Critique of Social Media

* Book. Geert Lovink. Networks Without a Cause – A Critique of Social Media. Polity Press, 2012

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Interview

"Is this book a continuation of your critical internet studies? What is the main focus?

GL: I am never quite sure if my books are too general or too specific. I am not ready to synthesize my work into a General Network Theory. I see myself more as a chroniqueur who is telling stories and trying to influence the overall direction of net culture with critical concepts and research network initiatives. Based in Europe, working in the academic-cultural field my influence as an intellectual is modest, but still exciting. In this fourth part I continue my investigations into blogging, reflect on the status of ‘net criticism’, discuss the neurological turn in net criticism, develop a theory of comment cultures and report on the ambiguous status of new media education within arts and humanities. Are new media just a fad or are they here stay? If so, then why it is so hard to build up an autonomous discipline in terms of academic research and education?" (http://networkcultures.org/wpmu/geert/2012/01/13/interview-with-geert-lovink-by-krzysztof-gutfranskialternativa-editions/)