Internet Down ...A Modern American Western


Book Description

Chris is the sole survivor of a terrorist attack on an oil drilling rig off the shore of Chile. His identification is at the bottom of the Pacific along with his credit cards and cash. He will quickly learn the world has changed into a "cash only" paradigm. "By hook or by crook" is now the name of the game. As each person tries to find their own destiny some are successful while others find disappointment and more. Chris becomes part of the western U.S. as the citizens rebuild. Travel becomes more of a threat than adventure for the unprepared.




Linguistic and Cultural Online Communication Issues in the Global Age


Book Description

"This book provides readers with in-depth information on the various linguistic, cultural, technological, legal, and other factors that affect interactions in online exchanges. It provides information that implements effective decisions related to the uses and designs of online media when interacting with individuals from other cultures"--Provided by publisher.




Cultural Tropes of the Contemporary American West


Book Description

This study explores the abiding fascination and provocation of the American frontier West in the contemporary period, in contexts which both ground it historically and extrapolate from it, refracting it through contemporary film, literature, science fiction and the rhetoric of information technology. A historical, geopolitical specificity in granted by chapters on D.H. Lawrence in New Mexico, contemporary Montana literature, and two popular movies set there and in Oregon respectively. The American West is more generally considered strategically in its connections to Europe, as in Wim Wenders's classic Paris, Texas, the Beach Boys' work in the Netherlands and the consideration of the European vision of the internet as a new frontier. Comparable connections to East Asia are granted in a chapter on the presentation of Japan in seminal works by Richard Brautigan. Close textual analysis of abiding works is given, against a background of seminal, related critical works not only in historical and cultural studies, but also in film analysis and information technology. therefore yield a pertinent and timely contribution of that reassessment of the nation as it enters the new millennium.




Future West


Book Description

What is the future of the American West? This book look at works of utopian, dystopian, and apocalyptic science fiction to show how narratives of the past and future powerfully shape our understanding of the present-day West.




East and Southeast Asia 2012


Book Description

Updated annually, East & Southeast Asia provides just enough historical background on the evolution of Modern East & Southeast Asia to help readers understand contemporary developments in this vital region. Broad introductory regional and comparative chapters are followed by distinct sections on each country in the region and for some sub-chapters are areas such as Tibet. More specifically, the text focuses on contemporary political, economic and environmental developments and has been especially designed to offer a concise introduction to contemporary developments for students and travelers alike.




Algorithms of Oppression


Book Description

Acknowledgments -- Introduction: the power of algorithms -- A society, searching -- Searching for Black girls -- Searching for people and communities -- Searching for protections from search engines -- The future of knowledge in the public -- The future of information culture -- Conclusion: algorithms of oppression -- Epilogue -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- About the author




The Western Architect


Book Description




Transnational Media


Book Description

A broad and accessible introduction to national and transnational media Transnational Media: Concepts and Cases provides a clear and engaging overview of media communication from a global and a region-based perspective. Rather than focusing on just complex theories and industry-specific analyses, this unique book offers an inclusive, comparative approach to both journalism and entertainment media—introducing readers to the essential concepts, systems, transnational influences, and power dynamics that shape global media flow. Broad coverage of different media forms from Asia, Africa, the Americas, Europe, and Oceania offers country-based and transnational perspectives while highlighting examples of media trends in television, radio, film, journalism, social media, music, and others. Promoting a balanced, multipolar exploration of transnational media, this innovative book discusses topics such as media concentration, the cultural, political, and economic impact of media, and the primary centers of new and traditional media activities. Chapters organized by geographic region offer instructive pedagogical features—including case studies and essays, and illustrations, maps and charts—that strengthen understanding of distinctive and emerging practices in the production, distribution, and consumption of media products. Explores a wide range of global media topics, infrastructures, cultures, and political-economic climates Written in an engaging, relatable, and easy to understand style Covers major aspects of journalism and various forms of entertainment media Organized by regions of the world to reflect a global perspective Includes newly-written case studies by international scholars from each region Designed for undergraduate and graduate courses in comparative media analysis, international media and communication, and related areas of study, Transnational Media: Concepts and Cases is an indispensable resource for colleges and universities that are internationalizing their curriculum to meet the needs of an increasing globalized world.




The Telegraph in America


Book Description

Here is an often cited panoramic history of the telegraph which discusses the principal telegraph firms and the key persons within them. Throughout his work, Reid stresses the business and economic aspects of marketing this remarkable scientific invention. The importance of The Telegraph in America as a classic reference in the field is under-scored by the fact that the author was active in telegraphy throughout the period he discusses. He thus had a personal knowledge of persons and events under examination.




The Age of Surveillance Capitalism


Book Description

The challenges to humanity posed by the digital future, the first detailed examination of the unprecedented form of power called "surveillance capitalism," and the quest by powerful corporations to predict and control our behavior. In this masterwork of original thinking and research, Shoshana Zuboff provides startling insights into the phenomenon that she has named surveillance capitalism. The stakes could not be higher: a global architecture of behavior modification threatens human nature in the twenty-first century just as industrial capitalism disfigured the natural world in the twentieth. Zuboff vividly brings to life the consequences as surveillance capitalism advances from Silicon Valley into every economic sector. Vast wealth and power are accumulated in ominous new "behavioral futures markets," where predictions about our behavior are bought and sold, and the production of goods and services is subordinated to a new "means of behavioral modification." The threat has shifted from a totalitarian Big Brother state to a ubiquitous digital architecture: a "Big Other" operating in the interests of surveillance capital. Here is the crucible of an unprecedented form of power marked by extreme concentrations of knowledge and free from democratic oversight. Zuboff's comprehensive and moving analysis lays bare the threats to twenty-first century society: a controlled "hive" of total connection that seduces with promises of total certainty for maximum profit -- at the expense of democracy, freedom, and our human future. With little resistance from law or society, surveillance capitalism is on the verge of dominating the social order and shaping the digital future -- if we let it.