Sally Wyatt (MUSTS) and Delia Dumitrica (Erasmus) have jointly edited a special issue of the Canadian Journal of Communication, entitled ‘Digital Technologies and Social Transformations: What Role for Critical Theory?’ The special issue includes an editorial by Wyatt and Dumitrica, as well as six articles and two commentaries.
Being a Canadian journal, articles are published both in French and English. There are two French articles – one about the quantified self and big data, and another about the use of new media by the Kanaks (‘First People’ group) in New Caledonia. Two of the English articles address neoliberal politics of smart meters, and of capitalism more widely. The other two English articles examine examples of political resistance using new media, one involving the appropriation of a public art installation during the ‘Maple Spring’ (which received less international media attention than other springtime uprisings), and another which analyses Twitter discussions of resistance to proposed changes in Canadian law which would curtail Aboriginal rights.
Cover image by Loudmouth Printhouse an Ottawa-based, artist-run, printing cooperative.