The Culture of Efficiency

The Editor: Sharon Kleinman is Professor of Communications at Quinnipiac University. Her research focuses on the social implications of communication technologies and on issues concerning online and place-based communities. She is the editor of the critically acclaimed book Displacing Place: Mobile Communication in the Twenty-first Century (Peter Lang, 2007). She holds a B.A. in English and American literature from Brandeis University and an M.S. and a Ph.D. in communication from Cornell University.

Contents: Sharon Kleinman: Introduction – Suzy D’Enbeau/Patrice M. Buzzanell: Efficiencies of Pregnancy Management: From Penciling in Pregnancy to Elective C-Sections – Yvonne Houy: From Taylor to Just-in-Time Sustainability: A Short History of Efficient Eating – Michael L. Maynard: Hyping the Efficiencies of Fast(er) Food: The Glocalization of McDonald’s Snack Wrap in Japan – Nathan Jurgenson/George Ritzer: Efficiency, Effectiveness, and Web 2.0 – Corey Anton: Clocks, Synchronization, and the Fate of Leisure: A Brief Media Ecological History of Digital Technologies – Brenda L. Berkelaar: No Punctuation: Searching for an Architecture of Time in the Culture of Efficiency – Mickey Brazeal: Varieties of Efficiency: How Automatic Asset Tracking Changes the Way Businesses Work – J. David Johnson: Profiling the Likelihood of Success of Electronic Medical Records – Daniel G. McDonald/Jingbo Meng: The Multitasking of Entertainment – Dominika Bednarska: Rethinking Access: Why Technology Isn’t the Only Answer – Michael Bugeja: E-tymology of Inefficiency: How the Business World Colonized Academe – Letizia Caronia/André H. Caron: Mobile Learning in the Digital Age: A Clash of Cultures? – Julian Kilker: Procrustean Pedagogy: The Architecture of Efficiency in a New Medium – Penny A. Leisring: Stalking Made Easy: How Information and Communication Technologies Are Influencing the Way People Monitor and Harass One Another – Mikaela L. Marlow/Howard Giles: The Politics of Disaster: Crises, Communication, and Marginalization in the United States – Gene Burd: Efficiency Techniques in Journalistic Practice, Scientific Rigor, and Religious Rhetoric – Peg Oliveira: Mind over Multitasking: What Would Buddha Do? – Holly Parker: Transportation Transformation – David F. Donnelly: The Future Starts at 5:00 – Mark E. Hoffman/Carrie A. Bulger: Whither Boundaries? The Internet and the Blurring of Work and Personal Life – Annis G. Golden: A Technologically Gendered Paradox of Efficiency: Caring More About Work While Working in More Care – Sharon Kleinman: Conclusion: Win-Win Sustainability in the Culture of Efficiency – Jarice Hanson: Afterword: Reflections.