Technology, data and society

Examining the environmental impacts of digitalisation in smart cities, this book asks how we can reconcile the adoption of smart technologies into sustainable projects.

It traces the material and environmental costs of daily realities for smart cities and asks how promises are broken when cities become ‘smart.’

This book offers an in-depth investigation into the digitizsation processes of Europe’s border regime.

With a focus on the European Union agency eu-LISA, one of the most significant actors in the digital border regime, it shows how sociotechnical imaginations drives the future of borders and European governance of mobility.

In this Byte, the contributions consider the way that digitally meditated social processes are transforming institutions. It examines the interconnectedness of institutions and considers digitization across schooling, work, and media, with an eye on inequality.

The ‘smart city’ is often promoted as a technology-driven solution to complex urban issues. Drawing on original research conducted in urban African settings, this book provides a much-needed alternative view, exploring how ‘home-grown’ digital disruption, driven and initiated by local actors, upending the mainstream corporate narrative.

This interdisciplinary collection rethinks the political economy of the digital market by asking what came before platforms and suggesting what might come after them. Addressing themes like internet decolonisation, the book makes a timely assessment of the impact of evolving connections between technology, information, society and markets.

This book examines the values of interactive documentary as a social research method, exploring their exciting potential for illuminating and communicating pressing social issues. Providing a template for planning an i-doc, the novel book shows how the planning process alone can open new ways of understanding social research topics.

EPUB and EPDF available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence.

This thought-provoking collection redefines the boundaries of moral responsibility. It shows how epigenetics reveals connections between our genetic make-up and our environment. The essays suggest a shift in focus from individual to collective responsibility.

This book creates a new ethical framework to evaluate the use of political hacking by hackers like Anonymous. It argues that while hackers have been labelled as vigilantes, this does not recognise the potentially ethical role they can play and how they can intervene when the state fails to protect people.

As the crisis of expertise continues to be a global issue, this book shows that it is not a ‘scientific’ controversy, but an ideological dispute with believers on both sides. If the advocates of consensus science acknowledge the uncertainties of even the best science, it is possible to open a pathway towards communication between world views.

The field of digital technology in education has long been under-theorised. This book will enable the reader to reflect on the use of theory when explaining technology use and set out ways in which we can theorise better.

This stimulating analysis from Hannes Gerhardt shows how technology-led and commons-oriented strategies can create fairer economies and societies. Setting out the role of various digital tools with concrete examples of their value, it is a constructive and optimistic guide to overcoming anti-capitalist barriers.