Showing posts with label cyberculture studies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cyberculture studies. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 01, 2009

new (and last) set of reviews in cyberculture studies (december 09)

each month, RCCS Reviews pumps out free, full-length reviews of books about contemporary media and culture. this month, RCCS Reviews features 10 reviews of 8 books with 4 author responses. books of the month for december 2009 are:


Electronic Literature: New Horizons for the Literary
Author: N. Katherine Hayles
Publisher: University of Notre Dame Press, 2008
Review 1: Pramod K. Nayar
Review 2: Luis Amate Perez
Author Response: N. Katherine Hayles

Global Capital, Local Culture: Transnational Media Corporations in China
Author: Anthony Y.H. Fung
Publisher: Peter Lang, 2008
Review 1: Hanna Cho
Author Response: Anthony Y.H. Fung

Mechanisms: New Media and the Forensic Imagination
Author: Matthew G. Kirschenbaum
Publisher: MIT Press, 2008
Review 1: Viola Lasmana
Review 2: Jentery Sayers
Author Response: Matthew Kirschenbaum

Scholarship in the Digital Age: Information, Infrastructure, and the Internet
Author: Christine L. Borgman
Publisher: MIT Press, 2007
Review 1: Denise N. Rall

Signs of Life: Bio Art and Beyond
Editor: Eduardo Kac
Publisher: MIT Press, 2006
Review 1: Yazan Haddad

Small Tech: The Culture of Digital Tools
Editor: Byron Hawek, David M. Rieder, Ollie Oviedo
Publisher: University of Minnesota Press, 2008
Review 1: Brenda Berkelaar

Technology in a Multicultural and Global Society
Editor: May Thorseth, Charles Ess
Publisher: Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 2005
Review 1: Delia D. Dumitrica
Author Response: Charles Ess and May Thorseth

Two Bits: The Cultural Significance of Free Software
Author: Christopher M. Kelty
Publisher: Duke University Press, 2008
Review 1: Tim Jordan

enjoy.

Friday, October 30, 2009

new reviews in cyberculture studies (november 2009)

each month, RCCS Reviews pumps out free, full-length reviews of books about contemporary media and culture. this month, RCCS Reviews features 13 reviews of 9 books with 5 author responses! books of the month for november 2009 are:


Ambivalence Towards Convergence: Digitalisation and Media Change
Editors: Tanja Storsul, Dagny Stuedahl
Publisher: Nordicom, 2007
Review 1: Fiona Martin

Blogs, Wikipedia, Second Life, and Beyond: From Production to Produsage
Author: Axel Bruns
Publisher: Peter Lang, 2008
Review 1: Verena Laschinger
Review 2: Alan Razee
Review 3: Erin Stark
Author Response: Axel Bruns

Digital Media and Democracy: Tactics in Hard Times
Editor: Megan Boler
Publisher: MIT Press, 2008
Review 1: J. Patrick Biddix
Review 2: Mary K. Bryson
Author Response: Megan Boler

Displacing Place: Mobile Communication in the Twenty-First Century
Editor: Sharon Kleinman
Publisher: Peter Lang, 2007
Review 1: Kevin Douglas Kuswa
Review 2: Katheryn Wright
Author Response: Sharon Kleinman

Literatures in the Digital Era: Theory and Praxis
Editors: Amelia Sanz, Dolores Romero
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2007
Review 1: Sara Humphreys

Making Digital Cultures: Access, Interactivity and Authenticity
Author: Martin Hand
Publisher: Ashgate, 2008
Review 1: Jen Ross
Author Response: Martin Hand

Making Silicon Valley: Innovation and the Growth of High Tech, 1930-1970
Author: Christophe Lécuyer
Publisher: MIT Press, 2005
Review 1: Judith Otto

Moving Cultures: Mobile Communications in Everyday Life
Authors: André H. Caron, Letizia Caronia
Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2007
Review 1: Erin Jonasson
Author Response: Letizia Caronia and André H. Caron

New Tech, New Ties: How Mobile Communication Is Reshaping Social Cohesion
Author: Rich Ling
Publisher: MIT Press, 2008
Review 1: Kathrin Kissau

enjoy. there's one more month's worth where that came from.

