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New book: The Poetics of Digital Media
by Paul Frosh 05 Nov '18

05 Nov '18

Apologies for cross-posting. New book: The Poetics of Digital Media, by Paul Frosh. Published by Polity, and available in Paperback, Ebook and Hardback. For more information please visit the book’s webpage: http://politybooks.com/bookdetail/?isbn=9780745651316 <http://politybooks.com/bookdetail/?isbn=9780745651316> Short excerpt available here <https://www.academia.edu/37682296/The_Poetics_of_Digital_Media_-_Cover_and_…>. *Description* Media are poetic forces. They produce and reveal worlds, representing them to our senses and connecting them to our lives. While the poetic powers of media are perceptual, symbolic, social and technical, they are also profoundly moral and existential. They matter for how we reflect upon and act in a shared, everyday world of finite human existence. The Poetics of Digital Media explores the poetic work of media in digital culture. Developing an argument through close readings of overlooked or denigrated media objects – screenshots, tagging, selfies and more – the book reveals how media shape the taken-for-granted structures of our lives, and how they disclose our world through sudden moments of visibility and tangibility. It investigates how the "given" world we inhabit is given through media. *Endorsements* "The Poetics of Digital Media is a groundbreaking contribution to the study of digital media as a technological, social and symbolic environment. It will be a key point of reference in the study of digital culture for years to come.” - Lilie Chouliaraki, London School of Economics and Political Science "When I find myself puzzled by some weird thing in digital visual culture, Paul Frosh is my go-to thinker. This book counters the wide suspicion that poetics is formalist or frivolous and shows how the deepest questions of justice, ethics and the public world are poetic ones. It is a guide for the perplexed in these digital times.” - John Durham Peters, Yale University *Contents* Prologue: Monster’s Inc. as a Poetic Manifesto 1. Introduction: Media Poetics 2. Composite: The Morality of Inattention in Pre-digital Media 3. Screenshot: The "Photographic" Witnessing of Digital Worlds 4. Tag: Naming Bodies and Incarnating Selves in Social Media 5. Selfie: The Digital Image as Gesture and Performance 6. Interface: Remediated Witnessing and Embodied Response 7. Conclusion: To Infinity and Beyond *About the Author* Paul Frosh is a Professor in the Department of Communication and Journalism at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His previous books include The Image Factory: Consumer Culture, Photography and the Visual Content Industry (2003) and Media Witnessing: Testimony in the Age of Mass Communication (2011, edited with Amit Pinchevski).

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New Book in Human-Machine Communication
by Andrea Guzman 05 Nov '18

05 Nov '18

I'm excited to announce the publication of Human-Machine Communication: Rethinking Communication, Technology, and Ourselves as part of the Digital Formations Series (series editor: Steve Jones) and published by Peter Lang. The edited volume serves as an introduction to human-machine communication and its research and features chapters by numerous AoIR members including Autumn Edwards, Eleanor Sandry, Chad Edwards, Matthew Lombard, Christoph Lutz, Aurelia Tamò, Terje Colbjørnsen, Leopoldina Fortunati, Charles Ess, and myself. Even if HMC is outside your area, please consider recommending the text to your library. The book is available in multiple formats through Peter Lang's website: https://www.peterlang.com/abstract/title/64309 Full Description Below: >From virtual assistants to social robots, people are increasingly interacting with intelligent and highly communicative technologies throughout their daily lives. This shift from communicating with people to communicating with people and machines challenges how scholars have theorized and studied communication. Human-Machine Communication: Rethinking Communication, Technology, and Ourselves addresses this transition in how people communicate and who, or what, they communicate with and the implications of this evolution for communication research. Geared toward scholars interested in people’s interactions with technology, this book serves as an introduction to human-machine communication (HMC) as a specific area of study within communication (encompassing human-computer interaction, human-robot interaction, and human-agent interaction) and to the research possibilities of HMC. This collection includes papers presented as part of a scholarly conference on HMC, along with invited works from noted researchers. Topics include defining HMC, theoretical approaches to HMC, applications of HMC, and the larger implications of HMC for self and society. The research presented here focuses on people’s interactions with multiple technologies (artificial intelligence, algorithms, and robots) used within different contexts (home, workplace, education, journalism, and healthcare) from a variety of epistemological and methodological approaches (empirical, rhetorical, and critical/cultural). Overall, Human-Machine Communication provides readers with an understanding of HMC in a way that supports and promotes further scholarly inquiry in a growing area of communication research Thank you! _______________ Andrea L. Guzman, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Dept. of Communication Northern Illinois University alguzman(a)niu.edu Out now: Human-Machine Communication: Rethinking Communication, Technology, & Ourselves from Peter Lang. https://www.peterlang.com/view/title/64309?format=PBK My latest article, "Voices in and of the Machine: Source Orientation toward Mobile Virtual Assistants," to appear in Computers in Human Behavior: https://bit.ly/2xXt1Ds

