena, and Robert G. WeinerThe Supervillain Reader, featuring both reprinted and original essays, reveals why we are so fascinated with the villain. The obsession with the villain is not a new phenomenon, and, in fact, one finds villains who are 'super' going as far back as ancient religious and myt

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Book SynopsisThe new edition of the highly respected Researching Communications is a comprehensive and authoritative guide to researching media and communication. Researching Communications, Third Edition is an invaluable guide to performing and analysing research tasks, introducing the major research methods, giving detailed examples of research analysis and practical step-by-step guidance in clear language. Written by highly regarded experts in the field, the third edition includes new sections on social media analysis, digital research methods and comparative research, as well as updated case studies, international examples and details of recent developments in media and communication studies.Undergraduate and postgraduate media and communication students will find Researching Communications an invaluable resource at all stages of their course.Trade ReviewThis welcome new edition is updated and expanded, providing scholars with the what, why and how of communication research. Practical, accessible and truly invaluable. * Janet Wasko, Professor and Emeritus Knight Chair in Communication Research, University of Oregon, USA *Table of ContentsPreface to the First Edition Preface to the Second Edition Preface to the Third Edition Acknowledgements 1. Approaching research 2. Dealing with documentation 3. Selecting and sampling 4. Asking questions 5. Handling numbers 6. Counting contents 7. Analysing texts 8. Unpacking news 9. Viewing the image 10. Interpreting images 11. Being an observer 12. Attending to talk 13. Taking talk apart 14. Making comparisons 15. Using computers 16. Beyond methodology: the what, how and why of researching communications Glossary Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisThe newest addition to our Influential Video Game Designers series explores the work of Todd Howard, executive producer at Bethesda Studios, known for how he consistently pushes the boundaries of open-world gaming and player agency. Howard's games create worlds in which players can design their own characters and tell their own stories. While many games tell the story of the game's main character, Todd Howard's worldbuilding approach to game design focuses more on telling the story of the game's world, whether it be the high fantasy environments of the Elder Scrolls series or the post-apocalyptic wasteland of the Fallout series. This focus on sculpting the world allows for remarkable amounts of player freedom and choice in an expansive game environment by creating a landscape rich with open opportunity. Drawing on both academic discussions of narrative, world design, and game design, as well as on officially released interviews, speeches, and presentations given by HowardTrade ReviewIn Todd Howard: Worldbuilding in Tamriel and Beyond, Wendi Sierra illuminates this beloved game developer's mind, his struggles and passions, the history of his career from humble beginnings to towering success, and his visions for the future of games. Choosing to highlight his excellence in worldbuilding, she examines how rich, expansive game worlds like Tamriel keep players coming back again and again, logging hundreds or even thousands of in-game hours trudging up and down snowy mountains, collecting herbs, ore, and flowers, and questing for colorful NPCs—and for the sake of a compelling story in which they are the protagonist. This book is an essential guide to one of the greatest worldbuilders in the history of fantasy, and it belongs on the shelves of game scholars and game lovers alike. * Lauren Woolbright, Assistant Professor of Communication and New Media Studies, Alma College, USA *Table of Contents1: An Unlikely Beginning 2: Little Catastrophes 3: Set Pieces for Player Experience 4: Expanding the Game World 5: Todd Howard: In His Own Words 6: The Future of Open World Gaming Appendix - Chronology of Works Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisSound Affects: A User's Guide is a collection of sonically-charged concepts ranging from those felt, heard' and repeated (silence, the oriental riff, shuffle), to the vocal (whispers, sing, the disembodied voice), to sounds at the threshold (tin/ny, thump, buzz) to sounds beyond the limits of audibility (inaudible tremors, distortion, sub-bass). Sound Affects invites the reader to reflect on the ways that sounds produce affects and the ways that affects can operate as sound.Each of the entries develops a particular perspective on sound and affect through a close analysis of audiovisual and/or sonic objects. The objects chosen not only illustrate the concept in question but also demonstrate how the object encourages us to rethink the relationships between sounds and affects. Influenced by the sound theory of Eugenie Brinkema (2011), the concepts of Sound Affects plot the shift in volume from silence that opens up a space to be heard to the audibly

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Book SynopsisObject Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.For a century, magazines were the authors of culture and taste, of intelligence and policy until they were overthrown by the voices of the public themselves online. Here is a tribute to all that magazines were, from their origins in London and on Ben Franklin's press; through their boom enabled by new technologies as creators of a new media aesthetic and a new mass culture; into their opulent days in advertising-supported conglomerates; and finally to their fall at the hands of the internet. This tale is told through the experience of a magazine founder, the creator of Entertainment Weekly at Time Inc., who was also TV critic at TV Guide and People and finally an executive at Condé Nast trying to shepherd its magazines into the digital age.Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.Trade ReviewFew people have thought as hard or as well about magazines as Jeff Jarvis does. He describes Magazine as an elegy, and it's a beautiful one, but it's so much more—a love letter to the heyday of a glorious form, a roundhouse punch thrown at those who failed as its custodians, an elegant and insightful history of a medium, and a vivid, funny, unsparing memoir. It's a pleasure to read him, and a privilege to learn from him. * Mark Harris, journalist and author of Mike Nichols: A Life (2021) *A starter, lover, student, and doubter of magazines, Jeff Jarvis is here to explain to us—in beautiful and entertaining prose—what the magazine was when it was great, and how the internet undid it, by wiring us together in a different way, and giving everyone a printing press. The call that magazines once answered is still heard, he argues. It is to ‘set the idea of community free from geography.' * Jay Rosen, Associate Professor of Journalism, New York University, USA *Having devoted a chunk of my life to writing for and editing magazines, I wondered whether Jeff Jarvis’s smart little chronicle, Magazine, would feel like nostalgia or PTSD. He opened so well, it ceased to matter. * The Common Reader *Table of Contents1. The End 2. The Beginning of the End 3. The Beginning 4. Magazines' Golden Century 5. Inside the Gilded Factory 6. Tangled in the Web 7. Next Bibliography Notes Index

