cyberfeminism
Application to and promotion of feminism online.
Increasingly prominent in the discussion of new media and feminism is cyberfeminism, the application to, and promotion of, feminism online.
design patents
Patents that are granted when someone has invented a new and original design for a manufactured product.
Design patents protect the distinctive look of a product, such as the shape of a smartphone.
digital divide
The uneven access to technology around race, class, and geographic lines.
Since the beginning of the millennium, social science researchers have tried to bring attention to the digital divide, the uneven access to technology along race, class, and geographic lines.
e-readiness
The ability to sort through, interpret, and process digital knowledge.
Even as we improve access, we have failed to address an increasingly evident gap in e-readiness.
embodied energy
The sum of energy required for a finished product including the resource extraction, transportation, manufacturing, distribution, marketing, and disposal.
This cost would include what is called the embodied energy costs of a product.
evolutionary model of technological change
A breakthrough in one form of technology that leads to a number of variations, from which a prototype emerges, followed by a period of slight adjustments to the technology, interrupted by a breakthrough.
Anderson and Tushman (1990) suggest an evolutionary model of technological change, in which a breakthrough in one form of technology leads to a number of variations.
gatekeeping
The sorting process by which thousands of possible messages are shaped into a mass media–appropriate form and reduced to a manageable amount.
Shoemaker and Voss (2009) define gatekeeping as the sorting process by which thousands of possible messages are shaped into a mass media–appropriate form and reduced to a manageable amount.
knowledge gap
The gap in information that builds as groups grow up without access to technology.
There is concern about labour shortages as boomers retire, not to mention the knowledge gap as the most senior and accomplished leaders in different sectors start to leave.
media
All print, digital, and electronic means of communication.
Demonstrate awareness of the social homogenization and social fragmentation that are occurring via modern society’s use of technology and media.
media globalization
The worldwide integration of media through the cross-cultural exchange of ideas.
In this section, we will look more closely at how media globalization and technological globalization play out in a sociological perspective.
misogyny
Personal, social, and cultural manifestations of the hatred of girls and women.
Have new media technologies become another tool in promoting misogyny?
narcotizing dysfunction
When people are too overwhelmed with media input to really care about the issue, so their involvement becomes defined by awareness instead of by action about the issue at hand.
Some sociologists assert that this level of media exposure leads to narcotizing dysfunction.
neo-Luddites
Those who see technology as a symbol of the coldness of modern life.
Neo-Luddites are people who see technology as symbolizing the coldness and alienation of modern life.
new media
All interactive forms of information exchange.
New media emerge constantly, such as we see in the online world.
panoptic surveillance
A form of constant monitoring in which the observation posts are decentralized and the observed is never communicated with directly.
The panoptic surveillance envisioned by Jeremy Bentham and later analyzed by Michel Foucault (1975) is increasingly realized in the form of technology used to monitor our every move.
planned obsolescence
When a technology company plans for a product to be obsolete or unable to be repaired from the time it’s created.
This is called planned obsolescence, and it is the business practice of planning for a product to be obsolete or unusable from the time it is created (The Economist, 2009).
plant patents
Patents that recognize the discovery of new plant types that can be asexually reproduced.
Plant patents, the final type, recognize the discovery of new plant types that can be asexually reproduced.
technological diffusion
The spread of technology across borders.
Technological globalization is impacted in large part by technological diffusion, the spread of technology across borders.
technological globalization
The cross-cultural development and exchange of technology.
In this section, we will look more closely at how media globalization and technological globalization play out in a sociological perspective.
technology
The application of science to solve problems in daily life.
Demonstrate awareness of the social homogenization and social fragmentation that are occurring via modern society’s use of technology and media.
technophiles
Those who see technology as symbolizing the potential for a brighter future.
But for technophiles, technology symbolizes the potential for a brighter future.
utility patents
Patents that are granted for the invention or discovery of any new and useful process, product, or machine.
Utility patents are the first type.
These terms were extracted from Introduction to Sociology – 2nd Canadian Edition by William Little, eCampusOntario (originally published by BCcampus, 2016) which is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Based on Introduction to Sociology by OpenStax (© 2013 Rice University), licensed under CC BY 3.0.