The Culture of Efficiency: Technology in Everyday Life reveals how people are managing, exploiting, and resisting technological developments in the digital age. In this unique volume, distinguished experts from a broad range of fields candidly show how the latest technologies are being used to transform and control nitty-gritty aspects of life from conception onward and the surprising benefits and consequences. Bold and provocative, The Culture of Efficiency is for everyone concerned with efficiency and effectiveness. It offers fresh insights about social trends, practical suggestions for improving everyday life, and vital forecasts about the future of work and leisure. This is essential reading for researchers, professionals, and students in communication, sociology, education, anthropology, psychology, organizational science, operations management, marketing, gender studies, environmental studies, American studies, healthcare, and social policy. Overall, the volume offers a rich interpretation of the meaning of living in a culture of efficiency.

Autorentext

The Editor: Sharon Kleinman is Professor of Communications at Quinnipiac University. Her research focuses on the social implications of communication technologies and on issues concerning online and place-based communities. She is the editor of the critically acclaimed book Displacing Place: Mobile Communication in the Twenty-first Century (Peter Lang, 2007). She holds a B.A. in English and American literature from Brandeis University and an M.S. and a Ph.D. in communication from Cornell University.

Inhalt

Contents: Sharon Kleinman: Introduction Suzy D Enbeau/Patrice M. Buzzanell: Efficiencies of Pregnancy Management: From Penciling in Pregnancy to Elective C-Sections Yvonne Houy: From Taylor to Just-in-Time Sustainability: A Short History of Efficient Eating Michael L. Maynard: Hyping the Efficiencies of Fast(er) Food: The Glocalization of McDonald s Snack Wrap in Japan Nathan Jurgenson/George Ritzer: Efficiency, Effectiveness, and Web 2.0 Corey Anton: Clocks, Synchronization, and the Fate of Leisure: A Brief Media Ecological History of Digital Technologies Brenda L. Berkelaar: No Punctuation: Searching for an Architecture of Time in the Culture of Efficiency Mickey Brazeal: Varieties of Efficiency: How Automatic Asset Tracking Changes the Way Businesses Work J. David Johnson: Profiling the Likelihood of Success of Electronic Medical Records Daniel G. McDonald/Jingbo Meng: The Multitasking of Entertainment Dominika Bednarska: Rethinking Access: Why Technology Isn t the Only Answer Michael Bugeja: E-tymology of Inefficiency: How the Business World Colonized Academe Letizia Caronia/André H. Caron: Mobile Learning in the Digital Age: A Clash of Cultures? Julian Kilker: Procrustean Pedagogy: The Architecture of Efficiency in a New Medium Penny A. Leisring: Stalking Made Easy: How Information and Communication Technologies Are Influencing the Way People Monitor and Harass One Another Mikaela L. Marlow/Howard Giles: The Politics of Disaster: Crises, Communication, and Marginalization in the United States Gene Burd: Efficiency Techniques in Journalistic Practice, Scientific Rigor, and Religious Rhetoric Peg Oliveira: Mind over Multitasking: What Would Buddha Do? Holly Parker: Transportation Transformation David F. Donnelly: The Future Starts at 5:00 Mark E. Hoffman/Carrie A. Bulger: Whither Boundaries? The Internet and the Blurring of Work and Personal Life Annis G. Golden: A Technologically Gendered Paradox of Efficiency: Caring More About Work While Working in More Care Sharon Kleinman: Conclusion: Win-Win Sustainability in the Culture of Efficiency Jarice Hanson: Afterword: Reflections.