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WordPress Development Quick Start Guide: Build beautiful and dynamic websites for your domain from scratch
by Rakhitha Nimesh RatnayakeLearn core WordPress concepts and components to create modern WordPress-based solutionsKey FeaturesLearn the foundations of WordPress development and its hook-based architectureChoose the right components for any development taskBuild flexible solutions that works with existing plugins and themesBook DescriptionWordPress is the most used CMS in the world and is the ideal way to share your knowledge with a large audience or build a profitable business. Getting started with WordPress development has often been a challenge for novice developers, and this book will help you find your way.This book explains the components used in WordPress development, when and where to use them, and why you should be using each component in specific scenarios. You begin by learning the basic development setup and coding standards of WordPress. Then you move into the most important aspects of the theme and plugin development process. Here you will also learn how themes and plugins fit into the website while learning about a range of techniques for extending themes and plugins.With the basics covered, we explore many of the APIs provided by WordPress and how we can leverage them to build rapid solutions. Next, we move on to look at the techniques for capturing, processing, and displaying user data when integrating third-party components into the site design.Finally, you will learn how to test and deploy your work with secure and maintainable code, while providing the best performance for end users.What you will learnExplore the role of themes, plugins, and built-in features in developmentAdapt to built-in modules and built-in database structuresWrite code for WordPress's hook-based architectureBuild, customize, and integrate WordPress pluginsExtend themes with custom design templatesCapture and process data with built-in features and custom formsImprove usability with AJAX and third-party componentsManage non-functional aspects, such as security, performance, and migrationWho this book is forThis book is for web developers and site owners who want to build custom websites with WordPress. Basic knowledge of PHP, JavaScript, HTML and CSS is required to get most out of this book.
WordPress for Business Bloggers
by Paul ThewlisThis is a practical, hands-on book based around a fictitious case study blog, which you will build on a development server using WordPress. The case study grows chapter by chapter, from installing your local development server, right up to the finished blog. The book starts by looking at the important features that make a successful business blog: adding value to your products and services, providing proper customer service and support, driving traffic to your website, and so on. It then shows how to implement these features in WordPress. It provides clear instructions and detailed screenshots, so you can see exactly what to do at each step of the build. You will install and configure a selection of WordPress plug-ins to improve the functionality of the case-study blog. When you have completed the case study, you will have the knowledge and confidence to apply all the techniques you have learned to your own WordPress business blog. This book is for anybody running or starting a business blog using WordPress. Whether you plan to use your blog for PR and marketing, or want to profit directly from blogging, this book offers you everything you need. As we want to get into the specifics of business blogging as quickly as possible, we don cover the WordPress basics. So its best to have some experience with WordPress before you start with this book. The book mainly focuses on a self-hosted WordPress installation, but most of the advice also applies to blogs hosted on WordPress.com.
WordPress For Dummies
by Lisa Sabin-WilsonThe bestselling guide to WordPress—fully updated Updated to capture all the changes expected to come with the latest release of WordPress, the brand-new edition of this bestselling guide gives you an all-access pass to using this powerful publishing platform to get your very own blog or website up and running—in no time. In WordPress For Dummies, you'll find out how to choose and customize a theme, pick the perfect web host, manage multiple websites with multiple authors, and tons more. Due in large part to its state-of-the-art features, WordPress has become the go-to platform for website owners and bloggers who want to be noticed. Whether you're new to the web/blogging community or want to maximize your site, this hands-on guide is packed with everything you need to navigate the wonderful world of WordPress—and ensure the fruit of your labors gets the attention and traffic it deserves. Get set up with a new WordPress.org account Leverage the power of WordPress as a CMS tool Forget one website—manage as many as you want Optimize aesthetics, web standards, and usability Not a WordPress guru? No worries! Everything you need to become a pro is a page—and a click—away!