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Book SynopsisMedia of the Masses investigates the social life of an everyday technology—the cassette tape—to offer a multisensory history of modern Egypt. Over the 1970s and 1980s, cassettes became a ubiquitous presence in Egyptian homes and stores. Audiocassette technology gave an opening to ordinary individuals, from singers to smugglers, to challenge state-controlled Egyptian media. Enabling an unprecedented number of people to participate in the creation of culture and circulation of content, cassette players and tapes soon informed broader cultural, political, and economic developments and defined "modern" Egyptian households. Drawing on a wide array of audio, visual, and textual sources that exist outside the Egyptian National Archives, Andrew Simon provides a new entry point into understanding everyday life and culture. Cassettes and cassette players, he demonstrates, did not simply join other twentieth century mass media, like records and radio; they were the media of the masses. Comprised of little more than magnetic reels in plastic cases, cassettes empowered cultural consumers to become cultural producers long before the advent of the Internet. Positioned at the productive crossroads of social history, cultural anthropology, and media and sound studies, Media of the Masses ultimately shows how the most ordinary things may yield the most surprising insights.Trade Review"Andrew Simon's masterful history of the cassette crystallizes the crucial importance of technology. Media of the Masses is methodologically innovative, working through materials that were part of everyday life, but rarely present in archives. Important for historians of modern Egypt, and a stellar contribution to the history of new media."—Walter Armbrust, University of Oxford"When much thinking about media focuses on technologies of the future, Andrew Simon's Media of the Masses is a refreshing look at the near past, when palm-sized cartridges decentralized communication decades before satellites or the internet entered our daily lives. An important contribution to Arab media studies and the history of technology."—Marwan Kraidy, Northwestern University in Qatar"Media of the Masses provides a new lens through which we can understand the history of Egyptian media—the once-ubiquitous technology of cassette tapes. Andrew Simon's 'mixtape' approach offers insightful analysis and paints a rich picture useful for scholars and students alike."—Laura Bier, Georgia Institute of Technology"Andrew Simon's new book, Media of the Masses: Cassette Culture in Modern Egypt... looks at the cassette tape as a mode of understanding Egypt's history during [the] 1970s and 1980s. Moving from homes to shops, and from singers to listeners, the book demonstrates how the cassette, an artifact that became immensely popular in the Middle East in these years, undid state power and the division between public and private."—Orit Bashkin, Issues in Middle East Studies"In this social history of music and technology, Simon demonstrates how audiocassettes allowed ordinary Egyptians to challenge the power of state-controlled media. It is the story of how a common piece of technology can have an extraordinary impact on culture, politics, and the lives of the people who use it."—Christina Dolan, Vermont Standard"Andrew Simon approaches the world of Egyptian cassettes primarily as a social historian in this ingenious and enlightening book, one that is, moreover, an enormous pleasure to read....Whether listening, looking, reading, recalling encounters with his Egyptian interlocutors, or describing his walks around downtown Cairo, his prose buzzes with life and with sounds—as appropriate a tribute to its object as one could possibly wish."—Martin Stokes, Journal of World Popular Music"This is an extraordinarily rich and exciting read."—Avery Weinman, New Books Network"In Media of the Masses, Andrew Simon tells a compelling story of how audiocassettes transformed Egypt in the 1970s and '80s. By allowing a greater number of people not just to access audio content but also to produce and distribute it, cassettes were at the center of a new popular consumer culture. Simon tells this story through vivid vignettes that shine a light into the role of technology in everyday life."—Arthur Asseraf, Technology and Culture"Media of the Masses fills the gaps of historiographical elisions past."—Mariam Elnozahy, The Markaz Review"Simon's book offers a closer people's perspective of Egyptian culture and memory through cassette technology."—Ramona Wadi,The New Arab"The book's framework gives prominence not only to media technologies but also, crucially, to artists and their music. In so doing, it sheds new light on Egypt's sociopolitical, cultural, and economic developments from the 1970s through the 1990s and beyond."—Olga Verlato,Borderlines"This book will captivate anyone interested in the history of technology, mass media, or popular culture."—Lee Vinsel, Peoples & Things"[Simon] shows how the humble cassette turned into a lightning rod in a country undergoing major changes."—Peter Holslin,Passion of the Weiss"By examining the history of the cassette tape and cassette players in Egypt, Media of the Masses considers much larger historical developments, including political change, labor migration, the refashioning of Egyptian homes, crime, and censorship.... Recommended."—M. L. Russell, CHOICE"By the end of Media of the Masses, Andrew Simon has deftly pivoted from the importance of audio to the vitality of all the mundane but essential objects in our environment—the things that are always thereso much so that we don't often see or hear them anymore."—Marc Masters, Los Angeles Review of Books

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Book SynopsisIn the world of online dating, race-based discrimination is not only tolerated, but encouraged as part of a pervasive belief that it is simply a neutral, personal choice about one's romantic partner. Indeed, it is so much a part of our inherited wisdom about dating and romance that it actually directs the algorithmic infrastructures of most major online dating platforms, such that they openly reproduce racist and sexist hierarchies. In Not My Type: Automating Sexual Racism in Online Dating, Apryl Williams presents a socio-technical exploration of dating platforms' algorithms, their lack of transparency, the legal and ethical discourse in these companies' community guidelines, and accounts from individual users in order to argue that sexual racism is a central feature of today's online dating culture. She discusses this reality in the context of facial recognition and sorting software as well as user experiences, drawing parallels to the long history of eugenics and banned interracial partnerships. Ultimately, Williams calls for, both a reconceptualization of the technology and policies that govern dating agencies, and also a reexamination of sociocultural beliefs about attraction, beauty, and desirability.Trade Review"[A] troubling investigation of structural racism in online dating platforms.... Williams's highly accessible narrative is made extra intriguing by the liberal inclusion of users' own words sharing their intimate thoughts."—Publishers Weekly"From the automation of white beauty standards to the chilling prevalence of racist abuse in private messages, Williams reveals the harms created when racism, technology, and romance interact."—Angéle Christin, author of Metrics at Work"This book changes how we think about the sociology of the 'real world' in dating by taking seriously the online world where so many of us find love forever or just right now. Apryl Williams shows us a new, better way to do digital sociology, and her writing makes for a compelling read."—Jessie Daniels, author of Nice White LadiesTable of ContentsIntroduction 1. A New Sexual Racism? 2. Automating Sexual Racism 3. I'm Just Not Comfortable with Them: The Myth of Neutral Personal Preference 4. I've Always Wanted to Fuck a Black or Asian Woman: Being Racially Curated in the Sexual Marketplace 5. Safety Thirst: Who Gets to Be Safe While Dating Online? Conclusion: All You Need Is Love (and Transparency, Trust, and Safety)

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Book SynopsisIn this short and provocative book, cultural studies scholar Angela McRobbie develops a much-needed feminist account of neoliberalism. Highlighting the ways in which popular culture and the media actively produce and sustain the cultural imaginary for social polarization, she shows how there is substantial pressure on women not just to be employed, but to prioritize working life. She fiercely challenges the media gatekeepers who shape contemporary womanhood by means of exposure and public shaming, and pays particular attention to the endemic nature of anti-welfarism as it is addressed to women, thereby reducing the scope for feminist solidarity. In this theoretically rich and deep analysis of current cultural processes, McRobbie introduces a series of concepts including 'visual media governmentality' and the urging of women into work as 'contraceptive employment'. Foregrounding a triage of ideas as the 'perfect-imperfect-resilience' McRobbie conveys some of the key means by which consumer capitalism attempts to manage the threats posed by the new feminisms. She proposes that 'resilience' emerges as a compromise, as hard-edged neoliberalism proffers the option of a return to liberal feminism.A lively and devastating critique, Feminism and the Politics of Resilience offers a much-needed wake-up call. It is essential reading for students and scholars of cultural studies, media, sociology, and women's and gender studies.Trade Review"Jam-packed with insights, these essays from our leading sociocultural analyst are a brilliant commentary on how feminist norms and counter-norms have shaped contemporary work, culture, and politics. Required reading, for all genders." Andrew Ross, NYU "Angela McRobbie has a remarkable ability to interpret the present with precision and lyricism. Feminism and Neoliberalism provides both a magisterial analysis of shifting gender politics and a persuasive new academic agenda for radical social democracy." Jo Littler, City University, London "This short volume makes a thought-provoking start on the crucial task of mapping the current conjuncture - a task on which McRobbie readily acknowledges there is still much to do." Paul Cammack, What's Worth Reading"McRobbie's book is a valuable contribution to the growing scholarly literature on gender, feminism, and neoliberalism. Because of its narrow focus on the UK, it is especially helpful in tracking how neoliberal popular feminisms and discourses of private responsibility vary across national contexts."Hypatia

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Book SynopsisPositing online users as 'sleepwalkers', Tony Sampson offers an original and compelling approach for understanding how social media platforms produce subjectivities.Drawing on a wide range of theorists, including A.N. Whitehead and Gabriel Tarde, he provides tools to track his sleepwalker through the 'dark refrain of social media': a refrain that spreads through viral platform architectures with a staccato-like repetition of shock events, rumours, conspiracy, misinformation, big lies, search engine weaponization, data voids, populist strongmen, immune system failures, and far-right hate speech. Sampson's sleepwalker is not a pre-programmed smartphone junkie, but a conceptual personae intended to dodge capture by data doubles and lookalikes. Sleepwalkers are neither asleep nor wide awake; they are a liminal experimentation in collective mimicry and self-other relationality. Their purpose is to stir up a new kind of community that emerges from the potentialities of revolutionary contagion. At a time in which social media is influencing more people than ever, A Sleepwalker's Guide to Social Media is an important reference for students and scholars of media theory, digital media and social media.Trade Review"A Sleepwalker's Guide to Social Media is a book for the age of sleep disorders and political disorders; it is a book about the reshuffling of affects and the data-driven cognition. Sampson maps brilliantly the production of the dark refrains of contemporary culture from UX design to the broader context of experience capitalism and social media. A dark book, a joyous read."Jussi Parikka, University of Southampton (UK) and FAMU (Prague)"This is an essential book of dystopian media theory and an admonition of the high stakes of connectivity now and in the future."Tero Karppi, University of Toronto"A Sleepwalker’s Guide to Social Media is exactly what we need in these post-truth times. Tony Sampson brilliantly and succinctly takes us beyond the impasse between hyperreality and the illusory certainties of objective truth, introducing us to the collective nonconscious and its political, social and cultural implications. Read it now!"Patricia Clough, CUNY “A Sleepwalker’s Guide to Social Media is an essential text not only for those who focus on media studies, but also for those who are interested in sociology, STS studies, and anthropology, disciplines that study similar issues concerning the internet, users, and human behavior in social settings.”Information, Communication & SocietyTable of ContentsIntro Chapter One: Feeling Facts and Fakes Chapter Two: On the Viral Spectra of Somnambulism Coda: Christchurch; El Paso Chapter Three: The Virality of Experience Capitalism Segue: A Dark [Viral] Refrain Chapter Four: Immunity, Community and Contagion Chapter Five: Deeper Entanglements Outro: Disrupting the Dark Refrain Notes Index

