(2001). Culture in the Communication Age. London, Routledge.
This book is a collection of different contributors mainly in the Communication domain. Starting from framing the Information/Communication Age, it focuses "on processes of human interaction and on their constitutive signifying practices rather than simply on the hardware or content of information transmission and exchange", keeping the human considerations in the forefront of the analysis where they belong. By considering the "informational capitalism" and the digital divide issues, it includes essays that reconsider "The foundation of culture" (part I), it offers various crucial ways of "Making sense of culture" and it features incisive perspectives on four analytical domains in "Contemporary cultural forms", including "virtual cultures" and "Internetworking". (Annotated by Irene Sigismondi)

(2000). Generation-e: The Internet and What it Means to You. New Statesman. 129: i-xxx.
A special section on the Internet. Topics discussed include the new consumer culture that has emerged and how Internet firms are scrambling for customers' attention; the work of government adviser and "e-envoy" Alex Allan in transforming Britain into the e-commerce capital of the world and in making the government more efficient by the use of new technology; the best official and nonofficial government websites; the ins and outs of the Internet new economy; those dot-com firms groomed for success and those that bombed spectacularly in the new economy; regulating the Internet; how much the Internet has influenced the lives of eight selected people in the public eye; how technology will make life more complex; some visions of the world of the future; the Internet's development across the world; personal accounts of how the Internet has changed lives for the better; the role of human error in computer failings; the dangers inherent in unleashing the power of the Internet; and prejudice against women in the technology industry. (Social Sciences Abstracts)

(2000). "The Coming Backlash in Privacy: Services to Allow Consumers to Buy Goods Anonymously." The Economist. 357: 4-5.
Part of a special section on technological innovation. Privacy services allow customers to purchase goods anonymously online, but this could force web-based retailers to change the way they conduct business. Some e-commerce ventures operate on the premise that retailers, manufacturers, and advertisers are prepared to pay to gain marketing data collected by online services that entice users with free offers. With growing consumer concern about the threats to privacy online, new technology is being developed to protect consumers. Privacy services are being adopted by financial institutions due to the Gramm-Leach-Bliley act, passed in November 1999, which requires financial institutions to detail who sees customer's private details. Consumers may lose out as online firms, due to loss of data collection profits, treat online customers more like offline buyers. (Social Sciences Abstracts)

(2000). Define and Sell: Types of E-Commerce and General Web Economics. The Economist. 354: 6, 11-12, 15.
Part of a special section on e-commerce. The writer offers a definition of e-commerce and considers the areas in which online commerce is most and least successful. He defines e-commerce as the trade that actually occurs over the Internet, usually through a buyer visiting a seller's website and making a transaction there. He notes that among the main actors in e-commerce--businesses and consumers--the largest volume of trade by far at present is business-to-business. He is more concerned, however, with the remaining three segments of e-commerce: business-to-consumer, consumer-to-business, and consumer-to-consumer. He considers what the Internet, or more specifically the World Wide Web, has to offer in all these areas. In addition, he discusses what kinds of goods and services sell well electronically, pointing out how technological change is constantly increasing the possibilities of what works well in e-commerce. Furthermore, he considers the powerful economic gains and costs of commerce on the web and outlines the web's effects on the retail industry. (Social Sciences Abstracts)

(2000). Feeling Insecure: Making Online Payments More Secure. The Economist. 357: 73.
Any company hoping to profit from consumer e-commerce becoming big business is aware that the most serious barrier to its success is the extreme reluctance of customers to release their financial details into cyberspace. To gain their trust, credit-card and other charge-card providers are willing to let them off payments they deny having incurred. Although a better solution to the problem would be to ensure that card details are truly secure, so far, this has proven more difficult than anticipated. Fighting between some of the businesses seeking to tighten up online payments has made matters worse. Details are provided of current planned initiatives to increase online consumer security. (Social Sciences Abstracts)

Discusses online shopping security issues. How credit card companies will cancel a charge if it involves an online shopping complaint; Attempts of Visa and MasterCard to prevent Internet credit card fraud; Thought that Internet fraud is far more common than fraud in the physical world; Internet security systems. (From EBSCO host)

