Recent Books 

 

Education in the Creative Economy: Knowledge and Learning in the Age of Innovation

Peter Lang

Education in the Creative Economy explores the need for new forms of learning and education that are most conducive to supporting student development in a creative society. Just as the assembly line shifted the key factor of production from labor to capital, digital networks are now shifting the key factor of production from capital to innovation. Beyond conventional discussions on the knowledge economy, many scholars now suggest that digital technologies are fomenting a shift in advanced economies from mass production to cultural innovation. This edited volume, which includes contributions from renowned scholars like Richard Florida, Charles Landry, and John Howkins, is a key resource for policymakers, researchers, teachers and journalists to assist them to better understand the contours of the creative economy and consider effective strategies for linking education to creative practice. In addition to arguments for investing in the knowledge economy through STEM disciplines (science, technology, engineering and math), this collection explores the growing importance of art, design and digital media as vehicles for creativity and innovation.


 

Nexus: New Intersections in Internet Research

Peter Lang

Like the invention of the printing press, the Internet is radically transforming the most basic elements of modern civilization. The growing presence of digital technologies and the dramatic impact of networked collaboration constitute a new mode of information production that is reshaping many societies around the world. Underlying this socioeconomic restructuring is the critical importance of digital networks as platforms for creativity and innovation. This edited collection examines the current ways that mass collaboration intersects with sociocultural, technosocial and political changes in varied contexts, and questions their impact on established institutions and modes of production. New tools inevitably engender changes in the way people interact, communicate and collaborate; however, it is increasingly clear that information and communication technologies are now leveraging a democratic shift in a wide array of technological, political and social spaces. The dramatic success of mass collaboration in a multitude of contexts poses a challenge, not only to the dominant economic paradigm, but also to a broad range of received social science thinking. This collection interrogates established theories and concepts in the light of recent developments and builds upon emergent research and original empirical findings.