Working-Class Network Society

Working-Class Network Society PDF Author: Jack Linchuan Qiu
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 026254931X
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 321

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Book Description
An examination of how the availability of low-end information and communication technology has provided a basis for the emergence of a working-class network society in China. The idea of the “digital divide,” the great social division between information haves and have-nots, has dominated policy debates and scholarly analysis since the 1990s. In Working-Class Network Society, Jack Linchuan Qiu describes a more complex social and technological reality in a newly mobile, urbanizing China. Qiu argues that as inexpensive Internet and mobile phone services become available and are closely integrated with the everyday work and life of low-income communities, they provide a critical seedbed for the emergence of a new working class of “network labor” crucial to China's economic boom. Between the haves and have-nots, writes Qiu, are the information “have-less”: migrants, laid-off workers, micro-entrepreneurs, retirees, youth, and others, increasingly connected by cybercafés, prepaid service, and used mobile phones. A process of class formation has begun that has important implications for working-class network society in China and beyond. Qiu brings class back into the scholarly discussion, not as a secondary factor but as an essential dimension in our understanding of communication technology as it is shaped in the vast, industrializing society of China. Basing his analysis on his more than five years of empirical research conducted in twenty cities, Qiu examines technology and class, networked connectivity and public policy, in the context of massive urban reforms that affect the new working class disproportionately. The transformation of Chinese society, writes Qiu, is emblematic of the new technosocial reality emerging in much of the Global South.

Working-Class Network Society

Working-Class Network Society PDF Author: Jack Linchuan Qiu
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 026254931X
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 321

Get Book Here

Book Description
An examination of how the availability of low-end information and communication technology has provided a basis for the emergence of a working-class network society in China. The idea of the “digital divide,” the great social division between information haves and have-nots, has dominated policy debates and scholarly analysis since the 1990s. In Working-Class Network Society, Jack Linchuan Qiu describes a more complex social and technological reality in a newly mobile, urbanizing China. Qiu argues that as inexpensive Internet and mobile phone services become available and are closely integrated with the everyday work and life of low-income communities, they provide a critical seedbed for the emergence of a new working class of “network labor” crucial to China's economic boom. Between the haves and have-nots, writes Qiu, are the information “have-less”: migrants, laid-off workers, micro-entrepreneurs, retirees, youth, and others, increasingly connected by cybercafés, prepaid service, and used mobile phones. A process of class formation has begun that has important implications for working-class network society in China and beyond. Qiu brings class back into the scholarly discussion, not as a secondary factor but as an essential dimension in our understanding of communication technology as it is shaped in the vast, industrializing society of China. Basing his analysis on his more than five years of empirical research conducted in twenty cities, Qiu examines technology and class, networked connectivity and public policy, in the context of massive urban reforms that affect the new working class disproportionately. The transformation of Chinese society, writes Qiu, is emblematic of the new technosocial reality emerging in much of the Global South.

Working-Class Network Society

Working-Class Network Society PDF Author: Jack Linchuan Qiu
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 026217006X
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 321

Get Book Here

Book Description
An examination of how the availability of low-end information and communication technology has provided a basis for the emergence of a working-class network society in China. The idea of the “digital divide,” the great social division between information haves and have-nots, has dominated policy debates and scholarly analysis since the 1990s. In Working-Class Network Society, Jack Linchuan Qiu describes a more complex social and technological reality in a newly mobile, urbanizing China. Qiu argues that as inexpensive Internet and mobile phone services become available and are closely integrated with the everyday work and life of low-income communities, they provide a critical seedbed for the emergence of a new working class of “network labor” crucial to China's economic boom. Between the haves and have-nots, writes Qiu, are the information “have-less”: migrants, laid-off workers, micro-entrepreneurs, retirees, youth, and others, increasingly connected by cybercafés, prepaid service, and used mobile phones. A process of class formation has begun that has important implications for working-class network society in China and beyond. Qiu brings class back into the scholarly discussion, not as a secondary factor but as an essential dimension in our understanding of communication technology as it is shaped in the vast, industrializing society of China. Basing his analysis on his more than five years of empirical research conducted in twenty cities, Qiu examines technology and class, networked connectivity and public policy, in the context of massive urban reforms that affect the new working class disproportionately. The transformation of Chinese society, writes Qiu, is emblematic of the new technosocial reality emerging in much of the Global South.

Network Society and Future Scenarios for a Collaborative Economy

Network Society and Future Scenarios for a Collaborative Economy PDF Author: V. Kostakis
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137406895
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 133

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Book Description
This book builds on the idea that peer-to-peer infrastructures are gradually becoming the general conditions of work, economy, and society. Using a four-scenario approach, the authors seek to simplify possible outcomes and to explore relevant trajectories of the current techno-economic paradigm within and beyond capitalism.

Shaping the Network Society

Shaping the Network Society PDF Author: Douglas Schuler
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 9780262264709
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 452

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Book Description
How computer professionals and communities can work together to shape sociotechnical systems that will meet society's challenges. Information and computer technologies are used every day by real people with real needs. The authors contributing to Shaping the Network Society describe how technology can be used effectively by communities, activists, and citizens to meet society's challenges. In their vision, computer professionals are concerned less with bits, bytes, and algorithms and more with productive partnerships that engage both researchers and community activists. These collaborations are producing important sociotechnical work that will affect the future of the network society. Traditionally, academic research on real-world users of technology has been neglected or even discouraged. The authors contributing to this book are working to fill this gap; their theoretical and practical discussions illustrate a new orientation—research that works with people in their natural social environments, uses common language rather than rarefied academic discourse, and takes a pragmatic perspective. The topics they consider are key to democratization and social change. They include human rights in the "global billboard society"; public computing in Toledo, Ohio; public digital culture in Amsterdam; "civil networking" in the former Yugoslavia; information technology and the international public sphere; "historical archaeologies" of community networks; "technobiographical" reflections on the future; libraries as information commons; and globalization and media democracy, as illustrated by Indymedia, a global collective of independent media organizations.

