What 'Postdigital' Means to Us:Roundtable with Members of the Centre for Postdigital Cultures

Facilitated by the sixth author, this roundtable was conducted on 24 January 2024, at Coventry University. It brings together members of the Centre for Postdigital Cultures, Coventry University, from the centre’s five core research strands: Postpublishing; Postdigital Intimacies; ArtSpaceCity; Ludic Design; and AI and Algorithmic Cultures. Here we explore the multifaceted and interdisciplinary meaning to us of the concept of the ‘postdigital’ and unpack the salient characteristics that make it an important concept in future practice-research-theory

Postdigital Intimacies for Online Safety

This report offers a multi-sector response to the Online Safety Bill (OSB). The shape and content of the OSB has generated discussion amongst policy specialists, stakeholders and lobbyists in key services and sectors, political advisors and appointed representatives, and academics and researchers – as well as a general public interested in what the OSB will mean for people made vulnerable or at risk of harms online. We report on the discussions that took place in four co-production workshops with representatives from the areas of: intimate digital health tools and services marketed to those who identify as women; image-based and technologically-enabled abuse; “toxic” internet communities; and protections for people with mental health conditions and neurodiversity. As the OSB reaches the final stages of approval through the UK government, this report provides a response from people working in these areas, highlighting the voices and perspectives of those invested in ensuring a vibrant, equal, inclusive, and safe digital society can flourish. Our recommendations include the need for: robust, transparent risk assessment and frameworks for preventing harm that work across life-stages; going above and beyond the current OSB legislation to raise awareness and educate to reduce harms; recognition in the OSB and elsewhere of the national threat of Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG); and, an increase in information sharing and working across sectors of the technology industry, service providers, and charity, law, and government to generate new approaches for a better future

On gesture, or of the blissful promise

The text opens an invited guest-edited issue of Necsus on gesture. Whilst it introduces the articles comprised in the issue, it also draws on them and on the philosophy of gesture to propose new theory on gesturality broadly conceived across different media. The article as well as the entire issue is available to read online Open Access

On gesture, or of the blissful promise

The text opens an invited guest-edited issue of Necsus on gesture. Whilst it introduces the articles comprised in the issue, it also draws on them and on the philosophy of gesture to propose new theory on gesturality broadly conceived across different media. The article as well as the entire issue is available to read online Open Access

Introduction

In recent years, the trend to present the notion of imperfection in a positive rather than negative light has resonated across a range of social and creative disciplines and a wealth of world regions. This open access book synthesizes the swiftly growing critical scholarship on mistakes, glitches, and other aesthetics and logics of imperfection into the first transdisciplinary, transnational framework of imperfection studies. With this framework, the editors offer scholars and students across various disciplines tools to craft more historically grounded and critically informed conceptualizations of the imperfect

Editorial: Researching Asia in Pandemic Times

This editorial introduces the special issue "Researching Asia in Pandemic Times," which reflects on the impact of digital transformation on academic research during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic necessitated a rapid shift to online and digital research methods, presenting researchers with both opportunities and challenges. These included ethical dilemmas, methodological adaptations, and structural inequalities amplified by the reliance on technology. Early career researchers, particularly those navigating disrupted fieldwork, played a central role in exploring these dynamics, contributing valuable insights into the interplay between online and offline research spaces. The articles in this issue document grounded experiences from diverse contexts in Asia, examining topics such as digital inequalities, research ethics, and methodological shifts. They critically explore how digital tools reshape data collection, relationships with research participants, and power structures, while raising pressing questions about the location of "the field" and the implications of online methods in volatile contexts. The contributions presented in this special issue underscore the urgency of developing ethically sound and adaptable research approaches in an increasingly digital academic landscape

Digitalised higher education: key developments, questions, and concerns

Higher education is already profoundly digitalised. Students, academics, and university administrators routinely use digital technologies, many of which rely on data, including artificial intelligence. Universities aim to operate as data-powered organisations to support institutional efficiency and the personalisation of learning and student experience. These developments are occurring against the backdrop of university digital infrastructure moving to the cloud and the increasing role of ‘Big Tech’ in the sector. However, there are many unknowns about the aggregate impact of digitalisation on the sector, and hence, questions about potential risks and harms remain unanswered. Our approach in this collective piece is to reflect on particularly relevant and impactful dynamics of higher education digitalisation. We first identify assetisation as an emergent mode of governance linked to the digitalisation of HE, which brings new temporal, relational, and lock-in challenges for universities and their constituents. Second, we examine the macro-level structural transformation of higher education with the increasing role of Big Tech and Big EdTech. We conclude by discussing the consequences of the identified macro power dynamics

Digitalised higher education:Key developments, questions, and concerns

Higher education is already profoundly digitalised. Students, academics, and university administrators routinely use digital technologies, many of which rely on data, including artificial intelligence. Universities aim to operate as data-powered organisations to support institutional efficiency and the personalisation of learning and student experience. These developments are occurring against the backdrop of university digital infrastructure moving to the cloud and the increasing role of ‘Big Tech’ in the sector. However, there are many unknowns about the aggregate impact of digitalisation on the sector, and hence, questions about potential risks and harms remain unanswered. Our approach in this collective piece is to reflect on particularly relevant and impactful dynamics of higher education digitalisation. We first identify assetisation as an emergent mode of governance linked to the digitalisation of HE, which brings new temporal, relational, and lock-in challenges for universities and their constituents. Second, we examine the macro-level structural transformation of higher education with the increasing role of Big Tech and Big EdTech. We conclude by discussing the consequences of the identified macro power dynamics