"The Digital Mystique is a comprehensive look at what digital media has done to our society and how to navigate this new digital age in a positive way"--

In The Digital Mystique, Sarah Granger—a nationally recognized expert on online culture and social technology—shows us how digital media is shaping our lives in real time. Whether it's how we raise our children, communicate in love and partnerships, support causes, or establish friendships and trust, Granger pinpoints the best ways to seize digital opportunities to make our lives richer and fuller. While the Internet era is one that is frequently criticized as undermining our health, privacy, concentration, and ability to sustain real-world relationships, Granger takes a more optimistic and empowering view. She shares real-life stories and surprising facts about our lives—both online and off—to shed new and fascinating light on the positive effects of the digital media revolution, showing us how we can personally learn, grow, and thrive by engaging in our digitized world. The Digital Mystique includes the following chapters: Connecting Is Just the Beginning .YOU Friending Is Trending Love in the Time of Messaging The Kids Are Online The Senior Moment The Passion of the Web There’s No Business Like E-Business Community Is the Key The Difference a Tweet Makes What We Leave Behind A Stitch in Digital Time

A tantalizing tale of a legendary knight and a headstrong lady whose daring quest for a mysterious crystal will draw them into a whirlwind of treachery–and desire. When the fearsome knight called Hugh the Relentless swept into Lingwood Manor like a storm, everyone cowered–except Lady Alice. Sharp-tongued and unrepentant, the flame haired beauty believed Sir Hugh was not someone to dread but the answer to her dreams. She knew he had come for the dazzling green crystal, knew he would be displeased to find that it was no longer in her possession. Yet Alice had a proposition for the dark and forbidding knight: In return for a dowry that would free Alice and her brother from their uncle's grasp, she would lend her powers of detection to his warrior's skills and together they would recover his treasured stone. But even as Hugh accepted her terms, he added a condition of his own: Lady Alice must agree to a temporary betrothal–one that would soon draw her deep into Hugh's great stone fortress, and into a battle that could threaten their lives...and their only chance at love.

As the world of television moves from analog to digital, political and economic forces are being brought to bear on companies as they attempt to deal with changes occurring in their industries. The impetus for the conversion from analog to digital TV comes from many quarters, including the broadcasting industry, the computer industry, governments, consumer electronics manufacturers, content developers, and the Internet. The widespread acceptance of digital technology in both the home and the workplace account for the ready acceptance of the belief that the move to digital television is an appropriate advancement. Not all authors in this volume however are believers. This book is divided into four sections each dealing with one aspect of the transition from analog to digital TV broadcasting. The first section presents the various technologies. It establishes a structure for understanding the technologies currently in use as well as those being developed by the industries involved in the delivery of digital television. Section two presents information about consumer TV viewing and includes examples of innovative, experimental interactive programs. Economics and financial issues are addressed from a variety of perspectives in section three. Section four concludes the book with a look at the international environment and the history of digital TV globally.

Digital technologies have fundamentally altered the nature and function of media in our society. This book critically examines digital innovations and their positive and negative implications.

Computers are supposed to be smart, yet they frustrate both ordinary users and computer technologists. Why are people frustrated by smart machines? Computers don’t fit people. People think in terms of comparisons, stories, and analogies, and seek feedback, whereas computers are based on a fundamental design that does not fit with analogical and feedback thinking. They impose a binary, an all-or-nothing, approach to everything. Moreover, the social world and institutions that have developed around computer technology hide and reinforce the lack of alignment between computers and people. This book suggests a solution: we do not have to accept the way things are now and work around the bad social and technical design of computers. Rather, it proposes a diverse, distributed, critical discussion of how to design and build both computer technology and its social institutions.