Becoming Digital examines the transition from the online world we have known to the Next Internet, which is emerging from the convergence of Cloud Computing, Big Data Analytics, and the Internet of Things. The Cloud stores and processes information in data centers; Big Data Analytics provide the
tools to analyse and use it; and the Internet of Things connects sensor-equipped devices everywhere to communication networks that span the globe. These technologies make possible a post-Internet society filled with homes that think, machines that make decisions, drones that deliver packages or
bombs, and robots that work for us, play with us, and take our jobs. The Next Internet promises a world where computers are everywhere, even inside our bodies, “coming alive” to make possible the unification of people and machines in what some call the Singularity.
This timely book explores this potential as both a reality on the horizon and a myth that inspires a new religion of technology. It takes up the coming threats to a democratic, decentralized, and universal Internet and the potential to deepen the problems of commercial saturation, concentrated
economic power, cyber-warfare, the erosion of privacy, and environmental degradation. On the other hand, it also shows how the Next Internet can help expand democracy, empowering people worldwide, providing for more of life’s necessities, and advancing social equality. But none of this will
happen without concerted political and policy action. Becoming Digital points the way forward.
From the moment Jeremy Corbyn was elected Labour leader, Corbynism has been dismissed, derided or romanticised, but rarely taken seriously as a set of ideas on its own terms. This book critically outlines the shared understanding of capitalism and its alternatives that unites the component parts of
the Corbyn movement. It decodes the central tenets of the Corbynist worldview, showing their coherence with contemporary political-economic shifts and conspiratorial understandings of global capitalism as a 'rigged system' common to populist nativism in an age of Trump and Brexit.
Social media and smartphones are criticised for being addictive, destroying personal relationships, undermining productivity, and invading privacy. In this book, Trine Syvertsen explores the phenomenon of digital detox: users taking a break from digital media or adopting measures to limit smartphone
and social media use. Based on studies, documents, media texts and interviews with media users, Syvertsen discusses how media industries intensify the quest for attention, how companies and governments team up to get everybody online, and how the main responsibility for managing online risks and
problems are placed on the users' shoulders. She provides a rich account of how users reduce their online engagement through time-limitations, restrictions on smartphone use, productivity apps, and use of analogue media. Syvertsen shows how digital detoxing has much in common with other forms of
self-help such as mindfulness, decluttering and simple living and places digital detox within a culture of self-optimisation. But digital detox is also about sustaining face-to-face conversations, better work-life-balance, a deeper connection with nature and more meaningful interpersonal
relationships. With a wealth of examples, analyses and stories, Digital Detox is a valuable guide to why digital detox and disconnection has become
a topic, how it is practised, what it says about the state of media industries
and how people express resistance in the 21st century.
DAN GOODLEY draws on two decades of research and writing and weaves personal stories, scholarly literature, social media and other cultural narratives together with concepts from the interdisciplinary field of disability studies. His argument is simple: disability invites great insight into the
wider project of understanding the human condition. Goodley argues that the study of disability is of great importance in its own right but also has much to offer us all in considering what it means to be human in the 21st Century. Chapters address questions such as 'who's allowed to be human?';
'are human beings dependent?'; and 'what does it mean to be human in the digital age?' and respond to these questions in ways that get us thinking about how we might productively engage with, listen to and understand one another.
Against the backdrop of an increasingly dynamic world, driven by rapid digital innovation and technological advances, drones are becoming prolific within society. In this book, Andy Miah delivers a comprehensive analysis of the wide-reaching applications of drones, as well as a critical
interrogation of the social, cultural and moral issues that they provoke. Delving into philosophical discussions about the implications of drone technology, this book shines a light on their real-world applications, the challenges they pose, and what they reveal about the human condition, when faced
with a future of autonomous, intelligent robots.
Our diets are going to change dramatically as global warming affects growing seasons and the availability of different foods around the world. Meanwhile, our foodways are among the biggest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions.
