Facebook claims that it is building a "global community." Whether this sounds utopian, dystopian, or simply self-promotional, there is no denying that social-media platforms have altered social interaction, political life, and outlooks on the world, even for people who do not regularly use them. In this book, Roberto Simanowski takes Facebook as a starting point to investigate our social-media society-and its insidious consequences for our concept of the self. Simanowski contends that while they are often denounced as outlets for narcissism and self-branding, social networks and the practices they cultivate in fact remake the self in their image. Sharing is the outsourcing of one's experiences, encouraging unreflective self-narration rather than conscious self-determination. Instead of experiencing the present, we are stuck ceaselessly documenting and archiving it. We let our lives become episodic autobiographies whose real author is the algorithm lurking behind the interface. As we go about accumulating more material for the platform to arrange for us, our sense of self becomes diminished-and Facebook shapes a subject who no longer minds. Social-media companies' relentless pursuit of personal data for advertising purposes presents users with increasingly targeted, customized information, attenuating cultural memory and fracturing collective identity. Presenting a creative, philosophically informed perspective that speaks candidly to a shared reality, Facebook Society asks us to come to terms with the networked world for our own sake and for all those with whom we share it.

In You are Not a Gadget digital guru and virtual reality pioneer Jaron Lanier reveals how the internet is deadening personal interaction, stifling genuine inventiveness and even changing us as people. Something went wrong around the start of the twenty-first century. The crowd was wise. Social networks replaced individual creativity. There were more places to express ourselves than ever before... yet no one really had anything to say. Does this have to be our future? Showing us the way to a future where individuals mean more than machines, this is a searing manifesto against mass mediocrity, a creative call to arms - and an impassioned defence of the human. 'A provocative and sure-to-be-controversial book ... Lucid, powerful and persuasive' The New York Times 'There is hardly a page that does not contain some fascinating provocation' Guardian 'Short and frightening ... from a position of real knowledge and insight' Zadie Smith, New York Review of Books 'Poetic and prophetic, this could be the most important book of the year' The Times Jaron Lanier is a philosopher and computer scientist who has spent his career pushing the transformative power of modern technology to its limits. From coining the term 'Virtual Reality' and creating the world's first immersive avatars to developing cutting-edge medical imaging and surgical techniques, Lanier is one of the premier designers and engineers at work today. A musician with a collection of over 700 instruments, he has been recognised by Encyclopedia Britannica (but certainly not Wikipedia) as one of history's greatest inventors and named one of the top one hundred public intellectuals in the world by Prospect and Foreign Policy.

Since its introduction in 2009, Bitcoin has been widely promoted as a digital currency that will revolutionize everything from online commerce to the nation-state. Yet supporters of Bitcoin and its blockchain technology subscribe to a form of cyberlibertarianism that depends to a surprising extent on far-right political thought. The Politics of Bitcoin exposes how much of the economic and political thought on which this cryptocurrency is based emerges from ideas that travel the gamut, from Milton Friedman, F.A. Hayek, and Ludwig von Mises to Federal Reserve conspiracy theorists. Forerunners: Ideas First is a thought-in-process series of breakthrough digital publications. Written between fresh ideas and finished books, Forerunners draws on scholarly work initiated in notable blogs, social media, conference plenaries, journal articles, and the synergy of academic exchange. This is gray literature publishing: where intense thinking, change, and speculation take place in scholarship.

The American Statistical Association (ASA) and the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) have longstanding ethical practice standards that are explicitly intended to be utilized by all who use statistical practices or computing, or both. Since statistics and computing are critical in any data-centered activity, these practice standards are essential to instruction in the uses of statistical practices or computing across disciplines. Ethical Reasoning for a Data-Centered World is aimed at any undergraduate or graduate students utilizing data. Whether the career goal is research, teaching, business, government, or a combination, this book presents a method for understanding and prioritizing ethical statistics, computing, and data science - featuring the ASA and ACM practice standards. To facilitate engagement, integration with prior learning, and authenticity, the material is organized around seven tasks: Planning/Designing; Data collection; Analysis; Interpretation; Reporting; Documenting; and Engaging in Team Work. This book is a companion volume to Ethical Practice of Statistics and Data Science, also published by Ethics International Press (2022). These are the first and only books to be based on, and to provide guidance to, the American Statistical Association (ASA) and Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) ethical guideline documents.

The application of new computational techniques and visualisation technologies in the Arts and Humanities are resulting in fresh approaches and methodologies for the study of new and traditional corpora. This 'computational turn' takes the methods and techniques from computer science to create innovative means of close and distant reading. This book discusses the implications and applications of 'Digital Humanities' and the questions raised when using algorithmic techniques. Key researchers in the field provide a comprehensive introduction to important debates surrounding issues such as the contrast between narrative versus database, pattern-matching versus hermeneutics, and the statistical paradigm versus the data mining paradigm. Also discussed are the new forms of collaboration within the Arts and Humanities that are raised through modular research teams and new organisational structures, as well as techniques for collaborating in an interdisciplinary way.

How best can we understand why the application of information and communication technology in organizations succeeds or fails? Calling on technical, organisational, social, psychological and economic perspectives, this book provides a fresh and comprehensive framework for answering this question. Consideration is given to how ICT is adopted, implemented and used within organizations. Throughout special features will help readers clarify their understanding. These features include: - Case studies and vignettes that chart the opportunities and pitfalls created by ICT - Useful chapter introductions - An up to date glossary of concepts and abbreviations

Online Social Networks: Human Cognitive Constraints in Facebook and Twitter provides new insights into the structural properties of personal online social networks and the mechanisms underpinning human online social behavior. As the availability of digital communication data generated by social media is revolutionizing the field of social networks analysis, the text discusses the use of large- scale datasets to study the structural properties of online ego networks, to compare them with the properties of general human social networks, and to highlight additional properties. Users will find the data collected and conclusions drawn useful during design or research service initiatives that involve online and mobile social network environments.

