Elgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful introductions to major fields in the social sciences and law, expertly written by the world's leading scholars. Designed to be accessible yet rigorous, they offer concise and lucid surveys of the substantive and policy issues associated with discrete subject areas. This cutting edge book introduces the origins and consequences of digital platforms, examining how artificial intelligence-enabled digital platforms collect and process data from and about users by providing social media and e-commerce services. Robin Mansell and W. Edward Steinmueller compare and contrast neoclassical, institutional and critical political economy approaches. They show how uneven power relationships between platform operators and their users are analysed in different economic traditions. Key features include: analysis of economic and public values provides a foundation for platform regulation examines the impacts of platforms on the media industry challenges claims of the inevitability of platform dominance discusses key challenges, including: artificial intelligence, data sharing and competition in the digital economy. This concise book will be indispensable for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students of media and communication studies, innovation studies and economics, particularly those focusing on platform economics.

Elgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful introductions to major fields in the social sciences and law, expertly written by the world's leading scholars. Designed to be accessible yet rigorous, they offer concise and lucid surveys of the substantive and policy issues associated with discrete subject areas. This cutting edge book introduces the origins and consequences of digital platforms, examining how artificial intelligence-enabled digital platforms collect and process data from and about users by providing social media and e-commerce services. Robin Mansell and W. Edward Steinmueller compare and contrast neoclassical, institutional and critical political economy approaches. They show how uneven power relationships between platform operators and their users are analysed in different economic traditions. Key features include: analysis of economic and public values provides a foundation for platform regulation examines the impacts of platforms on the media industry challenges claims of the inevitability of platform dominance discusses key challenges, including: artificial intelligence, data sharing and competition in the digital economy. This concise book will be indispensable for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students of media and communication studies, innovation studies and economics, particularly those focusing on platform economics.

Standards and standardization policies increasingly influence innovation and competitiveness. As well as examining how standards are developed and applied, this important new book considers whether technical standards function as effective public policy instruments and components in the processes of industrial globalization.Much of the existing literature in the field makes reference either to information and communication technologies or to the protection and management of the natural environment. In Standards, Innovation and Competitiveness there is a recognition of how closely integrated both sectors have become over questions of process, the role of scientific assessment, and the 'network' effects that accompany standardization. The contributors shift the research and policy focus away from narrowly defined sectoral concerns, towards a more generic view of standards and standards-setting, and their roles as instruments of public policy. With nineteen papers by authors from seven countries, the blend of approaches ranges from formal economic analysis, through political, sociological, and historical analysis, to pragmatic discussions by standards makers themselves. The subjects discussed include issue definition, methodological approaches, political articulation of public and private sector agendas, organizational and decision-making processes, the role of technology users in standardization, and the relationship between standardization and innovation.

The information society refers to a constellation of developments arising from the growing use of communication technologies in the acquisition, storage, and processing of information, and the role of information in supporting the creation and exchange of knowledge. Research on information societies really began to take off in the 1970s when Daniel Bell wrote about the information age . While there were earlier works that focused on the growing importance of information in the economy, it was not until the mid-1990s and the spread of the Internet that this field of study experienced a huge expansion across a broad range of disciplines in the social sciences and beyond. A critical mass of scholarship has now accumulated, establishing the information society and information societies as a terrain of substance and complexity, the exploration and understanding of which requires increasingly sophisticated navigation skills. As research in and around the area continues to flourish as never before, this new title in Routledge 's Major Works series, Critical Concepts in Sociology, meets the need for an authoritative reference work to make sense of a rapidly growing and ever more complex corpus of literature, and to provide a map of the area as it has emerged and developed over the last thirty years or so.

The Information Society is fully indexed and has a comprehensive introduction, newly written by the editor, which places the material in its historical and intellectual context. It is an essential work of reference and is destined to be valued by scholars and students as well as policy-makers and practitioners in the field as a vital one-stop research resource.