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Book Announcements: Gender in Play Trilogy
by Gerald Voorhees 05 Nov '18

05 Nov '18

Dear Colleagues, I’m very excited to announce the recent publication of a trilogy of edited books, Queerness in Play, Feminism in Play, and Masculinities in Play. Each of the books in the trilogy claims ground for gender studies “in” and “as” game studies. We hope that you will encourage your institution’s library to order these three books. They are also conveniently available in paperback and ebook for a very reasonable price (as far as academic book are concerned) from Palgrave.com and most online book sellers. In fact, between now and December 3rd, 2018, you can receive %20 off of books in the trilogy when you order from Palgrave and use the promotional code: PM18TWENTY4. Queerness in Play, edited by Todd Harper, Meghan Blythe Adams, and Nick Taylor (https://www.palgrave.com/us/book/9783319905419) examines the many ways queerness of all kinds—from queer as ‘LGBT’ to other, less well-covered aspects of the queer spectrum—intersects with games and the social contexts of play. The current unprecedented visibility of queer creators and content comes at a high tide of resistance to the inclusion of those outside a long-imagined cisgender, heterosexual, white male norm. By critically engaging the ways games—as a culture, an industry, and a medium—help reproduce limiting binary formations of gender and sexuality, Queerness in Play contributes to the growing body of scholarship promoting more inclusive understandings of identity, sexuality, and games. Feminism in Play, edited by Kishonna Leah Gray, Gerald Voorhees, and Emma Vossen (https://www.palgrave.com/us/book/9783319905389) focuses on women as they are depicted in video games, as participants in games culture, and as contributors to the games industry. This volume showcases women’s resistance to the norms of games culture, as well as women’s play and creative practices both in and around the games industry. Contributors analyze the interconnections between games and the broader societal and structural issues impeding the successful inclusion of women in games and games culture. In offering this framework, this volume provides a platform to the silenced and marginalized, offering counter-narratives to the post-racial and post-gendered fantasies that so often obscure the violent context of production and consumption of games culture. Masculinities in Play, edited by Nick Taylor and Gerald Voorhees ( https://www.palgrave.com/us/book/9783319905808) addresses the persistent and frequently toxic associations between masculinity and games. It explores many of the critical issues in contemporary studies of masculinity—including issues of fatherhood, homoeroticism, eSports, fan cultures, and militarism—and their intersections with digital games, the contexts of their play, and the social futures associated with sustained involvement in gaming cultures. Unlike much of the research and public discourse that put the onus of “fixing” games and gaming cultures on those at its margins—women, LGBTQ, and people of color—this volume turns attention to men and masculinities, offering vital and productive avenues for both practical and theoretical intervention.