(2000). The Fright After Christmas: Shoppers are Dissatisfied with Online Retailers. The Economist. 354: 61-2.
U.S. Internet retailers were left with very little to be cheerful about following the 1999 holiday season. Most of them spent a fortune on advertising, and, consequently, few of them stood out in terms of attracting customers. They spent large amounts of money in the hope of building enough sales to persuade investors to back their next round of funding. However, their problems were exacerbated by the fact that, in the fight for market share, many of them neglected fulfillment and customer service. (Social Sciences Abstracts)

(2000). "Internet Economics." Economist 355: 64-6.
Although the markets may have overhyped the Internet, it will make most businesses more efficient, and the Internet's impact on economic growth could be just as dramatic. Economists are divided on the effects of the Internet: some predict that it will greatly boost global growth and kill inflation; others contend that inflation is solely determined by the money supply and that Internet share prices are overvalued. The Internet may push down inflation in the short run and boost growth in the longer term, but this assumes that the Internet affects only aggregate supply. In reality, it could also boost demand, because if equity investors expect faster growth in output and profits and push up share prices, this will boost households' wealth and encourage more spending. Investment may also be boosted by higher share prices, and therefore a cheaper cost of capital. The fact that potential cost savings and productivity gains from the Internet should be much bigger in the European Union and Japan than the U.S., as they are trying to catch up with the U.S., is discussed. (Social Sciences Abstract)

(2000). "The First Amendment." Media Studies Journal 14:iv-x: 1-114.
Constitutional law issues; freedoms of speech, the press, religion, and assembly and petition; US; 18 articles. Campaign finance reform, the media, "illegal thoughts", copyright infringement, children and the Internet, Internet access, the American flag, news, privacy, the public interest, religious broadcasters, lobbying, and censorship.

(2000). Theories of the New Media. A Historical Perspective. London, Athlone Press.
This book offers an interesting overview and analysis of the different impact of electronic media and information technology on every-day life
through "a series of influential statements and positions that problematize the critical-scholastic penchant for conceptual complication and technical reductivism, and the very different industrial penchant for technical determinism and marketing as natural law". The sections feature: "Theorizing Technohistory: Old Media/ New Media", "Producing Technoculture", "Consuming Technoculture" and "Boundaries, Identities, Practice". (Annotated by Irene Sigismondi)

(1999). Media Shrugs Off Reported Consumer Headaches., The Standard.
Internet consumers are disgruntled, according to two surveys released this week. Either the U.S. media was cynical about the surveys' not-so-groundbreaking results, or reporters blew off the stories to attend Labor Day cookouts (lead paragraph, The Industry Standard website.)

(1998). "Special Issue of Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication on Virtual Organizations, A Joint Issue with Organizational Science." JMCM 3(4).
This paper explores the challenges of creating and maintaining trust in a global virtual team whose members transcend time, space, and culture. The challenges are highlighted by integrating recent literature on work teams, computer-mediated communication groups, cross-cultural communication, and interpersonal and organizational trust. To explore these challenges empirically, we report on a series of descriptive case studies on global virtual teams whose members were separated by location and culture, were challenged by a common collaborative project, and for whom the only economically and practically viable communication medium was asynchronous and synchronous computer-mediated communication. The results suggest that global virtual teams may experience a form of 'swift' trust but such trust appears to be very fragile and temporal. The study raises a number of issues to be explored and debated by future research. Pragmatically, the study describes communication behaviors that might facilitate trust in global virtual teams. (Annotated by Ryan C. Sperry)

(1997). Coordinating the Internet, MIT Press.
For years, the world saw the Internet as a creature of the U.S. Department of Defense. Now some claim that the Internet is a self-governing
organism controlled by no one and needing no oversight. Although the National Science Foundation and other government agencies continue to
support and oversee critical administrative and coordinating functions, the Internet is remarkably decentralized and uninstitutionalized. As it grows in scope, bandwidth, and functionality, the Internet will require greater coordination, but it is not yet clear what kind of coordinating mechanisms will evolve.