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Book SynopsisA Gendered Gaze: Media Impacts on Perceptions of Gender and Sexuality explores the influence of media on audiences’ conception of gender and sexuality. In particular, this book examines the ways new media impact how people see themselves and others.The text is organized into five chapters which address subjects such as identity, cultural representation, whiteness and the othering of ethnic minorities, the construction of narrative and character, representation of sex and gender, and the contemporary culture exchange. Specific topics include social and institutional modeling, the politics of representation, the male/female gaze, filmic representations of gender, the politics of social media, and the ability of social media to construct and control our own narratives and media identities.A Gendered Gaze is most appropriate for college courses that discuss the various influences on perceptions of self and others in terms of gender, sexuality, and identity. It is also appropriate for classes focusing on the media and media impacts.

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Book SynopsisMore important than flagging things “really fake” is to understand why they are dismissed as fake The new truth is the one that circulates: digital truth emerges from lists, databases, archives, and conditions of storage. Multiple truths may be activated through search, link, and retrieve queries. Alexandra Juhasz, Ganaele Langlois, and Nishant Shah respond by taking up story, poetry, and other human logics of care, intelligence, and dignity to explore sociotechnological and politico-aesthetic emergences in a world where information overload has become a new ontology of not-knowing. Their feminist digital methods allow considerations of internet things through alternative networked internet time: slowing down to see, honor, and engage with our past; invoking indeterminacy as a human capacity that lets multiple truths commingle on a page or in a body; and saving the truths of ourselves and our others differently from the corporate internet’s perpetual viral movement. Writing across their own shared truisms, actors, and touchstones, the authors propose creative tactics, theoretical overtures, and experimental escape routes built to a human scale as ways to regain our capacities to know and tell truths about ourselves.

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Book SynopsisA necessary volume of essays working to decolonize the digital humanities Often conceived of as an all-inclusive “big tent,” digital humanities has in fact been troubled by a lack of perspectives beyond Westernized and Anglophone contexts and assumptions. This latest collection in the Debates in the Digital Humanities series seeks to address this deficit in the field. Focused on thought and work that has been underappreciated for linguistic, cultural, or geopolitical reasons, contributors showcase alternative histories and perspectives that detail the rise of the digital humanities in the Global South and other “invisible” contexts and explore the implications of a globally diverse digital humanities.Advancing a vision of the digital humanities as a space where we can reimagine basic questions about our cultural and historical development, this volume challenges the field to undertake innovation and reform. Contributors: Maria José Afanador-Llach, U de los Andes, Bogotá; Maira E. Álvarez, U of Houston; Purbasha Auddy, Jadavpur U; Diana Barreto Ávila, U of British Columbia; Deepti Bharthur, IT for Change; Sayan Bhattacharyya, Singapore U of Technology and Design; Anastasia Bonch-Osmolovskaya, National Research U Higher School of Economics; Jing Chen, Nanjing U; Carlton Clark, Kazimieras Simonavičius U, Vilnius; Carolina Dalla Chiesa, Erasmus U, Rotterdam; Gimena del Rio Riande, Institute of Bibliographic Research and Textual Criticism; Leonardo Foletto, U of São Paulo; Rahul K. Gairola, Murdoch U; Sofia Gavrilova, Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography; Andre Goodrich, North-West U; Anita Gurumurthy, IT for Change; Aliz Horvath, Eötvös Loránd U; Igor Kim, Russian Academy of Sciences; Inna Kizhner, Siberian Federal U; Cédric Leterme, Tricontinental Center; Andres Lombana-Bermudez, Pontificia, U Javeriana, Bogotá; Lev Manovich, City U of New York; Itay Marienberg-Milikowsky, Ben-Gurion U of the Negev; Maciej Maryl, Polish Academy of Sciences; Nirmala Menon, Indian Institute of Technology, Indore; Boris Orekhov, National Research U Higher School of Economics; Ernesto Priego, U of London; Sylvia Fernández Quintanilla, U of Kansas; Nuria Rodríguez-Ortega, U of Málaga; Steffen Roth, U of Turku; Dibyadyuti Roy, Indian Institute of Technology, Jodhpur; Maxim Rumyantsev, Siberian Federal U; Puthiya Purayil Sneha, Centre for Internet and Society, Bengaluru; Juan Steyn, South African Centre for Digital Language Resources; Melissa Terras, U of Edinburgh; Ernesto Miranda Trigueros, U of the Cloister of Sor Juana; Lik Hang Tsui, City U of Hong Kong; Tim Unwin, U of London; Lei Zhang, U of Wisconsin–La Crosse.Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroductionDomenico Fiormonte, Paola Ricaurte, and Sukanta ChaudhuriPart I: Global Histories of Digital Humanities1. Epistemically Produced InvisibilitySayan Bhattacharyya2. Alternative Histories of Digital Humanities: Tracing the Archival TurnPuthiya Purayil Sneha3. Can the Subaltern “Do” DH? A Reflection on the Challenges and Opportunities for the Digital HumanitiesErnesto Priego4. Peering Beyond the Pink Tent: Queer of Color Critique across the Digital Indian OceanRahul K. Gairola5. The History and Context of the Digital Humanities in RussiaInna Kizhner, Melissa Terras, Lev Manovich, Boris Orekhov, Igor Kim, Maxim Rumyantsev, and Anastasia Bonch-Osmolovskaya6. Debating and Developing Digital Humanities in China: New or Old?Jing Chen and Lik Hang Tsui7. How We Became Digital: The Recent History of Digital Humanities in PolandMaciej Maryl8. Social Sciences and Digital Humanities of the South: Materials for a Critical DiscussionNuria Rodríguez-OrtegaPart II: Exploring and Practicing Global Digital Humanities9. Mining Verbal Data from Early Bengali Newspapers and Magazines: Contemplating the PossibilitiesPurbasha Auddy10. Digital Brush Talk: Challenges and Potential Connections in East Asian Digital ResearchAliz Horvath11. “It Functions, and That’s (Almost) All”: Tagging the TalmudItay Marienberg-Milikowsky12. What’s Trending in the Chinese Google Books Corpus? A Google Ngram Analysis of the Chinese Language Area (1950–2008)Carlton Clark, Lei Zhang, and Steffen Roth13. In Tlilli in Tlapalli / In Xochitl in Cuicatl: The Representation of Other Mexican Literatures through Digital MediaErnesto Miranda Trigueros14. No “Making,” Not Now: Decolonizing Digital Humanities in South AsiaDibyadyuti Roy and Nirmala Menon15. Digital Humanities and Memory Wars in Contemporary RussiaSofia Gavrilova16. Borderlands Archives Cartography: Bridging Personal, Political, and Geographical BorderlandsMaira E. Álvarez and Sylvia Fernández Quintanilla17. Developing New Literacy Skills and Digital Scholarship Infrastructures in the Global South: A Case StudyMaría José Afanador-Llach and Andres Lombana-Bermudez 18. Manuscripts Written by Women in New Spain and the Challenge of Digitization: An Experiment in Academic AutoethnographyDiana Barreto ÁvilaPart III: Beyond Digital Humanities19. Digital Humanities and Visible and Invisible InfrastructuresGimena del Rio Riande20. Site-Specific Cultural Infrastructure: Promoting Access and Conquering the Digital DivideJuan Steyn and Andre Goodrich21. On Gambiarras: Technical Improvisations à la BrazilCarolina Dalla Chiesa and Leonardo Foletto22. Messy Empowerment: Mapping Digital Encounters in the MarginsAnita Gurumurthy and Deepti Bharthur23. On Language, Gender, and Digital TechnologiesTim Unwin24. Africa’s Digitalization: From the Ecological Dilemma to the Decolonization of the ImaginaryCédric LetermeContributors

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Book SynopsisHow are images made, and how should we understand their limits, capacities, and forces in digital media? While functioning as representations or mediations of the political, images also act through the technologies and social processes that they claim only to represent. In both capacities, images can be innovative, but they can also reproduce harmful phenomena such as racism, misogyny, and conspiracy. Boundary Images investigates the political, material, and visual work that images do to cross and blur the boundaries between the technological and biological and between humans, machines, and nature. Exploring the limits of the visual and beyond what can be seen, Boundary Images posits these boundaries as starting points for the production of new and radically different ways of knowing about the world.

