Social critics and artificial intelligence experts have long prophesized that computers and robots would soon relegate humans to the dustbin of history. Many among the general population seem to have shared this fear of a dehumanized future. But how are people in the twenty-first century actually reacting to the ever-expanding array of gadgets and networks at their disposal? Is computer anxiety a significant problem, paralyzing and terrorizing millions, or are ever-proliferating numbers of gadgets being enthusiastically embraced? Machines that Become Us explores the increasingly intimate relationship between people and their personal communication technologies.

In the first book of its kind, internationally recognized scholars from the United States and Europe explore this topic. Among the technologies analyzed include the Internet, personal digital assistants (PDAs), mobile phones, networked homes, "smart" fabrics and wearable computers, interactive location badges, and implanted monitoring devices. The authors discuss critical policy issues, such as the problems of information resource access and equity, and the recently discovered "digital dropouts" phenomena.

The use of the word "become" in the book's title has three different meanings. The first suggests how people use these technologies to broaden their abilities to communicate and to represent themselves to others. Thus the technologies "become" extensions and representatives of the communicators. A second sense of "become" applies to analysis of the way these technologies become physically integrated with the user's clothing and even their bodies. Finally, contributors examine fashion aspects and uses of these technologies, that is, how they are used in ways becoming to the wearer. The conclusions of many chapters are supported by data, including ethnographic observations, attitude surveys and case studies from the United States, Britain, France, Italy, Finland, and Norway. This approach is especially valuable given the dearth of empirical studies in a field that has been traditionally dominated by extrapolation and speculation, and that has focused on possible future states rather than analysis of current situations. Other chapters are integrative, seeking to advance emerging theoretical perspectives.

This exciting volume generates new insights concerning the burgeoning electronic confusion that increasingly penetrates and blurs the boundaries of various spheres of life in modern society. Machines That Become Us will be of interest to students of communications and technology, sociologists, and social psychologists.

The ever-increasing integration of technology and the human body is attracting attention from religious, business, and political leaders around the world, and the topic promises to be a significant social issue in the 21st century. In Mediating the Human Body: Technology, Communication, and Fashion, editors Leopoldina Fortunati, James E. Katz, and Raimonda Riccini bring together a thoughtful group of leading international scholars and analysts to explore the effects of new technologies on human beings. They focus specifically on the intersection of new communication technologies and the body, and offer novel insights based on recent theoretical progress and current research on new interpersonal technology. Through literary analysis, historical comparisons, analytical reports, and speculative interpretations, the contributors to this volume seek to understand the experience of the body as it is mediated among competing forces and intellectual domains. Arising from The Human Body Between Technologies, Communication and Fashion symposium held in Milan, Italy, contributions cover a wide array of topics and offer varied perspectives on how communication technologies are assimilated into people's lives, bodies, and homes, and thus become part of individuals' self-images and social relationships. From this multidisciplinary, multi-national base, the volume illuminates the sense and dimension of this interpenetration between body and technology. In its broad scope, the topics range from the wellsprings of consciousness to the use of technology as a fashion statement. Bringing together scholarship from a variety of disciplines, including communication, medicine, technology, and human-computer interaction, this distinctive anthology will provide new insights to scholars and advanced students exploring body-technology intersections and the attendant implications. Mediating the Human Body offers a unique contribution to future discussions, and will be relevant to continuing study and research in communication and technology, human-computer interaction, gender studies, social psychology, and design.

Perhaps no other technology has done so much to so many, but been studied by so few, as the telephone. Even as its physical size diminishes, the telephone is becoming more important. In Connections, now available in paperback, James E. Katz gives greater visibility to this important element in modern life.

Katz examines how the telephone reveals gender relations in a way not predicted by feminist theories, how it can be used to protect and invade personal privacy, and how people harness telephone answering machines to their advantage. Katz's inquiry reports on obscene phone calls, the abuses of caller-ID technology, and attitudes toward voice mail. National data about cellular telephones are presented to show the extent to which beepers and car phones have become status symbols.

Katz ranges from microsocial interaction to macrosocial theory, and from the family and personal levels of organization to that of large-scale industrial bureaucracies. The result of this investigation is a compelling mosaic spanning sociology and psychology, and organization and communication studies. These arresting portraits will offer profound insight to historians, students of American culture, and those concerned about the nature and direction of the emerging information society.

