The internet has changed the way we communicate and so changed society and culture. Internet, Society, and Culture offers an understanding of this change by examining two case studies of pre and post internet communication. The first case study is of letters sent to and from Australia in 1835-1858 and the second is a study of online gaming. In both case studies, the focus is on the ways communication is created. The result is the definition of two types of communication that are lived simultaneously in the twenty-first century. One type of communication is from before the internet and relies on the body having touched and created a message-for example, by attaching signature-to stabilise the nature of sender, message and receiver. Internet-dependant communication is different because no identity-marker can be trusted on the internet and so individuals' styles of communicating are used to stabilise the transmission of messages. Being after the internet means having to live these two contradictory forms of communication.

This book provides a global overview of the challenges and opportunities faced by Public Service Media (PSM) organizations, including the increasing power of digital platforms, changing consumption habits, and reforms on funding models. In order to survive in the new, transforming media ecosystem, PSM organizations need to retain their core values whilst also embracing new values stemming from society’s increasingly complex communication needs and value systems. The contributions of 40 authors from three continents are grouped into three areas in which PSM organizations can create value: innovation, governance and relation to the market, and democratic reinforcement. The book illustrates how PSM can create value for different stakeholders, in different contexts, and through different methods. Contributing to a better understanding of the role of PSM in current media systems, PSM is shown as a key agent for the development of the public sphere and democratic societies.

An exploration of the effects of new technology on culture and psychology, this title demonstrates how society has been both enriched and challenged by these changes. It should be of interest to those who need to be aware of the psychological impact of new technology and responsive to issues of international communication and cooperation.

This book examines the convergence of Cloud Computing, Big Data, and the Internet of Things to forge the Next Internet. Ubiquitous computing enables universal communication, concentration of power, privacy erosion, environmental degradation, and massive automation and this title explores solving these issues to create a democratic digital world.

This book provides a solid, encompassing definition of Internet memes, exploring both the common features of memes around the globe and their particular regional traits. It identifies and explains the roles that these viral texts play in Internet communication: cultural, social and political implications; significance for self-representation and identity formation; promotion of alternative opinion or trending interpretation; and subversive and resistant power in relation to professional media, propaganda, and traditional and digital political campaigning. It also offers unique comparative case studies of Internet memes in Russia and the United States.

By outlining a social theory of the internet and the information society, this book demonstrates how the ecological, economic, political and cultural systems of contemporary society have been transformed by new information and communication technologies.

The internet has fundamentally transformed society in the past 25 years, yet existing theories of mass or interpersonal communication do not work well in understanding a digital world. Nor has this understanding been helped by disciplinary specialization and a continual focus on the latest innovations. Ralph Schroeder takes a longer-term view, synthesizing perspectives and findings from various social science disciplines in four countries: the United States, Sweden, India and China. His comparison highlights, among other observations, that smartphones are in many respects more important than PC-based internet uses. Social Theory after the Internet focuses on everyday uses and effects of the internet, including information seeking and big data, and explains how the internet has gone beyond traditional media in, for example, enabling Donald Trump and Narendra Modi to come to power. Schroeder puts forward a sophisticated theory of the role of the internet, and how both technological and social forces shape its significance. He provides a sweeping and penetrating study, theoretically ambitious and at the same time always empirically grounded.The book will be of great interest to students and scholars of digital media and society, the internet and politics, and the social implications of big data.