Thursday, October 01, 2009

new reviews in cyberculture studies (october 2009)

each month, RCCS Reviews pumps out free, full-length reviews of books about contemporary media and culture. this month, RCCS Reviews features 8 reviews of 5 books with 3 author responses!

books of the month for october 2009 are:


20 Questions About Youth & the Media
Editor: Sharon R. Mazzarella
Publisher: Peter Lang, 2007
Review 1: Molly Swiger

Cyborgs and Barbie Dolls: Feminism, Popular Culture and the Posthuman Body
Author: Kim Toffoletti
Publisher: I.B. Tauris, 2007
Review 1: M. Beatrice Bittarello
Review 2: Birgit Pretzsch
Review 3: Nicholas Yanes
Author Response: Kim Toffoletti

Instant Identity: Adolescent Girls and the World of Instant Messaging
Author: Shayla Thiel Stern
Publisher: Peter Lang, 2007
Review 1: Andrea J. Baker
Author Response: Shayla Thiel Stern

Knowledge as a Commons: From Theory to Practice
Editor: Charlotte Hess, Elinor Ostrom
Publisher: MIT Press, 2007
Review 1: Colette Wanless-Sobel
Author Response: Elinor Ostrom and Charlotte Hess

Queer Girls and Popular Culture: Reading, Resisting, and Creating Media
Author: Susan Driver
Publisher: Peter Lang, 2007
Review 1: Lisa Justine Hernández
Review 2: Alison Miller-Slade

enjoy. there's a wee bit more where that came from.

Monday, August 31, 2009

new reviews in cyberculture studies (september 2009)

each month, RCCS Reviews pumps out free, full-length reviews of books about contemporary media and culture. this month, RCCS Reviews features 14 reviews of 7 books with 5 author responses!

books of the month for september 2009 are:


Digital Citizenship: The Internet, Society, and Participation
Authors: Karen Mossberger, Caroline J. Tolbert, Ramona S. McNeal
Publisher: MIT Press, 2008
Review 1: Carlos Nunes Silva

Digital Culture, Play and Identity: A World of Warcraft Reader
Editors: Hilde G Corneliussen, Jill Walker Rettberg
Publisher: MIT Press, 2008
Review 1: Shira Chess
Review 2: Jordan Patrick Lieser
Review 3: Christopher A. Paul
Author Response: Hilde G. Corneliussen and Jill Walker Rettberg

Ham Radio's Technical Culture
Author: Kristen Haring
Publisher: MIT Press, 2006
Review 1: Mark D. Johns
Review 2: Amanda R. Keeler
Author Response: Kristen Haring

iSpy: Surveillance and Power in the Interactive Era
Author: Mark Andrejevic
Publisher: University Press of Kansas, 2007
Review 1: Jacob Kramer-Duffield
Review 2: W. Benjamin Myers
Review 3: Hiesun Cecilia Suhr
Review 4: A. Freya Thimsen
Author Response: Mark Andrejevic

Online Social Support: The Interplay of Social Networks and Computer-Mediated Communication
Author: Antonina Bambina
Publisher: Cambria Press, 2007
Review 1: Willem de Koster
Review 2: Fred Stutzman
Author Response: Antonina Bambina

Surviving the New Economy
Editors: John Amman, Tris Carpenter, Gina Neff
Publisher: Paradigm Publishers, 2007
Review 1: Maria Rosales-Sequeiros
Author Response: John Amman, Tris Carpenter, and Gina Neff

Theorizing Digital Cultural Heritage: A Critical Discourse
Editors: Fiona Cameron, Sarah Kenderdine
Publisher: MIT Press, 2007
Review 1: Jennifer Way

enjoy. there's a wee bit more where that came from.

Thursday, July 30, 2009

new reviews in cyberculture studies (august 2009)

each month, RCCS Reviews pumps out free, full-length reviews of books about contemporary media and culture. this month, RCCS Reviews features 9 reviews of 4 books with 3 author responses! books of the month for august 2009 are:


Playing the Past: History and Nostalgia in Video Games
Editors: Zach Whalen, Laurie N. Taylor
Publisher: Vanderbilt University Press, 2008
Review 1: Carly A. Kocurek
Author Response: Zach Whalen

The Internet in the Arab World: Egypt and Beyond
Author: Rasha A. Abdulla
Publisher: Peter Lang, 2007
Review 1: Antonio A. Garcia
Review 2: Laurence Raw
Review 3: Natasha Ritsma
Author Response: Rasha A. Abdulla

The Pleasures of Computer Gaming: Essays on Cultural History, Theory and Aesthetics
Editors: Melanie Swalwell, Jason Wilson
Publisher: McFarland, 2008
Review 1: Dave Jones
Review 2: Alex Meredith
Author Response: Melanie Swalwell

Zero Comments: Blogging and Critical Internet Culture
Author: Geert Lovink
Publisher: Routledge, 2008
Review 1: Liz Ellcessor
Review 2: Tricia M. Farwell
Review 3: Madeline Yonker

enjoy. there's a little bit more where that came from.

