From the Arab Spring to British summer riots from the War on Terror to The X Factor from social networking sites to online electioneering the significance of new media technologies seems clear. This study offers an analysis of the impact of such interactive media on contemporary politics & society. It explores how new media technologies give their users a sense of empowerment & questions whether these technologies really directly empower their users at all. For example when viewers cast their votes in reality television shows is that really a form of democratic participation? Does Facebook actually enhance the quality of its users friendships & increase their social capital? Does the video game player develop the liberating agency the game appears to promise? Do online forms of politics essentially increase levels of democratic involvement? Will Wikipedia truly teach us anything? Can Web 2.0 ever set us free? Drawing upon interviews with figures from politics & the media this book examines the possibilities which underlie these technologies & questions some of the key assumptions which we have made about them. ...

Patrick Robinsons newest novel deals with the ultimate dread of the United States military
- in the opening chapter a liberal-leaning
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Fighting on the frontline of the war against crime Cam Addicott was one of the very few hard-boiled & highly-experienced surveillance operatives to get called up to the secretive & elite Alpha Projects unit
- a group of dedicated undercover Customs officers who hunted the UK's most dangerous criminals by extraordinary means
- starting with the interception & decoding of their phone calls. Cam soon knew the lives of the people he hunted better than they knew each other. He knew who was cheating with who's wife
- as well as where when & what they liked to do what drugs the dealers' kids were into who was planning to rob beat-up and/or murder who what for & how they were going to do it. The team shadowed gangsters as they mixed with celebrities as they brokered huge drug deals in nightclubs & airports as they discussed how to spend their ill-gotten gains until finally it was time for Alpha to strike. In this riveting & brutal true story a cast of unforgettable Mission Impossible" characters go far beyond the call of duty to take down their most elusive target as the lives of the hunted & hunter weave together in an explosive narrative."


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Inter City was the flagship of British Rail's passenger network. Launched in the early 1960s the brand was created by BR to highlight its long-distance & express passenger services & it came to dominate long-distance railway travel. Inter City-branded services were to be seen throughout the BR network serving the East & Coast main lines the Midland main line the Great Western & Great Eastern main lines as well as the complex network of routes that formed the northeast-southwest corridor. Chris Green & Mike Vincent compiled The Inter City Story in 1994 just prior to the break-up of the business following the passage of the 1993 Railways Act. This provided a detailed history of Inter City from its origins in the 1960s through to the point of publication & speculated on its post-Privatisation future. This new book which is in part a revision of the earlier volume brings the story up-to-date by reflecting how the various franchisees have handled the routes that they have operated since Privatisation. Again compiled by Chris Green & Mike Vincent the book will have the undoubted advantage that the authors know all the significant & influential figures from both before & after the period of Privatisation & provide a first-hand & revealing account of almost 50 years of railway history. ...

Intercultural Communication in the Global Workplace 5/e" by Beamer & Varner addresses the issues of culture & communication within the context of international business. The text provides examples of how cultural values & practices impact business communication. The authors explore the relationships among the cultural environments of the firm & the structure of the firm. They examine how companies & individuals communicate & concentrate on the underlying cultural reasons for behavior. This approach helps readers develop an ability to work successfully within an environment of cultural diversity both at home & abroad." ...

Born in 1917 the year of the Russian Revolution the eighty-five years of Eric Hobsbawms life are backdropped by an endless litany of wars revolutions & counter-revolutions. He has led a remarkably fulfilling & long life; historian & intellectual fluent in five languages a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain until it dissolved itself & writer of countless volumes of history. He has personally witnessed some of the critical events of our century from Hitlers rise to power in Berlin to the fall of the Berlin wall. Hobsbawm has kept his eyes & ears open for eighty-five years & has been constantly committed to understanding the interesting times (as the Chinese curse puts it) through which he has lived. His autobiography is one passionate cosmopolitan Jews account of his travels through that past which is another country where they do things differently & how it became the world we now live in. ...

MIGHTY BATTLES! REVOLUTION! DEATH! WAR! (AND HIS SONS TERROR & PANIC & DAUGHTER CLANCY) The oldest & most inscrutable empire on the Discworld is in turmoil brought about by the revolutionary treatise What I did on My Holidays. Workers are uniting with nothing to lose but their water buffaloes. Warlords are struggling for power. War (and Clancy) are spreading throughout the ancient cities. & all that stands in the way of terrible doom for everyone is: Rincewind the Wizard who cant even spell the word wizard... Cohen the barbarian hero five foot tall in his surgical sandals who has had a lifetimes experience of not dying...and a very special butterfly. ...

Interior Architecture: From Brief to Build" provides an in-depth study of the creative & construction processes behind 30 contemporary interior designs. Covering a broad range of international projects the book illustrates the working methods & creative concerns of both long-established & emerging international designers. Every stage of the project is included from the demands of the original brief through early sketches & design development to investigation of building regulations & collaboration with engineers contractors builders & suppliers. The book is unique in that each project is presented through an explanatory overview with specially taken shots of production & construction processes & details of fixtures fittings customised furnishings & decoration. " Interior Architecture: From Brief to Build" offers both students & professional designers an inspiring & informative overview of how todays major interior architectural projects are designed & built." ...

The Interior Design Directory is a comprehensive guide to the very latest in materials technology which has entered a whole new dimension in the last few years. Alongside tried-&-tested surfaces & finishes that have graced our interiors for centuries
- fine hardwoods polished stone carpets & rugs
- are exciting innovations that stretch our understanding of what a material can be. Concrete that is light & translucent fabric that responds to its environment by lighting up tiles that can be moved from place to place at will: what it is where to get it what to do with it
- each material has its own comprehensive entry enabling you to fill your home with the very best of what is on offer. The book is divided into four parts opening with a section on classic natural & composite materials including wood & stone brick ceramic & carpet. The next two sections deal with crossovers from industrial to domestic
- building materials that have been refined & updated for home use from glass concrete & metal to rubber & tiles. The final section is devoted to sustainable materials as we are all increasingly aware of the environmental impact of our choices & looks at wood alternatives eco glass recycled fabric & natural textiles. Throughout the book smart design photographs of contemporary interiors & detailed close-ups of each material make this as visually inspiring as it is unfailingly practical.



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Interior design is a multidiscipline profession blending spatial technical & aesthetic knowledge. The skill involved in manipulating these elements to solve specific design problems is intrinsically linked to drawing. Interior Design Drawing" explores all aspects of this vital design skill from sketching to record information through orthographics & development to analyse the problem to presentation drawing to communicate the solution." ...