Event overview
Dhiraj Murthy who joins the Department of Sociology in September 2013, launches his new book.
Twitter has become a household name, discussed both for its role in prominent national elections, natural disasters, and political movements, as well as for what some malign as narcissistic “chatter.” This book takes a critical step back from popular discourse and media coverage of Twitter, to present the first balanced, scholarly engagement of this popular medium.
In this timely and comprehensive introduction, Murthy not only discusses Twitter’s role in our political, economic, and social lives, but also draws a historical line between the telegraph and Twitter to reflect on changes in social communication over time. Published by Polity, the book thoughtfully examines Twitter as an emergent global communications medium and provides a theoretical framework for students, scholars, and tweeters to reflect critically on the impact of Twitter and the contemporary media environment. The book uses case studies including citizen journalism, health, and national disasters to provide empirically rich insights and to help decipher some of the ways in which Twitter and social media more broadly may be shaping contemporary life.
Dhiraj Murthy is currently Assistant Professor of Sociology at Bowdoin College, Maine, USA, but joins the Department of Sociology at Goldsmiths on 1 September, 2013. His current research explores social media, virtual organizations, and big data quantitative analysis. Dhiraj's work on social networking technologies in virtual breeding grounds is funded by the National Science Foundation, Office of CyberInfrastructure, and his work on innovative digital research methods has been cited widely. Dhiraj founded and currently directs the Social Network Innovation Lab, an interdisciplinary research group investigating social networks and virtual organizations.
http://www.dhirajmurthy.com/
There will be introductions by Dr Matthew Fuller (Centre for Cultural Studies), Prof Robert Zimmer (Computing) and Prof. Roger Burrows (Sociology), plus the opportunity to purchase copies of the book.
Dates & times
Date | Time | Add to calendar |
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25 Apr 2013 | 6:00pm - 8:00pm |
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