Throughout its 65-year history, the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) has sought to facilitate international exchanges and research collaborations among academics and journalists in the field of media and communication. Created during a time of strong ideological tension following World War II in 1957 and with the support of UNESCO, the contributors to this edited collection highlight how the IAMCR and its members shaped the field of media and communications research. From its beginnings focusing on the mass media, including the press and journalism education, today the Association attracts researchers and practitioners who undertake critical analysis of contemporary media and communications, including online platforms and their governance. Consistent themes throughout the Association's history have been its concern with human rights, law, culture and the political economy of the media and communication industries. Not content simply to understand developments in the media and communications field around the world, the Association's membership has sought to 'change the world' through its published research and its participation in global, regional, national and local policy debate and practice. This volume is organised in four parts following an introduction authored by editors who are active members of IAMCR. Part I highlights eight prominent scholarly traditions of research which have attracted the interest of scholars from around the world as well as the way the Association has sought to be inclusive of early career scholars. Part II offers seven chapters which bring to light the political struggles of a membership seeking to engage in scholarship across the East - West divide and to contribute to global debates aimed at fostering an inclusive, fair and equitable international information and communication order through engagement with United Nations sponsored initiatives. Part III turns to accounts of the way members from selected countries and regions have contributed to the Association's scholarly work. The last part highlights the significant scholarly and institution-building contributions of James Halloran, IAMCR's President from 1972 to 1988 and other prominent contributors to the study of culture and the political economy of media and communications

This fascinating book gathers together an enviable range of experts from a variety of disciplines to study how trust and crime interact with new digital technologies. It provides a critical discussion on the prospects of the Internet and on the future of crime and crime prevention. It also presents a realistic vision of the implications and uncertainties of future developments in cyberspace, and identifies the key issues affecting the way in which today's complex information societies are evolving.The distinguished authors begin by exploring the social, economic and technological issues surrounding cyberspace. They identify the measures that need to be implemented to avoid the potential for the Internet to encourage new types of crime and to facilitate traditional crime. They then analyse topics such as the possible drivers of the evolution of cyberspace, the prospects created by innovations in technology, the threats and barriers to cyberspace development, and the feasibility and effectiveness of proposed crime prevention measures. They also address the important issues of risk, privacy and trust in cyberspace, and discuss the ethical, legal and regulatory issues. This important new book will be of immense value to academics and researchers with an interest in the social and technological aspects of information and communication technologies, law, criminology, public policy, Internet security and risk management. It will also appeal to a broad audience that is concerned about the potential threats posed by the advance of the information superhighway.

Alle wichtigen Massenmedien werden in diesem Buch daraufhin untersucht, inwieweit sich deren Produktion, Inhalt, Vertrieb, Funktion, Wirkung und Rezeption durch die Einfuhrung neuer Digitalisierungstechniken verandern. Es ist eine Mischung aus informationsreichem Handbuch und kritischer Medienanalyse.
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This fascinating book gathers together an enviable range of experts from a variety of disciplines to study how trust and crime interact with new digital technologies. It provides a critical discussion on the prospects of the Internet and on the future of crime and crime prevention. It also presents a realistic vision of the implications and uncertainties of future developments in cyberspace, and identifies the key issues affecting the way in which today's complex information societies are evolving.The distinguished authors begin by exploring the social, economic and technological issues surrounding cyberspace. They identify the measures that need to be implemented to avoid the potential for the Internet to encourage new types of crime and to facilitate traditional crime. They then analyse topics such as the possible drivers of the evolution of cyberspace, the prospects created by innovations in technology, the threats and barriers to cyberspace development, and the feasibility and effectiveness of proposed crime prevention measures. They also address the important issues of risk, privacy and trust in cyberspace, and discuss the ethical, legal and regulatory issues. This important new book will be of immense value to academics and researchers with an interest in the social and technological aspects of information and communication technologies, law, criminology, public policy, Internet security and risk management. It will also appeal to a broad audience that is concerned about the potential threats posed by the advance of the information superhighway.

In recent years the internet and other network technologies have emerged as a central issue for development in Latin America and the Caribbean.

They have shown their potential to increase productivity and competitiveness in the economy, to create new ways to deliver education and health services, and to be driving forces for the modernisation of the provision of public services.

This book examines some of the key unanswered questions:

Will the internet in Latin America and the Caribbean remain open over the next ten years? Will online surveillance increasingly challenge individual privacy? Will open data, social media and new forms of participation improve democracy in the region? Will we be able to harness the collaborative potential of the internet to create more socially meaningful and sustainable economies? Will digital education, science and creativity flourish in the region, reflecting the diversity and culture of its people?

The answers to these questions will be central to determining whether or not the internet will effectively contribute to a more open and developed society in our corner of the world.

