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Society and the Internet: How Networks of Information and Communication are Changing Our Lives
How is society being shaped by the diffusion and increasing centrality of the Internet in everyday life and work? By bringing together leading research that addresses some of the most significant cultural, economic, and political roles of the Internet, this volume introduces students to a core set of readings that address this question in specific social and institutional contexts.
Internet Studies is a burgeoning new field, which has been central to the Oxford Internet Institute (OII), an innovative multi-disciplinary department at the University of Oxford. Society and the Internet builds on the OII's evolving series of lectures on society and the Internet. The series has been edited to create a reader to supplement upper-division undergraduate and graduate courses that seek to introduce students to scholarship focused on the implications of the Internet for networked societies around the world. The chapters of the reader are rooted in a variety of disciplines, but all directly tackle the powerful ways in which the Internet is linked to political, social, cultural, and economic transformations in society. This book will be a starting point for anyone with a serious interest in the factors shaping the Internet and its impact on society.
The book begins with an introduction by the editors, which provides a brief history of the Internet and Web and its study from multi-disciplinary perspectives. The chapters are grouped into six focused sections: The Internet and Everyday Life; Information and Culture on the Line; Networked Politics and Government; Networked Businesses, Industries, and Economies; and Technological and Regulatory Histories and Futures.
Internet Studies is a burgeoning new field, which has been central to the Oxford Internet Institute (OII), an innovative multi-disciplinary department at the University of Oxford. Society and the Internet builds on the OII's evolving series of lectures on society and the Internet. The series has been edited to create a reader to supplement upper-division undergraduate and graduate courses that seek to introduce students to scholarship focused on the implications of the Internet for networked societies around the world. The chapters of the reader are rooted in a variety of disciplines, but all directly tackle the powerful ways in which the Internet is linked to political, social, cultural, and economic transformations in society. This book will be a starting point for anyone with a serious interest in the factors shaping the Internet and its impact on society.
The book begins with an introduction by the editors, which provides a brief history of the Internet and Web and its study from multi-disciplinary perspectives. The chapters are grouped into six focused sections: The Internet and Everyday Life; Information and Culture on the Line; Networked Politics and Government; Networked Businesses, Industries, and Economies; and Technological and Regulatory Histories and Futures.
- GenresResearchNonfiction
416 pages, Paperback
First published July 29, 2014
76 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 2, 2022
Similar to the OII, this collection careens across an array of disciplines - philosophy to psychology to economics to law to political science.
Some parts of the book were great - balancing high-level with deep analyses - covering topics that are both personally interesting and relevant to my studies (Politics of Children's Internet Use, Social Media and Democracy in Crisis, Networked Individualism). Others were dense and obfuscatory, requiring domain-specific knowledge.
Of the books I've read this term, this will likely be the most helpful source when it comes time for my Social Dynamics of the Internet final. However, reading this text didn't exactly instill confidence. Certain essays were more readable than others. Unless you are taking SDI (and even then) I wouldn't recommend reading this cover-to-cover but rather cherry-picking essays to suit your interests.
Updating this review to four stars as the appendix is incredible. Super helpful.
Some parts of the book were great - balancing high-level with deep analyses - covering topics that are both personally interesting and relevant to my studies (Politics of Children's Internet Use, Social Media and Democracy in Crisis, Networked Individualism). Others were dense and obfuscatory, requiring domain-specific knowledge.
Of the books I've read this term, this will likely be the most helpful source when it comes time for my Social Dynamics of the Internet final. However, reading this text didn't exactly instill confidence. Certain essays were more readable than others. Unless you are taking SDI (and even then) I wouldn't recommend reading this cover-to-cover but rather cherry-picking essays to suit your interests.
Updating this review to four stars as the appendix is incredible. Super helpful.
November 14, 2023
6/10 Book. The main problem is that it is very long. Instead of 416 pages it could be 216 pages easily. There are a lot of useless stuff, but there is also something useful and interesting. I can not name something particular, because the whole book lacks color (in literal term). Boring research language and a lot of useless data that do not give reader anything at all.
December 8, 2014
This book consists of 23 chapters by a combination of 31 authors from a range of academic disciplines, all largely with some connection to the Oxford Internet Institute, drawn together to answer some of the ‘big’ questions on ‘internet studies’. The book is divided into five parts, with the fifth considering aspects of the future.
Whilst making the claim to be multi-disciplinary, the book fails to include philosophy, and in particular ethics. While there are some elements that refer to this in a few of the chapters, in fact an ethical discourse should be fundamental to all the ‘big’ questions being asked around power, equality, diversity, hierarchies, communities, privacy and governance.
Given my personal interest in e-government the first chapters I explored were chapters 11 and 12, “Transforming government by default” and “The Wisdom of Which Crowd?”, whose conclusions seemed to support my own research whilst adding some information of which I wasn’t aware - always a good sign!
Then, reading the book from cover to cover, I found it to be a veritable vade mecum of the internet and its social consequences, with a wealth of information for the researcher and the authors suggesting lots of opportunities for further research, including social media and big data.
Some fascinating chapters on less publicised areas of work cover the Thai silk industry and the Sudanese labour market, both of which reveal the unrealistic expectations and limited potential of what change the internet is capable of delivering in the less developed world.
The editors also include a chapter on legal aspects of the cloud - not an particularly easy area to disseminate and one that changes very quickly, but at least such a sexy topic (for professionals) is raised and covered well within the space constraints. Similarly the currently topical issue of governance and social media is sensibly dealt with. The final chapter takes us on to the future and the semantic or ‘linked data’ web - who knows what will happen to future incarnations, but some tentative views are offered.
Overall a useful book for the university or college library, and anyone else to dip in and out of. How easily it will date - who knows?
Reviewed by Dr Mick Phythian MBCS CITP
Whilst making the claim to be multi-disciplinary, the book fails to include philosophy, and in particular ethics. While there are some elements that refer to this in a few of the chapters, in fact an ethical discourse should be fundamental to all the ‘big’ questions being asked around power, equality, diversity, hierarchies, communities, privacy and governance.
Given my personal interest in e-government the first chapters I explored were chapters 11 and 12, “Transforming government by default” and “The Wisdom of Which Crowd?”, whose conclusions seemed to support my own research whilst adding some information of which I wasn’t aware - always a good sign!
Then, reading the book from cover to cover, I found it to be a veritable vade mecum of the internet and its social consequences, with a wealth of information for the researcher and the authors suggesting lots of opportunities for further research, including social media and big data.
Some fascinating chapters on less publicised areas of work cover the Thai silk industry and the Sudanese labour market, both of which reveal the unrealistic expectations and limited potential of what change the internet is capable of delivering in the less developed world.
The editors also include a chapter on legal aspects of the cloud - not an particularly easy area to disseminate and one that changes very quickly, but at least such a sexy topic (for professionals) is raised and covered well within the space constraints. Similarly the currently topical issue of governance and social media is sensibly dealt with. The final chapter takes us on to the future and the semantic or ‘linked data’ web - who knows what will happen to future incarnations, but some tentative views are offered.
Overall a useful book for the university or college library, and anyone else to dip in and out of. How easily it will date - who knows?
Reviewed by Dr Mick Phythian MBCS CITP
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews