This book examines a series of phenomena that have accompanied the development of digital technology and focuses on the attentional processes that these phenomena have in common. Across the social order, complaints are growing about a lack of attention as well as an overriding push by corporations and institutions to capture and mobilize attention. With a particular focus on social attention, the book highlights the need for an increased awareness about the agents that shape attention in our society, the effects that these agents (attempt to) produce, and the means by which individuals and groups may increase their control over personal and social attention. With a range of academic perspectives, this book is a crucial read for understanding the changing shape of political, business and personal communication.

This book proposes a posthumanist research methodology for future research in the areas of the economy, the human self, politics, and research ethics, providing a novel explanatory and methodological framework for studying today's world.

In the context of debates surrounding the effects of new technologies on our mental faculties, particularly the attention span, this volume addresses the notion of a deterioration of attention, and the related ideas of cognitive overload, an inability to concentrate, and attention deficit disorder. Through a new conceptualization of attention based not on individualistic or universalistic approaches, but centered instead on the cultural and social variability of cognitive processes and the multiplicity of forces and environments that encourage, stimulate, and inhibit certain cognitive mechanisms, the author rejects the idea of a degradation or crisis of attention and proposes an alternative vision of the problem of attention in contemporary societies. Placing cultural conventions, social norms, and ecological environments at the forefront of our understanding of individual and collective attention, Attention and its Crisis in Digital Society will appeal to scholars of sociology, psychology, and philosophy with interests in social theory, cognitive processes, and the criticisms often levelled at digital society and new technologies.

This book examines the use and potential impact of deepfakes, a type of synthetic computer-generated media, primarily images and videos, capable of both creating artificial representations of non-existent individuals and showing actual individuals doing things they did not do. As such, deepfakes pose an obvious threat of manipulation and, unsurprisingly, have been the subject of a great deal of alarmism in both the news media and academic articles. Hence, this book sets out to critically evaluate potential threats by analyzing human susceptibility to manipulation and using that as a backdrop for a discussion of actual and likely uses of deepfakes. In contrast to the usual threat narrative, this book will put forward a multi-sided picture of deepfakes, exploring their potential and that of adjacent technologies for creative use in domains ranging from film and advertisement to painting. The challenges posed by deepfakes are further evaluated with regard to present or forthcoming legislation and other regulatory measures. Finally, deepfakes are placed within a broader cultural and philosophical context, focusing primarily on posthumanist thought. Therefore, this book is a must-read for researchers, students, and practitioners of political science and other disciplines, interested in a better understanding of deepfakes.

Audiences for contemporary German film and television are becoming increasingly transnational, and depictions of German cultural history are moving beyond the typical post-war focus on Germany’s problematic past. Entertaining German Culture explores this radical shift, building on recent research into transnational culture to argue that a new process of internal and external cultural reabsorption is taking place through areas of mutually assimilating cultural exchange such as streaming services, an increasingly international film market, and the import and export of Anglo-American media formats.

As ever, the onus is on brands to find compelling ways to earn the attention of the consumer. Yet content scarcity has given way to overload, fixed channels have dissolved into fluid networks, and audiences have become participants in consumer-driven conversations. This shift requires a new course of action for brands; it demands new marketing imperatives. Paid Attention is a guide to modern advertising ideas: what they are, why they are evolving and how to have them. Spanning communication theory, neuroscience, creativity and innovation, media history, branding and emerging technologies, it explores the strategic creation process and how to package ideas to attract the most attention in the advertising industry. Packed with real-world examples of advertising campaigns for companies including Sony, Red Bull, HP and many more, Paid Attention provides a robust model for influencing human behaviour. Referencing a wide body of theory and praxis, from behavioural economics and sociology to technology and even science fiction, Faris Yakob maps advertising onto a wider analysis of culture. Containing practical advertising and branding templates, including a new advertising planning toolkit, it is ideal for students and practitioners looking to get noticed in today's cluttered marketplace. Online resources include additional toolkits with advice, techniques and best practice on brand behaviour, new ideas and effective communication.

The metaverse seems to be on everybody’s lips – and yet, very few people can actually explain what it means or why it is important. This book aims to fill the gap from an interdisciplinary perspective informed by law and media and communications studies. Going beyond the optimism emanating from technology companies and venture capitalists, the authors critically evaluate the antecedents and the building blocks of the metaverse, the design and regulatory challenges that need to be solved, and commercial opportunities that are yet to be fully realised. While the metaverse is poised to open new possibilities and perspectives, it will also be a dangerous place – one ripe with threats ranging from disinformation to intellectual property theft to sexual harassment. Hence, the book offers a useful guide to the legal and political governance issues ahead while also contextualising them within the broader domain of governance and regulation of digital technologies.

This book takes an interdisciplinary approach to the critique of contemporary ideology, offering an innovative genealogy of one of its most fundamental discursive manoeuvres: the ideological effacement of mediation. Providing a comprehensive historical revision of media (from the Greeks to the Internet), this book identifies several critical junctures at which the tension between visibility and invisibility has overlapped with conceptions of neutrality—a tension best incarnated in today's use of the word transparency. Then, it traces this term's evolving semantic constellation through a variety of intellectual discourses, exposing it as a key operator in the revaluation of ideals, sensibilities, and modalities of perception that lie at the core of our contemporary attention-based economy.