Digital Guru Media: Critical perspectives on internet celebrity culture, social media influencers and digital life-coaching.
Submissions of abstracts of no more than 500 words should be sent to Dr Stefan Lawrence ([log in to unmask]) by Monday 25th November, 2019.
More and more of us are spending our time at leisure in the company of others and avatars by way of digital and social media. Many of us are not only spending more of our digital leisure experiences connected to our peers, many of us, by way of podcasts, videos, memes and blogs, are consuming, what this edited collection is calling, Digital Guru Media. This term is being coined in this book to refer to myriad self-styled life coaches, gurus, entrepreneurs and/ or internet celebrities and influencers, all of whom are posting about a variety of topics from sport and fitness to beauty and commerce. Recognising the popularity of this kind of media, at a time when concerns about ‘mental health’ are growing at a political and policy level, is incredibly important, not least because there is a tendency for public discourse to borrow from the language of ‘crisis’ and to operate in narrow dichotomies of whether digital and social media is either good or bad. The purpose of this book then is to argue for an epistemological shift beyond asking if digital and social media is a problem per se and to begin to dissect the root problems a turn to the Internet could be reflecting to us, as well as potential solutions.
Digital and social media then must not be reduced to the level of mere coercive technologies of social control. Many of us actively seek out the ideologies and philosophies of digital media gurus. The question that this edited collection seeks to answer therefore is why? What lacuna is being filled in late modern societies by Digital Guru Media? What impact does digital guru media have for those people who might passively consume its panacea of ideas through others or while casually browsing? Is the content that is being delivered useful or damaging or both? What does its rise tell us about how public institutions and (mental) health services are failing the body politic? Is regulation of this space desirable? And what does it say about leisure and the changing modes of leisure time and experiences? These are just some potential questions this book wishes to explore.
Proposed Focus
The proposed focus of the book will be on explaining critically the rise and popularity of ‘digital guru media’ and analysing the social, cultural, psychological and economic implications such developments necessitate. Chapters with an empirical or theoretical focus, which address the following major themes, are of particular interest:
1. Theorising digital media and/ or digital gurus;
2. Digital and social media and self-health management;
3. Internet celebrity culture, entrepreneurship and social media influencers.
Each theme will be further divided into sub-themes, which could include (but are not restricted to):
· (Hate) Crime and/ or Trolling
· V/Blogging; Podcasts; Streaming services; Social networking
· Identity politics
· Fandom
· Ac(k)tivism and social movements
· (Mental) Health and well-being
· Identity and cyber-selves
· Digital communities
· Moral panics (social media and mental health)
· Digital marketing
· Resistance
· Privacy and freedom of speech
· Social justice (racism, sexism, homophobia)
· Surveillance and control
· Sport, fitness and physical activity
· Techno-libertarianism and Informational capitalism
Submission guidelines
Submissions of abstracts of no more than 500 words should be sent to Dr Stefan Lawrence ([log in to unmask]) by 25th November, 2019.
Please include the following in abstracts:
· Proposed article title
· Proposed author names and affiliations
· Theme or sub-theme
· Rationale and aim(s) of chapter
· Principal body of literature/theoretical framework
· Proposed contribution to knowledge.
Key dates and publications timeline to follow after decision made on abstracts.
Best
Stefan
Dr Stefan Lawrence BA (hons), MA, PGCTLHE, PhD
Senior Lecturer and Course Co-ordinator for BA (hons) Sport and Exercise Studies/ BA (hons) Sport Development with Coaching
Higher Education Academy Fellow
Founder Digital Football Network
email: [log in to unmask] | phone: +44 (0) 121 476 1181 ext 2699 | room: OX105
ORDER Digital Football Cultures: Fandom, Identites & Resistance (eds. Stefan Lawrence and Garry Crawford) HERE
Follow my blog at: http://stefanlawrence.wordpress.com/
Follow my research at: http://newman.academia.edu/StefanLawrence
Follow my tweets at: http://www.twitter.com/stefanolawrence
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