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A much-needed look at the growth of emergency media and its impact
on our lives In an emergency, we often look to media: to contact
authorities, to get help, to monitor evolving situations, or to
reach out to our loved ones. Sometimes we aren't even aware of an
emergency until we are notified by one of the countless alerts,
alarms, notifications, sirens, text messages, or phone calls that
permeate everyday life. Yet most people have only a partial
understanding of how such systems make sense of and act upon an
"emergency." In Case of Emergency argues that emergency media are
profoundly cultural artifacts that shape the very definition of
"emergency" as an opposite of "normal." Looking broadly across a
range of contemporary emergency-related devices, practices, and
services, Elizabeth Ellcessor illuminates the cultural and
political underpinnings and socially differential effects of
emergency media. By interweaving in-depth interviews with
emergency-operation and app-development experts, archival
materials, and discursive and technological readings of hardware
and infrastructures, Ellcessor demonstrates that emergency media
are powerful components of American life that are rarely, if ever,
neutral. The normalization of ideologies produced and reinforced by
emergency media result in unequal access to emergency services and
discriminatory assumptions about who or what is a threat and who
deserves care and protection. As emergency media undergo massive
growth and transformation in response to digitization and attendant
entrepreneurial cultures, Ellcessor asks where access, equity, and
accountability fit in all of this. The first book to develop a
typology of emergency media, In Case of Emergency opens a
much-needed conversation around the larger cultural meanings of
"emergency," and what an ethical and care-based approach to
emergency could entail.
How reconsidering digital media and participatory cultures from the
standpoint of disability allows for a full understanding of
accessibility. While digital media can offer many opportunities for
civic and cultural participation, this technology is not equally
easy for everyone to use. Hardware, software, and cultural
expectations combine to make some technologies an easier fit for
some bodies than for others. A YouTube video without closed
captions or a social network site that is incompatible with a
screen reader can restrict the access of users who are hard of
hearing or visually impaired. Often, people with disabilities
require accommodation, assistive technologies, or other forms of
aid to make digital media accessible-useable-for them. Restricted
Access investigates digital media accessibility-the processes by
which media is made usable by people with particular needs-and
argues for the necessity of conceptualizing access in a way that
will enable greater participation in all forms of mediated culture.
Drawing on disability and cultural studies, Elizabeth Ellcessor
uses an interrogatory framework based around issues of regulation,
use, content, form, and experience to examine contemporary digital
media. Through interviews with policy makers and accessibility
professionals, popular culture and archival materials, and an
ethnographic study of internet use by people with disabilities,
Ellcessor reveals the assumptions that undergird contemporary
technologies and participatory cultures. Restricted Access makes
the crucial point that if digital media open up opportunities for
individuals to create and participate, but that technology only
facilitates the participation of those who are already privileged,
then its progressive potential remains unrealized. Engagingly
written with powerful examples, Ellcessor demonstrates the
importance of alternate uses, marginalized voices, and invisible
innovations in the context of disability identities to push us to
rethink digital media accessibility.
How reconsidering digital media and participatory cultures from the
standpoint of disability allows for a full understanding of
accessibility. While digital media can offer many opportunities for
civic and cultural participation, this technology is not equally
easy for everyone to use. Hardware, software, and cultural
expectations combine to make some technologies an easier fit for
some bodies than for others. A YouTube video without closed
captions or a social network site that is incompatible with a
screen reader can restrict the access of users who are hard of
hearing or visually impaired. Often, people with disabilities
require accommodation, assistive technologies, or other forms of
aid to make digital media accessible—useable—for them.
Restricted Access investigates digital media accessibility—the
processes by which media is made usable by people with particular
needs—and argues for the necessity of conceptualizing access in a
way that will enable greater participation in all forms of mediated
culture. Drawing on disability and cultural studies, Elizabeth
Ellcessor uses an interrogatory framework based around issues of
regulation, use, content, form, and experience to examine
contemporary digital media. Through interviews with policy makers
and accessibility professionals, popular culture and archival
materials, and an ethnographic study of internet use by people with
disabilities, Ellcessor reveals the assumptions that undergird
contemporary technologies and participatory cultures. Restricted
Access makes the crucial point that if digital media open up
opportunities for individuals to create and participate, but that
technology only facilitates the participation of those who are
already privileged, then its progressive potential remains
unrealized. Engagingly written with powerful examples, Ellcessor
demonstrates the importance of alternate uses, marginalized voices,
and invisible innovations in the context of disability identities
to push us to rethink digital media accessibility.
