Moving Data: The Iphone and the Future of Media

by Pelle Snickars (editor)

The iPhone has revolutionized not only how people communicate but also how we consume and produce culture. Combining traditional and social media with mobile connectivity, smartphones have redefined and expanded the dimensions of everyday life, allowing individuals to personalize media as they move and process constant flows of data. Today, millions of consumers love and live by their iPhones, but what are the implications of its special technology on society, media, and culture?Featuring an eclectic mix of original essays, Moving Data explores the iPhone as technological prototype, lifestyle gadget, and platform for media creativity. Media experts, cultural critics, and scholars consider the device's newness and usability--even its "lickability"--and its "biographical" story. The book illuminates patterns of consumption; the fate of solitude against smartphone ubiquity; the economy of the App Store and its perceived "crisis of choice"; and the distance between the accessibility of digital information and the protocols governing its use. Alternating between critical and conceptual analyses, essays link the design of participatory media to the iPhone's technological features and sharing routines, and they follow the extent to which the pleasures of gesture-based interfaces are redefining media use and sensory experience. They also consider how user-led innovations, collaborative mapping, and creative empowerment are understood and reconciled through changes in mobile surveillance, personal rights, and prescriptive social software. Presenting a range of perspectives and arguments, this book reorients the practice and study of media critique.

360 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Pelle Snickars is Professor of Media and Communication Studies at Umeå University.

Reviews

[GONZA · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was interesting, but probably it was better for me to read it spread along one complete month, because all together would have been too much of the same stuff. I'm not a geek so some of the things were not completely clear to me, even if I have an I-Phone that I, sometimes, cannot live without. Anyway I learnt many other things I could do with it, without being a programmer, and that was enough to consider the book a good read.

Questo è stato un libro interessante, ma ho fatto bene a leggerlo un po' per volta perchè come insieme di saggi, tutto assieme sarebbe stato un po' troppo. Non sono particolarmente teconologica, quindi non tutto mi è sembrato chiarissimo, anche se ho un I-phone dal quale a volte dipendo completamente. Comunque ho imparato parecchie cose senza essere un programmatore, tanto da considerare il libro una buona lettura.

THANKS TO NETGALLEY AND COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS FOR THE PREVIEW

[Tracy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is filled with essays about iPhones and how they are used in our culture. There is a lot of good information here, but this is not the kind of book I could read cover to cover. More like one I pick up read an essay or two then put the book down for awhile. The essays are well written and informative, but technical and therefor not for everyone. But if you have a big interest in iPhone technology, how they evolved and delve into what can be done with an iPhone this is the book for you. You won't learn programing here, but more about what can be done with the iPhone.