WordPress For Dummies (In A Day For Dummies Ser. #4)
by Lisa Sabin-WilsonGet to know WordPress with this simple and approachable reference WordPress For Dummies, 9th Edition helps readers discover the power of the WordPress web content building tool. Web builders have created 75 million websites using WordPress and this book will show you how to add your blogs and websites to that count. WordPress For Dummies, 9th Edition drops you right into the fast lane to publishing your first website or blog by teaching you to: · Customize a theme · Create your first post · Use WordPress as a content management system · Work with multimedia formats · Add plugins to your site · Establish a publishing routine Perfect for new bloggers, experienced bloggers converting to WordPress for the first time, and people accustomed to WordPress who want to learn more about the full potential of the technology, WordPress for Dummies, 9th Edition is an indispensable addition to the library of every blogger and webmaster.
WordPress For Dummies, 4th Edition
by Lisa Sabin-WilsonThe bestselling guide to WordPress, fully updated to help you get your blog going! Millions of bloggers rely on WordPress, the popular, free blogging platform. This guide covers all the features and improvements in the most up-to-date version of WordPress. Whether you are switching to WordPress from another blogging platform or just starting your first blog, you'll find the advice in this friendly guide gets you up to speed on both the free-hosted WordPress. com version and WordPress. org, which requires the purchase of web hosting services, and figure out which version is best for you. You'll be able to take full advantage of the flexibility and usability of WordPress. WordPress is a state-of-the-art blog platform that emphasizes aesthetics, web standards, and usability Previous editions of this guide have sold more than 85,000 copies, and interest in blogging continues to explode Illustrates how to set up and maintain a blog with WordPress and how to use all the new features Covers both the free-hosted WordPress. com version and WordPress. org, which requires users to purchase web hosting services Written by an expert who works directly with developers and the cofounder of WordPress This guide helps bloggers quickly and easily take advantage of everything this popular blogging tool has to offer.
WordPress: The Missing Manual
by Matthew MacDonaldWhether you're a budding blogger or seasoned web designer, WordPress is a brilliant tool for creating websites--once you know how to tap into its impressive features. The latest edition of this jargon-free Missing Manual shows you how to use WordPress's themes, widgets, and plug-ins to build just about any kind of site.The important stuff you need to know:Set up WordPress. Configure WordPress on your web host or get it running on your home computer.Create your site. Get hands-on instructions for building all types of websites, from blogs to business sites with ecommerce features.Jazz it up. Add picture galleries, slideshows, video clips, music players, and podcasts.Add features. Select from thousands of plug-ins to enhance your site's capabilities, from contact forms to a basic shopping cart.Build a truly unique site. Customize a WordPress theme to create a site that looks exactly the way you want.Attract an audience. Use SEO, site statistics, and social sharing to reach more people.Stay safe. Use backup and staging tools to protect your content and avoid catastrophe.
WordPress para principiantes.: Cómo iniciar un blog con hosting propio WordPress en 30 minutos
by Cyrus Jackson¿Te gustaría aprender cómo configurar un blog WordPress seguro, profesional y alucinante? Entonces: "WordPress para principiantes” es la guía más compacta que hayas necesitado. WordPress es la plataforma de blogging más grande del planeta que sostiene grandes blogs como CNN, New York Times, Mashabe, y una lista interminable. Esto habla mucho de su eficiencia y maravillosas características para asistir en el diseño de una plataforma online para tu negocio. Cyrus Jackson, un diseñador web profesional, te guiará hacia la configuración (fácil), diseño (profesional) y seguridad (acertada) de un blog de WordPress: desde el inicio, diseño, y todo sobre seguridad, en una guía paso a paso con ilustraciones abundantes, capturas de pantalla, imágenes, gráficos (que puedes encontrar en cualquier otro lugar) y lineamientos detallados para ofrecerte un mapa de ruta sobre cómo configurar un blog en WordPress para una audiencia web profesionalmente. Y sí: Este libro te asistirá a lanzar un blog WordPress en 30 minutos o menos. Estos son los temas que abarca este libro emocionante, fácil de leer y para principiantes: Porqué escribí este libro y mi misión con los principiantes. - Cómo configurar un blog en WordPress en 30 minutos. - Todo lo que necesitas saber sobre web hosting y registro de dominio. - Cómo elegir el mejor sitio que ofrezca un buen servicio de web hosting para un blog WordPress. - El mejor web hosting que sea confiable y accesible para principiantes. - Consejos importantes para realizar al elegir un servicio de web hosting. - Cómo proteger tu blog de hackers, spammers y programas dañinos. Y mucho más con capturas de pantalla masiva, gráficos e ilustraciones para guiarte a lo largo del proceso con un método paso a paso. “Siempre pensé que WordPress era muy técnico y requería de mucha experiencia en códigos de programación pero cuando tomé una copia de “WordPress pa
WordPress Plugin Development Cookbook: Explore the complete set of tools to craft powerful plugins that extend the world's most popular CMS, 3rd Edition
