The recognition that identity is mutable, multi-layered and subject to multiple modes of construction and de-construction has contributed to problematizing the issues associated with its representation in discourse, which has recently been attracting increasing attention in different disciplinary areas. Identity representation is the main focus of this volume, which analyses instances of multimedia and multimodal communication to the public at large for commercial, informative, political or cultural purposes. In particular, it examines the impact of the increasingly sophisticated forms of expression made available by the evolution of communication technologies, especially in computer-mediated or web-based settings, but also in more traditional media (press, cinema, TV). The basic assumption shared by all contributors is that communication is the locus where identities, either collective, social or individual, are deliberately constructed and negotiated. In their variety of topics and approaches, the studies collected in this volume testify to the criticality of representing personal, professional and organizational identities through the new media, as their ability to reach a virtually unlimited audience amplifies the potential political, cultural and economic impact of discursive identity constructions. They also confirm that new highly sophisticated media can forge identities well beyond the simply iconic or textual representation, generating deeply interconnected webs of meaning capable of occupying an expanding - and adaptable - discursive space.

In this book, Damiana Gibbons Pyles guides readers through the fast-changing landscape of digital streaming services such as Netflix and explores their impact on children’s and teens’ identities. Children interact with streaming media in novel, hidden, and unforeseen ways that shape their digital, material, affective, and embodied worlds. By analyzing how Netflix represents gender, race, and ethnicities, Gibbons Pyles explores how this new media phenomenon portrays and influences young people’s development and sense of self, and how streaming media pushes children and teens to particular ways of being in its interfaces, algorithms, and content. Drawing primarily on Bakhtinian, feminist, and female Black scholarship, her incisive analysis reveals how the new media streaming phenomenon molds children’s understandings of their ways of being in the world. Ideal for scholars and graduate students in literacy education, media studies, and communication, the text is an illuminating view into the hidden role of streaming services as an essential, complex component of literacy scholarship.

Contributors discuss how growing up in a world saturated with digital media affects the development of young people's individual and social identities. As young people today grow up in a world saturated with digital media, how does it affect their sense of self and others? As they define and redefine their identities through engagements with technology, what are the implications for their experiences as learners, citizens, consumers, and family and community members? This addresses the consequences of digital media use for young people's individual and social identities. The contributors explore how young people use digital media to share ideas and creativity and to participate in networks that are small and large, local and global, intimate and anonymous. They look at the emergence of new genres and forms, from SMS and instant messaging to home pages, blogs, and social networking sites. They discuss such topics as “girl power” online, the generational digital divide, young people and mobile communication, and the appeal of the “digital publics” of MySpace, considering whether these media offer young people genuinely new forms of engagement, interaction, and communication. Contributors Angela Booker, danah boyd, Kirsten Drotner, Shelley Goldman, Susan C. Herring, Meghan McDermott, Claudia Mitchell, Gitte Stald, Susannah Stern, Sandra Weber, Rebekah Willett

Drawing on research into autobiographical video production by young learners to present a theory of curatorship and new media, this work explores facets of literacy and identity theory which provided the initial frames for examining the work and shows how 'curatorship' works as a metaphor for new cultural and literacy practices.

Language, Identity, and Syrian Political Activism on Social Media is an empirical contemporary Arabic sociolinguistic investigation informed by theories and notions developed in the fields of Arabic linguistics, sociolinguistics, discourse analysis and linguistic anthropology. Building on the Bakhtinian concept of linguistic hybridity, this book conducts a longitudinal analysis of Syrian dissidents’ social media practices between 2009 and 2017. It shows how dissidents have used social media to emerge in the discourse about the Syrian conflict and how language has been used symbolically as a tool of social and political engagement in an increasingly complex sociopolitical context. This monograph is ideal for students, sociolinguists and researchers interested in Arabic language and identity.

Visitor engagement and learning, outreach, and inclusion are concepts that have long dominated professional museum discourses. The recent rapid uptake of various forms of social media in many parts of the world, however, calls for a reformulation of familiar opportunities and obstacles in museum debates and practices. Young people, as both early adopters of digital forms of communication and latecomers to museums, increasingly figure as a key target group for many museums. This volume presents and discusses the most advanced research on the multiple ways in which social media operates to transform museum communications in countries as diverse as Australia, Denmark, Germany, Norway, the UK, and the United States. It examines the socio-cultural contexts, organizational and education consequences, and methodological implications of these transformations.

This book presents a landmark in-depth study of how mass media contributes to the making and remaking of male identity. It concludes that, unless addressed, the effects of negative discourse on the self-identity and self-esteem of men, are potentially devastating and that the longer-term and wider social implications will also be costly.