Internet Society: The Internet in Everyday Life

by Maria Bakardjieva

Internet Society investigates Internet use and its implications for society through insights into the daily experiences of ordinary users. Drawing on an original study of non-professional, ′ordinary′ users at home, this book examines how people interpret, domesticate, and creatively appropriate the Internet by integrating it into the projects and activities of their everyday lives.

232 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was better in theory than it was in practice. I liked the author's approach to studying technologies in context and I very much liked the theoretical apparatus she set for her ethnographic study. However, many of the conclusions (despite the richness that animated the theory) seemed logical rather than revolutionary in any way. That is, in studying amateur Internet users, Bakardjieva didn't really go into great depth to look at how they use the Internet differently than "experts." Thus, while she did a revealing job of talking about the narratives that brought them to the Internet in the first place, and also spoke to what they use their computers and online time for, she didn't do much to juxtapose this with how others use the Internet. As a result, it was difficult to fully conceptualize exactly what was different about these users' experiences (apart from their lack of facility with hardware or software, which is likely common to more computer users than the author seems to want to consider). All of that said, the fact that this is one of very few books that actually looks at Internet usage in the context of the home, means it should be commended for its methodological offering. Likewise, the author is well-aware of things that are missing from her study that would add to its richness. If anything, a study like this (which points at how we might go about answering tough questions about how technologies function in daily life) certainly demonstrates why more studies of this nature are necessary, and suggests that they should probably be conducted with teams of researchers over longer periods of time to yield more interesting, comprehensive, and insightful results.

[Nativeabuse · Rating 1 out of 5]

The author has such a weird conception of the internet. The book examines regular or casual internet users, eg your parents and grandparents, and how they use the internet. It treats everyone above the level of 'barely able to use a computer' as if they were experts. Which really shows more about the authors ignorance than anything.

Over analyzing how people who are not yet fully immersed in everything internet, seems like a pointless exercise to me. Especially since this was written in 2005!? This would be fine if it were written in maybe 1997.

[Jamiez Kp · Rating 5 out of 5]

i like it