This book focuses on issues arising from the technological revolution that we are all experiencing. It is not intended to be an exhaustive or definitive discussion of the digital revolution or the Information Society, nor does it proclaim or denounce the new Information Society. However, whether there is a new economic, political and social order emerging or not, and whether the new order is beneficial or detrimental to citizens, all agree that significant changes are taking place. Often it seems as though we are all bystanders, watching change take place but having very little participation in the process. The central issue in this book is that technology, including the new information and communications technology linked with the Information Society, is not a force external to society and beyond the control of society; it is an integral part of society. Komito does not try to predict the future; his aim is to encourage individuals to contribute to policy choices so that the society that emerges is one that citizens desire rather than one that is not of their making or choosing. He encourages discussion and thought rather than proclaiming conclusions. By using Irish examples the book will be of especial value on Information Studies courses for Irish students but by dealing with global issues in a highly readable way, this book will be applicable to courses elsewhere.

This book presents a richly illustrated, hands-on discussion of one of the fastest growing fields in linguistics today. The authors address key methodological issues in corpus linguistics, such as collocations, keywords and the categorization of concordance lines. They show how these topics can be explored step-by-step with BNCweb, a user-friendly web-based tool that supports sophisticated analyses of the 100-million-word British National Corpus. Indeed, the BNC and BNCweb have been described by Geoffrey Leech as «an un-paralleled combination of facilities for finding out about the English language of the present day (Foreword). The book contains tasks and exercises, and is suitable for undergraduates, postgraduates and experienced corpus users alike.

Within the rapidly-growing arena of 'virtual worlds', such as Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOs), individuals behave in particular ways, influence one another, and develop complex relationships. This setting can be a useful tool for modeling complex social systems, cognitive factors, and interactions between groups and within organizations. To study these worlds effectively requires a cross-disciplinary approach that integrates social science theories with big data analytics. This broad-based book offers a comprehensive and holistic perspective on the field. It brings together research findings from an international team of experts in computer science (artificial intelligence, game design, and social computing), psychology, and the social sciences to help researchers and practitioners better understand the fundamental processes underpinning social behavior in virtual worlds such as World of Warcraft, Rift, Eve Online, and Travian.

Ethical Practice of Statistics and Data Science is intended to prepare people to fully assume their responsibilities to practice statistics and data science ethically. Aimed at early career professionals, practitioners, and mentors or supervisors of practitioners, the book supports the ethical practice of statistics and data science, with an emphasis on how to earn the designation of, and recognize, "the ethical practitioner". The book features 47 case studies, each mapped to the Data Science Ethics Checklist (DSEC); Data Ethics Framework (DEFW); the American Statistical Association (ASA) Ethical Guidelines for Statistical Practice; and the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) Code of Ethics. It is necessary reading for students enrolled in any data intensive program, including undergraduate or graduate degrees in (bio-)statistics, business/analytics, or data science. Managers, leaders, supervisors, and mentors who lead data-intensive teams in government, industry, or academia would also benefit greatly from this book. This is a companion volume to Ethical Reasoning For A Data-Centered World, also published by Ethics International Press (2022). These are the first and only books to be based on, and to provide guidance to, the ASA and ACM Ethical Guidelines/Code of Ethics.

This book shows how Industry 4.0 is a strategic approach for integrating advanced control systems with Internet technology enabling communication between people, products and complex systems. It includes processes such as machining features, machining knowledge, execution control, operation planning, machine tool selection and cutting tool. This book focuses on different articles related to advanced technologies, and their integration to foster Industry 4.0, being useful for researchers as well as industrialists to refer and utilize the information in production control.

How do digital media technologies shape or restructure social practice? And which transitions and demarcations of different forms of publicness arise in this context? Simon Holdermann examines this question in his ethnography of everyday life in the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco. In order to approach the ongoing, historically situated social transformations of the region, he analyses a variety of media practices concerning the organizational work and transnational cooperation that take place there - in particular at the intersection of mountain tourism, NGO work, and local self-government.

This book provides an interdisciplinary lens for exploring, assessing, and coming to new understandings of smart cities and regions, focusing on the six dimensions of sensing, awareness, learning, openness, innovation, and disruption. Using a hybrid case study and correlational approach, people from diverse sectors in a variety of small to medium to large-sized cities in multiple countries (e.g., Canada, United States, Ireland, Greece, Israel, etc.) provide experience-based perspectives on smart cities together with assessments for elements pertaining to each of the six dimensions. The analysis of findings in this work surfaces a rich and interwoven tapestry of patterns from the qualitative data highlighting for example, the importance of emotion/affect, privacy, trust, and data visualizations in influencing and informing the directions of smart cities and regions going forward. Correlational analysis of quantitative data reveals the presence and strength of emerging relationships among elements assessed, shedding light on factors that may serve as starting points for understanding what is contributing to potentials for improving success in smart cities and regions.

This book is one of the first books that deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 pandemic has affected countries all over the world and has made a significant impact on daily life and healthcare facilities and treatment systems. The book covers the main recent emerging technologies that are related to the COVID-19 crisis. The technologies that are included in this book play a significant role in tackling COVID-19 in the future. The scope of this book is to cover all advanced emerging technologies and artificial intelligence techniques to fight against COVID-19 pandemic.