TY  - BOOK
AU  - Curran,James
AU  - Fenton,Natalie
AU  - Freedman,Des
TI  - Misunderstanding the Internet
T2  - Communication and society
SN  - 9780415579568 (hardback : alk. paper)
AV  - HM851 .C87 2012
U1  - 302.231 23
PY  - 2012///
CY  - London, New York
PB  - Routledge
KW  - Internet
KW  - Social aspects
KW  - Economic aspects
KW  - Political aspects
KW  - Social networks
N1  - pt. I. Overview. Reinterpreting the internet /James Curran ; Rethinking internet history / James Curran --  Part II. Political economy of the Internet. Web 2.0 and the death of the blockbuster economy / Des Freedman ; Outsourcing internet regulation / Des Freedman --  Part III. Internet and power. The internet and social networking / Natalie Fenton ; The internet and radical policies / Natalie Fenton --  Part IV. Looking forward. Conclusion / James Curran, Des Freedman and Natalie Fenton
N2  - "The growth of the internet has been spectacular. There are now more 1.5 billion internet users across the globe, about one quarter of the world's population. This is certainly a new phenomenon that is of enormous significance for the economic, political and social life of contemporary societies. However, much popular and academic writing about the internet takes a technologically deterministic view, assuming that the internet' potential will be realised in essentially transformative ways. This was especially true in the euphoric moment of the mid-1990s, when many commentators wrote about the internet with awe and wonderment. While this moment may be over, its underlying technocentrism -- the belief that technology determines outcomes -- lingers on, and with it, a failure to understand the internet in its social, economic and political context. Misunderstanding the Internet is a short introduction, encompassing the history, sociology, politics and economics of the internet and its impact on society. The book has a simple three part structure: Part 1 looks at the history of the internet, and offers an overview of the internet's place in society ; Part 2 focuses on the control and economics of the internet ; Part 3 examines the internet's political and cultural influence. Misunderstanding the Internet is a polemical, sociologically and historically informed textbook that aims to challenge both popular myths and existing academic orthodoxies around the internet."
ER  -