The definitive and first major text on personas in contemporary culture

Modern social media and communication technologies have reshaped our identities and transformed contemporary culture, revealing an expanded and intensified reforming of our collective online behavior. Billions of people worldwide are increasingly engaged in the production, presentation, and modification of their public selves—curating personas through various social media and fundamentally altering how we interact in the twenty-first century. The study of persona is essential to understanding contemporary culture, yet literature in this emerging field is scarce. Filling a gap in current knowledge, Persona Studies: An Introduction is the first major work to examine the construction, delivery, and curation of public identities in contemporary online culture. 

This timely book helps readers navigate the changing cultural landscape while laying the groundwork for further research and application of persona studies. Three case studies are included—examining personas of the artist, gamer, and professional­—to illustrate how personas continue to transform identity and reshape contemporary culture. From the historical precursors of the current iteration of persona to emerging configurations of public self, this unique work offers readers a broad introduction to the evolving theories and concepts of how persona defines the contemporary condition and its relation to technology and collective identity. To summarize, the book:

Persona Studies: An Introduction is an innovative resource for students, academics, researchers, and professionals in fields covering digital and social media, technology and culture, mass media and communications, social and media psychology and sociology, and professional studies.

The definitive and first major text on personas in contemporary culture

Modern social media and communication technologies have reshaped our identities and transformed contemporary culture, revealing an expanded and intensified reforming of our collective online behavior. Billions of people worldwide are increasingly engaged in the production, presentation, and modification of their public selves—curating personas through various social media and fundamentally altering how we interact in the twenty-first century. The study of persona is essential to understanding contemporary culture, yet literature in this emerging field is scarce. Filling a gap in current knowledge, Persona Studies: An Introduction is the first major work to examine the construction, delivery, and curation of public identities in contemporary online culture. 

This timely book helps readers navigate the changing cultural landscape while laying the groundwork for further research and application of persona studies. Three case studies are included—examining personas of the artist, gamer, and professional­—to illustrate how personas continue to transform identity and reshape contemporary culture. From the historical precursors of the current iteration of persona to emerging configurations of public self, this unique work offers readers a broad introduction to the evolving theories and concepts of how persona defines the contemporary condition and its relation to technology and collective identity. To summarize, the book:

Persona Studies: An Introduction is an innovative resource for students, academics, researchers, and professionals in fields covering digital and social media, technology and culture, mass media and communications, social and media psychology and sociology, and professional studies.

If the twentieth century has beendominated by discussions of the public, public life, and the public sphere, Contemporary Publics argues that, in thetwenty-first century, we must complicate the singularity of that paradigm andstart thinking of our world in terms of multiple, overlapping, and competing publics. In three distinct streams—art,media and technology, and the intimate life—this volume offers up theintellectual and political significance of thinking through the plurality ofour publics. “Countering Neoliberal Publics: Screen and Space,” explores howdifferent artistic practices articulate the challenges and desires of multiplepublics. “Making and Shaping Publics: Discourse and Technology” showcases howmedia shape publics, and how new and emerging publics use these technologies toconstruct identities. “Commodifying Public Intimacies” examines what happens tothe notion of the private when intimacies structure publics, move into publicspaces, and develop value that can be exchanged and circulated.

The definitive and first major text on personas in contemporary culture

Modern social media and communication technologies have reshaped our identities and transformed contemporary culture, revealing an expanded and intensified reforming of our collective online behavior. Billions of people worldwide are increasingly engaged in the production, presentation, and modification of their public selves—curating personas through various social media and fundamentally altering how we interact in the twenty-first century. The study of persona is essential to understanding contemporary culture, yet literature in this emerging field is scarce. Filling a gap in current knowledge, Persona Studies: An Introduction is the first major work to examine the construction, delivery, and curation of public identities in contemporary online culture. 

This timely book helps readers navigate the changing cultural landscape while laying the groundwork for further research and application of persona studies. Three case studies are included—examining personas of the artist, gamer, and professional­—to illustrate how personas continue to transform identity and reshape contemporary culture. From the historical precursors of the current iteration of persona to emerging configurations of public self, this unique work offers readers a broad introduction to the evolving theories and concepts of how persona defines the contemporary condition and its relation to technology and collective identity. To summarize, the book:

Persona Studies: An Introduction is an innovative resource for students, academics, researchers, and professionals in fields covering digital and social media, technology and culture, mass media and communications, social and media psychology and sociology, and professional studies.

The definitive and first major text on personas in contemporary culture

Modern social media and communication technologies have reshaped our identities and transformed contemporary culture, revealing an expanded and intensified reforming of our collective online behavior. Billions of people worldwide are increasingly engaged in the production, presentation, and modification of their public selves—curating personas through various social media and fundamentally altering how we interact in the twenty-first century. The study of persona is essential to understanding contemporary culture, yet literature in this emerging field is scarce. Filling a gap in current knowledge, Persona Studies: An Introduction is the first major work to examine the construction, delivery, and curation of public identities in contemporary online culture. 

This timely book helps readers navigate the changing cultural landscape while laying the groundwork for further research and application of persona studies. Three case studies are included—examining personas of the artist, gamer, and professional­—to illustrate how personas continue to transform identity and reshape contemporary culture. From the historical precursors of the current iteration of persona to emerging configurations of public self, this unique work offers readers a broad introduction to the evolving theories and concepts of how persona defines the contemporary condition and its relation to technology and collective identity. To summarize, the book:

Persona Studies: An Introduction is an innovative resource for students, academics, researchers, and professionals in fields covering digital and social media, technology and culture, mass media and communications, social and media psychology and sociology, and professional studies.

If the twentieth century has beendominated by discussions of the public, public life, and the public sphere, Contemporary Publics argues that, in thetwenty-first century, we must complicate the singularity of that paradigm andstart thinking of our world in terms of multiple, overlapping, and competing publics. In three distinct streams—art,media and technology, and the intimate life—this volume offers up theintellectual and political significance of thinking through the plurality ofour publics. “Countering Neoliberal Publics: Screen and Space,” explores howdifferent artistic practices articulate the challenges and desires of multiplepublics. “Making and Shaping Publics: Discourse and Technology” showcases howmedia shape publics, and how new and emerging publics use these technologies toconstruct identities. “Commodifying Public Intimacies” examines what happens tothe notion of the private when intimacies structure publics, move into publicspaces, and develop value that can be exchanged and circulated.