{"title":"Series: Thinking Media","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThinking Media\u003c\/strong\u003e offers a diverse exploration of ideas across \u003cem\u003earts, politics, psychology\u003c\/em\u003e, and \u003cem\u003ebusiness\u003c\/em\u003e. This series invites readers to engage with thought-provoking perspectives and insightful narratives that challenge conventional thinking. Whether delving into historical figures, negotiation strategies, or cultural movements, each title encourages a deeper understanding of the world and our place within it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFrom \u003cem\u003echildren’s adventures\u003c\/em\u003e to studies of social justice and self-development, the collection balances intellectual inquiry with accessible storytelling. Readers can expect works that inspire reflection, spark curiosity, and provide practical wisdom for navigating both personal growth and broader societal issues.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"sound-affects-9781501388927","title":"Sound Affects","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eSound Affects: A User’s Guide\u003c\/i\u003e is a collection of sonically-charged concepts ranging from those \u003cem\u003efelt\u003c\/em\u003e, 'heard' and repeated (silence, the oriental riff, shuffle), to the vocal (whispers, sing, the disembodied voice), to sounds at the threshold (tin\/ny, thump, buzz) to sounds beyond the limits of audibility (inaudible tremors, distortion, sub-bass).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eSound Affects\u003c\/i\u003e invites the reader to reflect on the ways that sounds produce affects, and the ways that affects can operate as sound.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eEach of the entries develops a particular perspective on sound and affect through a close analysis of audiovisual and\/or sonic objects. The objects chosen not only illustrate the concept in question but also demonstrate how the object encourages us to rethink the relationships between sounds and affects.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eInfluenced by the sound theory of Eugenie Brinkema (2011), the concepts of \u003ci\u003eSound Affects\u003c\/i\u003e plot the shift in volume from silence that opens up a space to be heard to the audibly near, from the audibly near to sounds beyond the limits of audibility.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eSound Affects\u003c\/i\u003e is an intellectual adventure for those who theorise and listen. The book can also be enjoyed as a narrative of sounds, its absences, and its shifting intensities.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46854840221932,"sku":"9781501388927","price":68.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781501388927.jpg?v=1759257212"},{"product_id":"imperfections-9781501380310","title":"Imperfections","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis open access book synthesizes the swiftly growing critical scholarship on mistakes, glitches, and other aesthetics and logics of imperfection into the first transdisciplinary, transnational framework of imperfection studies.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn recent years, the trend to present the notion of imperfection as a plus rather than a problem has resonated across a range of social and creative disciplines and a wealth of world localities. As digital tools allow media users to share ever more suave selfies and success stories, psychologists promote 'the gifts of imperfections' and point to perfectionism as a catalyst for rising depression and burnout complaints and suicide rates among millennials. As sound technologies increasingly permit musicians to 'smoothen' their work, composers increasingly praise glitches, noise, and cracks. As genetic engineering upgrades with swift speed, philosophers, marketeers, and physicians plea 'against perfection' and supermarkets successfully advertise 'perfectly imperfect' vegetables. Meanwhile, cultural analysts point at skewed perspectives, blurry images, and other 'deliberate imperfections' in new and historical cinema, painting, photography, music, and literature.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWhile these and other experts applaud imperfection, scholars in fields ranging from disability studies to tourism critically interrogate a trend to fetishize imperfection and poverty. They rightfully warn against projecting privileged (and, often, emphatically western-biased) feel-good stories onto the less privileged, the distorted, and the frail.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe editors unite the different strands in imperfection thinking across various disciplines. In fourteen chapters by experts from different world localities, they offer scholars and students more historically grounded and more critically informed conceptualisations of the imperfect.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe ebook editions of \u003ci\u003eImperfections\u003c\/i\u003e are available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by the Netherlands Scientific Organization.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47596654690540,"sku":"9781501380310","price":144.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/d61b6b1b1991b7735f43ded0aa512a4f.jpg?v=1777940405"},{"product_id":"frictionlessness-by-jakko-kemper-9798765104422","title":"Frictionlessness","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eFrictionlessness\u003c\/em\u003e provides an examination of the environmentally destructive digital design philosophy of \"frictionlessness\" and the critical significance of a technological aesthetic of imperfection.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIf there is one thing that defines digital consumer technologies today, it is that they are designed to feel frictionless. From smart technologies to cloud computing, from one-click shopping to the promise of seamless streaming—digital technology is framed to host ever-faster operations while receding increasingly into the background of perception.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe environmental costs of this fetishization of frictionlessness are enormous and unevenly distributed; the frictionless experience of the end user tends to be supported by opaque networks of exploited labour and extracted resources that disproportionately impact the Global South. This situation marks an urgent need for alternate, less destructive aesthetic relations to technology. As such, this book examines imperfection, as an aesthetic concept that highlights existential conditions of finitude and fragility, as a particularly powerful counterweight to the dominant digital design philosophy of frictionlessness.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWhile frictionlessness aims to draw the user’s perception away from the exploitative and destructive conditions of digital production, imperfection forms an aesthetic source of friction that alerts users to the fragile nature of technology and the finite resources on which it relies.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThese arguments are elaborated through a close reading of three technological objects—a video game that was programmed to expire, an audiovisual performance that laments the fate of disused technology, and a collection of music albums that dramatise a techno-cultural logic of relentless consumerism. Together, these case studies underline the value of technological aesthetics of imperfection and point to the need for a renewed ethics of care in relation to technology.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48242220237036,"sku":"9798765104422","price":49.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9798765104422-frictionlessness-1.jpg?v=1787967212"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.pro\/collections\/series-thinking-media.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}