The essays in this volume clarify these issues and suggest possible models for governing the Internet. The topics addressed range from settlements and statistics collection to the sprawling problem of domain names, which affects the commercial interests of millions of companies around the world. One recurrent theme is the inseparability of technical and policy issues in any discussion involving the Internet. (From the Publisher)

President's Information Technology Advisory Committee (PITAC).
The President's Information Technology Advisory Committee (PITAC) was chartered by Congress under the High-Performance Computing Act of 1991 (P. L. 102-194) and the Next Generation Internet Act of 1998 (P. L. 105-305). The Committee provides the President, Congress, and the Federal agencies involved in information technology research and development (IT R&D) with expert, independent advice on maintaining America's preeminence in advanced information technologies, including such critical elements of the national infrastructure as high performance computing, large-scale networking, and high assurance software and systems design. As part of this assessment, the PITAC reviews the Federal Networking and IT R&D Program. Comprising leading IT experts from industry and academia, the Committee helps guide the Administration's efforts to accelerate the development and adoption of information technologies vital for American prosperity in the 21st century. PITAC is formally renewed through Presidential Executive Orders. The current Executive Order is due to expire June 1, 2003. (National Coordination Office for Information Technology Research and Development website, updated May 2002.)

Abbate, J. (2000). Inventing the Internet, MIT Press.
Abbate (history, Univ. of Maryland) provides what may be the finest extended work on Internet history and development to date. With an
eye for the social constructs that shaped the Internet, she explores the Cold War genesis of ARPANET, created by the Defense Department's Advanced Research Projects Agency, and its technological successors. Abbate makes much of the military origins of the earliest computer networks and of issues surrounding packet-switching technology. She considers major players--not just institutions but people like Paul Baran, Robert Kahn, Vinton Cerf, Lawrence Roberts, and Donald Davies--and pays special attention to the astonishing way in which ARPANET eventually metamorphosed into an egalitarian paradigm of commercial and civilian interaction by the 1990s. Though the constant use of parenthetical notation is distracting, and a much-needed glossary is sadly omitted, this book is useful for anyone studying information technology. Recommended for all public and academic libraries.--Dayne Sherman, Southeastern Louisiana Univ., Hammond Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information. (From Library Journal, Barnes&Noble Reviews)

Abbott, A. F. and G. L. Brady. (2000). "Internet Governance: A Rent-Seeking Analysis." Journal of Private Enterprise 16: 47-67.

Abels, E. G., P. Liebscher, et al. (1996). "Factors that Influence the Use of Electronic Networks by Science and Engineering Faculty at Small Institutions." Journal of the American Society for Information Science 47(2): 146-158.
Adoption of an NSF net connection at an institutional level is a costly undertaking. The decision to connect requires a hierarchy of subordinate decisions relating to the network connection. If any group of faculty resist adopting and using the network, the potential benefits of the network and its services will not be realized for the institution as a whole.
A study was undertaken to explore factors that influence the adoption and use of electronic networks and network services by science and engineering faculty in small universities and colleges. Adoption was measured by the dichotomous variable of use and non-use for the network end for five individual services. Intensity of use was selected as a measure of use. In general, factors found to influence the adoption of the network are different from those that influence the intensity of use and the number of services used. For this reason, different actions are necessary to enhance adoption and increase use. Physical access to a networked workstation seems to be the biggest determinant to adoption of the network. Expanding training programs to include a broader audience and a broader scope will increase use. (annotated by Ricardo B. Duque)

Adamic, L. A. The Small World Web. 3rd European Conference on Digital Libraries.
In a graph with a "small world" topology, nodes are highly clustered yet the path length between them is small. In this paper Adammic shows that the World Wide Web is a small world graph, and demonstrates the applications for search engine strategies. (Annotated by Webshop 2002 Participant)

Agre, P. E. (1999). "The Architecture of Identity: Embedding Privacy in Market Institutions." Information Communication & Society 2: 1-25.
As an increasingly commercial Internet has been employed to capture personal identifiable information, privacy concerns have intensified. To analyze these matters more systematically, ideas about human identities that have been implicit in the development of economics & computer science are considered here. The two fields have evolved along parallel tracks, starting with an assumption of perfect transparency & moving toward a more sophisticated appreciation of individuals' private informational states. Progress in the analysis & resolution of privacy problems will require that this evolution be taken seriously & continued. 95 References. (Adapted from the source document)

