Autumn Edwards – författare

This book challenges dominant narratives of internet history by uncovering the overlooked contributions of women and LGBTQ+ communities in shaping our digital world. This groundbreaking collection brings together critical essays and archival research that illuminate how these social groups have been instrumental in building, maintaining, and transforming online spaces. The volume is structured in two complementary parts: the first examines women's pivotal roles in online communities, from Wikipedia contributors to pioneers in digital fandom and blogging cultures; the second explores LGBTQ+ digital histories, including archiving practices, representation in AI databases, and the complexities of documenting queer internet experiences. By centering these previously silenced voices, this collection not only reconstructs a more inclusive digital past but also provides essential frameworks for reimagining our technological future.This volume will appeal to scholars and students across digital humanities, media studies, gender studies, queer theory, and internet history. It offers valuable insights for technology professionals seeking to understand the diverse foundations of digital culture, as well as activists and policymakers working toward more equitable digital spaces. By bridging historical analysis with contemporary digital issues, the book speaks to anyone concerned with how power, identity, and representation continue to shape our networked world.The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Internet Histories.

Featuring diverse chapters written by thirty principal scholars in the discipline, Communication Is…Perspectives on Theory is an innovative and evocative collection that examines what communication theory is and how it functions. Throughout the text, each scholar offers unique and insightful perspective, exposing readers to the myriad ways in which to analyze, understand, and think about communication.The book helps readers envision communication in alternative ways and better understand how various ideas and viewpoints within the discipline can work together to expand the overarching definition of communication. Nineteen different completions of "communication is" give voice to contemplative and exceptional constructions of what communication is and what it accomplishes. The chapters are organized around four broad methods of defining communication: locating, processing, appreciating, and actualizing. Holistically, the text invites readers to discuss, interrogate, and work through various ideas, interpretations, and definitions of communication.Designed to stimulate lively discussion, deep introspection, and critical thought, Communication Is… serves as an ideal textbook for senior and graduate-level courses in the discipline. It is also an excellent resource for communication scholars who are inspired to challenge, develop, or revisit their own definitions and understanding of communication.

This book offers a practical guide for creating, funding, and growing a communication or media research lab. Drawing on the insights of experienced lab directors, it covers essential steps—from defining a mission and securing space to navigating funding and fostering a collaborative, inclusive culture that supports innovation.The book is divided into two sections. Section 1 explores reasons for starting a lab, introduces the design thinking process, and presents 10 practical tips from the editors based on their own experience. Section 2 features detailed case studies and advice from lab directors at a range of institutions—from small liberal arts colleges to large state universities. These chapters highlight the challenges and successes of launching and sustaining labs in different contexts.Through real-world examples, readers will discover strategies for building lab culture, mentoring diverse teams, promoting equity and inclusion, and aligning efforts with institutional goals. The book emphasizes clear communication, shared purpose, and mutual respect as cornerstones of research excellence.

This book offers a practical guide for creating, funding, and growing a communication or media research lab. Drawing on the insights of experienced lab directors, it covers essential steps—from defining a mission and securing space to navigating funding and fostering a collaborative, inclusive culture that supports innovation.The book is divided into two sections. Section 1 explores reasons for starting a lab, introduces the design thinking process, and presents 10 practical tips from the editors based on their own experience. Section 2 features detailed case studies and advice from lab directors at a range of institutions—from small liberal arts colleges to large state universities. These chapters highlight the challenges and successes of launching and sustaining labs in different contexts.Through real-world examples, readers will discover strategies for building lab culture, mentoring diverse teams, promoting equity and inclusion, and aligning efforts with institutional goals. The book emphasizes clear communication, shared purpose, and mutual respect as cornerstones of research excellence.

The De Gruyter Handbook of Robots in Society and Culture provides a comprehensive discussion of how social robots take form, function, and meaning for individuals, relationships, cultures, and societies. Through a path-breaking integration of perspectives coming from sociology, communication and media, psychology, cognitive neuroscience, anthropology, political science, and science and technology studies, it focuses on the critical and social meaning of present developments in social robotic technologies. This book looks at artificial agents – from voice-based assistants to humanoid robots— as their use transforms private and public contexts and gives rise to both new possibilities and new perils for human being and becoming, organizations as well as social structures and institutions. The handbook traces the consequences and key problems of social robotics across broad social contexts in both public and political as well as domestic and intimate spaces. Further, it attends carefully to the implications of social robotics for various human identity groups, including those based on gender, ethnicity, culture, class, ability, and age. Deep attention to interdisciplinarity, inclusivity, ethics, and socio-cultural futures serves as the guiding inspiration behind each contribution within this handbook.