As media environments and communication practices evolve over time, so do theoretical concepts. This book analyses some of the most well-known concepts of the digital age from a historical perspective, showing that many of them have pre-digital roots and have changed and are constantly changing in the digital era. The 30 contributors of this book historicise 16 concepts that have become central in the digital media literature, focusing on technologies and connections (part 1), agency and politics (part 2) and finally users and practices (part 3). They contribute to shed light on how concepts emerged and are co-shaped, circulated, used and reappropriated in different contexts.
| Networks | Echo Chambers |
| Media Convergence | Digital Media Activism |
| Multimedia | Telepresence |
| Interactivity | Digital Loneliness |
| Artificial Intelligence | Amateurism |
| Global Governance | User-Generated Content (UGC) |
| Data(fication) | Fandom |
| Fake News | Authenticity |
The idea of this collective book was launched within the ECREA Communication History Section and the support of the C²DH allowed this collective work to be published in the series Studies in Digital History and Hermeneutics (De Gruyter) and to be Open Access. Please join us in the exploration of the Digital Roots at: https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110740202/html
Gabriele Balbi, Nelson Ribeiro, Valérie Schafer and Christian Schwarzenegger (ed.), Digital Roots. Historicizing Media and Communication Concepts of the Digital Age, De Gruyter, Studies in Digital History and Hermeneutics vol. 4, 315 pages. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110740202
