Cultural Technologies The Shaping of Culture in Media and Society

The essays in this volume discuss both the culture of technology that we live in today, and culture as technology. Within the chapters of the book cultures of technology and cultural technologies are discussed, focussing on a variety of examples, from varied national contexts. The book brings together internationally recognised scholars from the social sciences and humanities, covering diverse themes such as intellectual property, server farms and search engines, cultural technologies and epistemology, virtual embassies, surveillance, peer-to-peer file-sharing, sound media and nostalgia and much more. It contains both historical and contemporary analyses of technological phenomena as well as epistemological discussions on the uses of technology.

1 Introduction: Cultural Technologies in Cultures of Technology Göran Bolin Part I: Histories of Cultural Technologies 2. The Algorithmic Turn: Photosynth, Augmented Reality and the Changing Implications of the Image William Uricchio 3. The Compact Disc and Its Culture: Notes on Melancholia Eric Rothenbuhler 4. Peer-to-Peer File-Sharing Systems: Files, Objects, Distribution Mats Björkin 5. Technostruggles and the Satellite Dish: A Populist Approach to Infrastructure Lisa Parks Part II: Epistemologies of Cultural Technologies 6. Being ‘Accountable’: TV Audiences and Surveillance Toby Miller 7. Time, Space and Clouds of Information: Data Centre Discourse and the Meaning of Durability Peter Jakobsson and Fredrik Stiernstedt 8. Search Engines in Practice: Structure and Culture in Technical Development Elizabeth Van Couvering 9. Technology and Epistemology: Information Policy and Desire Sandra Braman Part III: Uses of Cultural Technologies 10. Web 2.0 Technologies of the Self Maria Bakardjieva and Georgia Gaden 11. Virtual Technologies of Nation-States: State Administration in Second Life Stina Bengtsson 12. The Scary Promise of Technology: Developing New Forms of Audience Research Joke Hermes

Goran Bolin is Professor of Media & Communication Studies at Sodertorn University.