Toija Cinque – författare

This book explores how people interact online through anonymous communication in encrypted, hidden, or otherwise obscured online spaces. Beyond the Dark Web itself, this book examines how the concept of ‘dark social’ broadens the possibilities for examining notions of darkness and sociality in the age of digitality and datafied life. The authors take into account technical, moral, ethical, and pragmatic responses to ourselves and communities seeking to be/belong in/of/ the dark.

Scholarship on the Darknet and Dark Social Spaces tends to focus on the uses of encryption and other privacy-enhancing technologies to engender resistance acts. Such understandings of the dark social are naturally in tension with social and political theories which argue that for politics and ‘acts’ to matter they must appear in the public light. They are also in tension with popular narratives of the ‘dark recesses of the web’ which are disparaged by structural powers who seek to keep their subjects knowable and locatable on the clear web. The binary of dark versus light is challenged in this book. The authors’ provocation is that practices of ‘dark’ resistance, motility and power are enacted by emerging data cultures. This book draws together scholarship, activism, and creativity to push past conceptual binary positions and create new approaches to darknet and dark social studies.

The Dark Social: Online Practices of Resistance, Motility and Power will be a key resource for academics, researchers, and advanced students of media studies, cultural studies, communication studies, research methods, and sociology. This book was originally published as a special issue of Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies.

This book explores how people interact online through anonymous communication in encrypted, hidden, or otherwise obscured online spaces. Beyond the Dark Web itself, this book examines how the concept of ‘dark social’ broadens the possibilities for examining notions of darkness and sociality in the age of digitality and datafied life. The authors take into account technical, moral, ethical, and pragmatic responses to ourselves and communities seeking to be/belong in/of/ the dark.

Scholarship on the Darknet and Dark Social Spaces tends to focus on the uses of encryption and other privacy-enhancing technologies to engender resistance acts. Such understandings of the dark social are naturally in tension with social and political theories which argue that for politics and ‘acts’ to matter they must appear in the public light. They are also in tension with popular narratives of the ‘dark recesses of the web’ which are disparaged by structural powers who seek to keep their subjects knowable and locatable on the clear web. The binary of dark versus light is challenged in this book. The authors’ provocation is that practices of ‘dark’ resistance, motility and power are enacted by emerging data cultures. This book draws together scholarship, activism, and creativity to push past conceptual binary positions and create new approaches to darknet and dark social studies.

The Dark Social: Online Practices of Resistance, Motility and Power will be a key resource for academics, researchers, and advanced students of media studies, cultural studies, communication studies, research methods, and sociology. This book was originally published as a special issue of Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies.

Emerging Digital Media Ecologies: The Concept of Medialogy investigates the profound ways in which digital media reshapes our cultural, socio-technological, political, and natural landscapes. Through interdisciplinary empirical and creative case studies, the book defines and illuminates the nuances of medialogy, emphasising the often-underestimated impact of emerging technologies across interactive education, data gathering, visual-data representations, and creative practice. It explores the intersection of the natural and technological worlds, contextualising our use of natural resources against climate change and sustainable economies.

Divided into two parts, the book delves into the theoretical underpinnings of digital media ecologies and their practical applications. Part 1 traces the evolution of media technologies, examining their environmental impact and the foundational approaches to understanding media’s complex interconnections. Part 2 focuses on contemporary issues such as hyperpersonalised media, digital literacy, and the transformative power of Indigenous media narratives.

Additionally, the monograph explores the revolutionary role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and large language models like ChatGPT-4o and those that follow in shaping our digital future. It investigates how AI transforms creative practices, data processing, and communication, contributing to the formation of new media ecologies. The ethical implications, commodification, identity formation, and the impact of AI-driven technologies on everyday life are critically examined, offering insights into the future of human–technology interactions.

This book is a crucial reference for scholars, practitioners, and students in digital humanities, media studies, environmental humanities, and anyone interested in the cultural implications of emerging digital technologies and their impact on our environment and society.

Emerging Digital Media Ecologies: The Concept of Medialogy investigates the profound ways in which digital media reshapes our cultural, socio-technological, political, and natural landscapes. Through interdisciplinary empirical and creative case studies, the book defines and illuminates the nuances of medialogy, emphasising the often-underestimated impact of emerging technologies across interactive education, data gathering, visual-data representations, and creative practice. It explores the intersection of the natural and technological worlds, contextualising our use of natural resources against climate change and sustainable economies.

Divided into two parts, the book delves into the theoretical underpinnings of digital media ecologies and their practical applications. Part 1 traces the evolution of media technologies, examining their environmental impact and the foundational approaches to understanding media’s complex interconnections. Part 2 focuses on contemporary issues such as hyperpersonalised media, digital literacy, and the transformative power of Indigenous media narratives.

Additionally, the monograph explores the revolutionary role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and large language models like ChatGPT-4o and those that follow in shaping our digital future. It investigates how AI transforms creative practices, data processing, and communication, contributing to the formation of new media ecologies. The ethical implications, commodification, identity formation, and the impact of AI-driven technologies on everyday life are critically examined, offering insights into the future of human–technology interactions.

This book is a crucial reference for scholars, practitioners, and students in digital humanities, media studies, environmental humanities, and anyone interested in the cultural implications of emerging digital technologies and their impact on our environment and society.

Built from stories and memories shared by self-defined David Bowie fans, this

book explores how Bowie existed as a figure of renewal and redemption,

resonating in particular with those marginalized by culture and society. Sean

Redmond and Toija Cinque draw on personal interviews, memorabilia, diaries,

letters, communal gatherings and shared conversation to find out why Bowie

mattered so much to the fans that idolized him. Contextualising the identification 

streams that have emerged around David Bowie, the book highlights his remarkable influence.