Cybercultures: Mediations of Community, Culture, Politics and Tweets and the Street: Social Media and Contemporary Activism

Abstract

This review examines two recent publications on digital culture and activism: Cybercultures: Mediations of Community, Culture, Politics (2012) edited by Harris Breslow and Aris Mousoutzanis, and Tweets and the Street: Social Media and Contemporary Activism (2012) by Paulo Gerbaudo. The former anthology revisits the concept of "cyberculture," originally popularized in the 1990s, through four thematic sections: The Nature of Cyberculture, Prosthetic Subjectivity, Cybercultures and the Public Sphere, and Mediatisation of Memory. Despite its ambitious scope, the limited number of essays per section constrains comprehensive exploration of each theme. In contrast, Gerbaudo's monograph focuses on how social media platforms have transformed contemporary activism, particularly in urban settings. Both works highlight the evolving role of digital technologies in shaping community, identity, and political participation. While Cybercultures offers a nuanced theoretical framework, Tweets and the Street provides empirical insights into the practical implications of these transformations. Together, they contribute to an ongoing dialogue about the intersection of technology, culture, and politics in the digital age.

(The abstract and keywords were prepared retrospectively for indexing purposes using AI-assisted tools and editorial review, based on the original article. They did not appear in the original publication.)