Sunday, June 28, 2009

new reviews in cyberculture studies (july 2009)

each month, RCCS Reviews pumps out free, full-length reviews of books about contemporary media and culture. books of the month for july 2009 are:


Cheating: Gaining Advantage in Videogames
Author: Mia Consalvo
Publisher: MIT Press, 2007
Review 1: Bryan G. Behrenshausen
Review 2: Tanner Higgin
Review 3: Ray Vichot
Author Response: Mia Consalvo

Digitizing Race: Visual Cultures of the Internet
Author: Lisa Nakamura
Publisher: University of Minnesota Press, 2007
Review 1: Yuya Kiuchi
Review 2: Nicholas Knouf
Review 3: Koen Leurs
Review 4: Andrea L. Volpe
Author Response: Lisa Nakamura

Evocative Objects: Things We Think With
Editor: Sherry Turkle
Publisher: MIT Press, 2007
Review 1: Chris Foster
Review 2: Gloria Gannaway
Review 3: Linda Levitt
Review 4: Albin Wallace

enjoy. there's a bit more where that came from.

Friday, January 30, 2009

new reviews in cyberculture studies (february 2009)

(nearly) each month, RCCS publishes a set of book reviews and author responses. books of the month for february 2009 are:


Double Click: Romance and Commitment Among Online Couples
Author: Andrea J. Baker
Publisher: Hampton Press, 2005
Review: M. Carmen Gomez-Galisteo
Author Response: Andrea J. Baker

Living on Cybermind: Categories, Communications, and Control
Author: Jonathan Paul Marshall
Publisher: Peter Lang, 2007
Review: Alan Sondheim
Author Response: Jonathan Paul Marshall

enjoy. there's more where that came from.

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

new reviews in cyberculture studies (december 2008)

each month, the resource center for cyberculture studies publishes book reviews and author responses.


the book of the month for december 2008 is:

Playback: Simulierte Wirklichkeiten / Playback: Simulated Realities
Editor: Sabine Himmelsbach
Publisher: Kehrer Verlag, 2007
Review 1: Claudia Costa Pederson

stay tuned - there's lots more where that came from.

Friday, October 31, 2008

new reviews in cyberculture studies (november 2008)

each month, the resource center for cyberculture studies publishes book reviews and author responses.


books of the month for november 2008 are:

Reclaiming the Media: Communication Rights and Democratic Media Roles
Editors: Bart Cammaerts & Nico Carpentier
Publisher: Intellect, 2007
Review 1: Arthur L. Morin

Sensorium: Embodied Experience, Technology, and Contemporary Art
Editor: Caroline A. Jones
Publisher: MIT Press, 2006
Review 1: Kathleen O'Riordan
Author Response: Caroline Jones

there's lots more where that came from.

Friday, October 03, 2008

call for book reviewers

each month, the resource center for cyberculture studies, or RCCS, publishes book reviews and author responses related to the field of contemporary media and culture. these book reviews and author responses are free, public, and available here: http://rccs.usfca.edu/booklist.asp

if YOU are interested in writing a 1000-1500 word book review and can write the review by january 30, 2009, please contact me (dmsilver [ at ] usfca [ dot ] edu) by OCTOBER 20, 2008. please include:

a) your name and affiliation (if any);
b) 1-2 books you wish to review (selecting more than 2 books automatically disqualifies you);
c) a short paragraph explaining your qualifications/interest in reviewing the book or books you selected; and
d) your agreement to provide a 1000-1500 word book review by january 30, 2009.

if selected, i will send you a free review copy of the book and ask you to send me your review by the end of january. if you are busy or already have too many commitments, please pass until next time. the deadline to express interest in reviewing books is OCTOBER 20, 2008.

the following books are available for review:

Rasha A. Abdulla, The Internet in the Arab World: Egypt and Beyond (Peter Lang, 2007)

John Amman, Tris Carpenter, and Gina Neff, eds, Surviving the New Economy (Paradigm Publishers, 2007)

Mark Andrejevic, iSpy: Surveillance and Power in the Interactive Era (University Press of Kansas, 2007)

William Aspray and Paul E. Ceruzzi, eds, The Internet and American Business (MIT Press, 2008).

Andrea J. Baker, Double Click: Romance And Commitment Among Online Couples (Hampton Press, 2005)

Antonina D. Bambina, Online Social Support: The Interplay of Social Networks and Computer-Mediated Communication (Cambria Press, 2007)

Megan Boler, Digital Media and Democracy: Tactics in Hard Times (MIT Press, 2008).

