The author’s ability to situate the complex, interconnected issues and perspectives at stake will without any doubt encourage those students not only to critically engage but also to continue exploring this new indispensable field of sociological inquiry." Louis Melancon, Canadian Journal of Sociology "Overall, in a context characterised by a lot of published, but at times fragmented, ‘noise’ around digital media and society, Athique’s book provides a clear, well-structured and comprehensive overview of the historical development of both digital media and the variety of approaches to theorise their impact. Athique successfully situates this complex, multifaceted subject with the same proficiency he showed in his explorations of India’s media culture, at the crossroads between cultural practice, economic development, and geopolitical struggle.Digital Media and Society (is) a great didactic tool to introduce sociology and communications students to the advent of the digital society. The book is warmly recommend to other readers." Nasrine Olson, Information Research "Digital Media and Society’s main strength to provide a concise and eclectic yet satisfactorily rich and well contextualized account of digital life. All in all, the book is ambitious and impressive, it includes an extensive account of contemporary scholarly work in related fields, and it was easy and enjoyable to read. The style of the book makes it a great textbook for students of sociology or communication and media studies. This book provides an essential outline of the digital world it is accessible to all while remaining complex enough to be accurate.’ Tim Jordan, King’s College London" " The book is jammed packed with many current and interesting issues of concern and includes an impressive review of an extensive range of related scholarly publications. It is written in a clear, jargon–free manner and filled with information and questions that make it a remarkably useful teaching text.’ Steve Jones, University of Illinois at Chicago ‘Adrian Athique’s introduction brings digital media, and its culture, politics and economics, into sharp focus. The book provides a cohesive and coherent look at the present digital state of society, and it explains how the digital present came to be and what its consequences are. ‘ Digital Media and Society is a comprehensive, compelling and critical examination of the social and cultural consequences of digital media and communication technologies. As an entry–level pathway for students in sociology, media, communications and cultural studies, the aim of this work is to situate the rise of digital media within the context of a complex and rapidly changing world. Key theoretical paradigms are explored through a broad range of contemporary social phenomena – from social networking and virtual lives to the rise of cybercrime and identity theft, from the utopian ideals of virtual democracy to the Orwellian nightmare of the surveillance society, from the free software movement to the implications of online shopping. The fundamental theoretical and ethical debates on the sociology of the digital media are presented in accessible summaries, ranging from economy and technology to criminology and sexuality. Nonetheless, it is critically important that we do so, and this sociological introduction to the field of digital technologies is intended to enable a deeper understanding of their prominent role in everyday life. The speed with which new forms of connectivity and communication are being incorporated into our everyday lives often gives us little time to stop and consider the social implications of those practices. ""The rise of digital media has been widely regarded as transforming the nature of our social experience in the twenty–first century. The archive as a conceptual framework offers a theoretical paradigm to grasp the impact social media is having on the everyday lived experiences of users participate on-line and who are ultimately rendered productive as a very specific manifestation of the cultural worker – the prosumer By theorizing the digital profile as a personal archive I want to account for the ways in which digital archives of users on-line straddle the fine line between extension and domination, or rather between a desire for connectivity and the accumulation of surplus value based on the immaterial labour of those who frequent these socially networked spaces. This paper develops a conceptual framework that accounts for the contradictory ways in which user-generated data both extends networks of connectivity, while simultaneously renders subjects more productive within our information economy. The cultural worker is a key figure in social networks, producing the vast amounts of data which are integral to the profits sites of sites such as Facebook.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |