The Digital Public Square


Book Description

We now inhabit a digital world. Social media has changed and challenged some of our most basic understandings of truth, faith, and even the idea of a public square. In The Digital Public Square, editor Jason Thacker has chosen top Christian voices to help the church navigate the issues of censorship, conspiracy theories, sexual ethics, hate speech, religious freedom, and tribalism. In this unique work, David French, Patricia Shaw, and many others cast a distinctly Christian vision of a digital public theology to promote the common good throughout society.




The Public Square Project


Book Description

Western democracy has always been anchored by the idea of a public space where people gather to share ideas, mediate difference and make sense of the world. When Facebook blocked Australian users from viewing or sharing news in 2021, it sounded the alarm worldwide on our growing reliance on global tech companies to fulfil this critical role in a digital world. Facebook's hostile act, constituting a very real threat to participatory democracy, was a direct response to government attempts to regulate Big Tech's advertising monopoly and to mediate its impact on public interest journalism. The conflict sparked a new sense of urgency around the growing movement to imagine alternative digital spaces that operate in the public interest rather than simply for a commercial bottom line. Can we create sustainable media models to help us tackle society's problems? Can we engender a civic platform built on facts and civility? Can we control the power of our data and use it to promote the common good? The Public Square Project draws together leading tech scholars, industry experts, writers and activists to chart a path towards a public square worthy of the name.




The Digital Public Square


Book Description

The Digital Public Square brings together top Christian leaders and thinkers to help believers navigate the pressing challenges of living in a digital society.




Digital Media Metaphors


Book Description

Bringing together leading scholars from media studies and digital sociology, this edited volume provides a comprehensive introduction to digital media metaphors, unpacking their power and limitations. Digital technologies have reshaped our way of life. To grasp their dynamics and implications, people often rely on metaphors to provide a shared frame of reference. Scholars, journalists, tech companies, and policymakers alike speak of digital clouds, bubbles, frontiers, platforms, trolls, and rabbit holes. Some of these metaphors distort the workings of the digital realm and neglect key consequences. This collection, structured in three parts, explores metaphors across digital infrastructures, content, and users. Within these parts, each chapter examines a specific metaphor that has become near-ubiquitous in public debate. Doing so, the book engages not only with the technological, but also the social, political, and environmental implications of digital technologies and relations. This unique collection will interest students and scholars of digital media and the broader fields of media and communication studies, sociology, and science and technology studies.




The Digital City and Mediated Urban Ecologies


Book Description

This book examines the phenomenon of the “digital city” in the US by looking at three case studies: New York City, San Antonio, and Seattle. Kristin Scott considers how digital technologies are increasingly built into the logic and organization of urban spaces and argues that while each city articulates ideals such as those of open democracy, civic engagement, efficient governance, and enhanced security, competing capitalist interests attached to many of these digital technological programs make the “digital city” problematic.




Fearless Speech


Book Description

A powerful debunking of First Amendment orthodoxy that critiques "reckless speech," which endangers vulnerable groups, and elevates "fearless speech," which seeks to advance equality and democracy. Freedom of speech has never been more important—or more controversial. From debates about what's permissible on social media, to the politics of campus speakers and corporate advertisements, the First Amendment is incessantly in the news and constantly being held up as the fundamental principle of American democracy. Yet, in reality, it has contributed more to eroding our democracy than supporting it. In Fearless Speech, Dr. Mary Anne Franks emphasizes the distinction between what speech a democratic society should protect and what speech a democratic society should promote. While the First Amendment in theory is politically neutral, in practice it has been legally deployed most visibly and effectively to promote powerful antidemocratic interests: misogyny, racism, religious zealotry, and corporate self-interest, in other words, reckless speech. Instead, Franks argues, we need to focus on fearless speech—speakers who have risked their safety, their reputations, and in some cases their lives, to call out injustice and hold the powerful accountable. Whether it be civil rights leaders, the women of the #MeToo movement, or pro-choice advocates, Franks shows us how their cases and their voices can allow us to promote a more democratic version of free speech. Told through an accessible narrative and ending with a call for change that urges us to reevaluate the legal precedents and uses of the First Amendment, Fearless Speech is a revelatory new argument that urges us to reimagine what our society could look like.




Algorithms for the People


Book Description

How to put democracy at the heart of AI governance Artificial intelligence and machine learning are reshaping our world. Police forces use them to decide where to send police officers, judges to decide whom to release on bail, welfare agencies to decide which children are at risk of abuse, and Facebook and Google to rank content and distribute ads. In these spheres, and many others, powerful prediction tools are changing how decisions are made, narrowing opportunities for the exercise of judgment, empathy, and creativity. In Algorithms for the People, Josh Simons flips the narrative about how we govern these technologies. Instead of examining the impact of technology on democracy, he explores how to put democracy at the heart of AI governance. Drawing on his experience as a research fellow at Harvard University, a visiting research scientist on Facebook’s Responsible AI team, and a policy advisor to the UK’s Labour Party, Simons gets under the hood of predictive technologies, offering an accessible account of how they work, why they matter, and how to regulate the institutions that build and use them. He argues that prediction is political: human choices about how to design and use predictive tools shape their effects. Approaching predictive technologies through the lens of political theory casts new light on how democracies should govern political choices made outside the sphere of representative politics. Showing the connection between technology regulation and democratic reform, Simons argues that we must go beyond conventional theorizing of AI ethics to wrestle with fundamental moral and political questions about how the governance of technology can support the flourishing of democracy.




