[spectre] inc social media reader out now

[Geert Lovink]

Geert Lovink and Miriam Rasch (eds), Unlike Us Reader: Social Media  
Monopolies and Their Alternatives, Amsterdam: Institute of Network  
Cultures, 2013. ISBN: 978-90-818575-2-9, paperback, 384 pages.

Freely downloadable as pdf on:
http://networkcultures.org/wpmu/portal/publication/unlike-us-reader-social-media-monopolies-and-their-alternatives

To order a free print copies of the reader, visit http://networkcultures.org/publications

Check the book trailer here: https://vimeo.com/59997671

The Unlike Us Reader offers a critical examination of social media,  
bringing together theoretical essays, personal discussions, and  
artistic manifestos. How can we understand the social media we use  
everyday, or consciously choose not to use? We know very well that  
monopolies control social media, but what are the alternatives? While  
Facebook continues to increase its user population and combines loose  
privacy restrictions with control over data, many researchers,  
programmers, and activists turn towards designing a decentralized  
future. Through understanding the big networks from within, be it by  
philosophy or art, new perspectives emerge.

Unlike Us is a research network of artists, designers, scholars,  
activists, and programmers, with the aim to combine a critique of the  
dominant social media platforms with work on ‘alternatives in social  
media’, through workshops, conferences, online dialogues, and  
publications. Everyone is invited to be a part of the public  
discussion on how we want to shape the network architectures and the  
future of social networks we are using so intensely.

Contributors: Solon Barocas, Caroline Bassett, Tatiana Bazzichelli,  
David Beer, David M. Berry, Mercedes Bunz, Florencio Cabello, Paolo  
Cirio, Joan Donovan, Louis Doulas, Leighton Evans, Marta G. Franco,  
Robert W. Gehl, Seda Gürses, Alexandra Haché, Harry Halpin, Mariann  
Hardey, Pavlos Hatzopoulos, Yuk Hui, Ippolita, Nathan Jurgenson, Nelli  
Kambouri, Jenny Kennedy, Ganaele Langlois, Simona Lodi, Alessandro  
Ludovico, Tiziana Mancinelli, Andrew McNicol, Andrea Miconi, Arvind  
Narayanan, Wyatt Niehaus, Korinna Patelis, PJ Rey, Sebastian  
Sevignani, Bernard Stiegler, Marc Stumpel, Tiziana Terranova, Vincent  
Toubiana, Brad Troemel, Lonneke van der Velden, Martin Warnke and D.E.  
Wittkower.

Next conference: Unlike Us 3, Amsterdam NL, March 22-23 2013.

URL: http://networkcultures.org/wpmu/unlikeus/3-amsterdam/program/