MACMILLAN Platforms, Protests, and the Challenge of Networked Democracy (Rhetoric, Politics and Society)

This book examines the recent evolution of online spaces and their impact on networked democracy. Through an illuminating mix of theoretical and methodological analysis, contributors provide an understanding of how a range of individuals and groups, including activists and NGOs, governments and griefers, are using digital technologies to influence public debates. Contributions consider these phenomena in a global contemporary context, providing within the same volume rigorous examinations of the design of digital platforms for deliberation, users’ attempts to manipulate those platforms, and the ways activists and governments are responding to emerging threats to democratic discourse. Providing diverse, global case studies, this collection is a valuable tool for academics within and beyond the fields of new media, communication, and information policy and governance. Review “This book examines the crisis that social media has brought to our public sphere. It's a must-read for anyone interested in politics, media technology, or democratic deliberation.” (Dr. Jennifer Mercieca, Associate Professor, Texas A&M University, author of Demagogue for President: The Rhetorical Genius of Donald Trump) “This book offers valuable insights into the current state of online discourse and the ways in which platforms enable, constrain and shape contemporary political conversations. It raises important questions about the relationship between evolving democracy and technological infrastructure.” (Dr. Stephen Coleman, Professor of Political Communication, University of Leeds) “In Platforms, Protests, and the Challenge of Networked Democracy, Michael Trice and John Jones bring together leading scholarly voices to highlight the way digitally mediated societies raise the stakes for collective democratic deliberation. In so doing, Jones, Trice, and their contributors carefully show how the platform specificities of ubiquitous communication technologies pose significant global challenges to the ways people receive, retransmit, and respond to misinformation.” (Dr. Jim Ridolfo, Assistant Professor of Writing, Rhetoric, and Digital Studies, University of Kentucky “This collection is groundbreaking in its comprehensive examination of networked democracy. The editors and authors provide riveting descriptions of the long obscure intersections of social media and democracy in topics ranging from gamification to emotion analytics to misinformation, in its many forms. This collection responds to an urgent need for research, across disciplines, that examines the challenges we face when confronted with designed misinformation. This book, which includes seventeen exceptional chapters, is appropriate for students, practitioners, and anyone interested in digital media, communication, democracy, and governance.” (Dr. Miriam F. Williams, Professor of English & Associate Chair, Texas State University) “The contributors to Platforms, Protest, and the Challenge of Networked Democracy provide a sophisticated overview of the ways the public sphere is increasingly shaped by networked and social media. Drawing from a diverse and global set of cases, the book offers an insightful set of arguments about how this came about, the current challenges facing democracies around the world, and how we can chart a path forward to strengthen democracy.” (Dr. Daniel Kreiss, Associate Professor in the School of Media and Journalism at the University of North Carolina) From the Back Cover This book examines the recent evolution of online spaces and their impact on networked democracy. Through an illuminating mix of theoretical and methodological analysis, contributors provide an understanding of how a range of individuals and groups, including activists and NGOs, governments and griefers, are using digital technologies to influence public debates. Contributions consider these phenomena in a global contemporary context, providing within the