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Book SynopsisThis edited collection aims to reimagine and extend ethnography for a data-saturated world. The book brings together leading scholars in the social sciences who have been interrogating and collaborating with data scientists working in a range of different settings. The book explores how a repurposed form of ethnography might illuminate the kinds of knowledge that are being produced by data science. It also describes how collaborations between ethnographers and data scientists might lead to new forms of social analysisTrade Review'Ethnography for a Data Saturated World is a must-read for researchers, students and professionals outside academia wishing to understand what digital data means for our contemporary world. It brings our attention to a burgeoning field of research and practice which unites ethnography and data science on a number of levels. This book takes us into the world of digital data in a mode and depth that only the particular sensibilities of ethnographic research can offer. Its editors and authors collectively provide a new and global vision through ethnographic studies of how the worlds of data scientists are constituted, the ways of knowing and forms of expertise that digital data analysis involves, and the methodological challenges and achievements of work that has created new modes of collaboration between ethnography and digital data analysis. Ethnography for a Data Saturated World is at once a substantive, theoretical and methodological book. It is brimming with significant ethnographic insights and findings about the worlds it examines, it offers an array of different and disciplinary specific modes of thinking theoretically about digital data from anthropology and sociology, and it interrogates the modes of knowing that are implicated in both digital data collection and analysis and in ethnographic practice, as well as the possible connections between them.'Sarah Pink, Professor of Design and Media Ethnography, RMIT University -- .Table of Contents1 Introduction: ethnography for a data-saturated world – Hannah Knox and Dawn NafusPart I: Ethnographies of data science2 Data scientists: a new faction of the transnational field of statistics – Francisca Grommé, Evelyn Ruppert and Baki Cakici3 Becoming a real data scientist: expertise, flexibility and lifelong learning – Ian Lowrie4 Engineering ethnography – Kaiton WilliamsPart II: Knowing data 5 ‘If everything is information’: archives and collecting on the frontiers of data-driven science – Antonia Walford6 Baseless data? Modelling, ethnography and the challenge of the anthropocene – Hannah Knox7 Operative ethnographies and large numbers – Adrian MackenziePart III: Experiments in/of data and ethnography 8 Transversal collaboration: an ethnography in/of computational social science – Mette My Madsen, Anders Blok and Morten Axel Pedersen9 The data walkshop and radical bottom-up data knowledge – Alison Powell10 Working ethnographically with sensor data – Dawn Nafus11 The other ninety per cent: thinking with data science, creating data studies – Joseph Dumit interviewed by Dawn NafusIndex

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Book SynopsisIn a context where digital media are reshaping the futures of conservation, environmentalism, and ecological politics for better and for worse Digital ecologies draws together leading scholars in the humanities and social sciences to establish a research agenda for making sense of these transformations. -- .

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Book SynopsisRisk, anxiety and moral panic are endemic to contemporary societies and media forms. How do these phenomena manifest in a place like South Africa, which features heightened insecurity, deep inequality and accelerated social change? What happens when cultures of fear intersect with pervasive systems of gender, race and class?Worrier state investigates four case studies in which fear and anxiety appear in radically different ways: the far right myth of ‘white genocide’; so-called ‘Satanist’ murders of young women; an urban legend about township crime; and social theories about safety and goodness in the suburbs. Falkof foregrounds the significance of emotion as a socio-political force, emphasising South Africa’s imbrication within globalised conditions of anxiety and thus its fundamental and often-ignored hypermodernity. The book offers a bold and creative perspective on the social roles of fear and emotion in South Africa and thus on everyday life in this complex place.Trade ReviewShortlisted for MeCCSA Monograph of the Year 2023Judges' comments:'This is a fascinating study of the perceived risks and associated concepts such as moral panic within South Africa and their media representations and is vigorous and timely as it speaks to the ‘risk’ society which has hitherto focused on the Global North. Fear and anxiety are explored through a discussion of four different mediatized ‘stories’ and through the author’s own clearly acknowledged white woman’s lens, all of which build a picture of a still highly racialised and unequal South Africa, where fear is differently focused and experienced depending on your position in the racial hierarchy as well as your class position. The case studies not only narrate different stories and different subjectivities but also grapple with the less familiar themes of magic and the occult. The book thus provides some original thinking through of how these different aspects of fear, anxiety and emotion play out in the modern South African imaginary. The work is scholarly and draws on both primary and secondary sources in the presentation of the different case studies.' ‘This stunning book resonates with climates of fear far beyond South Africa in how it magnifies the tensions and intimacies between embodied experience and the lingering history and threat of violence. This is a powerful and difficult book to write, and to write this well.’Samantha Pinto, author of Infamous Bodies: Early Black Women’s Celebrity and the Afterlives of Rights‘Original and refreshing, Falkof’s book is a must read for those of us interested in understanding contemporary formations of race and power in the global South and the role of the media in framing these debates. This study is critically needed in this moment of increasing worldwide white nationalism.’ Xavier Livermon, author of Kwaito Bodies: Remastering Space and Subjectivity in Post-Apartheid South Africa'As Falkof shows in this compelling and important book, cultures of fear and anxiety emerge from deep socio-economic inequalities that continue to characterize South Africa today, on intersecting bases of race, class, gender and citizenship.' Belinda Dodson, Africa, Volume 93, Issue 2 (May 2023)'Nicky Falkof has critically examined issues of race, gender, and identity vis-a-vis the affectual reactions of the media and individuals to the above-mentioned cases. These essays on white genocide, Satanist murders, township urban legends of ‘plasma gangs’, and suburban community groups are a brilliant representation of how the fear and feelings of anxiety and moral panic of the privileged cannot be equated to that of the powerless as it leads to severely reductionist and often false narratives by institutions such as the mass media.'Sudatta Ghosh, South Asian University (SAU), Doing Sociology -- .Table of ContentsIntroduction1 Risk, anxiety and moral panic2 ‘White genocide’ and the marketing of minority victims3 Christian nightmares4 Drugs, crime and consumption in Alexandra5 Safe selves versus good selves in the suburbsConclusion: Risky businessBibliography

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Book SynopsisMedia technologies for play have become major industries in Japan and South Korea. Even in North Korea, citizens bypass the state to enjoy popular culture. At the same time, corporations and governments encourage people to produce economic values through play. The first comparative study of media technologies in Japan and the two Koreas, this book illuminates the peculiar geopolitical relations between the three countries through their development and use of digital technologies. Drawing from political economy, cultural studies and technology studies, this book will be essential reading for researchers and students of media technologies and popular culture in Northeast Asia.Table of ContentsIntroduction ~ Micky Lee and Peichi Chung Part 1 ~ Gender Online and Digital Sex Sharing, Selling, Striving: The Gendered Labour of Female Social Entrepreneurship in South Korea ~ Kyooeun Jang ‘For Japan Only?’ Crossing and Re-Inscribing Boundaries in the Circulation of Adult Computer Games ~ Patrick W. Galbraith Part 2 ~ Governance and Regulations The New Personal Data Protection in Japan: Is It Enough? ~ Ana Gascón Marcén Phenomena and Phobia Through Pokémon GO: An Analysis of the Reactions on the Augmented Reality Game in Japan ~ Deirdre Sneep How Do Materiality and Corporeality Inform the Intellectual Property Debate? A Case Study of Pirated Media in North Korea ~ Micky Lee and Weiqi Zhang Hyperreal Peninsula: North Korea’s Nuclear Cinema and South Korea’s Digital Revolution ~ Elizabeth Shim Part 3 ~ Techno-Identity and Digital Labour Condition ‘Too Many Koreans’: Esports Biopower and South Korean Gaming Infrastructure ~ Keung Yoon Bae South Korea’s Esports Industry in Northeast Asia: History, Ecosystem and Digital Labour ~ Peichi Chung Representations of Play: Pachinko in Popular Media ~ Keiji Amano and Geoffrey Rockwell The Work of Care in the Age of Feeling Machines ~ Shawn Bender Conclusion ~ Peichi Chung

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Book SynopsisAvailable Open Access digitally under CC-BY-ND licenceThis book pulls back the curtain on the link between technology and activism, showing shows how activists navigate the impact of digital media on today's grassroots politics.