Christine L. Borgman, Scholarship in the Digital Age: Information, Infrastructure, and the Internet (MIT Press, 2007).

Axel Bruns, Blogs, Wikipedia, Second Life, and Beyond: From Production to Produsage (Peter Lang, 2008)

Fiona Cameron and Sarah Kenderdine, eds, Theorizing Digital Cultural Heritage: A Critical Discourse (MIT Press, 2007)

Andre H. Caron and Letizia Caronia, Moving Cultures: Moblie Communication in Everyday Life (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2007)

Paul E. Ceruzzi, Internet Alley: High Technology in Tysons Corner, 1945-2005 (MIT Press, 2008)

Samir Chopra and Scott Dexter, Decoding Liberation: The Promise of Free and Open Source Software (Routledge, 2008)

David Ciccoricco, Reading Network Fiction (University of Alabama Press, 2007)

Mia Consalvo, Cheating: Gaining Advantage in Videogames (MIT Press, 2007)

Hilde G. Corneliussen and Jill Walker Rettberg, Digital Culture, Play, and Identity: A World of Warcraft Reader (MIT Press, 2008)

Edgar Gomez Cruz, Las Metaforas de Internet (Editorial UOC, 2007 - written in Spanish)

Mark Deuze, Media Work (Polity Press, 2007)

Daniel Downes, Interactive Realism: The Poetics Of Cyberspace (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2005)

Susan Driver, Queer Girls and Popular Culture: Reading, Resisting, and Creating Media (Peter Lang, 2007)

Anthony Dunne, Hertzian Tales: Electronic Products, Aesthetic Experience, and Critical Design (MIT Press, 2005)

David S. Evans, Andrei Hagiu, and Richard Schmalensee, Invisible Engines: How Software Platforms Drive Innovation and Transform Industries (MIT Press, 2006)

Herve Fischer and Rhonda Mullins, Digital Shock: Confronting the New Reality (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2006)

Anthony Fung, Global Capital, Local Culture: Transnational Media Corporations in China (Peter Lang, 2008)

Martin Hand, Making Digital Cultures: Access, Interactivity, and Authenticity (Ashgate, 2008)

Kristen Haring, Ham Radio's Technical Culture (MIT Press, 2007)

Byron Hawk, David M. Rieder, and Ollie Oviedo, eds, Small Tech: The Culture of Digital Tools (University of Minnesota Press, 2008)

N. Katherine Hayles, Electronic Literature: New Horizons for the Literary (University of Notre Dame Press, 2008)

Charlotte Hess and Elinor Ostrom, eds, Understanding Knowledge as a Commons: From Theory to Practice (MIT Press, 2007)

Tim Jordan, Hacking: Digital Media and Technological Determinism (Polity, 2008)

Eduardo Kac, ed, Signs of Life: Bio Art and Beyond (MIT Press, 2007)

Matthew G. Kirschenbaum, Mechanisms: New Media and the Forensic Imagination (MIT Press, 2008)

Sharon Kleinman, ed, Displacing Place: Mobile Communication in the Twenty-First Century (Peter Lang, 2007)

Stephen Kline, Nick Dyer-Witheford, and Greig De Peuter, Digital Play: The Interaction of Technology, Culture, and Marketing (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2003)

Christophe Lécuyer, Making Silicon Valley: Innovation and the Growth of High Tech, 1930-1970 (MIT Press, 2006)

Rich Ling, New Tech, New Ties: How Mobile Communication Is Reshaping Social Cohesion (MIT Press, 2008)

Eugene Loos, Leslie Haddon, and Enid Mante-Meijer, The Social Dynamics of Information and Communication Technology (Ashgate, 2008)

Geert Lovink, Zero Comments: Blogging and Critical Internet Culture (Routledge, 2008)

Geert Lovink and Trebor Scholz, eds, The Art of Free Cooperation (Autonomedia, 2007)

Annette N. Markham and Nancy K. Baym, eds, Internet Inquiry: Conversations About Method (Sage, 2009)

Sharon R. Mazzarella, ed, 20 Questions About Youth & the Media (Peter Lang, 2007)

Paul D. Miller, ed, Sound Unbound: Sampling Digital Music and Culture (MIT Press, 2008)

Kathryn C. Montgomery, Generation Digital: Politics, Commerce, and Childhood in the Age of the Internet (MIT Press, 2007)

Karen Mossberger, Caroline J. Tolbert, and Ramona S. McNeal, Digital Citizenship: The Internet, Society, and Participation (MIT Press, 2008)