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Re: [Air-L] Air-L Digest, Vol 172, Issue 4 - AI & Journalism Syllabus
by Andrea Guzman 05 Nov '18

05 Nov '18

In response to Jack's request for an AI & Journalism Syllabus, I instituted a course on AI, Automation, & the Media for graduate students last spring and for undergraduate journalism students this fall, and would be happy to share the syllabi. Feel free to message me off-list. _______________ Andrea L. Guzman, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Dept. of Communication Northern Illinois University alguzman(a)niu.edu Out now: Human-Machine Communication: Rethinking Communication, Technology, & Ourselves from Peter Lang. https://www.peterlang.com/view/title/64309?format=PBK My latest article, "Voices in and of the Machine: Source Orientation toward Mobile Virtual Assistants," to appear in Computers in Human Behavior: https://bit.ly/2xXt1Ds ----- Message: 2 Date: Sat, 3 Nov 2018 07:32:28 -0400 From: Jack Lule <jack.lule(a)lehigh.edu> To: air-l(a)listserv.aoir.org Subject: [Air-L] Syllabus for Artificial Intelligence and Journalism Message-ID: <CAMnY+M99Ci2f-2j=YW9xEhbD1_KQW+tckgvMB1U_qs4csZhsbQ(a)mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Greetings, friends, I am putting together an undergraduate class, or at least a sizable module, on artificial intelligence and journalism. My goal is two-fold: At the very least, I want to prepare journalism students to be able to report upon the current and future social impact of AI. Ideally, I would like journalism students to be prepared to help anticipate, influence and shape the intersection of AI and journalism. I would greatly appreciate any thoughts on books, articles, links and resources that you think might be useful. With thanks and best wishes. Jack Jack Lule, Ph.D. Fulbright Specialist in Journalism Iacocca Professor Chair, Department of Journalism and Communication The Weinstock Center for Journalism Lehigh University, 33 Coppee Drive, Bethlehem, PA 18015 Phone: (610)758-4177; Fax: (610)758-6198 www.lehigh.edu/~jl0d<http://www.lehigh.edu/~jl0d> www.lehigh.edu/journalism<http://www.lehigh.edu/journalism> -

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Fake news/disinformation research in DR Congo?
by Elise Thomas 05 Nov '18

05 Nov '18

Hi all, Is anyone aware of any research on fake news or disinformation being spread online relating to the Democratic Republic of Congo, particularly ahead of the (hopefully) upcoming elections? Thanks Elise Thomas

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Digital Resistance CFP Updated with link
by Mathias Klang 05 Nov '18

05 Nov '18

Digital Resistance: Call for papers Full call for papers attached. Special thematic issue of the Journal of Resistance Studies Editors: Nora Madison & Mathias Klang This special edition aims to understand the role of technology in enabling and subverting resistance. We seek studies on the use of technology in the acts of protesting official power, as well as the use of technology in contesting power structures inherent in the technology or the technological platforms. Contributions are welcome from different methodological approaches and socio-cultural contexts. http://klangable.com/uploads/DigitalResistanceCFP.pdf Feel free to share this call and to contact us with any questions Best Nora & Mathias -- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mathias Klang Associate Professor & Associate Chair Communication and Media Studies, Fordham University Faculty Memorial Hall #438, Phone: 718-817-4870 http://klangable.com <http://klangable.com/> ~ @klangable ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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Syllabus for Artificial Intelligence and Journalism
by Jack Lule 03 Nov '18

03 Nov '18

Greetings, friends, I am putting together an undergraduate class, or at least a sizable module, on artificial intelligence and journalism. My goal is two-fold: At the very least, I want to prepare journalism students to be able to report upon the current and future social impact of AI. Ideally, I would like journalism students to be prepared to help anticipate, influence and shape the intersection of AI and journalism. I would greatly appreciate any thoughts on books, articles, links and resources that you think might be useful. With thanks and best wishes. Jack Jack Lule, Ph.D. Fulbright Specialist in Journalism Iacocca Professor Chair, Department of Journalism and Communication The Weinstock Center for Journalism Lehigh University, 33 Coppee Drive, Bethlehem, PA 18015 Phone: (610)758-4177; Fax: (610)758-6198 www.lehigh.edu/~jl0d www.lehigh.edu/journalism

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Digital Resistance CFP
by Mathias Klang 03 Nov '18

