Interactivity
New media, politics and society
Published on 1. November 2012
Book
Paperback/Softback
VII, 232 pages
978-1-906165-44-4 (ISBN)
Description
From the Arab Spring to British summer riots, from the War on Terror to The X Factor, from social networking sites to online electioneering, the influence of new media technologies is clear. This book analyses the impact of such interactive media on contemporary politics and society. It explores how new media technologies give their users a sense of empowerment, and questions whether these technologies really directly empower their users at all.
When viewers cast their votes in reality television shows, is that really a form of democratic participation?
Does Facebook actually enhance the quality of its users' friendships and increase their social capital?
Does the video game player develop the liberating agency the game appears to promise?
Do online forms of politics essentially increase levels of democratic involvement?
Will Wikipedia truly teach us anything?
Can Web 2.0 ever set us free?
Drawing upon interviews with figures from politics and the media, this book examines the possibilities which underlie these technologies and questions some of the key assumptions which we make about them.
When viewers cast their votes in reality television shows, is that really a form of democratic participation?
Does Facebook actually enhance the quality of its users' friendships and increase their social capital?
Does the video game player develop the liberating agency the game appears to promise?
Do online forms of politics essentially increase levels of democratic involvement?
Will Wikipedia truly teach us anything?
Can Web 2.0 ever set us free?
Drawing upon interviews with figures from politics and the media, this book examines the possibilities which underlie these technologies and questions some of the key assumptions which we make about them.
More details
Other editions
New editions
Book
07/2014
2nd Edition
Peter Lang Verlag
€35.90
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Additional editions
E-Book
10/2012
250th Edition
Peter Lang Verlag
€48.29
Available for download
Person
Alec Charles is Principal Lecturer in Media at the University of Bedfordshire and has previously taught at universities in Estonia, Japan and Cornwall, UK. He has made documentaries for BBC Radio, has worked as a print journalist in eastern Europe and has written for British Journalism Review, Journalism Education and Tribune. He is the editor of Media in the Enlarged Europe (2009) and co-editor of The End of Journalism (2011). His recent publications include papers in Science Fiction Studies and Science Fiction Film & Television, as well as chapters in various books on film, television, literature and new media.
Content
Contents: Strange new world: which introduces the absurdity of the ongoing technological paradigm shift - Electronic government: which examines the uses of new media in governance and politics in Britain, the United States and eastern Europe - War games: which explores the myth of interactivity in the popular First Person Shooter video game - Reality television: which asks whether Simon Cowell is demolishing democracy - Social networks: which questions the nature of Facebook friendship - Public knowledge: which considers what we might learn from Wikipedia - Waiting for the great leap forwards: which suggests how we might approach new media technologies more productively.