Media Distortions

I would like to thank the people who I have interviewed for this book, who informed and contributed to the collection and analysis of the data. I want to thank Rosa Barcello, Head of Unit Digital Privacy and Data Protection DG CNECT—European Commission, and Raffaello Di Giovanni Bezzi, Policy Officer—European Commission. I also want to thank journalist and activist Glyn Moody and Javier Ruiz from the Open Rights Group UK at its offices in London.

Throughout my academic journey I met several scholars who I felt a special connection with and helped shape my thought and writing. I’ve met Aram Sinnreich through Twitter because he seemed to share the same passion I have to music. I ended up co-organizing a panel with him—Sonic Publics—at AoIR 2017 in Tartu, Estonia and co-editing a special issue with the same title for the International Journal of Communication. Aram has been my mentor on many occasions and his kind soul and awesome musical skills have inspired and helped me immensely. Another dear friend is Robert W. Gehl who I first met through his amazing writing, thinking “that’s exactly what I think, but why does he have to write so damn good?” We ended up co-organizing a panel—Network Standards and Culture—at AoIR 2016 in Berlin, Germany. Robert also gave fantastic feedback to this book and was super supportive along the whole way.

I also want to thank people I’ve worked with and learned from greatly, specifically Jennifer Pybus and Ben O’Loughlin. Both are great scholars, teachers and collaborators, and I hope to continue working with them in the future. I want to thank the sound studies women I’ve met throughout the years in conferences and events who have influenced my work—Hillegonda Rietveld, Mara Mills and Marie Thompson. A special thanks goes to Carolyn Birdsall, who on top of being a brilliant scholar is also an amazing friend who makes me feel like we have known each other forever. In addition, I have met people through different academic events with whom I later kept in contact because, well, they’re wonderful—Britt Paris, Joan Pedro, Becky Kazansky, and Ellen Simpson.

I would like to thank all the Media and Communications Department at Goldsmiths, University of London where I completed my Ph.D. This unique department enabled my ideas to go in directions which might not have been allowed at other institutions. I want to thank my current workplace, the Communication and Media Department at Liverpool University, and particularly my boss Professor Simeon Yates. Sim showed me that you can be smart and kind, supportive and challenging at the same time. Sim provides a work environment where you are excited to come and share ideas with your colleagues. He makes connections between people he thinks will work well together and never forgets to give credit and gratitude where needed. In a super competitive and isolated industry like academia, I cherish these qualities everyday—Thank you Sim.

Another big thank you goes to Twitter and all the people (and bots) I have debated, discussed, bitched and laughed with along the way, about politics, music, films, food and why Halt and Catch Fire is better than Mr. Robot. I know many academics think and say that Twitter is a distraction but seriously this book would not be published without it. Beyond entertainment and making me feel connected to what’s happening I also got a lot of inspiration, met people, heard about conferences, new books, new music, conferences, grants, news and managed to acquire my new addiction to gifs (I mean, it is a much superior way to communicate!). Twitter is the best spam out there and I can’t stop eating it.

Love it or hate it, but peer review process really helps improve your work, even if you sometimes want to kill reviewer 2. Segments of this book were published in other places, and I’m grateful for the feedback I received from the people who reviewed them. Segments of Chapter 3 appeared in an article published on Media History in 2015. In addition, segments of Chapter 4 appeared in the International Review of Law, Computers and Technology Journal in 2017, as well as an article published on Open Democracy in 2018, as part of the series Human Rights and the Internet. Segments of Chapter 5 have appeared in an article published on the International Journal of Communication.

Finally, I would like to thank my loving family, the Carmi’s: my dad Amnon and my brother Amir who have always supported and gave me unconditional encouragements throughout this whole process. My brother Amir works in cyber-security, so throughout the whole process he always gave me the ‘industry’ point of view and of course many important memes and gifs to keep me amused. Most of all, I want to thank my mother—Ingrid—who has always been there for me, being my rock in the highs and lows, listening, pushing, inspiring and believing in me. I couldn’t have done this without you.

A final-final thanks goes to Liverpool University Open Access fund who made it possible for this book to be open access for all.

London, 2019

So how does spam relate to our everyday lives? Think about it this way - We process things every day. We process different kinds of information to make sense of the world: the experiences we had on our last vacation, the last conversation we had with our broadband supplier (although, we wish we could forget that one), and the details of that media course we took at the university. These processing procedures are driven by our background, standards, experience, emotions, level of (good) coffee in our blood and other factors. But these procedures also give meaning and order to people, things, and events; which in turn affect the way we form our identity, make decisions, behave, and feel. For example, in January 2016, I watched the new X-Men film, Apocalypse, and after processing it, I realized I was bored with superhero films and would probably not watch another one any time soon. That changed after watching Deadpool a few months later.