July 2014 - Air-L - lists.aoir.org

New book: Society and the Internet
by Mark Graham 02 Jul '14

02 Jul '14

*Dear colleagues, I’m happy to announce that a new book edited by Bill Dutton and myself is now out: Society and the Internet: How Networks of Information and Communication are Changing Our Lives <http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780199662005.do> How is society being shaped by the diffusion and increasing centrality of the Internet in everyday life and work? By bringing together leading research that addresses some of the most significant cultural, economic, and political roles of the Internet, this volume introduces students to a core set of readings that address this question in specific social and institutional contexts. * The reader has been created * to supplement upper-division undergraduate and graduate courses that seek to introduce students to scholarship focused on the implications of the Internet for networked societies around the world. The chapters of the reader are rooted in a variety of disciplines, but all directly tackle the powerful ways in which the Internet is linked to political, social, cultural, and economic transformations in society. This book will be a starting point for anyone with a serious interest in the factors shaping the Internet and its impact on society. The book begins with an introduction by the editors, which provides a brief history of the Internet and Web and its study from multi-disciplinary perspectives. The chapters are grouped into five focused sections: (I) Internet Studies of Everyday Life, (II) Information and Culture on the Line, (III) Networked Politics and Government, (IV) Networked Businesses, Industries, and Economies, and (V) Technological and Regulatory Histories and Futures.* *We're also able to give people codes that offer a discounts on the list price (see the codes at the following link <http://www.zerogeography.net/2014/06/the-society-internet-book-is-now.html>). Meaning that you can get the 390 page paperback for only £17.49 in the UK and $32 in the US. I hope this becomes a useful teaching and reference tool for anyone thinking about the collisions and co-constructions of the Internet and society. * Best, Mark **** Chapter List Below **** *Manuel Castells: Foreword * *William H. Dutton and Mark Graham: Introduction Part I. Internet Studies Of Everyday Life 1: Aleks Krotoski: Inventing the Internet: Scapegoat, Sin Eater, and Trickster 2: Grant Blank And William Dutton: Next Generation Internet Users: A New Digital Divide 3: Bernie Hogan And Barry Wellman: The Conceptual Foundations of Social Network Sites and the Emergence of the Relational Self-Portrait 4: Victoria Nash: The Politics of Children s Internet Use 5: Lisa Nakamura: Gender and Race Online Part II. Information And Culture On The Line 6: Mark Graham: Internet Geographies: Data Shadows and Digital Divisions of Labour 7: Gillian Bolsover, William H. Dutton, Ginette Law, And Soumitra Dutta: China and the US in the New Internet World: A Comparative Perspective 8: Nic Newman, William H. Dutton, And Grant Blank: Social Media and the News: Implications for the Press and Society 9: Sung Wook Ji And David Waterman: The Impact of the Internet on Media Industries: An Economic Perspective 10: Ralph Schroeder: Big Data: Towards a More Scientific Social Science and Humanities? Part III. Networked Politics And Governments 11: Miriam Lips: Transforming Government by Default? 12: Stephen Coleman And Jay Blumler: The Wisdom of Which Crowd? On the Pathology of a Digital Democracy Initiative for a Listening Government 13: Sandra Gonzalez-Bailon: Online Social Networks and Bottom-up Politics 14: Helen Margetts, Scott A. Hale, Taha Yasseri: Big Data and Collective Action 15: Elizabeth Dubois And William H. Dutton: Empowering Citizens of the Internet Age: The Role of a Fifth Estate Part IV: Networked Businesses, Industries AND Economies 16: Greg Taylor: Scarcity of Attention for a Medium of Abundance: An Economic Perspective 17: Richard Susskind: The Internet in the Law: Transforming Problem-Solving and Education 18: Laura Mann: The Digital Divide and Employment: The Case of the Sudanese Labour Market 19: Mark Graham: A Critical Perspective on the Potential of the Internet at the Margins of the Global Economy Part V. Technological And Regulatory Histories And Futures 20: Eli M. Noam: Next-Generation Content for Next-Generation Networks 21: Christopher Millard: Data Privacy in the Clouds 22: Laura Denardis: The Social Media Challenge to Internet Governance 23: Yorick Wilks: Beyond the Internet and Web* ------------------------------------------ Dr Mark Graham Associate Professor and Senior Research Fellow Oxford Internet Institute University of Oxford Research Fellow Green Templeton College University of Oxford Visiting Research Associate School of Geography and the Environment University of Oxford oii.ox.ac.uk/people/graham <http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/people/graham> | geospace.co.uk <http://www.geospace.co.uk> | Information Geographies <http://geography.oii.ox.ac.uk> | wikichains.org <http://www.wikichains.org> | @geoplace <http://twitter.com/geoplace> | zerogeography blog <http://www.zerogeography.net/> <http://twitter.com/geoplace>