David E. Nye, Technology Matters: Questions to Live By (MIT Press, 2006)

Lisa Nakamura, Digitizing Race: Visual Cultures of the Internet (University of Minnesota, 2008)

Kate O'Riordan and David J. Phillips, Queer Online: Media Technology and Sexuality (Peter Lang, 2007)

Laikwan Pang, Cultural Control and Globalization in Asia: Copyright, Piracy and Cinema (Routledge, 2006)

Amelia Sanz and Dolores Romero, Literatures in the Digital Era: Theory and Praxis (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2007)

Shayla Thiel Stern, Instant Identity: Adolescent Girls and the World of Instant Messaging (Peter Lang, 2007)

Tanja Storsul and Dagny Stuedahl, Ambivalence Towards Convergence: Digitalization and Media Change (Nordicom, 2007)

Melanie Swalwell and Jason Wilson, Pleasures Of Computer Gaming: Essays on Cultural History, Theory and Aesthetics (McFarland, 2008)

May Thorseth and Charles Ess, eds, Technology in a Multicultural and Global Society (NTNU University Press, 2005)

Kim Toffoletti, Cyborgs and Barbie Dolls: Feminism, Popular Culture and the Posthuman Body (I. B. Tauris, 2007)

Sherry Turkle, ed, Evocative Objects: Things We Think With (MIT Press, 2007)

Joseph Turow, Niche Envy: Marketing Discrimination in the Digital Age (MIT Press, 2006)

Victoria Vesna, ed, Database Aesthetics: Art in the Age of Information Overflow (University of Minnesota, 2007)

Barry Wellman and Caroline Haythornthwaite, eds, The Internet in Everyday Life (Blackwell, 2002)

Zach Whalen and Laurie N. Taylor, eds, Playing the Past: History and Nostalgia in Video Games (Vanderbilt University Press, 2008)

David Wills, Dorsality: Thinking Back through Technology and Politics (University of Minnesota Press, 2008)

if YOU are an author/editor of a book related to cyberculture and contemporary media and you do not see your book on the list below, please send a review copy (or, better yet, 2-3 copies) to:

David Silver/RCCS
Department of Media Studies
University of San Francisco
2130 Fulton Street
San Francisco, CA 94117-1080

i am especially interested in reviewing books published outside the US and UK and books written in languages other than english.

PLEASE NOTE: RCCS is a one-person operation. the last two RCCS call for reviewers generated between 200-250 requests to review books. for that reason, i ask two things: please follow the instructions above and please be patient. if the book or books you have selected have already been assigned to another reviewer, i will do my best to work with you to find another book for review.

Wednesday, October 01, 2008

new reviews in cyberculture studies (october 2008)

each month, the resource center for cyberculture studies publishes book reviews and author responses.


the book of the month for october 2008 is:

Gamer Theory
Author: McKenzie Wark
Publisher: Harvard University Press, 2007
Review 1: Denisa Kera
Review 2: Shawn Miklaucic

stay tuned for more.

Monday, September 01, 2008

new reviews in cyberculture studies (september 2008)

each month, the resource center for cyberculture studies publishes book reviews and author responses.

books of the month for september 2008 are:

At a Distance: Precursors to Art and Activism on the Internet
Editors: Annmarie Chandler and Norie Neumark
Publisher: MIT Press, 2005
Review 1: Jennifer Way
Author Response: Annmarie Chandler
Author Response: Norie Neumark

Code: Collaborative Ownership and the Digital Economy
Editor: Rishab Aiyer Ghosh
Publisher: MIT Press, 2005
Review 1: Michel Bauwens

Follow for Now: Interviews with Friends and Heroes
Editor: Roy Christopher
Publisher: Well-Red Bear, 2007
Review 1: Ellis Godard
Author Response: Roy Christopher

stay tuned for more.

Thursday, July 31, 2008

new reviews in cyberculture studies (august 2008)

the resource center for cyberculture studies (RCCS) publishes monthly book reviews and author responses. books of the month for august 2008 are:


Everyday eBay: Culture, Collecting, and Desire
Editors: Ken Hillis, Michael Petit, and Nathan Scott Epley
Publisher: Routledge, 2006
Review 1: Leslie Madsen-Brooks
Author Response: Ken Hillis

The Exploit: A Theory of Networks
Authors: Alexander R. Galloway and Eugene Thacker
Publisher: University of Minnesota Press, 2007
Review 1: Daniel Gilfillan
Review 2: Nathaniel Tkacz
Author Response: Alexander R. Galloway and Eugene Thacker