by Yannick LefebvreCreate plugins for WordPress through detailed recipes that cover the creation of shortcodes, custom post types, and custom blocks, integrate data from external sources, and do much more with this recipe-based guideKey FeaturesCreate plugins that change and extend WordPress to perform virtually any taskExtend the WordPress Block Editor (Gutenberg) and other components with the help of detailed examples and explanationsCustomize WordPress to meet your project's needs and create plugins that benefit the entire communityBook DescriptionWordPress is one of the most widely used, powerful, and open content management systems (CMSs). Whether you're a site owner trying to find the right extension, a developer who wants to contribute to the community, or a website developer working to fulfill a client's needs, learning how to extend WordPress' capabilities will help you to unleash its full potential. This book will help you become familiar with API functions to create secure plugins with easy-to-use administration interfaces. This third edition contains new recipes and up-to-date code samples, including new chapters on creating custom blocks for the block editor and integrating data from external sources. From one chapter to the next, you'll learn how to create plugins of varying complexity, ranging from a few lines of code to complex extensions that provide intricate new capabilities. You'll start by using the basic mechanisms provided in WordPress to create plugins, followed by recipes covering how to design administration panels, enhance the post editor with custom fields, store custom data, and even create custom blocks. You'll safely incorporate dynamic elements into web pages using scripting languages, learn how to integrate data from external sources, and build new widgets that users will be able to add to WordPress sidebars and widget areas. By the end of this book, you will be able to create WordPress plugins to perform any task you can imagine.What you will learnDiscover action and filter hooks, which form the basis of plugin creationExplore the creation of administration pages and add new content management sections through custom post types and custom fieldsAdd new components to the block editor libraryFetch, cache, and regularly update data from external sourcesBring in external data sources to enhance your contentMake your pages dynamic by using JavaScript, jQuery, and AJAX and adding new widgets to the platformAdd support for plugin translation and distributing your work to the WordPress communityWho this book is forThis book is for WordPress users, developers, and site integrators interested in creating new plugins to address their personal needs, fulfill client requirements, and bring new capabilities to the WordPress community. Basic knowledge of PHP and WordPress is expected.
WordPress Plugin Development Cookbook - Second Edition
by Yannick LefebvreLearn to create plugins for WordPress 4.x to deliver custom projects or share with the community through detailed step-by-step recipes and code examples About This Book • Learn how to change and extend WordPress to perform virtually any task • Explore the plugin API through approachable examples and detailed explanations • Mold WordPress to your project's needs or transform it to benefit the entire community Who This Book Is For If you are a WordPress user, developer, or a site integrator with basic knowledge of PHP and an interest to create new plugins to address your personal needs, client needs, or share with the community, then this book is for you. What You Will Learn • Discover how to register user callbacks with WordPress, forming the basis of plugin creation • Explore the creation of administration pages and adding new content management sections through custom post types and custom database tables • Improve your plugins by customizing the post and page editors, categories and user profiles, and creating visitor-facing forms • Make your pages dynamic using Javascript, AJAX and adding new widgets to the platform • Learn how to add support for plugin translation and distribute your work to the WordPress community In Detail WordPress is a popular, powerful, and open Content Management System. Learning how to extend its capabilities allows you to unleash its full potential, whether you're an administrator trying to find the right extension, a developer with a great idea to enhance the platform for the community, or a website developer working to fulfill a client's needs. This book shows readers how to navigate WordPress' vast set of API functions to create high-quality plugins with easy-to-configure administration interfaces. With new recipes and materials updated for the latest versions of WordPress 4.x, this second edition teaches you how to create plugins of varying complexity ranging from a few lines of code to complex extensions that provide intricate new capabilities. You'll start by using the basic mechanisms provided in WordPress to create plugins and execute custom user code. You will then see how to design administration panels, enhance the post editor with custom fields, store custom data, and modify site behavior based on the value of custom fields. You'll safely incorporate dynamic elements on web pages using scripting languages, and build new widgets that users will be able to add to WordPress sidebars and widget areas. By the end of this book, you will be able to create WordPress plugins to perform any task you can imagine. Style and approach This cookbook will take you through the creation of your first simple plugin to adding entirely new sections and widgets in the administration interface, so you can learn how to change and extend WordPress to perform virtually any task. Each topic is illustrated through realistic examples showing how to solve common problems, followed by detailed explanations of all concepts used
WordPress Theme Development Beginner's Guide
by Rachel Mccollin Tessa Blakeley SilverA Beginner's Guide packed with clear step-by-step instructions to create powerful and professional themes for your WordPress website This book targets WordPress users and visual designers who are used to working with the common industry-standard tools like PhotoShop and Dreamweaver or other popular graphic, HTML, and text editors. No server-side scripting or programming experience is required.
