Leopoldina Fortunati

Shanhua Yang

Peilin Luo

This book investigates the process of negotiation between societies and information and communication technologies (ICTs); how ICTs evolve in this global world, transforming the organization of everyday life as well as the production of technologies. It analyzes how societies mediate the quantity and quality of technologies needed and how these technologies are in turn metabolized by societies. In the globalization process, technological products that originate from European cultures undergo a resemanticization process by Asian users. Adaptation and transformation of the meaning of ICTs generate a new process of creation of services and functions. This book is a useful reference for readers who wants to understand and implement these services and functions.

New Technologies in Global Societies

Rodney Wai-chi Chu

Pui-Lam Law

This edited volume is the first book-length study focusing entirely on mobile phone use in China. Drawing on examples from a wide range of contemporary situations in China and beyond, the contributors argue that the mobile phone is in fact an important means by which one can understand a rapidly changing China, and the developing culture of mobile phone usage reflects both the cultural norms and struggle of the people. Through a theoretical comparison of usage in the West and in China, the editors assert the uniqueness of China’s experience, highlighting that Chinese society is being exposed simultaneously to a rapid process of industrialization and cyberization. The contributors maintain that such density of experience under a compressed period combined with a thick cultural heritage and a country still under a dictating rule provides a unique situation and offers deep insights into Chinese culture in general. This work will be of great interest to all students and scholars of Asian communication studies, ICT and Chinese culture and society.

Shanhua Yang

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