Monday, June 30, 2008

new reviews in cyberculture studies (july 2008)

each month, the resource center for cyberculture studies (RCCS) publishes a set of book reviews and author responses.


books of the month for july 2008 include:

Digital Contagions: A Media Archaeology of Computer Viruses
Author: Jussi Parikka
Publisher: Peter Lang Publishing, 2007
Review 1: Joseph Nechvatal
Author Response: Jussi Parikka

Ruling the Root: Internet Governance and the Taming of Cyberspace
Author: Milton L. Mueller
Publisher: MIT Press, 2002
Review 1: Pramod K. Nayar

Unit Operations: An Approach to Videogame Criticism
Author: Ian Bogost
Publisher: MIT Press, 2006
Review 1: Terry Schenold

enjoy. there's more where that came from.

oh! coming so so soon: a very large list of new and exciting books waiting to be reviewed, perhaps by you.

Monday, June 02, 2008

new reviews in cyberculture studies (june 2008)

each month, the resource center for cyberculture studies (RCCS) publishes a set of book reviews and author responses.


books of the month for june 2008 include:

Disability and Contemporary Performance: Bodies on Edge
Author: Petra Kuppers
Publisher: Routledge, 2003
Review 1: Adi Kuntsman
Author Response: Petra Kuppers

My Mother Was a Computer: Digital Subjects and Literary Texts
Author: N. Katherine Hayles
Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 2005
Review 1: Michael Filas
Author Response: N. Katherine Hayles

Technically Together: Rethinking Community within Techno-Society
Author: Michele A. Willson
Publisher: Peter Lang Publishing, 2006
Review 1: Lisa Justine Hernández
Review 2: Barbara Iverson
Author Response: Michele Willson

enjoy. there's more where that came from. plus, coming soon (like in late june): a very large list of new and exciting books waiting to be reviewed, perhaps by you.

Monday, May 26, 2008

seeing the whole of web studies

six years later, in an essay for the book web.studies edited by david gauntlett, i again thought i'd seen the whole of the web - or, to be more precise, the whole of web studies. in "looking backwards, looking forward: cyberculture studies 1990-2000," i attempted to map three major stages of the then-emerging academic field of digital media and culture, or what i liked to call cyberculture studies, or what many of the contributors to this book call internet studies. the three stages were popular cyberculture, cyberculture studies, and critical cyberculture studies.

the origins story begins with popular cyberculture. starting in the early-1990s, a handful of wired writers and journalists began filing stories in major newspapers about what some called cyberspace and others called the information superhighway. newspaper stories soon blossomed into magazine features which soon grew into how-to books like the internet for dummies and the whole internet.

with roots in journalism, popular cyberculture was regularly characterized by a limited utopian vs. dystopian dualism (see rob kling's "hopes and horrors" and roy rosenzweig's "live free or die?"). on one side were the technofuturists, a collection of writers, editors, and especially entrepreneurs who believed that the internet would smash traditional institutions and hierarchies and usher in new means of commerce and communication. they gathered loosely within the pages of wired magazine, the most enthusiastic cheerleader of the internet revolution. (for an early take on wired, see paulina borsook's "the memoirs of a token: an aging berkeley feminist examines wired"; for a longer history, see fred turner's from counterculture to cyberculture, especially chapter seven.)

on the other side were the neo-luddites, cultural critics who blamed the then-still nascent internet for many of society's ills. for example, in the gutenberg elegies: the fate of reading in an electronic age, sven birkerts warned that the internet, hypertext, and a host of electronic technologies would produce declining literacy and a less-than-grounded sense of reality. kirkpatrick sale drove home the points he made in his book rebels against the future: the luddites and their war on the industrial revolution: lessons for the computer age by smashing computers on his promotional tour, while clifford stoll, in silicon snake oil: second thoughts on the information highway, begged cybernauts to log off, reminding us that "life in the real world is far more interesting, far more important, far richer, than anything you'll ever find on a computer screen" (13).

our second stage, cyberculture studies, came about in the mid-1990s as a result of many developments including the arrival of two books: howard rheingold's the virtual community and sherry turkle's life on the screen. drawing heavily from his extensive experience on the WELL, one of the earliest and most influential online communities (for more see katie hafner's the well), rheingold transcended the earlier question of internet: good or bad? and instead approached networked communications and interactions as online communities. likewise, turkle abandoned simple black and white depictions of internet users and instead put forth a more nuanced understanding of online identities. together, virtual communities and online identities served as the twin pillars of early internet studies.

