<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class="">Media, Technology and Education in a Post-Truth Society: From Fake
News, Datafication and Mass Surveillance to the Death of Trust, edited by Alex Grech</div><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class=""><br class=""></div></div><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><a href="https://connectedlearning.edu.mt/media-technology-and-education-in-a-post-truth-society/" class="">https://connectedlearning.edu.mt/media-technology-and-education-in-a-post-truth-society/</a></div><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><br class=""></div><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class="">This interdisciplinary collection of essays explores the impact of
media, emerging technologies, and education on the resilience of the
so-called post-truth society. This book explores if a return to civic
participation, enhanced critical media literacy, journalism for the
public good, techno-interventions and lifelong learning systems can
collectively foster a more engaged global citizenry.<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div class="">The post-truth society is associated with a raft of terms that
challenge the very notion of what should constitute a democratic and
inclusive society: the decline and fall of reason; the disruption of the
public sphere; the spread of misleading information; fake news; culture
wars; the rise of subjectivity; the co-opting of language; filters,
silos and tribes; attention deficits; trolls, polarisation and
hyper-partisanship; the conversion of popularity into legitimacy;
manipulation by "populist"; leaders, governments, and fringe actors;
algorithmic control, targeted messaging and native advertising;
surveillance and platform capitalism.</div>
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div class="">The contributions from scholars, technologists, policy-makers and
activists raise critical questions about the nature and power of
knowledge in the 21st century. Readers are challenged to question their
own role in perpetuating certain narratives and to also understand the
lived context of people on all sides of a given debate. The diverse
perspectives by geography, sector, gender and world-views will widen the
appeal of this work to an international audience trying to understand
the resilience of the post-truth society. </div></div><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><br class=""></div><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class="">Format: Hardback</div><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class="">ISBN: 9781800439078</div><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class="">Published: 08 Jul 2021</div><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class="">Publisher: Emerald Publishing Limited</div><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class="">Dimensions: 312 pages -
229 x 152mm</div><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class="">Series: <a href="https://books.emeraldinsight.com/page/series-detail/Digital-Activism-And-Society-Politics-Economy-And-Culture-In-Network-Communication" class="">Digital Activism And Society: Politics, Economy And Culture In Network Communication</a></div><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><br class=""></div><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class="">--</div><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><br class=""></div><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class="">The backstory for<a href="https://books.emeraldinsight.com/page/detail/Media-Technology-and-Education-in-a-PostTruth-Society/?K=9781800439078" class=""> this book</a> is on record, in a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUDjbOflA50" class="">whimsical video in June 2019</a>, <a href="https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/we-are-edging-to-a-world-where-reality-is-a-matter-of-personal-opinion.725056" class=""> media interviews</a> and the filmed proceedings of a <a href="https://connectedlearning.edu.mt/videos-post-truth-conference/" class="">two-day international conference in Malta in October 2019</a>,
convened with media scholars, blockchain experts, film-makers,
philosophers, anthropologists, politicians, public prosecutors, data
lawyers, bankers, activists, journalists, rock star technology editors
and teenage students. The conference was activist by design. Assemble a
bunch of brilliant thinkers and doers, get them to spar around the
esoteric subject of the post-truth society in a historic building in
Valletta, and develop a collective manifesto to combat post-truths. By
the end of the two days, the plan was for the 3CL to set up an
interdisciplinary global network and reconvene in a different
geographical context early in 2020 and explore pilot projects for
collaboration.</div><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><br class=""></div><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class="">The pandemic shelved many big ideas and plans. When the world closes
down, the premise is that the failings of the post-truth society are
swept away in the collective, urgent need to secure factual information,
survive, adjust to a new age of social distancing and prepare for
probable, impending economic collapse. Instead, with the pandemic in its
second wave, this collection surfaces with contributions from some of
the original cohort in far-flung places, and others who reached out
after the conference. Perhaps a book is an unexpected but necessary
deviation from the intended pathway. It also may be a more permanent and
resilient outcome in the age of the often temporary, fleeting and
forgotten outputs in digital format.</div><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class="">
<h4 class="">The problem remains</h4><p class="">You would think that in the ongoing crisis, fake news, trolls,
platform capitalism, misinformation, bankrupt education systems and
mistrust in emerging technologies would have taken a back seat. If
anything, the pandemic has taken a megaphone to the challenges of the
post-truth society: accusations that <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-57870778" class="">social media is “killing people”</a> or the call for governments to <a href="https://www.cfr.org/in-brief/social-media-and-online-speech-how-should-countries-regulate-tech-giants" class="">regulate tech platforms</a> as media outlets are now mainstream stories. On June 25th, I joined an <a href="https://www.osce.org/representative-on-freedom-of-media/490340" class="">expert panel convened by the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)</a>
on disinformation and self-regulation in the digital society.
