The Routledge Companion to Digital Media and Democracy

A comprehensive collection that offers an overview of digital technologies and democratic practice, this Companion explores the topic of digital media and democracy from a historically rich and socio-culturally broad perspective.

Edited by one of the foremost leaders in the field, Zizi Papacharissi, this cutting-edge collection outlines the current state of theory and research in the field and maps out trajectories for future scholarship and study. Contributors explore how a variety of digital technologies afford democratic practices, examine different genres of social media, consider networked platforms, contemplate the ways in which platforms are presently morphing into mediascapes of the future, including related issues such as algorithmic bias, data justice, predatory practices online, and the role of AI, as well as other digitally enabled behaviors that often liberate and confine at the same time. Championing global and cross-cultural diversity and complexity throughout, the Companion highlights the lessons learned from the technologies of the past and the challenges presented by contemporary and future technologies, and imagines new democratic practices and digital tropes of participation that may emerge in the future.

This book is an essential reading for students and scholars interested in the impact of digital media and technology upon politics and public life.

Zizi Papacharissi is UIC Distinguished Professor of Communication and Political Science at the University of Illinois-Chicago and Department Head of Communication. She is also University Scholar and affiliate faculty with the Discovery Partners Institute at the University of Illinois System. Her work focuses on the social and political consequences of online media. She has published 10 books, over 80 journal articles and book chapters, and serves on the editorial board of fifteen journals. Zizi is the founding and current Editor of the open access journal Social Media & Society. Her work has been translated in Greek, German, Korean, Chinese, Hungarian, Italian, Turkish, and Persian.