[Air-L] The Mood of Information

Andy andymcstay at gmail.com
Wed Jun 8 06:45:38 PDT 2011


Hi, is it possible for the below to go out on the mailing list?

Many thanks and best,
Andy




Hello AOIR-folk!

My new book has arrived in shiny hardback and is now available for purchase.
It is somewhat enigmatically titled "The Mood of Information: A Critique of
Online Behavioural Advertising". The blurb on the back says:

"The Mood of Information explores advertising from the perspective of
information flows rather than the more familiar approach of symbolic
representation. At the heart of this book is an aspiration to better
understand contemporary and nascent forms of commercial solicitation
predicated on the commodification of experience and subjectivity. In
assessing novel forms of advertising that involve tracking users’ web
browsing activity over a period of time, this book seeks to grasp and
explicate key trends within the media and advertising industries along with
the technocultural, legal, regulatory and political environment online
behavioural advertising operates within.

Situated within contemporary scholarly debate and interest in recursive
media that involves intensification of discourses of feedback,
personalization, recommendation, co-production, constructivism and the
preempting of intent, this book represents a departure from textual
criticism of advertising to one based on exposition of networked means of
inferring preferences, desires and orientations that reflect ways of being,
or moods of information."

Mark Poster reviewed it, commenting:
"The confusing yet omnipresent world of digital media require analysis of
specific sites and types of content. One could do no better than turn to
Andrew McStay's The Mood of Information to learn about some fascinating yet
troubling developments in the region of "behavioural advertising," the
tracking of marketing activities by consumers. I endorse this volume for
those interested in the reconfiguration of privacy that its topic explores."

If your interest is piqued, the link to the publisher's page is:
http://tinyurl.com/3bhjn8t

The introductory chapter is available from http://tinyurl.com/6jm9om8

Do also drop me a line at mcstay at bangor.ac.uk if you're looking at similar
sorts of stuff and would like to get together on a project.

Best,
Andy



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