Networked Publics

<b>How maturing digital media and network technologies are transforming place culture politics and infrastructure in our everyday life.</b><p>Digital media and network technologies are now part of everyday life. The Internet has become the backbone of communication commerce and media; the ubiquitous mobile phone connects us with others as it removes us from any stable sense of location. <i>Networked Publics</i> examines the ways that the social and cultural shifts created by these technologies have transformed our relationships to (and definitions of) place culture politics and infrastructure.</p><p>Four chapters--each by an interdisciplinary team of scholars using collaborative software--provide a synoptic overview along with illustrative case studies. The chapter on place describes how digital networks enable us to be present in physical and networked places simultaneously--often at the expense of nondigital commitments. The chapter on culture explores the growth and impact of amateur-produced and remixed content online. The chapter on politics examines the new networked modes of bottom-up political expression and mobilization. And finally the chapter on infrastructure notes the tension between openness and control in the flow of information as seen in the current controversy over net neutrality.</p>