Digitized lives: culture, power and social change in the Internet era

Abstract

Preface: Why Buy this Book? 1. How Do People Make Sense of Digitizing Cultures? The Culture-Technology Matrix Does Technology Make Us More than We Make Technology? * Components of Digital Culture Analysis * Is There a Virtual World/Real World Divide? * Terminal Confusion? * What's in a Name? New Media/Cyber/Digital Culture/Etc. Studies 2. How is the Digital World Made? The Dreamers/Workers/Users Production Cycle The Internet's Weird History * From Dreamers to Reality: Producing Digital Stuff * Producing through Consuming? Prosumers and Interactive Identity * Clean Rooms and/or 'Dark Satanic Mills'? Toxic Production, E-Waste and Environmental Justice 3. Who Are We Online? Digital Masquerade, Privacy, Anonymity, Community and Cyborg dis/Embodiment Is Life Online a Masquerade? * Has the Net Killed Privacy? * Are We Becoming Posthuman Cyborgs? * Anonymity, Disinhibition and Trolls, Oh My! * Are Virtual Communities for Real? * How Much Online Life Is Good for Us? * Hegemony, Cultural Imperialism and/or Digital Diversity? 4. Is Everybody Equal Online? Digitizing Gender, Ethnicity and Dis/Ability The Default Subject Position * Is the Internet a Guy? Engendering Cyberspaces * Is the Internet Color Blind? E-racializations * Who Is Dis/Abled by Cyberspaces? Enabling and Disabling Technologies 5. Digitizing Desire? Sexploration and/or Sexploitation Real Virtual Sex Education * Digital Diddling: Varieties of Cybersex * The Mainstreaming of Porn * Digitized Sex Trafficking * How Queer are Cyberspaces? Alternative Sexualities 6. Does the Internet Have a Political Bias? E-Democracy, Networked Authoritarianism and Online Activism Citizen Cyborgs? E-Voting, Online Politicking, and Participatory Democracy * Can Social Media Overthrow Governments? * Netroots Activism or Just Slacktivism? * Hacking, Wiki-Leaking, and Cyberterrorism * Digitizing the Arts of Protest 7. Are Digital Games Making Us Violent and Sex-crazed, or Will They Save the World? Virtual Play, Real Impact What's in a Game? Playing Theories * What Do Games Teach? * Do Games Make Players Violent? * Digitized 'Militainment'? * Gender Games, Race Games * Can Games Save the World? 8. Are Kids Getting Dumber as Their Phones Get Smarter? E-Learning, 'Edutainment' and the Future of Knowledge Sharing 'Is Our Children Learning' Digitally? * What is Technology Doing in the Classroom? * Is Knowledge a Commodity or a Human Right? MOOCs, Information Feudalism and Scholarly Publishing 9. Who in the World is Online? Digital Inclusions and Exclusions The World Wide Web Isn't * Who Needs the Internet? * From Digital Divides to Technologies for Social Inclusion * Should Everyone and Everything Be Online? * Why Digitizing Matters 10. Conclusion: Hype, Hope, and Possible Digitized Futures