The book builds on a seminar, "Open Development: Exploring the future of the information society in Latin America and the Caribbean," held in Montevideo on 2-3 April 2013. Organised by Fundacion Comunica and IDRC, and held alongside the "Fourth Ministerial Conference on the Information Society in Latin America and the Caribbean," the seminar was an opportunity to reflect on the direction of the changes happening in the region, to bring new themes to the table and to explore how they can better be addressed in regional efforts.

The 25 chapters in the book include the reflections of many of the region's leading experts in the area. Rather than present a single consolidated perspective, the authors dive into the issues, explore new ways to frame the problems and seek new solutions. Despite the considerable diversity, the book highlights many emerging points of agreement about new opportunities and challenges for the information society in the region.

Diplomatic efforts to ease tensions around the governance of transnational digital infrastructure is increasingly at the centre of global politics. However, the translation of this new dimension of diplomacy into a tangible concept is still limited and vague. For some, digital diplomacy is restricted to the use of digital means, especially social networks, by diplomats to practice a kind of "Public Diplomacy 2.0". This collection approaches digital diplomacy beyond the instrumental use of digital technologies for diplomatic practices. It consider digital infrastructure generating new spaces of conflicts as such, where new diplomatic practices take space in order to facilitate the negotiations among parties about the governance, policy developments and technical solutions of the internet. The approach to digital diplomacy extends to foreign affairs and international relations, and with regard to all emerging international tensions clustered around digital environments, including cybersecurity and internet governance. This collection unfolds the concept of digital diplomacy to understand and formalize digital diplomacy across all its dimensions and from multiple interdisciplinary perspectives, and includes contributions addressing diplomacy around the international debate on the governance of the internet. A special emphasis is given to the role of the European Union, its member states and its neighborhood in a field historically dominated by US voices in the debate, due to its crucial role in the history of the internet but also because of the leading position of US internet giants in the global digital market. This book approaches the topic from an interdisciplinary perspective, by including contributions from leading scholars in the field of internet governance, approaching the topics from multiple backgrounds and disciplines, combining complementary novel theoretical approaches and empirically grounded research in the field of the governance of the internet as a diplomacy issue.

En los ultimos anos la internet y otras tecnologias de red se han convertido en un asunto central para el desarrollo de America Latina y el Caribe. Han demostrado su capacidad de aumentar la productividad y la competitividad de las economias, crear nuevas formas de ofrecer servicios de educacion y salud, y funcionar como fuerzas impulsoras para la modernizacion de la prestacion de servicios publicos.

Este libro examina algunas de las preguntas claves: Internet continuara siendo abierta durante la proxima decada? La vigilancia en linea desafiara cada vez mas la privacidad individual? Los datos abiertos, las redes sociales y las nuevas formas de participacion, mejoraran la democracia en la region? Seremos capaces de aprovechar las posibilidades de colaboracion que ofrece internet para crear economias socialmente mas significativas y sostenibles? La educacion digital, la ciencia y la creatividad, prosperaran en ALC y reflejaran la diversidad cultural de sus pueblos?

Las respuestas a estas preguntas seran claves a la hora de determinar si internet efectivamente contribuira a la creacion de una sociedad mas abierta y desarrollada en nuestro rincon del mundo.

Este libro continua los debates que se desarrollaron durante el seminario "Desarrollo Abierto: Explorando el futuro de la sociedad de la informacion en America Latina y el Caribe," que tuvo lugar en Montevideo el 2 y 3 de abril de 2013. Organizado por Fundacion Comunica y el Centro Internacional de Investigacion para el Desarrollo (IDRC) en el marco de la "Cuarta Conferencia Ministerial sobre la Sociedad de la Informacion en America Latina y el Caribe," el seminario ofrecio una oportunidad para reflexionar sobre la direccion de los cambios ocurridos en la region y los nuevos temas que estan sobre el tapete, analizando como se pueden tratar mejor desde las iniciativas regionales.

Los 25 capitulos del libro presentan una serie de reflexiones y perspectivas de muchos de los expertos de la region en esos temas. Mas que ofrecer una perspectiva consolidada, los autores se sumergen en los temas e indagan nuevas maneras de enmarcar los problemas, a la vez que buscan soluciones novedosas. A pesar de la considerable diversidad, el libro pone de relieve las numerosas concordancias emergentes en cuestiones relativas a las nuevas oportunidades y desafios para la sociedad de la informacion en la region.