WordPress Web Application Development
by Rakhitha Nimesh RatnayakeAn extensive, practical guide that explains how to adapt WordPress features, both conventional and trending, for web applications.This book is intended for WordPress developers and designers who have the desire to go beyond conventional website development to develop quality web applications within a limited time frame and for maximum profit. Experienced web developers who are looking for a framework for rapid application development will also find this to be a useful resource. Prior knowledge with of WordPress is preferable as the main focus will be on explaining methods for adapting WordPress techniques for web application development rather than explaining basic skills with WordPress.
Wordpress Web Application Development - Third Edition
by Rakhitha Nimesh RatnayakeLearn in easy stages how to rapidly build leading-edge web applications from scratch. About This Book • Develop powerful web applications rapidly with WordPress • Explore the significant features and improvements introduced in WordPress 4.7 by learning the numerous tips and techniques in this book. • Unleash the power of REST API endpoints to make your interaction with websites new and innovative. Who This Book Is For This book is targeted at WordPress developers and designers who want to develop quality web applications within a limited time frame and maximize their profits. A prior knowledge of basic web development and design is assumed. What You Will Learn • Develop extendable plugins with the use of WordPress features in core modules • Develop pluggable modules to extend the core features of WordPress as independent modules • Manage permissions for a wide range of content types in web applications based on different user types • Follow WordPress coding standards to develop reusable and maintainable code • Build and customize themes beyond conventional web layouts • Explore the power of core database tables and understand the limitations when designing database tables for large applications • Integrate open source modules into WordPress applications to keep up with the latest open source technologies • Customize the WordPress admin section and themes to create the look and feel of a typical web application In Detail WordPress is one of the most rapidly expanding markets on the Web. Learning how to build complex and scalable web applications will give you the ability and knowledge to step into the future of WordPress. WordPress 4.7 introduces some exciting new improvements and several bug fixes, which further improve the entire development process.This book is a practical, scenario-based guide to expanding the power of the WordPress core modules to develop modular and maintainable real-world applications from scratch. This book consistently emphasizes adapting WordPress features into web applications. It will walk you through the advanced usages of existing features such as access controlling; database handling; custom post types; pluggable plugins; content restrictions; routing; translation; caching; and many more, while you build the backend of a forum management application. This book begins by explaining how to plan the development of a web application using WordPress' core features. Once the core features are explained, you will learn how to build an application by extending them through custom plugin development. Finally, you will explore advanced non-functional features and application integration. After reading this book, you will have the ability to develop powerful web applications rapidly within limited time frames. Style and approach An extensive, practical guide that explains how to adapt WordPress features, both conventional and trending, for web applications.
