[Air-L] New book: Social Media and Everyday Politics

[Tim Highfield]

Hi everyone,

I am delighted to announce the upcoming publication of my first book,
Social Media and Everyday Politics, coming out through Polity very soon.
The book draws upon a lot of the research I have carried out over the last
few years, including elements which have featured in various AoIR
presentations -- thanks to the AoIR community for all the feedback and
support for this work!

While this is, clearly, a book about social media and politics, it’s not
just about politicians and elections and Twitter and blogs – after all,
there’s far more to both 'social media' and 'politics' than just those
topics. Rather, here's the blurb:

"From selfies and memes to hashtags and parodies, social media are used for
mundane and personal expressions of political commentary, engagement, and
participation. The coverage of politics reflects the social mediation of
everyday life, where individual experiences and thoughts are documented and
shared online.


In Social Media and Everyday Politics, Tim Highfield examines political
talk as everyday occurrences on Twitter, Facebook, blogs, Tumblr,
Instagram, and more. He considers the personal and the political, the
serious and the silly, and the everyday within the extraordinary, as
politics arises from seemingly banal and irreverent topics. The analysis
features international examples and evolving practices, from French blogs
to Vine loops from Australia, via the Arab Spring, Occupy, #JeSuisCharlie,
Eurovision, #BlackLivesMatter, Everyday Sexism, and #illridewithyou.


This timely book will be a valuable resource for students and scholars in
media and communications, internet studies, and political science, as well
as general readers keen to understand our contemporary media and political
contexts."


Publication details can be found at Polity's site:
http://www.polity.co.uk/book.asp?ref=9780745691343 -- the paperback
especially is available at a pretty decent price of US$25...

I have also put up additional information on my website, including Amazon
and Book Depository listings and more: http://timhighfield.net/?page_id=670

If you're going to ICA in Japan in June, too, I will be there with the book
for its first major public appearance (with more to come)!

I hope it's an interesting and useful read (and entertaining, too), and I
look forward to any feedback and thoughts.

Thanks,

Tim.

Dr Tim Highfield
Vice-Chancellor's Research Fellow, Digital Media
Creative Industries Faculty, Queensland University of Technology
t.highfield at qut.edu.au | timhighfield.net | @timhighfield