also arriving during this time was mosaic, the first popular browser for the world wide web. developed at the national center for supercomputing applications (NCSA) at the university of illinois at urbana-champaign, mosaic was not only a technological innovation but also a user innovation, and helped to introduced a new generation of users to the internet via the easy-to-navigate world wide web. this increase in users was especially felt within academia, where early adopters of unix, Usenet, gopher, and lambdaMOO found themselves surfing the same web as many of their non-technical colleagues in the arts, humanities, and social sciences.

in addition to the aforementioned, there was another factor: steve jones. with a string of anthologies, including cybersociety and virtual culture, jones assembled a collection of (mostly) communication scholars to push to new levels our understanding of online communities and identities. in 1999, he helped establish the association of internet researchers, or aoir, which, ten years later, has grown into an international and interdisciplinary academic conference (next aoir conference happens october 15-18 in copenhagen, denmark). other important and influential anthologies and books from scholars from anthropology (including arturo escobar and turkle), communication (nancy baym and mia consalvo), gender studies (lynn cherney and elizabeth reba weise, donna haraway), linguistics (susan herring), and sociology (marc smith and peter kollock, and barry wellman) helped shore up the field's social science roots.

the third stage, critical cyberculture studies, appeared in the twenty-first century.

to be continued ...

works cited:

nancy baym, "from practice to culture on usenet." in susan leigh star, editor, the cultures of computing, pp. 29-52. oxford: blackwell publishers, 1995.

sven birkerts, the gutenberg elegies: the fate of reading in an electronic age. winchester, MA: faber and faber, 1994.

paulina borsook, "the memoirs of a token: an aging berkeley feminist examines wired." in lynn cherney and elizabeth reba weise, editors, wired women: gender and new realities in cyberspace, pp. 24-41. seattle: seal press, 1996.

lynn cherney and elizabeth reba weise, editors, wired women: gender and new realities in cyberspace. seattle: seal press, 1996.

kiersten conner-sax and ed krol, the whole internet: the next generation. sebastopol, CA: o'reilly, 1992.

mia consalvo, "cash cows hit the web: gender and communications technology," journal of communication inquiry (21:1, 1997), pp. 98-115.

shelley correll, "the ethnography of an electronic bar: the lesbian cafe," journal of contemporary ethnography (24:3, 1995), pp. 270-298.

arturo escobar, "welcome to cyberia: notes on the anthropology of cyberculture." in ziauddin sardar and jerome ravetz, editors, cyberfutures: culture and politics on the information superhighway, pp. 111-137. new york: new york university press, 1996.

david gauntlett, editor, web.studies: rewiring media studies for the digital age. london, UK: arnold, 2000.

katie hafner, the well: a story of love, death & real life in the seminal online community. new york: carroll & graf, 2001.

donna haraway, "a cyborg manifesto: science, technology, and socialist-feminism in the late twentieth century," in simians, cyborgs and women: the reinvention of nature, pp. 149-181. new york; routledge, 1991.

susan herring, editor, computer-mediated communication: linguistic, social and cross-cultural perspectives. amsterdam: john benjamins publishing, 1996.

steve jones, editor, cybersociety: computer-mediated communication and community. thousand oaks, CA: sage, 1995.

_____, editor, virtual culture: identity & communication in cybersociety. london: sage, 1997.

rob kling, "hopes and horrors: technological utopianism and anti-utopianism in narratives of computerization." in rob kling, editor, computerization and controversy: value conflicts and social choices, pp. 40-58. san diego, CA: academic press, 1996.

howard rheingold, the virtual community: homesteading on the electronic frontier. reading, MA: addison-wesley publishing, 1993.

roy rosenzweig, "live free or die? death, life, survival, and sobriety on the information superhighway," american quarterly (51.1, 1999), pp.160-174.

kirkpatrick sale, rebels against the future: the luddites and their war on the industrial revolution: lessons for the computer age. reading, MA: addison-wesley publishing, 1995

marc a. smith and peter kollock, editors, communities in cyberspace. london: routledge, 1999.

clifford stoll, silicon snake oil: second thoughts on the information highway. new york: doubleday, 1995.

fred turner, from counterculture to cyberculture: stewart brand, the whole earth network, and the rise of digital utopianism, chicago, IL: university of chicago press, 2006.

barry wellman, "an electronic group is virtually a social network." in sara kiesler, editor, culture of the internet, pp. 179-205. mahwah, NJ: lawrence erlbaum associates, 1997.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

seeing the whole of the web

in august 1994, i moved from los angeles to college park, maryland, to pursue a PhD in american studies at the university of maryland. having neither classes nor friends, i'd take my bike out to learn the local landscape. often i'd end the day at the campus computer lab, where i'd snag an empty computer and use a program called pine to access my email.