Wordpress Websites for Business: How Anyone Can Maximize Website Performance and Results
by Michael CordovaA website development pioneer gives business owners—from tech savvy to beginner—the tools, knowledge, and tactics to succeed in today’s online economy.If your company is building a new website, you’re certainly thinking about content and design. But don’t forget performance, especially if you need your website to generate business leads and sales. Wordpress Websites for Business guides you through the process of building a website that will sustain and grow your company. Using the techniques detailed in this book I am currently bringing in more than one million dollars’ worth of leads a month for one of my clients.I have used most of the top content management systems and built many custom CMS systems myself. From my experience, I can say that Wordpress is the most effective tool available to build your company’s website and bring in leads and sales for your business. However, if used incorrectly, it can actually hurt your company. I’ve seen it happen, and the effects can be devastating. The good news is that there’s a better way. In an easy-to-follow, step-by-step program, this book will tell you what you need to do to avoid the pitfalls while ensuring maximum exposure, search engine rankings, and conversions (sales)!This powerful book features: game changing checklists and resources; simple settings that only take a few minutes, but can make a huge difference in website performance; the best Wordpress plugins and services to optimize your site and maximize leads; the best Wordpress themes that enable you to build an up-to-date website that performs for you; content creation hacks such as how to map your business goals directly to your content; Wordpress best practices simplified, such as why and how to create a child theme; the tools and techniques that drop your page load times to less than two seconds; and much more . . .The strategies and tactics I present in Wordpress Websites for Business will result in more leads and sales for your company, and that’s what it’s all about.
Words at Work in Vanity Fair
by Martha BantaBanta draws upon essays in Vanity Fair by noted journalists, literary figures, and cultural critics in order to examine the manner by which major cultural and historical events in the Untied States and Britain led to the invention of previously non-existent words to express the rampant changes within society.
Words in Motion: Toward a Global Lexicon
by Carol Gluck Anna Lowenhaupt TsingOn the premise that words have the power to make worlds, each essay in this book follows a word as it travels around the globe and across time. Scholars from five disciplines address thirteen societies to highlight the social and political life of words in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, from the mid-nineteenth century to the present. The approach is consciously experimental, in that rigorously tracking specific words in specific settings frequently leads in unexpected directions and alters conventional depictions of global modernity. Such words as security in Brazil, responsibility in Japan, community in Thailand, and hijāb in France changed the societies in which they moved even as the words were changed by them. Some words threatened to launch wars, as injury did in imperial Britain's relations with China in the nineteenth century. Others, such as secularism, worked in silence to agitate for political change in twentieth-century Morocco. Words imposed or imported from abroad could be transformed by those who wielded them to oppose the very powers that first introduced them, as happened in Turkey, Indonesia, and the Philippines. Taken together, this selection of fourteen essays reveals commonality as well as distinctiveness across modern societies, making the world look different from the interdisciplinary and transnational perspective of "words in motion. " Contributors. Mona Abaza, Itty Abraham, Partha Chatterjee, Carol Gluck, Huri Islamoglu, Claudia Koonz, Lydia H. Liu, Driss Maghraoui, Vicente L. Rafael, Craig J. Reynolds, Seteney Shami, Alan Tansman, Kasian Tejapira, Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing
Word's Out: Gay Men's English
by William L. Leap<p>Do gay men communicate with each other differently than they do with straight people? If they do, how is "gay men's English?" different from "straight English"? This work addresses these questions and looks at gay men's English as a cultural and a linguistic phenomenon. This text focuses not on items of vocabulary, word history and folklore but on linguistic practices - co-operation, negotiation and risk-taking - which underlie gay men's conversations, storytelling, verbal duelling, self-description and construction of outrageous references. <p>The author "reads" conversations for covert and overt signs of gay men's English, using anecdotes drawn from gay dinner parties, late-night airplane flights, restaurants, department stores and gourmet shops, and other all-gay and gay/straight settings. He incorporates material from other interviews and discussions with gay men, life-story narratives, gay magazines, newspapers, books and material from his own life. The topics addressed include establishing the gay identities of "suspect gays", recollections of gay childhood, erotic negotiation in health club locker rooms, and gay men's language of AIDS. <p>The text shows how gay English speakers use language to create gay-centred spaces within public places, to protect themselves when speaking with strangers, and to establish common interests when speaking with "suspect gays". It also explores why learning gay English is a critical component in gay men's socialization and the acquisition of gay culture.</p>
Words That Win: How to win the debates that matter
by Lewis IwuAn insider's guide for students and teachers on how to debate, ranging from how to deliver speeches confidently in a large room to how to respond to arguments effectively. The final section of the book will argue why this activity is important for every child to take part - for social mobility, democratic and economic reasons. Throughout the book, Lewis (a former world university debating champion and a world championship winning coach with England) will draw from examples from his 10 years of experience coaching debates in over 11 countries
Words That Win: How to win the debates that matter
by Lewis IwuAn insider's guide for students and teachers on how to debate, ranging from how to deliver speeches confidently in a large room to how to respond to arguments effectively. The final section of the book will argue why this activity is important for every child to take part - for social mobility, democratic and economic reasons. Throughout the book, Lewis (a former world university debating champion and a world championship winning coach with England) will draw from examples from his 10 years of experience coaching debates in over 11 countries
Words That Work: It's Not What You Say, It's What People Hear
by Frank LuntzDr. Frank Luntz, adviser to politicians, CEO's and the like, shows you how to make words work for you so you can get more out of life, and also how to avoid making mistakes when asking for something from someone. You'll learn how to make reservations in a restaurant, or to get someone to really listen to what you say. There's more and you will learn a lot from his words.
