Bøger af Gabriele Balbi

As media environments and communication practices evolve over time, so do theoretical concepts. This book analyzes some of the most well-known and fiercely discussed concepts of the digital age from a historical perspective, showing how many of them have pre-digital roots and how they have changed and still are constantly changing in the digital era. Written by leading authors in media and communication studies, the chapters historicize 16 concepts that have become central in the digital media literature, focusing on three main areas. The first part, Technologies and Connections, historicises concepts like network, media convergence, multimedia, interactivity and artificial intelligence. The second one is related to Agency and Politics and explores global governance, datafication, fake news, echo chambers, digital media activism. The last one, Users and Practices, is finally devoted to telepresence, digital loneliness, amateurism, user generated content, fandom and authenticity. The book aims to shed light on how concepts emerge and are co-shaped, circulated, used and reappropriated in different contexts. It argues for the need for a conceptual media and communication history that will reveal new developments without concealing continuities and it demonstrates how the analogue/digital dichotomy is often a misleading one.

This book uses new sources to indepth the early history of the Telegraph Union (today the International Telecommunication Union) and focuses on the key role - political, diplomatic, economic and technical - Switzerland played in promoting its birth and managing its structures during the ten years preceding and following its creation (1855-1875). The history of the ITU tends to be neglected in telecommunication history and the role of Switzerland in its formation and management has been largely overlooked. This is surprising for three reasons: first, it was (and still is) the seat of the Bureau; second, until World War Two the secretary was a Swiss national; finally, the Bureau was under the direct control of the Swiss government. The main statement of this book is that the political economy of Switzerland, based on neutrality, diplomacy, internationalism and technical expertise, exerted a decisive influence over the origins of the ITU.