Girl Online: On Tour


Book Description

"First published in Great Britain by Penguin Random House UK in 2015"--Copyright page.




Girl Online: Going Solo


Book Description

The third novel in the New York Times bestselling young adult series by YouTube sensation Zoe Sugg.




Girl Online


Book Description

From award-winning YouTube sensation Zoe Sugg, popularly known as Zoella, comes her New York Times bestselling debut young adult novel, which perfectly captures what it means to grow up and fall in love in today’s digital world. I have this dream that, secretly, all teenage girls feel exactly like me. And maybe one day, when we realize that we all feel the same, we can all stop pretending we’re something we’re not… But until that day, I’m going to keep it real on this blog and keep it unreal in real life. Penny has a secret. Under the alias GirlOnline, Penny blogs her hidden feelings about friendship, boys, high school drama, her crazy family, and the panic attacks that have begun to take over her life. When things go from bad to worse at school, her parents accept an opportunity to whisk the family away for Christmas at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City. There, Penny meets Noah, a gorgeous, guitar-strumming American. Suddenly she is falling in love—and capturing every moment she spends with "Brooklyn Boy" on her blog. But Noah has a secret, too, one that threatens to ruin Penny’s cover—and her closest friendship—forever.




Female Genital Mutilation and Social Media


Book Description

This book explores the phenomenon of anti-femail genital mutilation (FGM) social media activism. Against a backdrop of over 200 million girls and women worldwide affected by FGM, this volume examines key global online campaigns to end the practice, involving leading virtual platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Drawing from twenty-one fieldwork interviews with anti-FGM activists, frontline practitioners and survivors, the volume investigates opportunities and challenges inherent to cyberspace. These include online FGM bans as well as practices such as ‘cyber-misogyny’ and ‘clicktivism’. Global campaigns featured include the UN’s International Day of Zero Tolerance for FGM, the WHO’s Sexual and Reproductive Health Programme, The Girl Generation, The Guardian’s End FGM Global Media Campaign and the Massai Cricket Warriors. Furthermore, ten case-studies document prominent anti-FGM campaigners. Firstly, five African-led narratives from celebrated activists: Efua Dorkenoo OBE, Waris Dirie, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Jaha Mapenzi Dukureh and Leyla Hussein. Second, five accounts from FGM survivors interviewed for the book: Mama Sylla, Masooma Ranalvi, Farzana Doctor, Fatou Baldeh and Mariya Taher. By exploring anti-FGM online activism, this book fills a gap in the literature which has largely overlooked FGM’s presence in cyberspace as a virtual social movement. Female Genital Mutilation and Social Media will be of interest to activists, survivors, frontline professionals, students, academics and the wider public.




She Is Not Invisible


Book Description

Laureth Peak's father has taught her to look for recurring events, patterns, and numbers--a skill at which she's remarkably talented. Her secret: She is blind. But when her father goes missing, Laureth and her 7-year-old brother Benjamin are thrust into a mystery that takes them to New York City where surviving will take all her skill at spotting the amazing, shocking, and sometimes dangerous connections in a world full of darkness. Marcus Sedgwick's She Is Not Invisible is an intricate puzzle of a novel that sheds a light on the delicate ties that bind people to each other. This title has Common Core connections.




Annual Report


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The Islamic State


Book Description

The so-called "Islamic State" (IS) that has swept into power in parts of Syria and Iraq presents an imminent danger to the global community with its capacity as an effective, ideologically motivated, and bloodthirsty fighting force, coupled with its expanding territorial reach, on the ground and online. The IS has taken on a quasi-state form that mixes modernity with ancient rites, and aggressively promotes sectarian violence and religious extremism with a decidedly apocalyptic bent. Too, it has introduced to the Middle East a new level of extremism and brutality, marked by volatile fluidity, with far-reaching, dangerously destabilizing effects on state and non-state actors, regionally and globally. This book offers insights into the nature of the IS and what the international community can do to combat it. In order to achieve this objective, the origins, intentions, leadership, capabilities, and operations of the IS are explored. The Islamic State’s multifaceted efforts and effects in the region and beyond are described. Also, national, regional, and global strategies that are being pursued to address the new threat are examined. To this end, a range of recommendations are offered on specific steps that governmental, intergovernmental, and non-governmental bodies can take to counter the IS menace. Lastly, additional insights are presented relevant to combating the IS and undermining its potential future capabilities.




Protest Politics in the Marketplace


Book Description

Protest Politics in the Marketplace examines how social media has revolutionized the use and effectiveness of consumer activism. In her groundbreaking book, Caroline Heldman emphasizes that consumer activism is a democratizing force that improves political participation, self-governance, and the accountability of corporations and the government. She also investigates the use of these tactics by conservatives. Heldman analyzes the democratic implications of boycotting, socially responsible investing, social media campaigns, and direct consumer actions, highlighting the ways in which such consumer activism serves as a countervailing force against corporate power in politics. In Protest Politics in the Marketplace, she blends democratic theory with data, historical analysis, and coverage of consumer campaigns for civil rights, environmental conservation, animal rights, gender justice, LGBT rights, and other causes. Using an inter-disciplinary approach applicable to political theorists and sociologists, Americanists, and scholars of business, the environment, and social movements, Heldman considers activism in the marketplace from the Boston Tea Party to the present. In doing so, she provides readers with a clearer understanding of the new, permanent environment of consumer activism in which they operate.




Sounding Bodies


Book Description

“In compelling and intricately argued ways, the authors make a resounding case for understanding how vocal sonority is intrinsic to self-identity and self-reception ... Required Reading.” - Jane Boston, Principal Lecturer, Voice Studies, Royal Central School of Speech and Drama A new, provocative study of the ethical, political, and social meanings of the everyday voice. Utilising the framework of feminist philosophy, authors Ann J. Cahill and Christine Hamel approach the phenomenon of voice as a lived, sonorous and embodied experience marked by the social structures that surround it, including systemic forms of injustice such as ableism, sexism, racism, and classism. By developing novel theoretical constructs such as “intervocality” and “respiratory responsibility,” Cahill and Hamel cut through the static between theory and praxis and put forward exciting theories on how human vocal sound can perpetuate -- and challenge -- persistent inequalities. Sounding Bodies presents a powerful model of how the seemingly disparate disciplines of philosophy and voice/speech training can, in conversation with each other, generate illuminating insights about our vocal lives and identities.




China's Information and Communications Technology Revolution


Book Description

In recent years, China has experienced a revolution in information and communications technology (ICT), in 2003 surpassing the USA as the world’s largest telephone market, and as of February 2008, the number of Chinese Internet users has become the largest in the world. At the same time, China has overtaken the USA as the world’s biggest supplier of information technology goods. However, this transformation has occurred against the backdrop of a resolutely authoritarian political system and strict censorship by the Party-state. This book examines China’s ICT revolution, exploring the social, cultural and political implications of China’s transition to a more information-rich and communication-intensive society. The pace of the development of ICT in China has precipitated much speculation about political change and democratisation. This book explores the reality of ICT in China, showing clearly that whilst China remains a one-party state, with an ever-present and sophisticated regime of censorship, substantial social and political changes have taken place. It considers the ICT revolution in all its aspects, outlining the dominant trends, the impact on other countries of China as an ICT exporter, strategies of government censorship and use of ICT for propaganda, the implications of censorship for Chinese governance, the political implications of internet culture and blogging, and the role of domestic and foreign NGOs. Overall, this book is a vital resource for anyone seeking to understand a rapidly transforming China, both today and in the years to come.