03 Nov '18

Digital Resistance: Call for papers Full call for papers attached. Special thematic issue of the Journal of Resistance Studies Editors: Nora Madison & Mathias Klang This special edition aims to understand the role of technology in enabling and subverting resistance. We seek studies on the use of technology in the acts of protesting official power, as well as the use of technology in contesting power structures inherent in the technology or the technological platforms. Contributions are welcome from different methodological approaches and socio-cultural contexts. Feel free to share this call and to contact us with any questions Best Nora & Mathias -- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mathias Klang Associate Professor & Associate Chair Communication and Media Studies, Fordham University Faculty Memorial Hall #438, Phone: 718-817-4870 http://klangable.com <http://klangable.com/> ~ @klangable ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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Call for Contributions THE CRITICAL MAKERS READER
by Geert Lovink 03 Nov '18

03 Nov '18

http://networkcultures.org/blog/2018/10/31/call-for-contributions-the-criti… <http://networkcultures.org/blog/2018/10/31/call-for-contributions-the-criti…> Call for Contributions THE CRITICAL MAKERS READER COLLABORATIVE LEARNING WITH TECHNOLOGY Edited by Loes Bogers and Letizia Chiappini To be published in 2019 by The Institute of Network Cultures (Amsterdam, NL) Makerspaces and fablabs are popping up in community centers, schools, universities and libraries, offering access to industry-standard production methods. In parallel to this interest in digital fabrication and maker culture, there seems to be a growing appreciation of critically engaged reflexive making processes. Such critical engagements with technology are being propagated across the fields of design, art, humanities and engineering as being imperative for coming to terms with the pressing complex ecological, political, cultural, economic and social issues of our times. Substantial theories of collaborative critical making as emancipatory practice across disciplines are needed to further address the educational challenges at play in learning how to become socially engaged creative professionals and citizens of the postdigital age. The challenges we face for education in this increasingly networked era are shared across disciplines, calling for sharing knowledge of how to critically engage with contemporary issues. For this publication, we call for contributors who wish to explore questions raised at the intersections of maker culture, critical applied research methodologies, interdisciplinary collaborative practice, (higher and informal) education, emancipatory pedagogy and the commons. The reader will be a volume of critical contributions and discussions by theorists, creative practitioners, programmers, designers, artists, activists, engineers and educators to address the transformative potential of such practices and spaces. The reader will be edited by Loes Bogers and Letizia Chiappini, to be published by the Institute of Network Cultures in September/October of 2019. WE INVITE We are looking for authors coming from a variety of cultural backgrounds and disciplines such as: visual culture, design and media, science and technology studies, sociologists, economists, intersectional feminist and software scholars, commons researchers, educators, critical makers, artists, hackers, activists, designers, lab managers and technicians, cultural producers, engineers, open-source advocates and others to submit a contribution. POSSIBLE TOPICS MAY INCLUDE aesthetics and theory: theories of making and matter // defining criticality in making // the post-digital factory // aesthetics of critical technical practice // making and epistemology // theories of heterophily and interdisciplinarity // genealogies of critical making practices // forms, functions and modes of critique // practices vs. disciplines // intersectional and non-western perspectives on making: decolonizing maker processes and spaces // theories of collaborative practice and affinity politics // situated making: situated understanding // institutional unlearning // inclusion and access // makers/space urban economies: creative industries, contemporary capitalism // models for scaling: from prototype to protocol // policy agendas and funding streams // topologies of spaces for making // value of process and product // creative industries and the commons // situatedness in relation to local economic systems // manufacturing in the city // education and pedagogy: tools, techniques, methods or concepts // engaging critical concepts at undergraduate and vocational level // authority, embodiment and presence // methods, concepts and action routines // educational formats // strategies for unlearning // materials research 2.0 // collaborative practice for the commons // questions of evaluation and grading // institutional support and infrastructural issues // FORMATS We welcome both academic and non-academic articles as well as: interviews, dialogues, essays and articles, local and translocal case studies, images (b/w), email exchanges, manifestos, or other, with a maximum of 