1 0

Suggestions for literature on adoption of technology as background for our study of mobiles in Myanmar
by Rich Ling 02 Jul '14

02 Jul '14

Dear all, Along with colleagues from Nanyang Technical University, I am starting an ethnographic study of the adoption and diffusion of mobile phones in Myanmar. The study is also being supported by Telenor. Myanmar is one of the last countries in the world without a well developed mobile communication network (the others are North Korea, Cuba and Eritrea). We are starting to put together the literature review and we are interested in gathering suggestions. We are using Jonathan Donner's lives and livelihoods idea to frame the work. Beyond that I would like to get the wisdom of the crowd regarding the articles and books that examine the question of introducing new technology to a society and tracing the social consequences of the technology. I think, for example, of Cottrell's Death by Dieselization or perhaps Sharp's Steel Axes for Stone-age Australians. I know that neither of these two articles are about ICTs and that both are as old as dust, but they focus on socio-technical transitions and their social consequences. What are the other articles and books in this genre that might help us focus on the transition from face to face interaction to mediated communication? Thanks in advance. Rich Ling

1 0

Open access publishing: New Living Book about Life on Animal Experience
by Joanna Zylinska 01 Jul '14

01 Jul '14

Open Humanities Press is pleased to announce the publication of Animal Experience, a 25th book in its open access Living Books About Life series. ANIMAL EXPERIENCE, edited by Leon Niemoczynski and Stephanie Theodorou (both at Immaculata University, US) http://www.livingbooksaboutlife.org/books/Animal_Experience The property of emotion, in both human and nonhuman species, implies a level of internal conscious experience which supports and includes related cognitive activity. Insight into animal emotion can be useful for understanding the evolutionary development we share with animals in terms of the common "brain-mind." This book explores the nature and meaning of the emotional lives of nonhuman animals, focusing on how those lives are communicated to other living creatures (such as human beings) via affective states. Through a comprehensive selection of essays and videos from both science and philosophy, the editors re-examine how human beings interact with, and relate to, other living creatures that are capable of experiencing emotional lives. They also address what impact a better understanding of the emotional lives of animals might have upon animal welfare and upon our deeply embedded beliefs concerning the nature of animal minds in general. *** LIVING BOOKS ABOUT LIFE http://www.livingbooksaboutlife.org Living Books About Life (http://www.livingbooksaboutlife.org) was launched by Open Humanities Press (OHP) (http://openhumanitiespress.org) in October 2011. Funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC), and edited by Gary Hall, Joanna Zylinska and Clare Birchall, Living Books About Life is a series of curated, open access books about life -- with life understood both philosophically and biologically -- which provide a bridge between the humanities and the sciences. Produced by a globally-distributed network of writers and editors, the books in the series repackage existing open access science research by clustering it around selected topics whose unifying theme is life: e.g., air, agriculture, bioethics, cosmetic surgery, electronic waste, energy, neurology and pharmacology. Peter Suber, Open Access Project Director, Public Knowledge, said: ‘This book series would not be possible without open access. On the author side, it takes splendid advantage of the freedom to reuse and repurpose open-access research articles. On the other side, it passes on that freedom to readers. In between, the editors made intelligent selections and wrote original introductions, enhancing each article by placing it in the new context of an ambitious, integrated understanding of life, drawing equally from the sciences and humanities’. By initially creating twenty one ‘living books about life’ in just seven months, the series represents an exciting new model for publishing, in a sustainable, low-cost, low-tech manner, many more such books in the future. These books can be freely shared with other academic and non-academic institutions and individuals. New books have been added to the series since 2011. Nicholas Mirzoeff, Professor of Media, Culture and Communication at New York University, commented: ‘This remarkable series transforms the humble Reader into a living form, while breaking down the conceptual barrier between the humanities and the sciences in a time when scholars and activists of all kinds have taken the understanding of life to be central. Brilliant in its simplicity and concept, this series is a leap towards an exciting new future’. One of the most important aspects of the Living Books