Peter B. Seel

Digital Universe


Скачать книгу

to extend my appreciation to colleague Mike Humphrey and CSU social media expert Ashleigh Schroeder for their contributions to the key terms list.

      My son, Peter James Seel, contributed helpful feedback for the chapter on Alternative Digital Realities about digital game culture and e-sports, an area of personal expertise. Friend Michael Szczepaniak is a professional working in information technology and contributed to the chapter on artificial intelligence and machine learning with many helpful comments. Retired telephone company executive Clifton Phalen shared unique insights about working for one of the regional Bell operating companies when it was part of AT&T.

      Continued thanks to the key individuals who provided guidance and valuable feedback in the first edition of this book. It would not have been written without the support of Elizabeth Swayze, my first editor at Wiley-Blackwell. She believed in the importance of the topic and provided ongoing encouragement through multiple drafts. Helpful comments about the content of the book were provided by my longtime friend and co-author on previous book projects, August E. “Augie” Grant, of the University of South Carolina. Amy Reitz and Carol Anderson Reinhardt assisted in editing early chapters and their input is gratefully appreciated. Don Zimmerman of Colorado State University was helpful in providing support from the Center for Research in Writing and Communication Technologies. I would also like to thank the graduate students enrolled in my telecommunication technology seminars for their insightful comments on the book’s first edition.

      Assistance in locating photographs for inclusion in the book were provided by Marianne Heilig for her father’s photos, George Despres at MITRE, Lauren Skrabala at RAND, Angela Alvaro at Banco de Espana in Madrid, Leonard Kleinrock at UCLA, Dina Basin at SRI, Mekialaya White at KCNC-TV in Denver, Christine Engelbart and Mary Coppernoll at the Doug Engelbart Institute, Jayne Burke at NYU, Jan Walker at DARPA, Eric Mankin and Claude Zachary at USC, Sophie Tesauri at CERN, and by photographers Patrick Troud-Chastenet, Irene Fertik, and Gary MacFadden. Many images were provided by photographers via the Creative Commons, and this has become a helpful resource for authors and educators worldwide.

Part I Introduction and Framing

      The Social Media Universe

      The routine daily use of online social media did not exist in 2005, as Facebook did not allow anyone without an . edu email address to join until 2006. In fact, telecommunication users prior to 2005 would not understand the specific meaning of any of these now-commonplace social media and online communication terms:

AstroturfingBoomerangCancellingChatbotClickbaitDoxingFOMOFriendingGaslightingGeotag#HashtagInfluencerInstagrammingNewsjackingPhishingRegramSelfieStanSubtweetThreadTrollingUnfriendingUpvoteUXVlog
See the glossary in the front of this book for definitions to these commonly used words and technical terms and abbreviations in this text.

      Trump’s Twitter usage notwithstanding, it has provided a voice for the disenfranchised in both positive and negative ways, as hashtags became shorthand for communication campaigns worldwide. The #blacklivesmatter and #metoo movements used social media to mobilize their activists and communicate their urgent messages to wider publics. In line with the Tao of Technology theme cited throughout this book, that the positive and negative effects of communication technologies are inseparable, the global use of social media provides numerous examples of negative antisocial uses. The #gamergate shaming of female e-game experts and the adoption of social media as a communication tool by hate and terrorist groups worldwide has fueled angst by those who viewed the promise of digital telecommunication as an essential tool to bridge gaps between diverse groups within and between nations.