Digital media

About: Digital media is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 17508 publications have been published within this topic receiving 266693 citations. The topic is also known as: machine-readable data.

User-defined electronic stores for marketing digital rights licenses

Abstract: Systems and techniques for marketing license rights in digital media involve providing (1305) a library 160(1)…160(n) of digital media for which users can purchase individual digital media licenses and hosting (1325) multiple online user-defined stores. Each online user-defined store offers a subset of the digital media in the library of digital media and is associated with a user account. A credit is allocated (1335) to a user account based on a purchase (1330) of a digital media license if the purchase is related to an online user-defined store associated with the user account.

Public engagement in the Web 2.0 era: Social collaborative technologies in a public sector context

Abstract: This article examines how social collaborative technologies have changed the nature and scope of e-participation, showcasing several popular modes of engagement. It argues that the main implementation barriers to social media adoption are not technological, but rather organizational, cultural, and administrative. While there is enormous potential for Web 2.0 and associated social media tools to expand public engagement, the design of such initiatives must recognize that in digital environments influence is earned through social reputation, not bureaucratic authority. Sommaire : Cet article examine comment les technologies de collaboration sociale ont change la nature et l’envergure de la participation en ligne, en mettant en valeur plusieurs modes populaires de mobilisation. Il fait valoir que les principaux obstacles a l’adoption des medias sociaux ne sont pas technologiques, mais plutot organisationnels, culturels et administratifs. Alors que le Web 2.0 et les outils de medias sociaux connexes presentent un enorme potentiel d’accroitre la mobilisation du public, la conception de telles initiatives doit reconnaitre que dans les environnements numeriques, on acquiert de l’influence grâce a sa reputation sociale et non a son autorite bureaucratique. The digital media revolution is changing both the scope and the nature of public engagement activities. Governments around the world are experimenting with social media using the tools to enhance democratic engagement, improve service delivery, collaborate across organizations, and communicate with stakeholders and the public (Dixon 2010; Osimo 2008). Web 2.0 technologies are fundamentally changing how people socialize, communicate, shop, participate in public affairs and learn with consequences for society, politics, and the economy (Thomas and Sheth 2011). For public administrators, keeping pace with new Web technologies will be critical to governments committed to knowledge-based economies that simultaneously foster innovation and promote social cohesion (Valtysson 2010). For citizens, the density of online communication networks provides greater access to information, more opportunities to engage in public debate and undertake collective action (Woolley et al. 2010). Kathleen McNutt is associate director, Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Regina, Regina, Saskatchewan. CANADIAN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION / ADMINISTRATION PUBLIQUE DU CANADA VOLUME 57, NO. 1 (MARCH/MARS 2014), PP. 49–70 © The Institute of Public Administration of Canada/L’Institut d’administration publique du Canada 2014 Government capacity to adapt to the digital era depends on the organizational, cultural, and administrative willingness to shift public engagement activities away from the “broadcast paradigm” associated with Web 1.0 towards a “communicative paradigm” associated with Web 2.0. Second generation Web technologies have triggered significant changes in both policy and administrative processes as governments respond to the new behavioural, social, economic, and political norms of the network society. Emerging research suggests that “ubiquitous engagement” will be a democratic expectation in the next several decades (Lee and Kwak 2012) with social media, mobility, and virtualization pushing radical transformation of public sector organizations (Roy 2013). Many of these digital changes challenge the traditional modes of public engagement, which were largely premised on a new public management (NPM) approach to first generation e-government (Navarra and Cornford 2012). This NPM approach prescribed networked technologies as remedies to existing policy problems and public sector reforms, often focusing on marketing solutions and business-driven models of design In the early days of public sector information communication technologies (ICTs) implementation e-government was treated as “an evolutionary phenomenon” implemented through specific stages of development including cataloguing, transaction, vertical integration, and horizontal integration (Gupta and Jana 2003: 373). This NPM approach prescribed networked technologies as remedies to existing policy problems and public sector reforms, often focusing on marketing solutions and business-driven models of design (Andersen and Henriksen 2006). In other words, public administrators did not turn to ICTs to promote new forms of public engagement (although some experimentation did occur), but rather adopted digital technologies to produce increased efficiency and support existing administrative relationships. While the Canadian government enjoyed a great deal of success with first generation e-government initiatives, these achievements were often limited to the application of networked technologies to support internal reorganization of service delivery and information management (Borins et al. 2007; Roy 2006). It is, however, no longer early days with the Web evolving and improving as technologies often do to better serve the purposes of users. Governments can no longer depend on simply using their website to build reputational capital and social authority. As citizens increasingly rely on their online networks and mobile devices to manage relationships with friends, family, work, financial institutions, educational institutions, and so 50 KATHLEEN MCNUTT

Hacking: Digital Media and Technological Determinism

Abstract: Hacking provides an introduction to the community of hackers and an analysis of the meaning of hacking in twenty-first century societies.One the one hand, hackers infect the computers of the world, entering where they are not invited, taking over not just individual workstations but whole networks. On the other, hackers write the software that fuels the Internet, from the most popular web programmes to software fundamental to the Internet's existence. Beginning from an analysis of these two main types of hackers, categorised as crackers and Free Software/Open Source respectively, Tim Jordan gives the reader insight into the varied identities of hackers, including:* Hacktivism; hackers and populist politics* Cyberwar; hackers and the nation-state* Digital Proletariat; hacking for the man* Viruses; virtual life on the Internet* Digital Commons; hacking without software* Cypherpunks; encryption and digital security* Nerds and Geeks; hacking cultures or hacking without the hack* Cybercrime; blackest of black hat hackingHackers end debates over the meaning of technological determinism while recognising that at any one moment we are all always determined by technology. Hackers work constantly within determinations of their actions created by technologies as they also alter software to enable entirely new possibilities for and limits to action in the virtual world. Through this fascinating introduction to the people who create and recreate the digital media of the Internet, students, scholars and general readers will gain new insight into the meaning of technology and society when digital media are hacked.

“Words with Friends”: Socially Networked Reading on Goodreads

Abstract: Reading isn't what it was. As we enter the “late age of print,” E-Books are still less common than “P-Books” (printed books), but the balance is quickly changing, especially in the world of academic publishing (Striphas xii). While many lament the loss of the p-book's materiality, texts have become more lively as a result of digitization: textual-production platforms like blogging let writers and readers interact with each other and create intimate social relationships. As Kathleen Fitzpatrick found while writing her book Planned Obsolescence using CommentPress, an online platform that enables readers' commenting, writing can become a more social and creative process when done in dialogue with readers. This turn to the social in writing parallels a turn to the social in media generally. Thus, it makes sense to evaluate not how far our devices are taking us from paper—the answer is already pretty far—but rather how digital media are creating new social valences of reading.

Online Misinformation: Challenges and Future Directions

Abstract: Misinformation has become a common part of our digital media environments and it is compromising the ability of our societies to form informed opinions. It generates misperceptions, which have affected the decision making processes in many domains, including economy, health, environment, and elections, among others. Misinformation and its generation, propagation, impact, and management is being studied through a variety of lenses (computer science, social science, journalism, psychology, etc.) since it widely affects multiple aspects of society. In this paper we analyse the phenomenon of misinformation from a technological point of view. We study the current socio-technical advancements towards addressing the problem, identify some of the key limitations of current technologies, and propose some ideas to target such limitations. The goal of this position paper is to reflect on the current state of the art and to stimulate discussions on the future design and development of algorithms, methodologies, and applications.