"The book presents a fresh sociotechnical perspective on knowledge generation, evolution, and dissemination. In the book, 'social technology' is clearly differentiated from technology in general and an expanded perspective is given. ... I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in global knowledge dynamics and the role social technology plays in them." (M. M. Tanik, Computing Reviews, February, 2018)
1. The Eternal Contest.- 2. In Languages We Trust.- 3. What Knowledge Grows?.- 4. This Is Propagation.- 5. Most Valuable Products.- 7. When Diversity Strikes.- 8. Epilogue.-
Thomas Petzold is a media complexity scientist, and currently Professor of Media Management at the University of Applied Sciences for Media, Communication and Economics, Berlin, Germany (HMKW Berlin).
This volume unpacks an intriguing challenge for the field of media research: combining media research with the study of complex networks. Bringing together research on the small-world idea and digital culture it questions the assumption that we are separated from any other person on the planet by just a few steps, and that this distance decreases within digital social networks. The book argues that the role of languages is decisive to understand how people connect, and it looks at the consequences this has on the ways knowledge spreads digitally. This volume offers a first conceptual venue to analyse emerging phenomena at the innovative intersection of media and complex network research.