The Network Society

The Network Society PDF Author: Jan van Dijk
Publisher: SAGE
ISBN: 1529738113
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 394

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Book Description
The Network Society is a clear, engaging guide to the past, consequences and future of digital communication, and forms a comprehensive introduction to how new media functions in contemporary society. Integrating both face-to-face and online communication, the fourth edition explores crucial new issues and challenges in today’s digital media ecology, in doing so exploring the centrality of power to understanding life in the network society. Featuring: The rise of the ‘data economy’ The increasing importance of artificial intelligence. big data and robotics The growth of Internet platforms and how to regulate big tech. New coverage of disinformation and fake news, including deep fake videos Updates to the story of digital youth culture, as a foreshadow of future new media use With examples, cases and real-world applications, this is the essential guide for digital and new media students seeking to understand a diverse, fast-moving field.

Humans and Machines at Work

Humans and Machines at Work PDF Author: Phoebe V. Moore
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319582321
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 270

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Book Description
This edited collection provides a series of accounts of workers’ local experiences that reflect the ubiquity of work’s digitalisation. Precarious gig economy workers ride bikes and drive taxis in China and Britain; call centre workers in India experience invasive tracking; warehouse workers discover that hidden data has been used for layoffs; and academic researchers see their labour obscured by a ‘data foam’ that does not benefit them. These cases are couched in historical accounts of identity and selfhood experiments seen in the Hawthorne experiments and the lineage of automation. This book will appeal to scholars in the Sociology of Work and Digital Labour Studies and anyone interested in learning about monitoring and surveillance, automation, the gig economy and the quantified self in the workplace.

Routledge Handbook of New Media in Asia

Routledge Handbook of New Media in Asia PDF Author: Larissa Hjorth
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317684982
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 488

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Book Description
While a decade ago much of the discussion of new media in Asia was couched in Occidental notions of Asia as a "default setting" for technology in the future, today we are seeing a much more complex picture of contesting new media practices and production. As "new media" becomes increasingly an everyday reality for young and old across Asia through smartphones and associated devices, boundaries between art, new media, and the everyday are transformed. This Handbook addresses the historical, social, cultural, political, philosophical, artistic and economic dimensions of the region’s new media. Through an interdisciplinary revision of both "new media" and "Asia" the contributors provide new insights into the complex and contesting terrains of both notions. The Routledge Handbook of New Media in Asia will be the definitive publication for readers interested in comprehending all the various aspects of new media in Asia. It provides an authoritative, up-to-date, intellectually broad, conceptually cutting-edge guide to the important aspects of new media in the region — as the first point of consultation for researchers, advanced level undergraduate and postgraduate students in fields of new media and Asian studies.

Routledge Handbook of Chinese Culture and Society

Routledge Handbook of Chinese Culture and Society PDF Author: Kevin Latham
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351718754
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 603

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Book Description
The Routledge Handbook of Chinese Culture and Society is an interdisciplinary resource that offers a comprehensive overview of contemporary Chinese social and cultural issues in the twenty-first century. Bringing together experts in their respective fields, this cutting-edge survey of the significant phenomena and directions in China today covers a range of issues including the following: State, privatisation and civil society Family and education Urban and rural life Gender, and sexuality and reproduction Popular culture and the media Religion and ethnicity Forming an accessible and fascinating insight into Chinese culture and society, this handbook will be invaluable to students and scholars across a range of disciplines, including anthropology, sociology, area studies, history, politics and cultural and media studies.

Understanding Data, Culture and Society

Understanding Data, Culture and Society PDF Author: Pieter Verdegem
Publisher: SAGE Publications Limited
ISBN: 1529700132
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
- How is data shaping our identities? - What was the ′data revolution′, and how did it happen? - How will AI change our societies? We live in the age of datafication: every aspect of our lives has been captured and transformed into data, from our sleeping patterns and step counts to our buying habits and political views. In this exciting new textbook, you will discover the intricate ways in which data and society are interwoven. Explaining key concepts such as ′big data′ and putting theory into practice throughout, this book will make you a better expert in data and society, offering an interdisciplinary overview of a rapidly evolving field. This textbook tackles the implications of big data for democracy, identity and the global economy, showing how we cannot view our lives as separate from the technologies we have come to rely on. With learning objectives, case studies, further reading and extra resources provided in each chapter, this book is the ideal companion for students in the digital humanities and social sciences looking to deepen their understanding of data, culture and society.

Studying Mobile Media

Studying Mobile Media PDF Author: Larissa Hjorth
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136464328
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 233

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Book Description
The iPhone represents an important moment in both the short history of mobile media and the long history of cultural technologies. Like the Walkman of the 1980s, it marks a juncture in which notions about identity, individualism, lifestyle and sociality require rearticulation. this book explores not only the iPhone’s particular characteristics, uses and "affects," but also how the "iPhone moment" functions as a barometer for broader patterns of change. In the iPhone moment, this study considers the convergent trajectories in the evolution of digital and mobile culture, and their implications for future scholarship. Through the lens of the iPhone—as a symbol, culture and a set of material practices around contemporary convergent mobile media—the essays collected here explore the most productive theoretical and methodological approaches for grasping media practice, consumer culture and networked communication in the twenty-first century.