Digination - (The Fairleigh Dickinson University Press Communication Studies) by Robert C Macdougall (Hardcover)

About the Book

Digination offers an inter-disciplinary overview of the psychic, social, and institutional effects of some of the most popular digital communication technologies and applications operating today. The book is written in an engaging style appropriate for non-specialist readers i...

Book Synopsis

Digination offers an inter-disciplinary overview of the psychic, social, and institutional effects of some of the most popular digital communication technologies and applications operating today. The book is written in an engaging style appropriate for non-specialist readers interested in broadening their awareness and enhancing their understanding of popular trends in media use.

Review Quotes

Digination represents a major contribution to the media ecology literature. I particularly enjoyed the way in which media ecology and biology are combined.


Digination's core premise is that technology impacts everyone in many ways--socially, culturally, politically, and psychologically. Life in a digital nation is not simply a reality where humans utilize technology. Conversely, technology is an agent that affects people both individually and collectively as a society. Through a media ecologist's lens, MacDougall (Curry College) weaves theory, empirical data, and his own perspective into an account of technology and its influence on humankind. The volume, part of the publisher's "Communication Studies" series, is divided into 11 chapters. The author begins with an examination of the contributions of media theorist Marshall McLuhan, whose influence is evident throughout the work. The core of the book consists of seven chapters, each focusing on an individual technology. E-mail, blogs, search engines, personal music devices, podcasts, laptops, and eBay take their turn as subjects in this examination. Finally, an appendix of McLuhan tetrads or charts that visually represent the societal effects of individual technologies closes the book. An interesting, timely analysis of the human relationship with the machine. Summing Up: Recommended.


I am impressed with the scope and depth of Dr. MacDougall's understanding of media and their influence on psyche and society alike. [Digination] is going to be useful ... [MacDougall] demonstrates an unusual degree of ability to work with the more sophisticated tools that I and my father developed for the study of human technologies.

About the Author

R.C. MacDougall is professor in the communication department at Curry College.