5,000 words, but preferably shorter. For scope and style, take a look at the previous INC Readers. <http://networkcultures.org/publications/> WANT TO JOIN? Send your proposal (500 words max.) to Loes Bogers & Letizia Chiappini: productioninc(a)networkcultures.org <mailto:productioninc@networkcultures.org>, before December 14th, 2018. DEADLINES First draft of contributions: March 15th, 2019, final submissions: before May 15th, 2019. BACKGROUND OF THIS PUBLICATION With this call, the Makers Lab and the Institute of Network Cultures aim to bring together a wide variety of contributions on interdisciplinary, collaborative making practices with a socially engaged and critical perspective. The goal of the publication is to illuminate the current state of theory, best practices and case studies of critically engaged making in higher education and informal learning contexts, to make them accessible for students as well as educators, and to foster critical debate in the maker community at large. The Makers Lab is a DIY fabrication and prototyping lab with an educational and research program at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences’ Faculty of Digital Media and Creative Industries. An interdisciplinary research elective for undergraduate students in fashion design and branding, media design, computer engineering and communication was launched in 2018 to explore making as critical pedagogy, research methodology, and collaborative practice, in an educational context where young people train for professions in the creative industries. The Institute of Network Cultures (INC) analyzes and shapes the terrain of network cultures through events, publications, and online dialogue. Their projects evolve around digital publishing, alternative revenue models, online video and design, digital counter culture and much more. A key focus is the establishment of sustainable interdisciplinary research networks: emerging critical topics are identified and shaped in a practical sense. MORE INFORMATION Makers Lab interdisciplinary undergraduate elective (30 ECTS): http://minormakerslab.nl <http://minormakerslab.nl/> BACKGROUND Making can be many things, and as such has been of interest to craftsmen, artists, designers, philosophers, laymen, children, engineers and theorists alike. It has been understood as a way to express and affirm one’s presence, to externalise and test ideas, to communicate, to approach the unimaginable, to unearth latent beliefs, needs or ideologies, to start conversations, as instrument for wellbeing and learning, to examine power structures, to research materials, to practice modes of collaboration, to understand processes and modes of production, to explore realms of potentiality and possibility, to enable democratic and inclusive research practice, and more . The current moment however also begs of us to no longer ignore that society’s problems are wicked and unsolvable, resources are undeniably scarce, knowledge can only ever be situated and partial, and social inequality is yet to find resolve. Where does this leave us as humans with a seemingly innate desire to make? How and when do we make responsibly and to which end? What are the heuristics for the value of our makerly labor? What is the role of education? This publication aims to explore such questions, starting from the idea that no object stands on its own: every object made is fundamentally entangled in social, ecological, cultural, economical, infrastructural as well as political fabric. Makers Lab aims to explore, map and critically probe models, theories, concrete tactics, strategies, tools and concepts by bringing together a network of students, researchers, artists, developers, engineers, critics, theorists, educationists, and educators to unpack ideologies around the maker fad in contemporary creative industries and imagine how radical alternatives might take shape in formal and informal educational contexts. The focus of this endeavour is to contribute to debates on contemporary making by looking into three fields of inquiry, viewing material engagements with the postdigital as: critical pedagogy and didactic toolkit, as critical research methodology, and as emancipatory, interdisciplinary collaborative practice.

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Open evening: MA Data, Culture and Society, Nov 5
by Christian Fuchs 02 Nov '18

02 Nov '18

New MA course Data, Culture and Society launching September 2019 at the University of Westminster Open evening: Mon 5 November 2018 17:00 – 18:30 GMT Cavendish Campus, University of Westminster 115 New Cavendish Street Room C2.14 London W1W 6XH Registration: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/information-evening-ma-data-culture-and-soci… This new MA course addresses, explores and creatively utilises the transformations of culture, society and technology that data brings about. This multidisciplinary programme brings together media / communication studies and computer science in the study of data. It combines hands-on and applied approaches with theoretical learning and critical analysis. You can contact the Course Leader Jacob Johanssen with any questions j.johanssen(a)westminster.ac.uk

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