Social critics and artificial intelligence experts have long prophesized that computers and robots would soon relegate humans to the dustbin of history. Many among the general population seem to have shared this fear of a dehumanized future. But how are people in the twenty-first century actually reacting to the ever-expanding array of gadgets and networks at their disposal? Is computer anxiety a significant problem, paralyzing and terrorizing millions, or are ever-proliferating numbers of gadgets being enthusiastically embraced? "Machines That Become Us" explores the increasingly intimate relationship between people and their personal communication technologies.
In the first book of its kind, internationally recognized scholars from the United States and Europe explore this topic. Among the technologies analyzed are the Internet, personal digital assistants (PDAs), mobile phones, networked homes, "smart" fabrics and wearable computers, interactive location badges, and implanted monitoring devices. The authors discuss critical policy issues, such as the problems of information resource access and equity, and the recently discovered "digital dropouts" phenomena.
The use of the word "become" in the book's title has three different meanings. The first suggests how people use these technologies to broaden their abilities to communicate and to represent themselves to others. Thus the technologies "become" extensions and representatives of the communicators. A second sense of "become" applies to analysis of the way these technologies become physically integrated with the user's clothing and even their bodies.
Contributors examine fashion aspects and uses of these technologies, that is, how they are used in ways becoming to the wearer. The conclusions of many chapters are supported by data, including ethnographic observations, attitude surveys and case studies from the United States, Britain, France, Italy, Finland, and Norway. This approach is especially valuable in a field that has been traditionally dominated by extrapolation and speculation, and that has focused on possible future states rather than analysis of current situations. Other chapters are integrative, seeking to advance emerging theoretical perspectives.
This exciting volume generates new insights concerning the burgeoning electronic confusion that increasingly penetrates and blurs the boundaries of various spheres of life in modern society. "Machines That Become Us" will be of interest to students of communications and technology, sociologists, and social psychologists.
James E. Katz is professor of communication at the School of Communication, Information, and Library Studies at Rutgers University. He is the author of "Connections: Social and Cultural Studies of the Telephone in American Life," published by Transaction.
"From cell phones to smart homes, James Katz shows how "ICTs" (information and communication technologies) not only serve as extensions of human capabilities, but are being integrated into all aspects of our lives and our "selves." This book presents timely and valuable insights into how pervasive information technologies are latering the way people live, act, relate to others and think of themselves. Bravo " --Starr Roxanne Hiltz, New Jersey Institute of Technology
"A valuable addition to our growing understanding of the wide ranging implications of new technologies. From teenagers' use of mobile phones to the aesthetics of astronauts' clothing, "Machines That Become Us" offers a rich compendium of insights into why we think new machines both "improve" and "jumble" our lives."--Steve Woolgar, University of Oxford
"A fascinating excursion into the realm of mind-body relationships in the Information Age, led by a multinational team of farsighted scholars." --Robert La Rose, Michigan State University

In the few short decades since their commercial deployment, 5 billion people about three-quarters of all humanity, including children have become mobile phone users. No technology has even approached the mobile phone's wildfire success. Effects of this success are apparent everywhere, ranging from accident scenes and earthquake rescue efforts to demeanor in the classroom and at dinner tables. No one interested in the next generation of issues provoked by the mobile communication revolution will want to miss this important new collection of essays. The mobile phone has given near-transcendent power to ordinary people. All aspects of social life have been touched by mobile technology. An ever-growing host of tracking, immersion, gaming, and commercial applications are becoming available. The community of mobile communication scholars has blossomed from a handful of pioneers a decade ago to a large and dynamic intellectual community that spans the globe. Area researchers have gained much insight into cultural, symbolic, and social interaction aspects of mobile communication as well as its relevance to commerce. To address the social policy dimension of the mobile communication revolution, this volume presents analyses by leading thinkers in the field. The volume offers novel and keen insights into the topic. Subjects include the role of mobiles in policy formation and evaluation in several areas including the mobile-digital divide and political campaigns. Also explored are processes and policy implications of mobiles in creating or alleviating social problems including social isolation and family dispersion. Other chapters analyze social policies for mobile devices, including attempts to regulate the use of the technology and to understand and moderate its potential harm to human health. The contributors' scope ranges across five continents and they address concerns at local, national, and international levels.

In this timely volume, James E. Katz, a leading authority on social consequences of communication technology, analyzes the way new mobile telecommunications affect daily life both in the United States and around the world. Magic in the Air is the most wide-ranging analysis of mobile communication to date. Katz investigates the spectrum of social aspects of the cell phone's impact on society and the way social forces affect the use, display, and re-configuration of the cell phone. Surveying the mobile phone's current and emerging role in daily life, Katz finds that it provides many benefits for the user, and that some of these benefits are subtle and even counter-intuitive. He also identifies ways the mobile phone has not been entirely positive. After reviewing these he outlines some steps to ameliorate the mobile phone's negative effects. Katz also discusses use and abuse of mobile phones in educational settings, where he finds that their use is eroding students' participation in class even as it is helping them to cheat on exams and cut class. Parents no longer object to their children having mobile phones in class in a post-Columbine and 9/11 era; instead they are pressing schools to change their rules to allow students to have their phones available during class. And mobile phone misbehavior is by no means limited to students: Katz finds that teachers are increasingly taking calls in the middle of class, even interrupting their own lectures to answer what they claim are important calls. In keeping with the book's title, Katz explores the often overlooked psychic and religious uses of the mobile phone, an area that has only recently begun to command scholarly interest. Magic in the Air will be essential reading for communications specialists, sociologists, and social psychologists.

