Book review: the mediated construction of reality by Nick Couldry and Andreas Hepp

In The Mediated Construction of Reality, Nick Couldry and Andreas Hepp shed light on how media, and social media in particular, has come to transform our personal and social lives. While suggesting that a less theoretically dense discussion might have been more accessible for readers, Ignas Kalpokas nonetheless anticipates the book will prove a highly influential contribution to understandings of the media today

Book review: community engagement 2.0? Dialogues on the future of the civic in the disrupted university edited by Scott L. Crabill and Dan Butin

This volume is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in the contemporary challenges faced by universities still struggling to adapt themselves to the online learning environment, writes Ignas Kalpokas

Book review: the Middle Ages

In Johannes Fried’s The Middle Ages, the author makes his case for an alternative interpretation of the medieval period as much more sophisticated than commonly thought, writes Ignas Kalpokas. The book intricately traces how ideas and systems of thought that we now consider quintessentially modern European ways of life, thinking and culture stemmed from this time period

Book review: Creativity in Research: cultivate clarity, be innovative and make progress in your research journey by Nicola Ulibarri et al

In Creativity in Research: Cultivate Clarity, Be Innovative and Make Progress in your Research Journey, Nicola Ulibarri et al emphasise the invaluable role of creativity for the academic researcher, focusing on the processes and contexts of research in order to help academics foster innovation and imagination in their practices. The book will be useful to early-stage researchers looking to build healthy research habits and for those searching for ways to encourage creative capacities in their students, writes Ignas Kalpokas

Book review: reading the comments: likers, haters, and manipulators at the bottom of the web

Despite their lowly reputation as a kind of dark collective unconscious of the Internet, the process of commenting and the comments themselves are everyday activities that not only provide outlets for our negative side, weaknesses, and vanity but also structure our lives significantly. Ignas Kalpokas finds three significant contributions that Reading the Comments: Likers, Haters, and Manipulators at the Bottom of the Web provides to the existing literature

Book review: are filter bubbles real? by Axel Bruns

As references to echo chambers and filter bubbles become ubiquitous in contemporary discourse, Axel Bruns offers a riposte in Are Filter Bubbles Real?, which questions the existence of these phenomena. While not convinced by all of the author’s arguments, Ignas Kalpokas welcomes the book as a must-read for those looking to critically reflect on some of the assumptions surrounding social media today

Book review: post-truth: how we have reached peak bullshit and what we can do about it by Evan Davis

In Post-Truth: Why We Have Reached Peak Bullshit and What We Can Do About It, Evan Davis analyses the rise of a post-truth environment, its historical antecedents and the cultural factors that enable it to flourish in the contemporary moment. Ignas Kalpokas praises this book for combining journalistic flare, accessibility and substance to offer a multi-faceted understanding of how post-truth functions in society today

Book review: A lot of people are saying: the new conspiracism and the assault on democracy by Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum

In A Lot of People Are Saying: The New Conspiracism and the Assault on Democracy, Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum identify and outline the emergence of a new type of conspiracist thinking in our contemporary moment, showing it to pose a fundamental threat to democratic functioning. While questioning whether the book ascribes too much intentionality to those engaging in ‘the new conspiracism’, this is nonetheless a timely and important conceptualisation, writes Ignas Kalpokas

Book review: Easy living: the rise of the home office by Elizabeth A. Patton

In Easy Living: The Rise of the Home Office, Elizabeth A. Patton explores how the status of the home as an intimate space and locus of economic activity is closely tied to the economic, social and cultural transformations of the past century. This accessible and engaging account sheds necessary light on the history of working from home and the vested interests behind our changing work practices, writes Ignas Kalpokas. Easy Living: The Rise of the Home Office. Elizabeth A. Patton. Rutgers University Press. 2020

Book review: competitive accountability in academic life: the struggle for social impact and public legitimacy by Richard Watermeyer

In Competitive Accountability in Academic Life: The Struggle for Social Impact and Public Legitimacy, Richard Watermeyer critically explores the increasing quantification of academic life and the rise of the marketised competitive university. This book particularly succeeds in not only exploring the futility and counterproductiveness of quantified academic performance metrics, but also revealing how complicity among some academics allows these practices to become even more entrenched, writes Ignas Kalpokas