Maria Bakardjieva

Based on an extended empirical research project, this book advances the theoretical, normative and practical understanding of civil society under the conditions of digital mediatization and in relation to a set of particular historical and geopolitical circumstances. Digital Media and the Dynamics of Civil Society adds to existing knowledge of the democratizing role of digital media in communication studies by carefully tracing the trajectory of the emergent communicative and representational practices of civil society in a pair of new European democracies – Estonia and Bulgaria – facing distinctive socio-cultural and political challenges. The book combines macro and micro perspectives to illuminate the activities of civic activist and civil society organizations in the new media environment taking into account the social and cultural developments characteristic of each country. Have digital media contributed to the constitution of a new public space fostering the vitality and democratic potency of civil society in countries where it has suffered historical obstacles? These chapters address this question by traversing the whole range between personal, group and societal beliefs, lived experiences and actions unfolding in a concrete region at a time when civic activists around the world are grappling to understand and harness the powers of digital communication.

`A highly topical, interesting and lively analysis of ordinary internet use, based on both theoretically competent reflections and sound ethnographic material' - Joost van Loon, Reader in Social Theory at Nottingham Trent University Internet Society investigates internet use and it's implications for society through insights into the daily experiences of ordinary users. Drawing on an original study of non-professional, 'ordinary' users at home, this book examines how people interpret, domesticate and creatively appropriate the Internet by integrating it into the projects and activities of their everyday lives. Maria Bakardjieva's theoretical framework uniquely combines concepts from several schools of thought (social constructivism, critical theory, phenomenological sociology) to provide a conception of the user as an agent in the field of technological development and new media shaping. She: - examines the evolution of the Internet into a mass medium - interrogates what users make of this new communication medium - evaluates the social and cultural role of the Internet by looking at the immediate level of users' engagement with it - exposes the dual life of technology as invader and captive; colonizer and colonized This book will appeal to academics and researchers in social studies of technology, communication and media studies, cultural studies, philosophy of technology and ethnography.

`A highly topical, interesting and lively analysis of ordinary internet use, based on both theoretically competent reflections and sound ethnographic material' - Joost van Loon, Reader in Social Theory at Nottingham Trent University Internet Society investigates internet use and it's implications for society through insights into the daily experiences of ordinary users. Drawing on an original study of non-professional, 'ordinary' users at home, this book examines how people interpret, domesticate and creatively appropriate the Internet by integrating it into the projects and activities of their everyday lives. Maria Bakardjieva's theoretical framework uniquely combines concepts from several schools of thought (social constructivism, critical theory, phenomenological sociology) to provide a conception of the user as an agent in the field of technological development and new media shaping. She: - examines the evolution of the Internet into a mass medium - interrogates what users make of this new communication medium - evaluates the social and cultural role of the Internet by looking at the immediate level of users' engagement with it - exposes the dual life of technology as invader and captive; colonizer and colonized This book will appeal to academics and researchers in social studies of technology, communication and media studies, cultural studies, philosophy of technology and ethnography.