Emerald Studies in Computing and Communication

In the span of only two decades digital media have become commonplace in all aspects of social life. In a historically rapid process of digitization networked computer machinery has replaced analog technologies - from landline telephones to pen and paper - and has generated a whole range of new communication media that enable novel forms of communication typified by e.g. the instant exchange of text-based communication (SMS) social network sites and smartphone applications. The speed and scope of this development have been so profound that the fundamental process of digitization is largely complete: across interpersonal communication and mass communication digital media are now either the standard (with television and telephony) or a viable alternative (with online newspapers and e-books). 

And yet culturally speaking the new social operating system that derives from digitalization is still emerging. The computing of culture - of renegotiating the mundane habits and practices of everyday life in a new technological environment - is a long complex and ongoing process that research is still catching up with. Public debate for instance questions the possible detrimental and positive effects of this: Are digital media a source of stress when work and leisure begin to blur? Is it a problem that young people seem to never really be present in one place but engage in communication on their smartphones all the time? Do algorithmic filtering in digital systems produce filter bubbles? 

This book series explores the cultural consequences of the embedding of digital media in everyday life - from the family to work and into societal institutions such as healthcare education and democratic institutions. The series is based on the simple rationale that in order to understand the complex workings of digital infrastructures their intricate relationship with human practices values and cultures and their societal implications we must develop analyses that cross scientific disciplines asking about IT AND specific contexts or issues of inquiry: health business politics history human rights etc.