In the few short decades since their commercial deployment, 5 billion people--about three-quarters of all humanity, including children--have become mobile phone users. No technology has even approached the mobile phone's wildfire success. Effects of this success are apparent everywhere, ranging from accident scenes and earthquake rescue efforts to demeanor in the classroom and at dinner tables. No one interested in the next generation of issues provoked by the mobile communication revolution will want to miss this important new collection of essays. The mobile phone has given near-transcendent power to ordinary people. All aspects of social life have been touched by mobile technology. An ever-growing host of tracking, immersion, gaming, and commercial applications are becoming available. The community of mobile communication scholars has blossomed from a handful of pioneers a decade ago to a large and dynamic intellectual community that spans the globe. Area researchers have gained much insight into cultural, symbolic, and social interaction aspects of mobile communication as well as its relevance to commerce. To address the social policy dimension of the mobile communication revolution, this volume presents analyses by leading thinkers in the field. The volume offers novel and keen insights into the topic. Subjects include the role of mobiles in policy formation and evaluation in several areas including the mobile-digital divide and political campaigns. Also explored are processes and policy implications of mobiles in creating or alleviating social problems including social isolation and family dispersion. Other chapters analyze social policies for mobile devices, including attempts to regulate the use of the technology and to understand and moderate its potential harm to human health. The contributors' scope ranges across five continents and they address concerns at local, national, and international levels.

In this timely volume, James E. Katz, a leading authority on social consequences of communication technology, analyzes the way new mobile telecommunications affect daily life both in the United States and around the world.

Magic in the Air is the most wide-ranging analysis of mobile communication to date. Katz investigates the spectrum of social aspects of the cell phone's impact on society and the way social forces affect the use, display, and re-configuration of the cell phone. Surveying the mobile phone's current and emerging role in daily life, Katz finds that it provides many benefits for the user, and that some of these benefits are subtle and even counter-intuitive. He also identifies ways the mobile phone has not been entirely positive. After reviewing these he outlines some steps to ameliorate the mobile phone's negative effects. Katz also discusses use and abuse of mobile phones in educational settings, where he finds that their use is eroding students' participation in class even as it is helping them to cheat on exams and cut class. Parents no longer object to their children having mobile phones in class in a post-Columbine and 9/11 era; instead they are pressing schools to change their rules to allow students to have their phones available during class. And mobile phone misbehavior is by no means limited to students: Katz finds that teachers are increasingly taking calls in the middle of class, even interrupting their own lectures to answer what they claim are important calls.

In keeping with the book's title, Katz explores the often overlooked psychic and religious uses of the mobile phone, an area that has only recently begun to command scholarly interest. Magic in the Air will be essential reading for communications specialists, sociologists, and social psychologists.

James E. Katz is professor of communication at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey and director of the Rutgers University Center for Mobile Communication Studies, the first academic center dedicated to the study of social aspects of mobile communication. His award-winning books include Perpetual Contact: Mobile Communication, Private Talk and Public Performance (co-edited with Mark Aakhus), Connections: Social and Cultural Studies of the Telephone in American Life, published by Transaction, and Social Consequences of Internet Use: Access, Involvement, Expression (co-authored with Ronald E. Rice).

The ever-increasing integration of technology and the human body is attracting attention from religious, business, and political leaders around the world, and the topic promises to be a significant social issue in the 21st century. In Mediating the Human Body: Technology, Communication, and Fashion, editors Leopoldina Fortunati, James E. Katz, and Raimonda Riccini bring together a thoughtful group of leading international scholars and analysts to explore the effects of new technologies on human beings. They focus specifically on the intersection of new communication technologies and the body, and offer novel insights based on recent theoretical progress and current research on new interpersonal technology. Through literary analysis, historical comparisons, analytical reports, and speculative interpretations, the contributors to this volume seek to understand the experience of the body as it is mediated among competing forces and intellectual domains. Arising from The Human Body Between Technologies, Communication and Fashion symposium held in Milan, Italy, contributions cover a wide array of topics and offer varied perspectives on how communication technologies are assimilated into people's lives, bodies, and homes, and thus become part of individuals' self-images and social relationships. From this multidisciplinary, multi-national base, the volume illuminates the sense and dimension of this interpenetration between body and technology. In its broad scope, the topics range from the wellsprings of consciousness to the use of technology as a fashion statement. Bringing together scholarship from a variety of disciplines, including communication, medicine, technology, and human-computer interaction, this distinctive anthology will provide new insights to scholars and advanced students exploring body-technology intersections and the attendant implications. Mediating the Human Body offers a unique contribution to future discussions, and will be relevant to continuing study and research in communication and technology, human-computer interaction, gender studies, social psychology, and design.

