GMIC Project researcher Dr. Gabriel Balbi–Full Professor in Media Studies, Institute of Media and Journalism, Faculty of Communication, Culture and Society, Università della Svizzera Italiana–has recently published a new book entitled The Digital Revolution: A Short History of an Ideology (Dec. 2023). The book is a history of the ways in which the digital revolution has been narrated, of the rhetoric, the narratives, and the overt or implied debates that have accompanied it and continue to accompany it today. It aims to tell the story of an idea, which I define as one of the most powerful ideologies of recent decades: that digitalization constitutes a revolution, a break with the past, and a radical change for the human beings who are living through it. The main aim of the book is to deconstruct what looks like a “natural” and incontestable idea and to help rethink digital societies today.

Table of Contents:

Introduction: Understanding the Digital Revolution as an Ideology
1. Defining the Revolution: Blessed Uncertainty
2. Comparing the Revolution: Past Inheritance, Present Construction
3. Thinking About the Revolution: The Mantras
4. Believing in the Revolution: A Contemporary Quasi-Religion
Conclusion: Who Needs the Digital Revolution and Why Does it Keep Going?