Digital Media

Stacey O. Irwin is associate professor in the Department of Communication and Theatre at Millersville University of Pennsylvania.

• PrefaceAcknowledgementsForewordSection 1: Raw MaterialsChapter 1: Exploring the TextureChapter 2: Describing Digital MediaChapter 3: Digging Section 2: Feeling the WeaveChapter 4: Case: The Screen Chapter 5: Case: Dwelling in digital SoundChapter 6: Case: Earbud EmbodimentChapter 7: Case: Being-In-The World-With my iPod Chapter 8: Case: Dubstep Chapter 9: Case: The Photoshop Aesthetic Chapter 10: Case: Data mining Chapter 11: Case: Aggregate News Chapter 12: Case: Self TrackingEpilogue

This small volume has an immodest aim—to analyze 'how digital media change our day-to-day lifeworld experience.' This analysis consists primarily of two components. First is a description of 'postphenomenology,' which is described as phenomenology leavened with pragmatism and close attention to the experiences of using specific technologies. The second is a series of 'cases,' which include descriptions of the use of screens, earbuds, portable music players, digitally altered ('photoshopped') images, aggregate news services, and athletic performance monitoring. Straightforward descriptions of these familiar digital media experiences are juxtaposed with metaphors (e.g., the 'siren's song of today'), oracular statements by phenomenologists, and, most especially, open-ended questions ('Is the technological weave in our contemporary world a heavy covering?' or 'If I cannot hear lifeworld sounds, am I less of a citizen?'). Readers should not expect definitive answers to such questions but instead are encouraged to be mindful of how casual, but pervasive, use of digital media can alter basic experiences and thus who people are. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students and professionals.