[Air-L] New open access book - Dark Side of Digital Platforms

[Philippa Smith]

Hi Everyone

In the spirit of keeping the academic work moving along, even in the midst of the challenges we are facing with most of us in some for of lock down - I'd like to let you know about this open access book just published which I co-edited with Darja Fiser from the University of Ljubljana. Please see below and feel free to circulate.


The Dark Side of Digital Platforms:  Linguistic Investigations of Socially Unacceptable Online Discourse Practices

Intolerant, abusive and hateful speech online has received a lot of attention by researchers in social, media and communication studies, yet its linguistic aspects also require thorough investigation. This book just published - The Dark Side of Digital Platforms -  showcases how a linguistic perspective has much to offer in unravelling exactly what is occurring in online environments. With a common goal to interrogate the linguistic aspects of negative online behaviours, which are prevalent on different social media platforms, the book’s authors approach this phenomenon from a range of methodological frameworks. Alongside their efforts to identify, describe and understand various forms of digital discourse,  they are motivated by a common belief that their work can inform efforts to contain or mitigate the impact of negative online behaviours.

Each chapter interrogates a different communicative practice in a specific modality on a range of online platforms and offers insights into different quantitative and qualitative approaches when it comes to the complexities of the linguistic analysis of negative online behaviours. The range of methodological frameworks and theoretical approaches utilized in the explorations into online discourses of racism, misogyny, homophobia/LGBQT+ rights and islamophobia/anti-immigrant discourses presented in this book contribute a comprehensive understanding of the linguistic landscape of online hate. The studies presented analyse data across three very different countries, cultures and languages – Cyprus, Japan and Slovenia – demonstrating that negative online behaviours are a global problem that should not be ignored. Therefore, the findings of these studies have much wider implications.



The e-book available in English is freely available in open access: https://e-knjige.ff.uni-lj.si/znanstvena-zalozba/catalog/book/191



Darja Fišer (University of Ljubljana and Jožef Stefan Institute, Slovenia)

Philippa Smith (Auckland University of Technology, NZ)

Editors


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Take care and keep safe.

Philippa Smith
Senior Lecturer - English and New Media
School of Language & Culture
Auckland University of Technology
New Zealand