Mobile phones affect every aspect of our personal and professional lives. They have transformed social practices and changed the way we do business, yet surprisingly little serious academic work has been done on them. This book studies the impact of the mobile phone on contemporary society from a social scientific perspective. Providing a comprehensive overview of mobile phones and social interaction, it comprises an introduction covering the key issues, a series of unique national studies and a final section examining specific issues.

Mobile phones affect every aspect of our personal and professional lives. They have transformed social practices and changed the way we do business, yet surprisingly little serious academic work has been done on them. This book studies the impact of the mobile phone on contemporary society from a social scientific perspective. Providing a comprehensive overview of mobile phones and social interaction, it comprises an introduction covering the key issues, a series of unique national studies and a final section examining specific issues.

This book brings together papers given at a major conference jointly organised by the Center for Mobile Communication Studies at Rutgers University (the world's first academic unit to focus solely on social aspects of mobile communication) and Liberty Science Center (the New Jersey-New York City region's largest education resource). Presented by leading thinkers and museum experts, the papers provide an incisive, up-to-the-minute analysis of trends in the use of mobile devices by museum audiences, with a special focus on outreach efforts to under-served communities. Among the many important contemporary issues covered in this publication are: * How social networking and mobility tools can help museums connect with their audiences * Assessments of current tools and systems * How these tools can help enrich and extend the learning experience * The principles that guide new social media applications * How to integrate social media applications into contemporary museum practice * What the future holds for mobile media devices and social networking in the museum setting * Data-driven analyses of developments in the field * Insightful distillations of museum experiences to date * Forecasts of trends and developments "just around the corner."

Truth qualities of journalism are under intense scrutiny in today's world. Journalistic scandals have eroded public confidence in mainstream media while pioneering news media compete to satisfy the public's appetite for news. Still worse is the specter of "fake news" that looms over media and political systems that underpin everything from social stability to global governance. This volume aims to illuminate the contentious media landscape to help journalism students, scholars, and professionals understand contemporary conditions and arm them to deal with a spectrum of new developments ranging from technology and politics to best practices. Fake news is among the greatest of these concerns, and can encompass everything from sarcastic or ironic humor to bot-generated, made-up stories. It can also include the pernicious transmission of selected, biased facts, the use of incomplete or misleadingly selective framing of stories, and photographs that editorially convey certain characteristics. This edited volume contextualizes the current "fake news problem." Yet it also offers a larger perspective on what seems to be uniquely modern, computer-driven problems. We must remember that we have lived with the problem of people having to identify, characterize, and communicate the truth about the world around them for millennia. Rather than identify a single culprit for disseminating misinformation, this volume examines how news is perceived and identified, how news is presented to the public, and how the public responds to news. It considers social media's effect on the craft of journalism, as well as the growing role of algorithms, big data, and automatic content-production regimes. As an edited collection, this volume gathers leading scholars in the fields of journalism and communication studies, philosophy, and the social sciences to address critical questions of how we should understand journalism's changing landscape as it relates to fundamental questions about the role of truth and information in society.

The term "emerging media " responds to the "big data " now available as a result of the larger role digital media play in everyday life, as well as the notion of "emergence " that has grown across the architecture of science and technology over the last two decades with increasing imbrication. The permeation of everyday life by emerging media is evident, ubiquitous, and destined to accelerate. No longer are images, institutions, social networks, thoughts, acts of communication, emotions and speech-the "media " by means of which we express ourselves in daily life-linked to clearly demarcated, stable entities and contexts. Instead, the loci of meaning within which these occur shift and evolve quickly, emerging in far-reaching ways we are only beginning to learn and bring about. This volume's purpose is to develop, broaden and spark future philosophical discussion of emerging media and their ways of shaping and reshaping the habitus within which everyday lives are to be understood. Drawing from the history of philosophy ideas of influential thinkers in the past, intellectual path makers on the contemporary scene offer new philosophical perspectives, laying the groundwork for future work in philosophy and in media studies. On diverse topics such as identity, agency, reality, mentality, time, aesthetics, representation, consciousness, materiality, emergence, and human nature, the questions addressed here consider the extent to which philosophy should or should not take us to be facing a fundamental transformation.

With the popularity of the Internet on the rise, more and more people are turning to their computers for health information, advice, support and services. With its information based firmly on research, The Internet and Health Communication provides an in-depth analysis of the changes in human communication and health care resulting from the Internet revolution. The contributors, representing a wide range of expertise, provide an extensive variety of examples from the micro to the macro, including information about HMO web sites, Internet pharmacies, and web-enabled hospitals, to vividly illustrate their findings and conclusions.