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Book SynopsisWhat stories remain hidden behind one of the most significant inventions of the nineteenth century? Kaleidophonic Modernity reexamines the development of mechanical sound recording technology by charting the orbits of writers, scientists, and artists in France and the United States. Working between comparative literature, the history of science, and urban studies, Brehm builds a bridge between visual culture and sound studies. Kaleidophonic Modernity places the poet and inventor Charles Cros and his lover, the celebrated concert pianist and salonnière Nina de Villard at the heart of modern aesthetic and scientific vanguards. Cros's scientific endeavors ranged from color photography, to telecommunications, to mechanical sound reproducibility. In his poetry the Surrealists found an ancestor and inspiration. His literary and scientific works prove startling and relevant to predicaments of technological media in his own time and ours. For nearly twenty years Nina de Villard presided over a supremely daring intellectual salon. There, she welcomed manifold literary, artistic, and musical luminaries into a veritable crucible of the artistic avant-garde and precursor to the famous Chat Noir cabaret. Together, these two forgotten but pivotal figures, Cros and Villard, help reframe our thinking on Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Baudelaire, and Walt Whitman, icons of urban modernity who can now be seen and heard in a kaleidophonic light, one that offers a compelling new perspective on modern mediascapes. In elaborating this transatlantic phenomenon, Kaleidophonic Modernity illuminates the prehistory of the phonograph as it intersects with the aesthetics of sound reproducibility, Franco-American literary exchange, Poe’s aesthetic and intellectual legacy, the sounds of modern cities and technologies, and the genealogy of audiovisual experimentation found in such movements as Dada, Futurism, and the sound art of today.Table of ContentsIntroduction: Acoustic Spectra | 1 1 Paleophonics: Charles Cros’s Audiovisual Worlds | 27 2 Poe’s Tintamarre: Transatlantic Acoustic Horizons | 74 3 Tattered Sound: Baudelaire’s Paris, Noise, and the Protophonographic | 102 4 The Amazing Chorus: Whitman and the Sound of New York City | 136 5 Nina’s Song: Music, Sound, and Performance in the Salon of Nina de Villard | 155 Conclusion: Pyrophonica and the Rhythms of Inspiration | 193 Acknowledgments | 205 Notes | 209 Bibliography | 253 Index | 269

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Book SynopsisThis step-by-step introduction to conducting media and communication research offers practical insights along with the author’s signature lighthearted style to make discussion of qualitative and quantitative methods easy to comprehend. The Fifth Edition of Media and Communication Research Methods includes a new chapter on discourse analysis; expanded discussion of social media, including discussion of the ethics of Facebook experiments; and expanded coverage of the research process with new discussion of search strategies and best practices for analyzing research articles. Ideal for research students at both the graduate and undergraduate level, this proven book is clear, concise, and accompanied by just the right number of detailed examples, useful applications, and valuable exercises to help students to understand, and master, media and communication research. Table of ContentsPreface to the Fifth Edition Acknowledgements Introduction Round Up the Usual Suspects Applying the Focal Points Model to Media How I Became a Man without Quantities Date Man versus Date-Free Man Kinds of Questions Researchers Ask Conclusions of a Man without Quantities, Who Is also a Practicing Theoretician Introduction: Applications and Exercises I. GETTING STARTED 1. What Is Research? We All Do Research, All the Time Scholarly Research Is Different From Everyday Research Cultural Studies and Research Nietzsche on Interpretation Problem of Certainty Diachronic and Synchronic Research The Way the Human Mind Works Overt and Covert Oppositions Thinking Fast and Slow Quantity and Quality in Media Research Media and Communication Why a Book That Teaches Both Methodologies? Considering Research Topics What Is Research? Applications and Exercises Conclusions Further Reading 2. The Research Process Search Strategies Sources of Information How to Read Analytically Critical Thinking Critical Thinking as Defined by the National Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking, 1987 Doing a Literature Review Primary and Secondary Research Sources Searching on the Internet (or “Find the Info if You Can!”) Using the Internet to Conduct Research Analyzing Methodology in Research Articles The Research Process: Applications and Exercises Conclusions Further Reading II. METHODS OF TEXTUAL ANALYSIS 3. Semiotic Analysis Saussure’s Division of Signs into Signifiers and Signifieds Semiotics of Blondeness Semiotics and Society Peirce’s Trichotomy: Icon, Index, And Symbol Allied Concepts Foucault on Codes and Cultural Change Marcel Danesi on Codes and Culture Clotaire Rapaille on Culture Codes Semiotics in Society: A Reprise Syntagmatic Analysis of Texts Paradigmatic Analysis of Texts Applications of Semiotic Theory Paul Ekman on Facial Expression Semiotics: Applications and Exercises Conclusions Further Reading 4. Rhetorical Analysis Aristotle on Rhetoric Rhetoric and the Mass Media A Brief Note on the Communication Process Certeau on Subversions by Readers and Viewers Applied Rhetorical Analysis A Miniglossary of Common Rhetorical Devices Other Considerations When Making Rhetorical Analyses A Sample Rhetorical Analysis: A La Mer Advertisement Rhetorical Analysis of the Visual Image Images in Narrative Texts Gangsta Rap and American Popular Culture Rhetorical Analysis: Applications and Exercises Conclusions Further Reading 5. Ideological Criticism Mannheim’s Ideology and Utopia Defining Ideology Marxist Criticism Roland Barthes on Mythologies The Problem of Hegemony The Base and the Superstructure, False Consciousness, and the “Self-Made Man and Woman” Post-Soviet Marxist Criticism Society of the Spectacle Basic Ideas in Marxist Criticism A Marxist Interpretation of the Fidji “Snake” Advertisement John Berger on Glamour Identity Politics Feminist Criticism of Media and Communication The Social Conception of Knowledge Phallocentric Theory: The Physical Basis of Male Domination Political Cultures, the Media, and Communication Pop Cultural and Media Preferences of the Four Political Cultures Marxist Perspectives on Social Media A Preview of Critical Discourse Analysis Ideological Criticism: Applications and Exercises Conclusions Further Reading 6. Psychoanalytic Criticism Freud’s Contribution Smartphones and the Psyche: Applying the Theories of Erik Erikson Smartphones and the Self Neuropsychoanalysis: Freud and Neuroscience Jungian Theory Psychoanalytic Criticism: Applications and Exercises Conclusions Further Reading 7. Discourse Analysis Defining Discourse Analysis Teun A. Van Dijk on Discourse Analysis Spoken and Written Discourse Styles and Written Discourse Political Ideologies and Discourse Analysis Critical Discourse Analysis Advertising and Critical Discourse Analysis Multimodal Discourse Analysis Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis Fashion and Discourse Analysis A Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis of an Advertisement Discourse Analysis: Applications and Exercises Conclusions Further Reading III. QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS 8. Interviews The Prisoner Interviews Number Two What Is an Interview? Four Kinds of Research Interviews Why We Use Interviews How to Interview People Kinds of Questions Questions Investigative Reporters Ask The Structure of Conversations and Interviews Transcribing Recorded Interviews Making Sense of Transcribed Interviews Coding Problems with Interview Material Interviews: Applications and Exercises Conclusions Further Reading 9. Historical Analysis What Is History? History as Metadiscipline or Specialized Subject Is History Objective, Subjective, Or A Combination Of The Two? The Importance of Fernand Braudel Kinds of Historical Research The Problem of Writing History The Problem of Meaning Historical Periods Baudrillard and Jameson on Postmodernism Postmodernism and Historiography The Historical and the Comparative Approach History Is an Art, Not a Science Doing Historical Research Historical Analysis: Applications and Exercises Conclusions Further Reading 10. Ethnomethodological Research Defining Ethnomethodology Garfinkel’s Ingenious and Mischievous Research Norbert Wiley’s Interesting Perspective on Harold Garfinkel Using Ethnomethodology in Media and Communication Research Metaphors and Motivation Love Is a Game Humorists as Code Violators Techniques of Humor Ethnomethodology and the Communication Process Ethnomethodological Research: Applications and Exercises Conclusions Further Reading 11. Participant Observation Defining Participant Observation Significant Considerations When Doing Participant Observation A Case Study of Participant Observation: Readers of Romance Novels Problems with Participant Observation Benefits of Participant Observation Studies Making Sense of Your Findings Writing up A Participant Observation Study An Ethical Dilemma Ethics and Research Involving Humans Participant Observation: Applications and Exercises Conclusions Further Reading IV. QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS 12. Content Analysis Defining Content Analysis Why We Make Content Analyses Methodological Aspects of Content Analysis Aspects of Violence Advantages of Content Analysis as a Research Method Difficulties in Making Content Analyses Content Analysis Step-By-Step Content Analysis: Applications and Exercises A Cautionary Note from Denis McQuail Conclusions Further Reading 13. Surveys Defining Surveys Kinds of Surveys: Descriptive and Analytic The VALS Typology Survey Methods of Data Collection Advantages of Survey Research Problems with Surveys Surveys and the 2012 Presidential Election Surveys and the 2016 Presidential Election A Note on Media Usage Surveys: Shares and Ratings Open-Ended and Closed-Ended Survey Questions Writing Survey Questions Making Pilot Studies to Pretest Surveys Conducting Online Surveys Samples Obtaining Random Samples Evaluating Survey Accuracy Surveys: Applications and Exercises Conclusions Further Reading 14. Experiments Everyday Experimentation Defining Experiments The Structure of an Experiment The Hawthorne Effect Advantages of Experiments Disadvantages of Experiments The “Black Rats” Case and Experimental Fraud A Checklist on Experimental Design What’s An Experiment and What Isn’t? Ethics and the Facebook Experiment Experiments: Applications and Exercises Conclusions Further Reading 15. A Primer on Descriptive Statistics Levels of Measurement Descriptive Statistics Measures of Central Tendency Measures of Dispersion The Normal or Bell-Shaped Curve The Problem with Ratings A Cautionary Note on Statistics Using Statistics to Support a Claim Statistics and Comparisons Data on Media Use in America Smartphones The Problem of Interpretation Statistics and Problems Caused by Definitions Statistics: Applications and Exercises Conclusions Further Reading V. PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER 16. Nineteen Common Thinking Errors Common Fallacies Conclusions Further Reading 17. Writing Research Reports Keeping a Journal A Trick for Organizing Reports Outlines, First Drafts, and Revisions Writing Research Reports The IMRD Structure of Quantitative Research Reports Writing Correctly: Avoiding Some Common Problems Academic Writing Styles A Checklist for Planning Research and Writing Reports Conclusions Further Reading Glossary References Author Index Subject Index About the Author