Words That Work In Business: A Practical Guide to Effective Communication in the Workplace
by Ike LasaterAddressing the most common workplace relationship challenges, this manual shows how to use the principles of nonviolent communication to improve the workplace atmosphere. Offering practical tools that match recognizable work scenarios, this guide can help all employees positively affect their work relationships and company culture, regardless of their position. This handbook displays proven communication skills for effectively handling difficult conversations, reducing workplace conflict and stress, improving individual and team productivity, having more effective meetings, and giving and receiving meaningful feedback, thereby creating a more enjoyable work environment.
Words Were Originally Magic
by Steve De ShazerIn explicating how language works in therapy, De Shazer ranges widely, citing and critiquing Lacan, Bateson, Ackerman, and Weakland, among others. But the heart of this book can be found in the detailed conversations between client and therapist that show solution-focused therapy in action.
Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language
by Amanda MontellA brash, enlightening, and wildly entertaining feminist look at gendered language and the way it shapes us, written with humor and playfulness that challenges words and phrases and how we use them. <P><P>The word bitch conjures many images for many people, but it is most often meant to describe an unpleasant woman. Even before its usage to mean a female canine, bitch didn’t refer to gender at all—it originated as a gender-neutral word meaning genitalia. <P><P>A perfectly innocuous word devolving into a female insult is the case for tons more terms, including hussy—which simply meant housewife—or slut, which meant an untidy person and was also used to describe men. These words are just a few among history’s many English slurs hurled at women. <P><P>Amanda Montell, reporter and feminist linguist, deconstructs language—from insults and cursing, gossip, and catcalling to grammar and pronunciation patterns—to reveal the ways it has been used for centuries to keep women and other marginalized genders from power. Ever wonder why so many people are annoyed when women talk with vocal fry or use the word like as a filler? Or why certain gender-neutral terms stick and others don’t? Or where stereotypes of how women and men speak come from in the first place? <P><P>Montell effortlessly moves between history, science, and popular culture to explore these questions and more—and how we can use the answers to effect real social change. Montell’s irresistible humor shines through, making linguistics not only approachable but both downright hilarious and profound, demonstrated in chapters such as: <br>Slutty Skanks and Nasty Dykes: A Comprehensive List of Gendered Insults <br>How to Embarrass the Shit Out of People Who Try to Correct Your Grammar <br>Fuck it: An Ode to Cursing While Female <br>Cyclops, Panty Puppet, Bald Headed Bastard and 100+ Other Things to Call Your Genitalia <P><P>Montell effortlessly moves between history and popular culture to explore these questions and more. Wordslut gets to the heart of our language, marvels at its elasticity, and sheds much-needed light into the biases that shadow women in our culture and our consciousness.
Work and the Reader in Literary Studies: Scholarly Editing and Book History
by Paul EggertBy the late 1980s the concept of the work had slipped out of sight, consigned to its last refuge in the library catalogue as concepts of discourse and text took its place. Scholarly editors, who depended on it, found no grounding in literary theory for their practice. But fundamental ideas do not go away, and the work is proving to be one of them. New interest in the activity of the reader in the work has broadened the concept, extending it historically and sweeping away its once-supposed aesthetic objecthood. Concurrently, the advent of digital scholarly editions is recasting the editorial endeavour. The Work and The Reader in Literary Studies tests its argument against a range of book-historically inflected case-studies from Hamlet editions to Romantic poetry archives to the writing practices of Joseph Conrad and D. H. Lawrence. It newly justifies the practice of close reading in the digital age.