To address these challenges Food in a Changing Climate demands we look beyond our plates to the roots of inequity in our food systems. It presents an unashamedly political agenda for 'deep adaptation', focused on the rejuvenation and strengthening of local and regional food systems that have been
steadily eroded in the name of economic efficiency. The colonial origins of fossil-fuel based food production and trade persist in the marginalisation of farmers, food workers, and fishers in a corporatized food system that promotes the exploitation of the environment, excess production, and
hyper-consumerism. These factors contribute to climate change, poverty, and health inequities on a global scale. Drawing on case studies from around the world, this book illustrates how the commodification of food has made us particularly vulnerable to climate change, extreme weather events, and
pandemics such as COVID19. These shocks reveal the danger of our reliance on increasingly complex supply chains - dominated by a decreasing number of mega-companies - for our food security.
The unsustainability of the way we produce and eat food is clear. It has been for a long time. Food in a Changing Climate explores how we can cultivate resilient communities through the just application of new technologies, the recovery of traditional knowledges, and by building diversity to protect
the livelihoods of food producers everywhere.
The face of internet celebrity is rapidly diversifying and evolving. Online and mainstream celebrity culture are now weaving together, such that breakout stars from one-hit viral videos are able to turn their transient fame into a full-time career.
This book presents a framework for thinking about the different forms of internet celebrity that have emerged over the last decade, taking examples from the Global North and South, to consolidate key ideas about cultures of online fame. It discusses the overall landscape, developments and trends in
the internet celebrity economy, and cross-cultural lessons.
Kardashian Kulture uses the royal family of celebrity culture to scrutinize wider understandings of 21st century life. Examining the worlds of business, politics, technology and entertainment, Ellis Cashmore shows how fundamental changes to the way we live have been prompted by celebrities.
Examining today's celebrity-obsessed culture through the lives of a host of household names, including the Kardashians themselves, this book shows how celebrities have impacted on the wider culture from the birth of consumerism, the civil rights movements of the 1960s, and the growth of narcissism
in the 1970s, to the rise of the paparazzi, reality television and the impact of social media, which has removed the barrier between celebrities and fans and led to the erosion of personal privacy.
Celebrities are creations rather than people and ultimately, Cashmore argues, Kardashian Kulture is a product of our own making. Whether you regard celebrities as a witless bunch of overpaid show-offs or the conveyors of the zeitgeist is a matter of judgement and taste, the impact of the Kardashians
and their kind is undeniable.
Britain is one of the world's richest countries, and yet the divide between rich and poor has never been starker, with some reports suggesting that as many as one in five in the UK live in poverty. This book, written by leading expert in inequality issues, Tracy Shildrick, provides a clear and
up-to-date account of the causes of poverty in Britain today, examining the two principal causes: low paid and insecure employment, and an inadequate benefits system, particularly for those out of work.
Yet these simple facts fly in the face of conventional popular and political wisdom that currently dominates the debate on poverty. The media in particular reinforce simple and 'common-sense' explanations of poverty at the expense of a more complex, but more accurate account. They focus on
individuals and individual behaviours, rather than discussing poverty as a condition that affects significant swathes of the population, or as something brought about by factors beyond the individual's control.
This important and timely book gets to the core of Britain's poverty problem and shows how social structures, and political and policy decisions, not the behaviour of individuals, are at the heart of the problem.
Reality television is one of the defining genres of the 21st century. It is shown worldwide, features people from all walks of life and covers everything from romance to religion. It has not only changed television, but every other area of the media.
So why has reality TV become such a huge phenomenon, and what is its future in an age of streaming and social media?
This book provides an overview of key theories and debates in the study of reality television and discusses industry practices in their global and national contexts. Deller also explores, through interviews with participants and analyses of key programmes, why people take part in reality TV, how
they are represented and impact this has on their lives.
From its documentary roots to its social media present and future - this is a guide to Reality Television: The TV Phenomenon that Changed the World.