Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Two new books in our series!
We're both very happy to announce the publication of two new books in our Peter Lang series!
Shaheen Shariff and Andrew H. Churchill are the editors of Truths and Myths about Cyber-bullying: International Perspectives on Stakeholder Responsibility and Children's Safety. This book usefully presents a range of international perspectives on what constitutes "cyber-bullying" and what the key issues are concerning cyber-bullying and internet safety. From the back cover:
The book contains three sections ... The first section introduces readers to the various ways in which researchers conceptualize cyber-bullying; the second provides a comprehensive review of legal considerations and communication rights; and the final section reviews a sampling of intervention programs designed to build safe communities. Each chapter contributes to dispelling common myths about technology and develops an appreciation of the potential roles and responsibilities of a wide spectrum of stakeholders.
Authors hail variously from Canada, New Zealand, Australia, England, the Netherlands, and the U.S. This a book filled to the brim with important new conceptual insights and sound practical advice!
The second book is by Connie Morrison, and is titled, Who Do They Think They Are? Teenage Girls and Their Avatars in Spaces of Social Online Communication. this book reports an extended case study of 10 adolescent females constructing 2D avatars for using as profile pictures in online social spaces.
It explores the complex and often conflicted negotiations behind girlhood identity and representation in a cyber-social world. ... The contradictions and expectations of inline social and popular culture make representations of identity simultaneously limitless and limiting for the girls who create them. Given the nature of identity-defining and the social act of creating an autobiographical avatar, a critical media literacy frame provides a pedagogical opportunity for bringing avatar construction into the secondary English classroom [from the back cover].
Connie's book raises all sorts of interesting questions about self-representation online and how we read each other in cyberspaces.
