Routledge Handbook of Digital Media and Communication (Routledge International Handbooks)

Written by a distinguished group of leading scholars from around the world, the Routledge Handbook of Digital Media and Communication provides a comprehensive, unique and multidisciplinary exploration of this rapidly growing and vibrant field of study. The Handbook adopts a three-part structural framework for understanding the socio-cultural impact of digital media: the artefacts or physical devices and systems that people use to communicate; the communicative practices in which they engage to use those devices, express themselves, and share meaning; and the organizational and institutional arrangements, structures or formations that develop around those practices and artefacts. Comprising a series of essay-chapters on a wide range of topics each contributor has crystallized current knowledge, provided historical context, and critically articulated the challenges and implications of the emerging dominance of the network and normalization of digitally mediated relations. Issues explored include:

• The power of algorithms
• Digital currency
• Gaming culture
• Surveillance
• Social networking
• Connective mobilization

More than a reference work this Handbook delivers a comprehensive, authoritative overview of the state of new media scholarship and its most important future directions that will shape and animate current debates.