Wired Humanity


Book Description

Step into "Wired Humanity," the profound exploration of our ever-evolving digital world—a landscape where pixels meet personhood and virtual realities intertwine with the tangible. This compelling eBook delves into the heart of what it means to live, work, and exist in an age where technology goes beyond being a tool; it becomes an extension of ourselves. There is no sphere untouched by the digital revolution. "Wired Humanity" begins with the Digital Identity Paradigm, unraveling the intricate ways in which our identities morph within cyberspace. How do our virtual personas impact the real world, and what does it mean to fragment our sense of self across multiple platforms? As we navigate the complex web of online existence, the substance of who we are shifts in mysterious—and sometimes alarming—ways. Through a tapestry of thought-provoking chapters, the book guides readers along the razor-thin line between sharing and secrecy in our Data-Driven Selfhood. It offers a rich examination of social media’s crucible, where we curate ourselves amidst echo chambers and digital pressures, and ventures into virtual worlds where gaming avatars become vessels for identity exploration and community building. But what of our physical bodies in this augmented age? Venturing into the realms of wearables and augmented reality, "Wired Humanity" probes the ethical quandaries of an increasingly cyborgian existence. As the boundaries blur further, the book scrutinizes the transformation of privacy, the balance of power in a world of pervasive surveillance, and the right to digital anonymity. The narrative also spotlights Artificial Intelligence—not merely as a tool but as a mirror, reflecting and sometimes distorting our sense of self. As technology redefines the workforce, reshapes education, and reconstructs the financial landscapes, "Wired Humanity" asks pressing questions Who are we amidst the digits and data? Do our digital livelihoods liberate or ensnare us? Remarkably timely, this eBook delves into the heart of digital citizenship and E-democracy, assessing the rippling impact of connectedness on our political and personal identities. It traverses the ethical terrain of bioinformatics, the convoluted reality of digital relationships, and the frontlines of the battle against propaganda and disinformation. "Wired Humanity" is not just a book; it's a roadmap for navigating the convergence of technology and human experience. Are we prepared for the singularity, merging with machines, or shall we seek solace in digital detox? With precise analysis and eye-opening insights, this work lays bare the emerging contours of a future where humanity is interwoven with the codes it has created. Prepare to be challenged, enlightened, and forever changed as you turn each virtual page and ponder the path ahead for our wired existence.




From Social Media to Social Ministry


Book Description

This book outlines digital discipleship principles for building an online community and provides practical instruction for how to do it no matter how big or small a local church may be. There are more than 2.3 billion professing Christians in the world and more and more new churches launching globally, yet statistics show that in-person church attendance is declining or plateauing in every nation. Although social technology has been around for more than two decades, church leaders have long bristled at the idea of church online, ranking it as the last concern on their minds in Barna's 2020 state of the church report published February 3, 2020. And then, three weeks later, COVID-19 closed the doors of every church on earth and suddenly forced them entirely online. Nona Jones, a globally acclaimed thought leader on leveraging technology for ministry, had been leading a movement and sounding the alarm for several years to make digital discipleship a central part of every church’s ministry approach. In From Social Media to Social Ministry, she outlines her digital discipleship principles and provides practical instruction for how to do it no matter how big or small a local church may be. There are plenty of books to help churches build a social media strategy, but this is the first book of its kind that goes beyond digital marketing to digital ministry. Readers will leave this book with: Clarity on what discipleship truly is The data that underscores the urgency for digital discipleship Understanding of the resources required to do it well A step-by-step guide on how to implement digital discipleship into ministry plans Knowledge of the differences among and purposes of the most popular social platforms, as well as the tools best positioned for digital ministry




The Digitalization of Public Diplomacy


Book Description

This book addresses how digitalization has influenced the institutions, practitioners and audiences of diplomacy. Throughout, the author argues that terms such as ‘digitalized public diplomacy’ or ‘digital public diplomacy’ are misleading, as they suggest that Ministries of Foreign Affairs (MFAs) are either digital or non-digital, when in fact digitalization should be conceptualized as a long-term process in which the values, norms, working procedures and goals of public diplomacy are challenged and re-defined. Subsequently, through case study examination, this book also argues that different MFAs are at different stages of the digitalization process. By adopting the term ‘the digitalization of public diplomacy’, this book will offer a new conceptual framework for investigating the impact of digitalization on the practice of public diplomacy.