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2005-05-12T04:41:00.000-07:00

Interpersonal Divide:
The Search for Community in a Technological Age

Michael Bugeja, Iowa State University of Science and TechnologyPublication Date: 2005 256 pp. 0-19-517339-2 hardcover & paper APS BUGEJA

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For more information about and downloads from Interpersonal Divide, please visit the book site.

2005-03-13T18:36:00.000-08:00

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Interpersonal Divide

2005-03-13T18:17:00.000-08:00

The Search for Community in a Technological Age

Electronic communication now keeps us connected, wired, and cabled to the entire world. Why, then, do we often feel displaced and increasingly isolated in the global village? Interpersonal Divide: The Search for Community in a Technological Age seeks to answer the question: have media and technology created a social gap, eroding our sense of community? Author Michael Bugeja tackles this question by taking a broad and interdisciplinary approach, incorporating a number of different viewpoints, including global, ethical, philosophical, corporate, pop cultural, and sociological perspectives. Bugeja analyzes the "interpersonal divide"—the void that develops between people when we spend too much time in virtual rather than in real communities—and makes a case for face-to-face communication in a technological world. He traces media history to show how other generations have coped with similar problems during periods of great technological change.

Interpersonal Divide, a ground-breaking book, documents how long-standing media theories—including ones by Marshall McLuhan—may no longer hold in the wake of new media and intrusive technology. Bugeja investigates the impact and motives of media ecosystems that have polluted the Internet and other digital devices with marketing ploys, delivering to consumers a global mall rather than a global village. Interpersonal Divide informs readers how to use media and technology wisely so that they enhance rather than replace community. Click here for an excerpt.

The Des Moines Register calls the book "empowering" and states that "perhaps no previous scholar has synthesized the ways media technologies are harming a sense of community." The Washington Post calls it "a work of concerned prescription," praising the writing and multidisciplinary approach with "journal exercises and discussion ideas at the end of each chapter. ...You can do a lot worse with your spare time (and probably will)."

About the Author

Michael J. Bugeja is Director of the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication at Iowa State University of Science and Technology where he also serves on the board of the Institute of Science and Society. He is the author of 20 books, including Living Ethics: Developing Values in Mass Communication, and writes for several magazines, including The Chronicle of Higher Education. He has contributed comments about ethics to such media outlets as Columbia Journalism Review, American Journalism Review, Newsday, CBS Radio, and Fox News Channel’s "Morality in America" Sunday Spotlight.