About Life series is the impact it has had on the attitudes of the researchers taking part, changing their views on open access and raising awareness of issues around publishers’ licensing and copyright agreements. Many have become open access advocates themselves, keen to disseminate this model among their own scholarly and student communities. As Professor Erica Fudge of the University of Strathclyde and co-editor of the living book on Veterinary Science, put it, ‘I am now evangelical about making work publicly available, and am really encouraging colleagues to put things out there’. These ‘books about life’ are themselves ‘living’, in the sense they are open to ongoing collaborative processes of writing, editing, updating, remixing and commenting by readers. As well as repackaging open access science research -- together with interactive maps and audio-visual material -- into a series of books, Living Books About Life is thus involved in rethinking ‘the book’ itself as a living, collaborative endeavour in the age of open science, open education, open data, and e-book readers such as Kindle and the iPad. Tara McPherson, editor of VECTORS, Journal of Culture and Technology in a Dynamic Vernacular, said: ‘It is no hyperbole to say that this series will help us reimagine everything we think we know about academic publishing. It points to a future that is interdisciplinary, open access, and expansive.’ Funded by JISC, Living Books About Life is a collaboration between Open Humanities Press and three academic institutions, Coventry University, Goldsmiths, University of London, and the University of Kent. Books: * Animal Experience, edited by Leon Niemoczynski and Stephanie Theodorou (both at Immaculata University) * Astrobiology and the Search for Life on Mars, edited by Sarah Kember (Goldsmiths, University of London) * Bioethics™: Life, Politics, Economics, edited by Joanna Zylinska (Goldsmiths, University of London) * Biosemiotics: Nature, Culture, Science, Semiosis, edited by Wendy Wheeler (London Metropolitan University) * Cognition and Decision in Non-Human Biological Organisms, edited by Steven Shaviro (Wayne State University) * Cosmetic Surgery: Medicine, Culture, Beauty, edited by Bernadette Wegenstein (Johns Hopkins University) * Creative Evolution: Natural Selection and the Urge to Remix, edited by Mark Amerika (University of Colorado at Boulder) * Digitize Me, Visualize Me, Search Me: Open Science and its Discontents, edited by Gary Hall (Coventry University) * Energy Connections: Living Forces in Creative Inter/Intra-Action, edited by Manuela Rossini (td-net for Transdisciplinary Research, Switzerland) * Extinction, edited by Claire Colebrook (Penn State University) * Human Genomics: From Hypothetical Genes to Biodigital Materialisations, edited by Kate O’Riordan (Sussex University) * Life in Code: and Software: Mediated Life in a Complex Computational Ecology, edited by David M. Berry (Swansea University) * Medianatures: The Materiality of Information Technology and Electronic Waste, edited by Jussi Parikka (Winchester School of Art, University of Southampton) * Nerves of Perception: Motor and Sensory Experience in Neuroscience, edited by Anna Munster (University of New South Wales) * Neurofutures, edited by Timothy Lenoir (Duke University) * Partial Life, edited by Oron Catts and Ionat Zurr (SymbioticA, University of Western Australia) * Pharmacology, edited by Dave Boothroyd (University of Kent) * Symbiosis, edited by Janneke Adema and Pete Woodbridge (Coventry University) * Another Technoscience is Possible: Agricultural Lessons for the Posthumanities, edited by Gabriela Mendez Cota (Goldsmiths, University of London) * The In/visible, edited by Clare Birchall (University of Kent) * The Life of Air: Dwelling, Communicating, Manipulating, edited by Monika Bakke (University of Poznan) * The Mediations of Consciousness, edited by Alberto López Cuenca (Universidad de las Américas, Puebla) * Ubiquitous Surveillance, edited by David Parry (University of Texas at Dallas) * The Unborn Human, edited by Deborah Lupton (University of Sydney) * Veterinary Science: Animals, Humans and Health, edited by Erica Fudge (Strathclyde University) and Clare Palmer (Texas A&M University) W: http://www.livingbooksaboutlife.org Open Humanities Press is a non-profit, international Open Access publishing collective specializing in critical and cultural theory. OHP was formed by academics to overcome the current crisis in scholarly publishing that threatens intellectual freedom and academic rigor worldwide. OHP journals are academically certified by OHP’s independent board of international scholars. All OHP publications are peer-reviewed, published under open access licenses, and freely and immediately available online at http://openhumanitiespress.org. -- Professor Joanna Zylinska Department of Media and Communications Goldsmiths, University of London http://www.joannazylinska.net Curator of Photomediations Machine http://www.photomediationsmachine.net

1 0