Comunicación y cultura

In the lightning paced digital media environment of mass-scale data collection by Google, Facebook, and security agencies like the US's National Security Agency and the UK's GCHQ, citizens should be very concerned about trends in media communications and privacy. Data retention laws are sold to us by governments on the dubious promise that by storing all of our communications metadata they will save us from those who seek to cause harm. At the same time corporations amass even more data as we merely go about our daily lives. Our privacy rights, despite recent developments like 'the right to be forgotten' found by the European Court of Justice, are diminishing, as people accept a trade-off between data disclosure and national security. Meanwhile, neoliberal ideologies about 'having nothing to hide' are exposed as at best lame, and at worst, naively complicit with the dovetailing motivations of both corporations and governments. Big data enthusiasts seem blind to both increasingly frequent data breaches and the full spectrum of hackers, and downplay their privacy consequences. Convergent Media and Privacy examines where the important human right of privacy has emerged from, where it is heading, and how new digital media corporations are reshaping its meaning in cooperation with governments.

One of the crucial sites of contestation in current approaches to communication for social change is the status of the national identity in an era characterized by the tensions between the globalization of capitalism and myriad resurgent nationalisms. Commercial Nationalism intervenes in discussions of the fate of nationalism and national identity by exploring the relationship between state appropriation of marketing and branding strategies on the one hand, and, on the other, the commercial mobilization of nationalist discourses. The book's unique contribution is to consider an emerging formation characterized by the following complementary (and related) developments: the ways in which states come increasingly to rely on commercial techniques for self-promotion, diplomacy, and internal national mobilization, and also the ways in which new and legacy forms of commercial media rely on the mobilization emerging configurations of nationalism for the purpose of selling, gaining ratings, and otherwise profiting. We see this formation as a unique reconfiguration of the formation of nationalism associated with the contemporary context. Often these processes are approached separately: what is the economic role of nationalism and how do media participate in the formation of national identity?

The life of a critical researcher is often a lonely one. As Janet Wasko observed in A Different Road Taken, challenging dominant power structures is difficult, often leading to additional scrutiny from within one's academic department and/or field and generally resulting in few, if any, opportunities for funded research. This volume serves as a guidepost to those wishing to understand the difficulties facing critical researchers and how others have been able to navigate through the challenges. It will be particularly valuable for those interested in learning about the scholars who conducted research that did not conform to mainstream social science standards and challenged established views. In addition, the lives and work of these critical researchers offers a means for understanding ourselves as we try to make sense of the dynamic and complicated world in which we live.

Media, Margins and Popular Culture is a collection from established and emerging scholars in Media and Cultural Studies and the Social Sciences, and focuses on marginalised voices and representations; socially marginalised, marginalised in media and media scholarship. The book spans five continents and is divided into sections on gender, sexuality, nation, disability, disciplinary boundaries, youth and age. It covers media forms from Flickr to film. Chapters look at the structural and ideological construction of marginality in state and media producer censorship (in Singapore) and media scholarship (Sherlock Holmes and its adaptations). Authors consider; representations of social marginality, e.g. people with dementia; artistic and self-fashioning marginality, from Quentin Crisp to tattoo artists online; and the engagement of marginal users in media spaces (fathers on Mumsnet). This book takes a fresh look at the ideological work of constructing and confronting marginality in media, from Dalits ('untouchables') in Indian cinema to neuro-diverse (autism spectrum) audience interpretations of Doctor Who.

In 2105, a multinational corporation, East African Breweries Ltd. (EABL), launched a traditional dance competition in Uganda, the Senator National Cultural Extravaganza. Across the country, local groups were called upon to perform their regional traditional dance styles, and also to compose and perform original songs and dances in praise of Senator Extra Lager, a brand of beer EABL designed specifically for poor rural markets. David G. Pier offers an ethnographic study of the Senator Extravaganza, and the performers, marketers, and other actors who were involved in it. Pier illustrates the event as part of a broader moment in Ugandan and African public culture – one in which marketing is playing an increasingly dominant role. He considers how geographical images of the traditional "village" and the cosmopolitan "town" are being artistically renewed and revised within contemporary economic, political, and technological articulations.

This book deals with the often-neglected link between indigenous languages, the media and democracy in Africa. It explores the politics associated with the use or lack of use of indigenous languages in Africa. Language enables both political and cultural expression as well as identity formation. The book recognizes that indeed the media play a key amplifying or 'publicizing' role without which modern-day expression, public participation and ultimately democracy would be inconceivable. It recognises that the majority of African nations today have, at the formal level, opened up to a multiplicity of media channels and to a variety of political views. However, whether this plurality equals diversity in different African contexts remains a matter for more specific scrutiny. Mirroring the argument of the Goldsmith Media Group, the authors argue that one must make a distinction between access that enables consumption as opposed to access that enables plurality and diversity.

Estamos frente a un libro práctico y analítico sobre la creatividad y sus consecuencias. Frente a un viaje por el proceso creativo, desde la primera chispa hasta la elaboración y ejecución de un proyecto. Sus autores defienden la creatividad como un elemento transformador de la sociedad. Se trata de “Actuar para crear, crear para actuar”, pues para tener ideas, debemos empezar por actuar, es decir, por trabajar para generar nuevos paradigmas, tomar iniciativas, confeccionar y llevar a cabo un propósito que beneficie a todos los tipos de comunidad, sea cual sea, y sin importar la escala: la empresa, la plataforma, el barrio o el centro educativo; la familia, el edificio o el grupo de amigos. En este innovador manual encontraremos reflexiones, criterios y técnicas para potenciar la creatividad, la emprendeduría y la educación creativa, sustentadas en la búsqueda práctica y teórica de los autores, para concluir que todo el mundo es creativo, que la creatividad se puede ejercitar y que se inicia con la generación de ideas, pero debe culminar con la acción.

A palavra cosplay se origina da contração de costume play, traduzida como roupas de brincar, de encenar. Fazer cosplay é mais que vestir trajes de personagens de animês, mangás ou de tantas outras produções midiáticas, é atuar como eles, “performar”. Desde que chegou ao Brasil, na década de 1991, essa prática se espalha pelo país, podendo ser compreendida como uma cena cultural.
Com base em pesquisa de campo em eventos de animês nas capitais da região Sudeste do Brasil, os dez artigos que integram este livro abordam a cena cosplay em seu engendramento e suas articulações com outras cenas urbanas, como a poesia marginal; com o jogo e a cognição; com a moda e as paisagens sonoras geradas; com o universo dos games e das coleções de objetos pop.

Postdigital Aesthetics presents a constellation of contributors who seek to unpack, explore and critically reflect on the questions raised by the notion of the postdigital and its relation to our computational everyday lives. Through a number of interventions, each chapter subjects the concept and ideas that surround our ideas of an aesthetic of the postdigital to critical examination to understand the new asterism of material digital culture in the twenty-first century. From Minecraft to post-internet art, each contributor offers an original perspective on network culture and its distinctive aesthetics and politics, and the relations between art, computation and design.

A comprehensive survey of green media and popular culture, introducing the key debates surrounding green interpretations of film, TV, journalism, comedy, music and computer games. It is an original and thought-provoking exploration of the emerging field of environmental media studies.