Living in Digital Worlds : Designing the Digital Public Space

Jacobs, Naomi Jane and Cooper, Rachel (2018) Living in Digital Worlds : Designing the Digital Public Space. Routledge, Abingdon. ISBN 9781472452832

Abstract

Living in Digital Worlds investigates the relationship between human society and technology, as our private and particularly our public lives are increasingly undertaken in spaces that are inherently digital: digital public spaces. The book unpicks why digital technology is such an inextricable part of modern society, first by examining the historical relationship between technological development and the early progression of human sociality. This is then followed by an examination of the ways in which modern life is currently being impacted by the expansion of digital information and devices into multiple aspects of our lives, including focuses on privacy, bias and ownership in digital spaces. Finally, it explores potential future developments and their implications, and proposes that it is crucial to consider the design of technology and systems in order to support a positive and beneficial direction of change. Each chapter includes case studies, primarily drawn from The Creative Exchange, a £3m five year programme funded by AHRC, led by Rachel Cooper and which ran from 2012 to 2016 to explored the notion of the digital public space through collaborative cross-sector research. The publication also builds on an exhibition on the work of 21 doctoral students who contributed to the Creative Exchange and led to further funding of two multi-institutional EPSRC research grants(2016-19 £10m and 2019-23 £13m) on Privacy, Ethics, Trust, Risk, Adoption and Security of the IOT which Rachel Cooper is a Co-Investigator.