Edited by Sharon Kleinman, Ph.D.

The Culture of Efficiency will explore the ways that people are managing, exploiting, and resisting technological advancements in the digital age. This multidisciplinary collection will be a reader-friendly mix of theoretical and empirical chapters designed to provide insights about social and technological trends in the United States that will be valuable for students, researchers, and professionals. Contributing authors will be scholars and professionals from a range of fields, including: communication, psychology, computer science, engineering, business, sociology, neurobiology, education, history, urban planning, disability studies, and environmental studies.

The essays in this collection will examine what it means to live in a culture that emphasizes multitasking, mobility, and efficiency, and what it means to live during an era in which we quantify activities down to the nanosecond—a billionth of a second. Chapters will analyze how the latest technological advances are altering nitty-gritty aspects of everyday life; reveal how people are multitasking with technologies in a burgeoning array of contexts; and assess the benefits and implications of various technologies—especially information and communication technologies (ICTs)—through the analytic lenses of social science, science, engineering, history, and business. The aim is to provide fresh analyses of contemporary social and technological trends and forecasts about future trends in work, leisure, and education from leading-edge scholars and professionals.

Keywords: Digital culture, technology and society, information and communication technologies (ICTs), sociology of work, diffusion of innovations, convergence culture, labor studies, multitasking, mobile communication, mobility, social presence, networked technologies, time—social aspects, time—psychological aspects, time—history of, computer mediated communication, computer supported cooperative work, globalization, leisure studies, simplicity, new media, media studies, American studies.

If you are interested in contributing a chapter to The Culture of Efficiency, please email the title, a one-page working abstract, and your CV to Sharon Kleinman by January 15, 2008 at sharon.kleinman@quinnipiac.edu. Chapters are limited to 6,500 words and are due July 15, 2008.

ABOUT THE EDITOR:

Sharon Kleinman is Professor of Communications at Quinnipiac University. Her research focuses on the history and social implications of communication technologies and on issues concerning online and place-based communities. She is the editor of the new book Displacing Place: Mobile Communication in the Twenty-first Century (Peter Lang Publishing, 2007, www.displacingplace.org) and the author of many articles and book chapters. She holds a B.A. in English and American literature from Brandeis University and an M.S. and Ph.D. in communication from Cornell University. She has been the recipient of numerous academic awards, including the Outstanding Faculty Scholar Award from Quinnipiac University and the Anson Rowe Prize from Cornell University.