Digitized Lives

In chapters examining a broad range of issues—including sexuality, politics, education, race, gender relations, the environment and social protest movements—Digitized Lives argues that making sense of digitized culture means looking past the glossy surface of techno gear to ask deeper questions about how we can utilize technology to create a more socially, politically and economically just world. This second edition includes important updates on mobile and social media, examining how new platforms and devices have altered how we interact with digital technologies in an allegedly ‘post-truth’ era.

A companion website (culturalpolitics.net/index/digital_cultures) includes links to online articles and useful websites, as well as a bibliography of offline resources, and more.

Table of Contents

Preface: Why Buy this Book?; Chapter 1: How Do We Make Sense of Digitizing Cultures? Some Ways of Thinking through the Culture–Technology Matrix; Chapter 2 How is the Digital World Made? The Designer/Worker/User Production Cycle; Chapter 3: What’s New About Digitized Identities? Mobile Bodies, Online Disguise, Cyberbullying and Virtual Communities; Chapter 4: Has Digital Culture Killed Privacy? Social Media, Governments and Digitized Surveillance; Chapter 5: Is Everybody Equal Online? Digitizing Gender, Ethnicity, Dis/Ability and Sexual Orientation; Chapter 6: Sexploration and/or Sexploitation? Digitizing Desire; Chapter 7: Tools for Democracy or Authoritarianism? Digitized Politics and the Post-Truth Era; Chapter 8: Are Digital Games Making Us Violent, or Will They Save the World? Virtual Play, Real Impact; Chapter 9: Are Students Getting Dumber as Their Phones Get Smarter? E-Learning, Edutainment, and the Future of Knowledge Sharing; Chapter 10: Who in the World is Online? Digital Inclusions and Exclusions; Conclusion: Will Robots and AIs Take Over the World? Hope, Hype and Possible Digitized Futures; Works Cited; Glossary; Index