Introduces key ideas and offers a sense of the new frontiers and
questions in the emerging field of disability media studies
Disability Media Studies articulates the formation of a new field
of study, based in the rich traditions of media, cultural, and
disability studies. Necessarily interdisciplinary and diverse, this
collection weaves together work from scholars from a variety of
disciplinary homes, into a broader conversation about exploring
media artifacts in relation to disability. The book provides a
comprehensive overview for anyone interested in the study of
disability and media today. Case studies include familiar
contemporary examples-such as Iron Man 3, Lady Gaga, and Oscar
Pistorius-as well as historical media, independent disability
media, reality television, and media technologies. The contributors
consider disability representation, the role of media in forming
cultural assumptions about ability, the construction of disability
via media technologies, and how disabled audiences respond to
particular media artifacts. The volume concludes with afterwords
from two different perspectives on the field-one by disability
scholar Rachel Adams, the other by media scholars Mara Mills and
Jonathan Sterne-that reflect upon the collection, the ongoing
conversations, and the future of disability media studies.
Disability Media Studies is a crucial text for those interested in
this flourishing field, and will pave the way for a greater
understanding of disability media studies and its critical concepts
and conversations.
A much-needed look at the growth of emergency media and its impact
on our lives In an emergency, we often look to media: to contact
authorities, to get help, to monitor evolving situations, or to
reach out to our loved ones. Sometimes we aren't even aware of an
emergency until we are notified by one of the countless alerts,
alarms, notifications, sirens, text messages, or phone calls that
permeate everyday life. Yet most people have only a partial
understanding of how such systems make sense of and act upon an
"emergency." In Case of Emergency argues that emergency media are
profoundly cultural artifacts that shape the very definition of
"emergency" as an opposite of "normal." Looking broadly across a
range of contemporary emergency-related devices, practices, and
services, Elizabeth Ellcessor illuminates the cultural and
political underpinnings and socially differential effects of
emergency media. By interweaving in-depth interviews with
emergency-operation and app-development experts, archival
materials, and discursive and technological readings of hardware
and infrastructures, Ellcessor demonstrates that emergency media
are powerful components of American life that are rarely, if ever,
neutral. The normalization of ideologies produced and reinforced by
emergency media result in unequal access to emergency services and
discriminatory assumptions about who or what is a threat and who
deserves care and protection. As emergency media undergo massive
growth and transformation in response to digitization and attendant
entrepreneurial cultures, Ellcessor asks where access, equity, and
accountability fit in all of this. The first book to develop a
typology of emergency media, In Case of Emergency opens a
much-needed conversation around the larger cultural meanings of
"emergency," and what an ethical and care-based approach to
emergency could entail.
Introduces key ideas and offers a sense of the new frontiers and
questions in the emerging field of disability media studies
Disability Media Studies articulates the formation of a new field
of study, based in the rich traditions of media, cultural, and
disability studies. Necessarily interdisciplinary and diverse, this
collection weaves together work from scholars from a variety of
disciplinary homes, into a broader conversation about exploring
media artifacts in relation to disability. The book provides a
comprehensive overview for anyone interested in the study of
disability and media today. Case studies include familiar
contemporary examples-such as Iron Man 3, Lady Gaga, and Oscar
Pistorius-as well as historical media, independent disability
media, reality television, and media technologies. The contributors
consider disability representation, the role of media in forming
cultural assumptions about ability, the construction of disability
via media technologies, and how disabled audiences respond to
particular media artifacts. The volume concludes with afterwords
from two different perspectives on the field-one by disability
scholar Rachel Adams, the other by media scholars Mara Mills and
Jonathan Sterne-that reflect upon the collection, the ongoing
conversations, and the future of disability media studies.
Disability Media Studies is a crucial text for those interested in
this flourishing field, and will pave the way for a greater
understanding of disability media studies and its critical concepts
and conversations.
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