ABSTRACT

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.

chapter 1|15 pages

Introduction

Cultural Technologies in Cultures of Technology

part I|68 pages

Histories of Cultural Technologies

chapter 2|17 pages

The Algorithmic Turn

Photosynth, Augmented Reality and the Changing Implications of the Image

chapter 3|15 pages

The Compact Disc and Its Culture

Notes on Melancholia

chapter 4|13 pages

Peer-to-Peer File-Sharing Systems

Files, Objects, Distribution

chapter 5|21 pages

Technostruggles and the Satellite Dish

A Populist Approach to Infrastructure

part 6|66 pages

Epistemologies of Cultural Technologies

chapter II|16 pages

Being ‘Accountable'

TV Audiences and Surveillance

chapter 7|15 pages

Time, Space and Clouds of Information

Data Centre Discourse and the Meaning of Durability

chapter 8|15 pages

Search Engines in Practice

Structure and Culture in Technical Development

chapter 9|18 pages

Technology and Epistemology

Information Policy and Desire

part III|51 pages

Uses of Cultural Technologies

chapter 11|19 pages

Virtual Technologies of the Nation-State

State Administration in Second Life

chapter 12|13 pages

The Scary Promise of Technology

Developing New Forms of Audience Research