The Work and Workings of Human Communication (Foundations of Communication Theory Series)
by Robert E. SandersDiscover the fundamentals of human communication with this comprehensive and insightful resource Written in four sections, The Work and Workings of Human Communication identifies the underlying fundamentals that make our communication distinctively human. These fundamentals are the common ground that tie together the many topics and subject matters covered by the study and discipline of communication. They are also the basis of the unique contribution of the communication discipline to the social sciences. Professor, researcher and theorist Robert E. Sanders starts by focusing on what is unique about human communication and moves on to an examination of the complexities of scientific inquiry in the social sciences in general and in the communication discipline specifically. At the heart of the matter is the fact that humans are thinking beings who can make choices and therefore are not entirely predictable. This points towards new topics and questions that are likely to arise as the discipline evolves. Sanders’ approach leads to recognition of the fact that communication is at the center of how humans build our ways of life and participate together. By focusing on the underlying fundamentals that give rise to the discipline’s topics and subject areas, The Work and Workings of Human Communication encourages students to engage in independent thought about what they want to contribute by: Emphasizing the importance of communication in creating, sustaining or changing—and participating in—our ways of life on an interpersonal level and on a societal level Recognizing that human communication is inherently collaborative; people affect situations by interacting with others, not acting on others Explaining the history, current agendas and possible future of the social science side of the Communication discipline A perfect resource for new graduate students in introductory communication courses who have an interest in the social science side of the discipline, The Work and Workings of Human Communication is also highly valuable for undergraduate communication and liberal arts students who don’t possess a background in the discipline.
The Work of Communication: Relational Perspectives on Working and Organizing in Contemporary Capitalism (Routledge Studies in Management, Organizations and Society)
by Timothy Kuhn Karen L Ashcraft Francois CoorenThe Work of Communication: Relational Perspectives on Working and Organizing in Contemporary Capitalism revolves around a two-part question: "What have work and organization become under contemporary capitalism—and how should organization studies approach them?" Changes in the texture of capitalism, heralded by social and organizational theorists alike, increasingly focus attention on communication as both vital to the conduct of work and as imperative to organizational performance. Yet most accounts of communication in organization studies fail to understand an alternate sense of the "work of communication" in the constitution of organizations, work practices, and economies. This book responds to that lack by portraying communicative practices—as opposed to individuals, interests, technologies, structures, organizations, or institutions—as the focal units of analysis in studies of the social and organizational problems occasioned by contemporary capitalism. Rather than suggesting that there exists a canonically "correct" route communicative analyses must follow, The Work of Communication: Relational Perspectives on Working and Organizing in Contemporary Capitalism explores the value of transcending longstanding divides between symbolic and material factors in studies of working and organizing. The recognition of dramatic shifts in technological, economic, and political forces, along with deep interconnections among the myriad of factors shaping working and organizing, sows doubts about whether organization studies is up to the vital task of addressing the social problems capitalism now creates. Kuhn, Ashcraft, and Cooren argue that novel insights into those social problems are possible if we tell different stories about working and organizing. To aid authors of those stories, they develop a set of conceptual resources that they capture under the mantle of communicative relationality. These resources allow analysts to profit from burgeoning interest in notions such as sociomateriality, posthumanism, performativity, and affect. It goes on to illustrate the benefits that investigations of work and organization can realize from communicative relationality by presenting case studies that analyze (a) the becoming of an idea, from its inception to solidification, (b) the emergence of what is taken to be the "the product" in high-tech startup entrepreneurship, and (c) the branding of work (in this case, academic writing and commercial aviation) through affective economies. Taken together, the book portrays "the work of communication" as simultaneously about how work in the "new economy" revolves around communicative practice and about how communication serves as a mode of explanation with the potential to cultivate novel stories about working and organizing. Aimed at academics, researchers, and policy makers, this book’s goal is to make tangible the contributions of communication for thinking about contemporary social and organizational problems.