one evening, i arrived at the lab with a super-sized coffee and a goal. earlier that day, my new housemate, a graduate student in computer science, told me about a new thing called the world wide web. "it's cool," he said, "you should really check it out." my goal that evening was to see and explore this world wide web thingy.

before firefox there was IE, before that there was netscape, and before that there was mosaic, whose icon i double-clicked and there i was on the world wide web. my first web site ever was the computer lab's homepage which contained, in school colors, the lab's hours, rules, and acceptable behaviors. promptly and intuitively, i mouse-clicked a blue hyperlink and proceeded to click and read, click and read, for hours, uninterrupted except to relieve myself of the super-sized coffee.

sometime around two or three in the morning, i clicked a link that magically brought me back to where i had begun - the homepage for maryland's computer labs. i had travelled a full circle. exhausted and exhilarated, i had seen, i thought, the whole of the web.

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

new reviews in cyberculture studies (may 2008)

each month, the resource center for cyberculture studies (RCCS) publishes a set of book reviews and author responses.


books of the month for may 2008 include:

Electronic Literature Collection (Volume 1)
Editors: N. Katherine Hayles, Nick Montfort, Scott Rettberg, Stephanie Strickland
Publisher: Electronic Literature Organization, 2006
Review 1: Kimberly De Vries
Author Response: N. Katherine Hayles
Author Response: Scott Rettberg

Gatewatching: Collaborative Online News Production
Author: Axel Bruns
Publisher: Peter Lang Publishers, 2005
Review 1: J. Richards Stevens
Author Response: Axel Bruns

Wired Shut: Copyright and the Shape of Digital Culture
Author: Tarleton Gillespie
Publisher: MIT Press, 2007
Review 1: Benjamin J. Bates
Review 2: Troy K. Schneider
Author Response: Tarleton Gillespie

enjoy. there's more where that came from.

coming soon: a very large list of new and exciting books waiting to be reviewed, perhaps by you. for more updates, subscribe to the RCCS announcement list.

Monday, March 31, 2008

new reviews in cyberculture studies (april 2008)

each month, the resource center for cyberculture studies (RCCS) publishes a set of book reviews and author responses.


books of the month for april 2008 include:

Always Already New: Media, History, and the Data of Culture
Author: Lisa Gitelman
Publisher: MIT Press, 2006
Review 1: J. Patrick Biddix
Review 2: David Heineman
Review 3: Michelle Rodino-Colocino
Author Response: Lisa Gitelman

Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide
Author: Henry Jenkins
Publisher: NYU Press, 2006
Review 1: Susan Keith
Review 2: Anne Kustritz
Review 3: Darby Orcutt
Review 4: J. Richard Stevens
Author Response: Henry Jenkins

Everything Is Miscellaneous: The Power of the New Digital Disorder
Author: David Weinberger
Publisher: Times Books, 2007
Review 1: Lucinda Austin
Review 2: Geoffrey B. Cain
Review 3: Erika Pearson
Author Response: David Weinberger

Online Matchmaking
Editors: Monica T. Whitty, Andrea J. Baker, James A. Inman
Publisher: Palgrave MacMillan, 2007
Review 1: Trudy Barber
Author Response: Andrea J. Baker

enjoy. there's more where that came from.

Friday, February 29, 2008

new reviews in cyberculture studies (march 2008)

each month, the resource center for cyberculture studies (RCCS) publishes a set of book reviews and author responses. books of the month for march 2008 include:

Cybersounds: Essays on Virtual Music Culture
Editor: Michael D. Ayers
Publisher: Peter Lang, 2006
Review 1: Lori Landay
Review 2: Shintaro Miyazaki
Review 3: Marc W.D. Tyrrell
Editor Response: Michael D. Ayers

Cyberspace Romance: The Psychology of Online Relationships
Authors: Monica Whitty, Adrian Carr
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006
Review 1: Rhiannon Bury
Review 2: Michele Hammers

Fan Fiction and Fan Communities in the Age of the Internet: New Essays
Editors: Karen Hellekson, Kristina Busse
Publisher: McFarland & Co., 2006
Review 1: Lan Xuan Le
Author Response: Karen Hellekson & Kristina Busse

The Virtual Window: From Alberti to Microsoft
Author: Anne Friedberg
Publisher: MIT Press, 2006
Review 1: Christy Dena
Author Response: Anne Friedberg

enjoy. there's more where that came from.