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Book SynopsisRage revenue-addicted news companies are plagued by shoddy reporting, sensationalism, groupthink, and brain-dead partisan tribalism. Newsrooms rely on emotion-driven blabber to entrance conflict-addled super users.In Broken News, Chris Stirewalt, celebrated as one of America's sharpest political analysts in print and on television, employs his trademark wit and insight to give readers an inside look at these problems. He explains that these companies don't reward bad journalism because they like it, but because it is easy and profitable.Take it from Stirewalt: As a top editor and election forecaster on Fox News' decision desk during the 2020 election, he knows firsthand what happens when viewers (including the president of the United States) become more accustomed to flattery and less willing to hear news that punctures their bubbles.Broken News is a fascinating, deeply researched, conversation-provoking study of how the news is made and how it must be repaired, with surprising takeaways about who's to blame. Stirewalt goes deep inside the history of the industry to explain how today's media divides America for profit. And he offers practical advice for how everyday readers, listeners and viewers can (and should) become better news consumers for the sake of the republic.This is a book for those who care about our country-and want the news to do the news again.

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Book SynopsisThis book is about ardent Korean female fans of gay representation in the media, their status in contemporary Korean society, their relationship with other groups such as the gay population, and, above all, their contribution to reshaping the Korean media's portrayal of gay people. Jungmin Kwon names the Korean female fandom for gay portrayals as “FANtasy” subculture, and argues that it adds to the present visibility of the gay body in Korean mainstream media, thus helping to change the public's perspective toward sexually marginalized groups.The FANtasy subculture started forming around text-based media, such as yaoi, fan fiction, and U.S. gay-themed dramas (like Will & Grace), and has been influenced by diverse social, political, and economic conditions, such as the democratization of Korea, an open policy toward foreign media products, the diffusion of consumerism, government investment in the culture, the Hollywoodization of the film industry, and the popularity of Korean culture abroad. While much scholarly attention has been paid to female fandom for homoerotic cultural texts in many countries, this book seeks to explore a relatively neglected aspect of the subculture: its location in and influence on Korean society at large.

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Book SynopsisAfter Adolph Ochs purchased The New York Times in 1896, Zionism and the eventual reality of the State of Israel were framed within his guiding principle, embraced by his Sulzberger family successor, that Judaism is a religion and not a national identity. Apprehensive lest the loyalty of American Jews to the United States be undermined by the existence of a Jewish state, they embraced an anti-Zionist critique that remained embedded in its editorials, on the Opinion page and in its news coverage. Through the examination of evidence drawn from its own pages, this book analyzes how all the news “fit to print” became news that fit the Times’ discomfort with the idea, and since 1948 the reality, of a thriving democratic Jewish state in the historic homeland of the Jewish people.Trade Review“Auerbach subjects the New York Times to a meticulously researched analysis of its attitude over the years 1896 to 2016 towards Zionism and Israel. … Print to Fit leads the reader through Israel’s story along an unfamiliar route. The New York Times is one of the world’s leading newspapers. It is regarded as a ‘journal of record.’ For more than 120 years it has been shaping American opinion. Jerold S Auerbach argues convincingly that, as far as Zionism and Israel are concerned, the paper has consistently been far from objective in its editorial policy, has fallen short of its own high standards, and has consequently failed in its journalistic obligations to the public.” —Neville Teller, The Jerusalem Report -- Neville Teller * The Jerusalem Report *“Jerold Auerbach’s archly titled new study Print to Fit: The New York Times, Zionism and Israel, 1896–2016 is a well-researched and, for the most part, damning brief of the Times’s news coverage and editorial attitudes toward Zionism and Israel for over a century. … Print to Fit was written well before the Jew-dog cartoon scandal, but it does answer the question about it with which this review began: How could such an image make it to the pages of an edition of the New York Times?” —Deborah E. Lipstadt, the Jewish Review of Books * Jewish Review of Books *“There is no denying the basic truth of Jerold Auerbach’s book, which is that the Times has had a fundamental antagonism to Zionism and to Israel from its beginning until this day. His title says it all: instead of printing all the news that is fit to print—as it says so proudly on its front page every day—the Times has often printed the news that fits its ideology.” —Jack Reimer, The Jewish AdvocateTable of Contents Introduction Chapter 1: Patriotic Loyalty 1896-1927 Chapter 2: The Zionist Menace 1928-1939 Chapter 3: Denial and Discomfort 1933-1948 Chapter 4: Democratic Allies 1949-1957 Chapter 5: Conquest and Occupation 1960-1979 Chapter 6: Arabs and Jews 1979-1984 Chapter 7: Moral Equivalence 1984-1988 Chapter 8: Occupation Cruelty 1988-1989 Chapter 9: Illusions of Peace 1990-1996 Chapter 10: Realities of Conflict 1996-2001 Chapter 11: Blame Israel First 2002-2006 Chapter 12: Israeli Goliath 2006-2009 Chapter 13: Double Standards 2009-2014 Chapter 14: American Loyalty 2014-2015 Epilogue 2016 Afterword Acknowledgments Bibliography Notes Author’s Note

