The Oxford Handbook Of Information And Communication Technologies

The production and consumption of Information and Communication Technologies (or ICTs) have become embedded within our societies. The influence and implications of this have an impact at a macro level, in the way our governments, economies, and businesses operate, and in our everyday lives. This handbook is about the many challenges presented by ICTs. It sets out an intellectual agenda that examines the implications of ICTs for individuals, organizations, democracy, and the economy. Explicity interdisciplinary, and combining empirical research with theoretical work, it is organised around four themes covering the knowledge economy; organizational dynamics, strategy, and design; governance and democracy; and culture, community and new media literacies. It provides a comprehensive resource for those working in the social sciences, and in the physical sciences and engineering fields, with leading contemporary research informed principally by the disciplines of anthropology, economics, philosophy, politics, and sociology.

Internet Studies has been one of the most dynamic and rapidly expanding interdisciplinary fields to emerge over the last decade. The Oxford Handbook of Internet Studies has been designed to provide a valuable resource for academics and students in this area, bringing together leading scholarly perspectives on how the Internet has been studied and how the research agenda should be pursued in the future. The Handbook aims to focus on Internet Studies as an emerging field, each chapter seeking to provide a synthesis and critical assessment of the research in a particular area. Topics covered include social perspectives on the technology of the Internet, its role in everyday life and work, implications for communication, power, and influence, and the governance and regulation of the Internet. The Handbook is a landmark in this new interdisciplinary field, not only helping to strengthen research on the key questions, but also shape research, policy, and practice across many disciplines that are finding the Internet and its political, economic, cultural, and other societal implications increasingly central to their own key areas of inquiry.

Communication technologies, including the internet, social media, and countless online applications create the infrastructure and interface through which many of our interactions take place today. This form of networked communication creates new questions about how we establish relationships, engage in public, build a sense of identity, and delimit the private domain. The ubiquitous adoption of new technologies has also produced, as a byproduct, new ways of observing the world: many of our interactions now leave a digital trail that, if followed, can help us unravel the rhythms of social life and the complexity of the world we inhabit--and thus help us reconstruct the logic of social order and change. The analysis of digital data requires partnerships across disciplinary boundaries that--although on the rise--are still uncommon. Social scientists and computer scientists have never been closer in their goals of trying to understand communication dynamics, but there are not many venues where they can engage in an open exchange of methods and theoretical insights. This handbook brings together scholars across the social and technological sciences to lay the foundations of communication research in the networked age, and to provide a canon of how research should be conducted in the digital era. The contributors highlight the main theories currently guiding their research in digital communication, and discuss state-of-the-art methodological tools, including automated text analysis, the analysis of networks, and the use of natural experiments in virtual environments. Following a general introduction, the handbook covers network and information flow, communication and organizational dynamics, interactions and social capital, mobility and space, political communication and behavior, and the ethics of digital research.

Management Information Systems (MIS) play a crucial role in an organization's operations, accounting, decision-making, project management, and competitive advantage. The Oxford Handbook of Management Information Systems takes a critical and interdisciplinary view of the increasing complexity of these systems within organizations, and the strategic, managerial, and ethical issues associated with the effective use of these technologies. The book is organized into four parts: - Part I: Background - Part II: Theoretical and Methodological Perspectives in MIS - Part III: Rethinking Theory in MIS Practice - Part IV: Rethinking MIS Practice in a Broader Context The Handbook provides expansive coverage of the discipline and a methodological and philosophical framework for discussion of key topics, before exploring the issues associated with MIS in practice and considering the broader context and future agenda of research in light of such concerns as sustainability, ethics, and globalization. Bringing together international scholars to focus on the theory and practice of MIS, this handbook provides a comprehensive resource for academics and research students in the fields of MIS, IS, Organizational Behaviour, and Management in general.

Required reading for anyone interested in the profound relationship between digital technology and society Digital technology has become an undeniable facet of our social lives, defining our governments, communities, and personal identities. Yet with these technologies in ongoing evolution, it is difficult to gauge the full extent of their societal impact, leaving researchers and policy makers with the challenge of staying up-to-date on a field that is constantly in flux. The Oxford Handbook of Digital Technology and Society provides students, researchers, and practitioners across the technology and social science sectors with a comprehensive overview of the foundations for understanding the various relationships between digital technology and society. Combining robust computer-aided reviews of current literature from the UK Economic and Social Research Council's commissioned project "Ways of Being in a Digital Age" with newly commissioned chapters, this handbook illustrates the upcoming research questions and challenges facing the social sciences as they address the societal impacts of digital media and technologies across seven broad categories: citizenship and politics, communities and identities, communication and relationships, health and well-being, economy and sustainability, data and representation, and governance and security. Individual chapters feature important practical and ethical explorations into topics such as technology and the aging, digital literacies, work-home boundary, machines in the workforce, digital censorship and surveillance, big data governance and regulation, and technology in the public sector. The Oxford Handbook of Digital Technology and Society will equip readers with the necessary starting points and provocations in the field so that scholars and policy makers can effectively assess future research, practice, and policy.

