Networked Publics

How maturing digital media and network technologies are transforming place, culture, politics, and infrastructure in our everyday life.Digital media and network technologies are now part of everyday life. The Internet has become the backbone of communication, commerce, and media; the ubiquitous mobile phone connects us with others as it removes us from any stable sense of location. Networked Publics examines the ways that the social and cultural shifts created by these technologies have transformed our relationships to (and definitions of) place, culture, politics, and infrastructure.
Four chapters—each by an interdisciplinary team of scholars using collaborative software—provide a synoptic overview along with illustrative case studies. The chapter on place describes how digital networks enable us to be present in physical and networked places simultaneously—often at the expense of nondigital commitments. The chapter on culture explores the growth and impact of amateur-produced and remixed content online. The chapter on politics examines the new networked modes of bottom-up political expression and mobilization. And finally, the chapter on infrastructure notes the tension between openness and control in the flow of information, as seen in the current controversy over net neutrality.

About the author

Kazys Varnelis is Director of the Network Architecture Lab, Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation at Columbia University, and Member of the Founding Faculty at the School of Architecture, University of Limerick.

Product details

• Assisted by: Kazys Varnelis (Editor), Varnelis Kazys (Editor)
• Publisher: Random House N.Y.
• Languages: English
• Age Recommendation: from age 18
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 17.08.2012
• EAN: 9780262517928
• ISBN: 978-0-262-51792-8
• Dimensions: 178 mm x 229 mm x 13 mm
• Weight: 363 g
• Illustrations: 1 b&w illus, 1 table
• Series: Networked Publics
• Subjects: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Natural sciences (general); SCIENCE / Philosophy & Social Aspects, BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Industries / Media & Communications, TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING / Social Aspects, Advertising Industry, Impact of science & technology on society, Impact of science and technology on society, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Technology Studies