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Book SynopsisVideo games are considered by many to be just entertainment—essentially void of skillful, artistic intervention. But as any gamer knows, there’s incredible technical and graphic talent behind even a flickering Gameboy screen. You may have never heard Shigeru Miyamoto’s name, but you’ve probably spent many a lazy afternoon absorbed in his work. Joining Nintendo as a video game designer in the late 1970s, Miyamoto created the powerhouse franchises Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, and Donkey Kong—games so ubiquitous that Miyamoto was named one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in 2007. Combining critical essays with interviews, bibliographies, and striking visuals, Shigeru Miyamoto unveils the artist behind thousands of glowing gaming screens, tracing out his design decisions, aesthetic preferences, and the material conditions that shaped his work. With this incredible (and incredibly unknown) figure, series editors Jennifer DeWinter and Carly Kocurek launch the Influential Video Game Designers series, at last giving these artists the recognition they deserve.Trade ReviewI came to this book knowing very little about Miyamoto, but, like anyone else who’s been playing video games since he was a kid, and having played at least a dozen of his titles, several are permanently burned into my brain. DeWinter lays out his many influences, from his time exploring caves in the rural region where he grew up to his time as a teenage banjo player. There were multiple moments when I came across some new (to me) piece of information about Miyamoto, thought back to a game of his — in some cases, one I haven’t played in years — and felt the cognitive click of recognition. -- Jessie Singal * The Boston Globe *Summing up such a massive career is an unbelievable act of compression, and what is there is incredibly well-researched and well-synthesized to the point that it feels like its own tidy Miyamoto-like object… An incredibly well-rounded resource, brimming with anecdotes, interviews, and any document on-hand to provide a clearer understanding of a public-yet-enigmatic figure. -- Cameron Kunzelman * Paste Magazine *Shigeru Miyamoto: Super Mario Bros., Donkey Kong, The Legend of Zelda really gets at the heart of Miyamoto’s influence on the gaming industry … Providing a great understanding of Shigeru Miyamoto’s role in the gaming industry, it’s a book that also gives readers an understanding of the history of gaming as a whole, as well as the many influences one influential designer can have … it provides a fascinating look at how the gaming industry has evolved through the years. * Games Fiends *As Influential Video Game Designers: Shigeru Miyamoto stands, the book is a must-read for young game designers and those who may be considering entering the field. The book provides the greatest insight I've ever read on the history, philosophy and creative process of perhaps the most beloved game creator in industry history. -- Patrick Scott Patterson * SyFy Games *[R]eadable and informative ... Shigeru Miyamoto is a dedicated exploration of an undeniably important contributor to videogame history and culture ... deWinter presents an accessible but always academic study that could provide design students with fresh inspiration just as quickly as it could provide an academic a fresh perspective from which to approach digital games. * Cultural Sociology *DeWinter expertly sifted through a varied assemblage of critical essays, interviews, biographies, and articles on Miyamoto to deliver one of the most definitive examinations to date of his astonishing career. -- Robert Marrujo * Nintendojo *The Influential Video Game Designers series aims at a gap in interdisciplinary games studies: the game-‘auteur.’ To date, video games are considered goods—produced in economics without authorship. However, a close look shows that the "object" of the video game comprises not only modes of production or economics, but also the perspective of a maker. In this sense, the first volume of the series, about the Japanese game designer Shigeru Miyamoto, is conceptually and theoretically the right decision: Miyamoto is a game designer who is rather unknown to public, but certainly popular and ever-present (at least to a general audience) with his games. To discuss the work, aesthetic preferences, and strategies of production of a man who could be addressed as one of the ‘father figures’ of game design is the right decision. The book itself is not only a must-have for everybody interested in gaming culture, game design or the Japanese gaming industry, but also a great way to remember when you wasted your free time (and your coins) by playing Super Mario Bros. or Donkey Kong. * Rolf Nohr, Professor of Media Aesthetics / Media Culture, The Braunschweig University of Art, Germany *Historians of digital games have until now lacked a critical assessment of the game industry's most famous and influential designer, Shigeru Miyamoto. This certainly held us back, but Jennifer deWinter has at last removed the problem with this balanced account of his achievements. The rest of us will have to get busy and build on her outstanding work. * Henry Lowood, History of Science & Technology Collections and Film & Media Collections, Stanford University Libraries, USA *With this book Jennifer deWinter and Carly Kocurek have made an enormous contribution to the study of videogame history, design and aesthetics. This is not only due to the work's novel focus upon a single designer, but also due to the forensic manner in which they unpack the complex relationship between Miyamoto’s oeuvre and the material conditions which influenced every design decision. Written in an engaging, concise style, this is more than just a book for academics: it is essential reading for any designer or fan of the medium. * Steven Conway, Lecturer in Games & Interactivity, Swinburne University of Technology, Australia *Ultimately, the book is effective in discussing the context and styles of Miyamoto’s influential work as a game designer… And at 184 pages, the relatively brief study should be accessible to scholars and nonscholars alike who are curious about game development. * American Journal of Play *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments List of Figures Foreword Chapter 1: The Father of Modern Video Games Chapter 2: Spatial Narratives: Characters in their Worlds Chapter 3: From Games to Experiences: Designing for User Freedom and Unique Expression Chapter 4: Revolutionizing Gameplay: Casual Games and Mature Audiences Chapter 5: In His Own Words: Transcript of Miyamoto's 1999 Game Developer Conference Keynote Chapter 6: A Continuing Legacy Gameography Works Cited Index

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Book SynopsisA powerful assessment of how online information became unreliableand what can be done about it. - Kirkus ReviewsImagine an imminent America where citizens are bombarded with personalized political messages from every smart device yet information is so suspect, nobody can tell what the truth is. It means oceans of disinformation engineered to sow false beliefs or simply disorient.The coronavirus pandemic provided a foretaste of an infuriating, dystopian future. From the start Americans fought over the most basic facts of the crisis, from death tolls to quack cures to the wisdom of stay-at-home orders. The splintered digital infosphere bred confusion and delusion, some of it fatal. Now think of our campaigns and elections. The digital information age means more than hyper-targeted, just-for-you messages from insurance companies and presidential candidates alike. Trying to shield yourself from disinformation and deep fakes? Cyrus K

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Book SynopsisIn theory, esports should be inclusive regardless of gender, race, or ability – however, incidents in the world of esports indicate otherwise. This collection provides an examination of diversity and inclusion in esports as contributors offer a way for readers to understand the history, current issues, and potential impacts of diversity and inclusion in the industry. Through analyses of players, games, fans, and broadcasts, this book highlights the exponential growth of the industry alongside the burgeoning cultural importance of diversity and inclusion. Ultimately, Diversity and Inclusion in the Esports Industry contributes to an intersection of well-established research areas to draw new insights as the industry continues to evolve. Scholars of communication, media studies, game studies, and sociology will find this book of particular interest.Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsChapter 1: History of Esports and Esports BroadcastsSteve Young and Mary L. ShefferChapter 2: Evolution of Game Culture in FPS EsportsSteve Young and Mary L. ShefferChapter 3: Transfixing, Transporting, and Toxic: Troubling Experiences for Gender and Racial Minorities in Esports SpacesJoshua R. Jackson. Cameron A. Panhans, and Andrew C. BillingsChapter 4: Characterizing Professional Counter-Strike: Media’s Impact on Gamer StereotypesSteve YoungChapter 5: Love and Loyalty in the Fighting Game CommunityJohn ShraderChapter 6: Unleashing the Stories of Invisible Gamers in EsportsKaterina Tovia-DufooChapter 7: Black Men, STEM, and Erasing the Digital Divide- The Need for Black Male Targeted Esport InitiativesDavid C. HughesChapter 8: Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Youth Development Through Gaming and Esports: From Theory to PilotJeffrey LevineChapter 9: Esports and the Coed ApproachRachel Lin, Skye Cooley, and John McGuireChapter 10: Surviving the Competition: Ghanaian Female Video Gamers in Male-Dominated SpaceRabiu K. B. AsanteAbout the Contributors

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Book SynopsisAlexandra Kitty’s vital new book is a guide to the stratagems and techniques of war propaganda. When nations go to war, governments need reliable and effective methods of rallying public opinion to support their actions, regardless of the political leanings or educational background of citizens. The Mind Under Siege explores real life case studies and research in human motivation to show why propaganda is more powerful, potent, and effective than other types of persuasive messages. Reliance on primal phobias, and the threat to reproduction, well-being, and life itself make propaganda a reliable and powerful tool. For journalists and other news producers, Kitty’s book shows how to ask the right questions and avoid spreading misinformation and propaganda and how to see more insidious forms of manipulation and narrative through psychological research and case studies.