"Few aspects of daily existence are untouched by technology. Learning and teaching music are no exceptions and arguably have been impacted as much or more than other areas of life. Digital technologies have come to affect music learning and teaching in profound ways, influencing how we create, listen, share, consume, and interact with music--and conceptualize musical practices and the musical experience. For a discipline as entrenched in tradition as music education, this has brought forth myriad views on what does and should constitute music learning and teaching. To tease out and elucidate some of the salient problems, interests, and issues, The Oxford Handbook of Technology and Music Education critically situates technology in relation to music education from a variety of perspectives--historical, philosophical, socio-cultural, pedagogical, musical, economic, policy--organized around four broad themes: Emergence and Evolution; Locations and Contexts: Social and Cultural Issues; Experiencing, Expressing, Learning and Teaching; and Competence, Credentialing, and Professional Development. Chapters from a highly diverse group of junior and senior scholars provide analyses of technology and music education through intersections of gender, theoretical perspective, geographical distribution, and relationship to the field. The Oxford Handbook of Technology and Music Education's dedication to diversity and forward-facing discussion promotes contrasting perspectives and conversational voices rather than reinforce traditional narratives and prevailing discourses."-- $c Book jacket.

The proposal to vaccinate adolescent girls against the human papilloma virus ignited political controversy, as did the advent of fracking and a host of other emerging technologies. These disputes attest to the persistent gap between expert and public perceptions. Complicating the communication of sound science and the debates that surround the societal applications of that science is a changing media environment in which misinformation can elicit belief without corrective context and likeminded individuals are prone to seek ideologically comforting information within their own self-constructed media enclaves. Drawing on the expertise of leading science communication scholars from six countries, The Oxford Handbook of the Science of Science Communication not only charts the media landscape - from news and entertainment to blogs and films - but also examines the powers and perils of human biases - from the disposition to seek confirming evidence to the inclination to overweight endpoints in a trend line. In the process, it draws together the best available social science on ways to communicate science while also minimizing the pernicious effects of human bias. The Handbook adds case studies exploring instances in which communication undercut or facilitated the access to scientific evidence. The range of topics addressed is wide, from genetically engineered organisms and nanotechnology to vaccination controversies and climate change. Also unique to this book is a focus on the complexities of involving the public in decision making about the uses of science, the regulations that should govern its application, and the ethical boundaries within which science should operate. The Handbook is an invaluable resource for researchers in the communication fields, particularly in science and health communication, as well as to scholars involved in research on scientific topics susceptible to distortion in partisan debate.

Digital media are normal. But this was not always true. For a long time, lay discourse, academic exhortations, pop culture narratives, and advocacy groups constructed new Information and communications technologies (ICTs) as exceptional. Whether they were believed to be revolutionary, dangerous, rife with opportunity, or other-worldly, these tools and technologies were framed as extraordinary. But digital media are now mundane, thoroughly embedded - and often unquestioned - in everyday life. Digital ICTs are enmeshed in health and wellness, work and organizations, elections, capital flows, intimate relationships, social movements, and even our own identities. And although the study of these technologies has always been interdisciplinary - at the crossroads of computer science, cultural studies, science and technology studies, and communications - never has a sociological perspective been more valuable. Sociology has always excelled at helping us re-see the normal. The Oxford Handbook of Digital Media Sociology is a perfect point of entry for those curious about the state of sociological research on digital media. Each chapter reviews the sociological research that has been done thus far and points towards unanswered questions. The 34 chapters in the Handbook are arranged in six sections which look at digital media as they relate to: theory, social institutions, everyday life, community and identity, social inequalities, and politics & power. More than ever, the contributors to this volume help make it a centralizing resource, pulling together the various strands of sociological research focused on digital media. In addition to providing a distinctly sociological center for those scholars looking to find their way in the subfield, the volume offers top sociological research that provides an overview of digital media to explain our quickly changing world to a broader public. Readers will find it accessible enough for use in class, and thorough enough for seasoned professionals interested in a concise update in their areas of interest.