This book is an impressive survey of our collective and cumulative understanding of the evolution of digital communication systems and the Internet. While the information societies of the twenty-first century will develop ever more sophisticated technologies, the Internet is now a familiar and pervasive part of the world in which we live, work, and communicate. As such it is important to take stock of some fundamental questions--whether, for example, it contributes to progress, social cohesion, democracy, and growth--and at the same time to review the rich and varied theories and perspectives developed by thinkers in a range of disciplines over the last fifty years or more.
In this remarkably comprehensive but concise and useful book, Robin Mansell summarizes key debates, and reviews the contributions of major thinkers in communication systems, economics, politics, sociology, psychology, and systems theory--from Norbert Wiener to Brian Arthur and Manuel Castells, and from Gregory Bateson to William Davidow and Sherry Turkle. This is an interdisciplinary and critical analysis of the way we experience the Internet in front of the screen, and of the developments behind the screen, all of which have implications for privacy, security, intellectual property rights, and the overall governance of the Internet.
The author presents fairly the ideas of the celebrants and the sceptics, and reminds us of the continuing need for careful, critical, and informed analysis of the paradoxes and challenges of the Internet, offering her own views on how we might move to greater empowerment, and suggesting policy measures and governance approaches that go beyond those commonly debated.
This concise book will be essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the challenges the Internet presents in the twenty-first century, and the debates and research that can inform that understanding.

What does it mean to live and work inside the information and communication technology revolution? The nature and significance of newly emerging patterns of social and technical interaction as digital technologies become more pervasive in the knowledge economy are the focus of this book. The places and spaces where digital technolgoies are in use are examined to show why such use may or may not be associated with improvements in society. Studies of on- and off-line interactions between individuals and of collective attempts to govern and manage the new technologies show that the communication revolution is essentially about people, social organization, adaptation, and control, not just technologies This book contains original empirical studies conducted within a programme of research in the Information, Networks and Knowledge (INK) research centre at SPRU, University of Sussex.

What does it mean to live and work inside the information and communication technology revolution? Drawing upon cognitive, economic, management, political, and sociological theories, this book focuses on the nature and significance of newly-emerging patterns of social and technical interaction as digital technologies become more pervasive in the knowledge economy.

This book provides a critical assessment of progress towards the Information Society. Drawing upon unique empirical data, this book lays the foundation for more useful theories of the process of change, and more effective strategies and policies for increasing the benefits from the Information Society. The authors provide insights into the social, economic, and political forces that are structuring the pathway to the Information Society-and its consequences for business and individuals in their everyday lives.

This book is an impressive survey of our collective and cumulative understanding of the evolution of digital communication systems and the Internet. While the information societies of the twenty-first century will develop ever more sophisticated technologies, the Internet is now a familiar and pervasive part of the world in which we live, work, and communicate. As such it is important to take stock of some fundamental questions--whether, for example, it contributes to progress, social cohesion, democracy, and growth--and at the same time to review the rich and varied theories and perspectives developed by thinkers in a range of disciplines over the last fifty years or more.
In this remarkably comprehensive but concise and useful book, Robin Mansell summarizes key debates, and reviews the contributions of major thinkers in communication systems, economics, politics, sociology, psychology, and systems theory--from Norbert Wiener to Brian Arthur and Manuel Castells, and from Gregory Bateson to William Davidow and Sherry Turkle. This is an interdisciplinary and critical analysis of the way we experience the Internet in front of the screen, and of the developments behind the screen, all of which have implications for privacy, security, intellectual property rights, and the overall governance of the Internet.
The author presents fairly the ideas of the celebrants and the sceptics, and reminds us of the continuing need for careful, critical, and informed analysis of the paradoxes and challenges of the Internet, offering her own views on how we might move to greater empowerment, and suggesting policy measures and governance approaches that go beyond those commonly debated.
This concise book will be essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the challenges the Internet presents in the twenty-first century, and the debates and research that can inform that understanding.

The information and communication technologies (ICTs) of the 1990s enable the electronic production and consumption of increasingly vast quantities of information. The effects are likely to be both unpredictable and contradictory, and will have consequences for business, governments, organizations and citizens. In this agenda setting book, a highly experienced interdisciplinary team describe and analyse the impact of these developments.