On Editorialization: Structuring Space and Authority in the Digital Age

In On Editorialization: Structuring Space and Authority in the Digital Age Marcello Vitali-Rosati examines how authority changes in the digital era. Authority seems to have vanished in the age of the web, since the spatial relationships that authority depends on are thought to have levelled out: there are no limits or boundaries, no hierarchies or organized structures anymore. Vitali-Rosati claims the opposite to be the case: digital space is well-structured and material and has specific forms of authority. Editorialization is one key process that organizes this space and thus brings into being digital authority. Investigating this process of editorialization, Vitali-Rosati reveals how politics can be reconceived in the digital age. Author Marcello Vitali-Rosati is Associate Professor in the Department of French Literature at the University of Montreal and holds the Canada Research Chair on Digital Textualities. In his research he develops a philosophical approach to the changes brought by digital technologies. Previous publications include Riflessione e trascendenza: Itinerari a partire da Levinas (ETS, 2003), Corps et virtuel: Itineraires àpartir de Merleau-Ponty (L’Harmattan, 2009), S’orienter dans le virtuel (Hermann, 2012), and Egarements: Amour, mort et identites numeriques (Hermann, 2014). This is his first book in English.