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Book SynopsisNominated for the 2023 Heritage Toronto Book AwardA defense of the dying art of losing an afternoon—and gaining new appreciation—amidst the bins and shelves of bricks-and-mortar shops.Written during the pandemic, when the world was marooned at home and consigned to scrolling screens, On Browsing’s essays chronicle what we’ve lost through online shopping, streaming, and the relentless digitization of culture. The latest in the Field Notes series, On Browsing is an elegy for physical media, a polemic in defense of perusing the world in person, and a love letter to the dying practice of scanning bookshelves, combing CD bins, and losing yourself in the stacks.Trade ReviewPraise for On Browsing"Why don’t you reminisce with Jason Guriel about the vanishing art of browsing? Along with the expected celebrations of old-fashioned bookshops and record stores, it also contains a tart incidental riff on the deficiencies (in Guriel’s opinion) of his native Canada’s poetry scene: 'A duty read. A pity read. It demanded patriotism and kid gloves.'"—Gregory Cowles, New York Times"Jason Guriel’s On Browsing offers a personal 'browser history' that reveals the author as much as it elegizes the habit of sifting through physical copies of music, books, and movies."—Literary Review of Canada"Browsing is many things: a lifestyle, a relaxation, a revelation if your search finds a long-sought book or a rare recording, and perhaps more importantly a soul-refreshing excursion in a world of instant online search-and-buy options."—Winnipeg Free Press"We need the voices of those like Guriel in our midst."—Literary Matters"Guriel's browsing minds court multisensory and memorable run-ins with reality, where text and context meld to generate irreducibly personal meanings. [...] Guriel wants us to remember that, as human beings, we have deep, direct, innate access to 'human and humanist' values."—Fare Forward"The value of boredom and browsing stores get an articulate and concise summary in On Browsing by Jason Guriel."—The Fiddlehead"'Our choices are chisels,' says Jason Guriel. This moving book will fill you with a good kind of sadness and help you understand your own nostalgias.”—Nicholson Baker, author of The Mezzanine"A mall parking lot, a defunct record store, the lingering crease on a book cover—across the all-flattening boundary of the digital age, Guriel recalls what it meant to access the universal one particular, physical piece at a time."—Tom Scocca, author of Beijing Welcomes You: Unveiling the Capital City of the Future"A collection of little essays that [...] articulately brings together reasons for why we love—and should seek to celebrate and maintain—browsing."—Neil Pasricha, author of The Book of AwesomePraise for Forgotten Work“A futuristic dystopian rock novel in rhymed couplets, this rollicking book is as unlikely, audacious and ingenious as the premise suggests.”—New York Times“A wondrous novel.”—Ron Charles, Washington Post“What do you get when you throw John Shade, Nick Drake, Don Juan, Sarah Records, and Philip K. Dick into a rhymed couplet machine? Equal parts memory and forgetting, detritus and elegy, imagination and fancy, Forgotten Work could be the most singular novel-in-verse since Vikram Seth’s The Golden Gate. Thanks to Jason Guriel’s dexterity in metaphor-making, I found myself stopping and rereading every five lines or so, to affirm my surprise and delight.”—Stephen Metcalf“This book has no business being as good as it is. Heroic couplets in the twenty-first century? It’s not a promising idea, but Forgotten Work is intelligent, fluent, funny, and wholly original. I can’t believe it exists.”—Christian Wiman

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Book SynopsisBradley Manning was arrested, imprisoned in solitary confinement for nine months, and court-martialed for leaking nearly half a million classified government documents, including the infamous "Collateral Murder" gunsight video. He was an intelligence analyst in the US Army's 10th Mountain Division, is twenty-four, and comes from Crescent, Oklahoma.But who is Private First Class Bradley Manning? Why did he commit the largest security breach in American history-and why was it so easy? In this book, the astonishing leaks attributed to Bradley Manning are viewed from many angles, from Tunisia to Guantánamo Bay, from Foggy Bottom to Baghdad to small-town Oklahoma. Around the world, the eloquent act of one young man obliges citizens to ask themselves if they have the right to know what their government is doing.Trade ReviewAs this fine and important study reports, Bradley Manning holds to the principle that 'it's important the public should know what its government is doing.' Release of the Wikileaks documents has been a courageous and important service to this cause. -- Noam ChomskyTime after time, patriotic whistleblowers like Bradley Manning are fired, shunned, or prosecuted, despite their heroic efforts to protect the public from a secretive government's illegal activities. It's time to do what we can to protect these brave souls, and reading Chase Madar's fine book is an excellent start. -- Former US Senator James AbourezkChase Madar has written a powerful, compelling and moving defense of Bradley Manning. Bravo! -- Peter Tatchell, human rights campaignerThe mistreatment, trial, and fate of Private Bradley Manning will undoubtedly read like an obituary on the Obama years. His case is a crucial one, and Chase Madar turned his sharp eye on it early. This is the single must-read book on the case. -- Tom Engelhardt, TomDispatch.comThe Passion of Bradley Manning reminds us that it was James Madison himself who wrote that a popular government without popular information is but a prelude to tragedy or farce. Author and lawyer Chase Madar tells a great story that raises critical questions about the appropriate balance of government secrecy and national security in a modern democracy. -- Anthony D. Romero, Executive Director, American Civil Liberties UnionThe Passion of Bradley Manning ... tells the story of Manning both biographically and regarding Wikileaks and his imprisonment. * Z Magazine *

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Book SynopsisFar from becoming classless, Britain's elite is increasingly formed by a select group of professional egalitarians. Rather than aim to raise popular aspirations, they exploit mass taste, mass gullibility, mass spending power for their personal advancement.Trade Review'You have to read it.' Andrew Marr; 'Like a demon tenpin bowler, George Walden has eyed his target.' The Times; 'Brilliant.' Sunday Times; 'Unputdownable.' Gyles Brandreth, Good Book Guide; 'Rousing, funny.' IndependentTable of ContentsBoris Johnson Introduction 1 In Search of the Elites 2 The Misunderstood Masses 3 A Populist Oligarchy 4 The Fine English Art of Condescension 5 A Culture of Pretence 6 Pop Politics 7 Pop Media 8 Unsentimental Education 9 Late Thoughts The Prince of Hearts Index

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Book SynopsisCyberchondria has been defined as searching for health-related information online in an excessive or repetitive way that is driven by the need to reduce distress or anxiety about health but results in a worsening outcome. This condition, the level of education of the individual, and the reputation of the medical information sources can affect the ability and technological knowledge. This feeling causes a loss of confidence in modern medicine in some individuals and makes others excessively use healthcare and increase health-related labor and costs. Cyberchondria, Health Literacy, and the Role of Media on Society's Perception in Medical Information addresses the concept of cyberchondria through an interdisciplinary approach. This initiative, which combines social, humanities, and science on a horizontal plane, allows the meeting of different perspectives on the concept of cyberchondria at the international level. Covering topics such as digital literacy, knowledge gap, and internet usage, this book is an excellent resource for academicians, researchers, students, industry researchers, non-government organizations, professors, and government organizations.

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Book SynopsisFake News in Digital Cultures presents a new approach to understanding disinformation and misinformation in contemporary digital communication, arguing that fake news is not an alien phenomenon undertaken by bad actors, but a logical outcome of contemporary digital and popular culture.

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