Inevitably, my presentation dovetailed into the need for a better
understanding of the various intersections between media, technology and
education to identify pragmatic solutions that may help society tunnel
out of the current historic impasse. My slides for the OSCE meeting are
available <a href="https://www.osce.org/representative-on-freedom-of-media/491695" class="">on this link.</a></p>
<h4 class=""><strong class="">Beyond the book</strong></h4><p class="">At the 3CL, digital and media literacies are cornerstones of our
strategic plan. We continue to research and monitor the linkages between
emerging technologies and disinformation, and facilitate the
development of content-rich projects which may in turn be shared as a
public good. This is also activist work and we will get back to
organising face to face encounters on these topics once we can safely
assemble a group of people in the same physical space.</p><p class=""><em class="">Media, Education and the Post-Truth Society</em> is available in print and digital format from all online stores, including <a href="https://books.emeraldinsight.com/page/detail/Media-Technology-and-Education-in-a-PostTruth-SocietyMedia,-Technology-and-Education-in-a-Post-Truth-Society/?k=9781800439078" class="">Emerald</a>, <a href="http://aerapscience.org/" class="">Amazon</a> and <a href="https://www.bookdepository.com/Media-Technology-Education-Post-Truth-Society-Alex-Grech/9781800439078" class="">Book Depository</a>. Online inspection copies are available from Emerald <a href="https://emeraldinsight-einspections.eb20.com/" class="">via this link</a>.</p><div class="">Alex Grech</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">—</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Content:</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Chapter 1. Introduction; <i class="">Alex Grech
</i><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">PART 1. Repurposing Education for the Post-Truth Society </div>
<div class="">Chapter 2. Post-truth Society: Toward a Dialogical Understanding of Truth; <i class="">John P. Portelli and Soudeh Oladi </i></div>
<div class="">Chapter 3. Macro Authorities and Micro Literacies: The New Terrain of Information Politics;<i class=""> Bryan Alexander </i></div>
<div class="">Chapter 4. The Learning Challenge in the 21st Century;<i class=""> Harry Anthony Patrinos </i></div>
<div class="">Chapter 5. The Pre-Truth Era in MENA, News Ecology and Critical News Literacy; <i class="">Abeer Al-Najjar </i></div>
<div class="">Chapter 6. Critical Literacy is at the Heart of an Answer;<i class=""> Emma Pauncefort </i></div>
<div class="">Chapter 7. Societal Reorientation via Programmable Trust: A Case for Piloting New Models of Open Governance in Education; <i class="">Walter Fernando Balser, Steve Diasio and Taylor Kendal </i></div>
<div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">PART 2. Repurposing Media for the Post-Truth Society </div>
<div class="">Chapter 8. Fact to Fake: The Media World as It Was and Is Today; <i class="">Michael Bugeja </i></div>
<div class="">Chapter 9. Post-News Journalism in the Post-Enlightenment Era; <i class="">Hossein Derakhshan </i></div>
<div class="">Chapter 10. How Can Wikipedia Save Us All? Assuming Good Faith from All Points of View in the Age of Fake News and Post-truth;<i class=""> Toni Sant </i></div>
<div class="">Chapter 11. Public Rebuttal, Reflection and Responsibility. Or, an Inconvenient Answer to Fake News; <i class="">Ruben Brave </i></div>
<div class="">Chapter 12. The Kony 2012 Campaign: A Milestone of Visual Storytelling for Social Engagement; <i class="">Massimiliano Fusari </i></div>
<div class="">Chapter 13. Post-truth Visuals, Untruth Visuals; <i class="">Gorg Mallia</i>
</div>
<div class="">Chapter 14. Reflections on the Visual Truth and War Photography - A Historian’s Perspective; <i class="">Anna Topolska </i></div>
<div class="">Chapter 15. It is Time for Journalists to Save Journalism; <i class="">Lina Zuluaga and Phillip Long </i></div>
<div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">PART 3. Future-proofing for the Post-Truth Society </div>
<div class="">Chapter 16. Karl Marx and the Blockchain; <i class="">Devraj Basu and Murdoch J. Gabbay </i></div>
<div class="">Chapter 17. Two Sides to Every Story. The Truth, Post-truth, and the Blockchain Truth;<i class=""> Joshua Ellul, Alex Grech, and Gordon Pace</i></div>
<div class="">Chapter 18. Decentralised Verification Technologies and the Web; <i class="">Allan Third and John Domingue </i></div>
<div class="">Chapter 19. How Do We Know What is True?; <i class="">Natalie Smolenksi </i></div>
<div class="">Chapter 20: Social Technologies and their Unplanned Obsolescence; <i class="">Daniel Hughes </i></div></div></div><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><br class=""></div>
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