Virtual Nation

The first comprehensive book on the Australian Internet, Virtual Nation offers a surprising, thought-provoking, and rigorous introduction to a technology that we now can't do without.

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-conference proceedings of the First International Conference, UCMedia 2009, which was held on 9-11 December 2009 at Hotel Novotel Venezia Mestre Castellana in Venice, Italy. The conference`s focus was on forms and production, delivery, access, discovery and consumption of user centric media. After a thorough review process of the papers received, 23 were accepted from open call for the main conference and 20 papers for the workshops.

Water is the most precious natural resource in the world—far ahead of oil and minerals. Blue Gold not only analyses the impending water crisis to hit the world and more importantly India—but also explores the investment opportunities possible in the water sector. Presented in the book are innovative, cutting edge ways to combat the water crisis and ways of investing in the right projects. The roles of technology, finance, and a general view of domestic and foreign investment in water are explored by the authors and practical and lucrative financial advice is offered making it an important book in the present ecological and financial environment.

In this intriguing volume, futurist and author Michael G. Zey imagines a time in which technology has stretched human life spans to four hundred years or more. Genetic engineering, cloning, and stem-cell technology will eradicate diseases and allow for nanoscopic repair and maintenance of the body. "Smart drugs" and caloric restriction programs will largely stop aging and ensure healthy bodies and sharp minds indefinitely.Grounding his speculation in contemporary scientific research, Zey's optimistic vision sees retirement replaced by hiatuses between careers, and leisure time spent in multi-generational homes. Key players in the debate include supporters like Cambridge University scientist Aubrey de Grey, who envisions five-thousand-year life spans, and the radical futurist author Ray Kurzweil, who foresees the merging of humans and computers. Organizations such as the Coalition to Extend Life lobby the government for immortality research funding and find opposition in the President's Council on Bioethics and "deep ecologists" advocating zero-population growth.Criticizing current environmental trends as anti-progress and anti-human, Zey's own solutions include controversial measures like human control of weather, colonization of outer space, and genetically modifying food. He concludes that the eventuality of a modern Fountain of Youth is closer than we think. Zey's predictions about the future are thoughtful and fascinating.

Nation Branding: Concepts, Issues, Practice provides a theoretical framework, alongside insightful examples from the practice of nation banding, in which the principles of brand strategy and management are applied to countries globally. This new edition has been comprehensively updated and its influential original framework modified to reflect the very latest changes in the field. It remains an accessible blend of theory and practice rich with international examples and contributions. Updates to this edition: New Academic Perspectives and Practitioner Insights in each chapter Updated and new cases from a broad range of nations and cultures Fresh coverage of online branding and social media New material covering the critical and ethical issues of nation branding, including the limitations Updated references and sources Updated online resources, including PowerPoint slides and Instructor Manual with end-of-chapter discussion points and suggested answers This is an essential introduction to nation branding for students of Marketing, Brand Management, Communications, and Public and International Relations, as well as policy makers looking for a rigorous yet applied approach.

First published in 2000. Virtual States challenge the idea that the nation state is dead. In all the hype about the Internet, little thought has been given to the systematic inequalities being brought about by globalisation, and exacerbated by the global spread of the Internet. Jerry Everard argues that new disparities are emerging between the information 'haves' ad the information 'have-nots': between wealthy and poor states; and between the wealthy and poor in wealthy states. Virtual States systematically addresses these inequalities.

This book explains the transformation of the nation into a cosmonation (or multisite nation) through the reunification of the homeland with its diaspora. The book elaborates on how the mechanisms of linkages, connections, and networking interact to form distributed sites of homeland and diaspora into a cosmonation and how diasporans in different units of such a crossborder social formation, wherever they relocate, relate to each other. The ensemble thereby functions as a cultural and political collectivity manifested through cultural traditions, inter-site familial, institutional, and associational ties, transnational solidarity, and reverence for the ancestral homeland.

Extremism does not happen in a vacuum. Rather, extremism is a relative concept that often emerges in crisis situations, taking shape within the tense and contradictory relations that tie marginal spaces, state orders, and mainstream culture. This collected volume brings together leading anthropologists and cultural analysts to offer a concise look at the narratives, symbolic, and metaphoric fields related to extremism, systematizing an approach to extremism, and placing these ideologies into historical, political, and geo-systemic contexts.