Agre, P. E. and M. Rotenberg. (1997). Technology and privacy. The new landscape. Cambridge, MA, MIT Press.
This series of 10 scholarly essays lays a foundation for understanding the current state of technology-based privacy issues. The diverse group of contributors encompasses the fields of communications, human-computer interaction, law, political science, and sociology. Each contributor provides a capsule view of a privacy concern from a standpoint of where things now stand and what bodes for the future. The book's most prevalent theme focuses on how advances in cybertechnology have led to greater threats to personal privacy, but have also led to greater promise for privacy protection. For example, editor Philip E. Agre's opening essay looks at the concept of a "Mirror World," where computer technology mirrors everything important happening in the real world. Another contributor, Victoria Bellotti, examines multimedia environments, where work environments are wired for video and audio communication, and how individuals within them can be protected from unwelcome eyes and ears. Colin Bennett looks at how much of the world may be moving towards similar privacy protection standards. Other issues include varieties of privacy-enhancing technologies, the challenge of controlling surveillance, the effectiveness of privacy laws, and cryptography. The final chapter, "Interactivity as Though Privacy Matters," belongs to Rohan Samarajiva, who looks at the prospects for limited consensual surveillance between vendors and customers. (Amazon.com)

Agre, P. E. and D. Schuler, Eds. (1997). Reinventing Technology, Rediscovering Community: Critical Explorations of Computing as a Social Practice., Greenwood Publishing Group, Incorporated.
Editors Philip Agre and Douglas Schuler have collected 16 essays that examine the interaction between technology and society, with particular emphasis on the question of how individuals involved with computer technology can best promote social responsibility. Overall, the essayists seem undaunted by the prospect of trying to make predictions based on rapidly changing technology. As Agre points out, long-term predictions are often unnecessary, and as long as their general goals, and policies leading to those goals, we can adjust along the way. As one example shows, Lee Felenstein greatly influenced the development of personal computing and networking through his work with bulletin board systems for social activists, accomplishing social goals without the ability to predict what the PC and cyberspace would be today.

The essays in this book break down into two groups, which the editors categorize as critical and constructive. The "critical" essays analyze the present state of computing and society while the "constructive" essays report on efforts to create alternate approaches. Essays include Hank Bromley's skeptical look at computers in the schools and how their mismanagement could push towards a future of the information rich and information poor. You'll also read Rob King's review of how genre conventions shape nonfiction social analysis, and Chris Hables Gray's analysis of the U.S. Navy's controversial Aegis system and the difficulties of artificial intelligence-assisted warfare. Not to be missed is John Coate's essay that pursues an inn-keeping metaphor for online community building. Coate is a former manager of the Well, one of the older and more famous online communities in existence, and currently runs the Gate for the San Francisco Examiner and Chronicle. Given his extensive experience, when Coate serves up advice about online community, it rings true. (BarnesandNoble.com)

Ahuja, M. K. and K. M. Carley (1998). "Network Structure in Virtual Organisations." Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 3(4): ?
Virtual organizations that use email to communicate and coordinate their work toward a common goal are becoming ubiquitous. However, little is known about how these organizations work. Much prior research suggests that virtual organizations, for the most part because they use information technology to communicate, will be decentralized and non-hierarchical. This paper examines the behavior of one such organization. The analysis is based on a case study of the communication structure and content of communications among members of a virtual organization during a four-month period. We empirically measure the structure of a virtual organization and find evidence of hierarchy. The findings imply that the communication structure of a virtual organization may exhibit different properties on different dimensions of structure. We also examine the relationship among task routineness, organizational structure, and performance. Results indicate that the fit between structure and task routineness affects the perception of performance, but may not affect the actual performance of the organization. Thus, this virtual organization is similar to traditional organizations in some ways and dissimilar in other ways. It was similar to traditional organizations in so far as task-structure fit predicted perceived performance. However, it was dissimilar to traditional organizations in so far as fit did not predict objective performance. To the extent that the virtual organizations may be similar to traditional organizations, existing theories can be expanded to study the structure and perceived performance of virtual organizations. New theories may need to be developed to explain objective performance in virtual organizations. (Annotated by Ryan C. Sperry)

Aikens, G. S. (1996). A History of Minnesota Electronic Democracy. First Monday. 1: 5.
The Internet has often been labeled a most democratic form of communication. In the past four years in the United States, increased use of the Internet in political campaigns has tested this claim. In Minnesota, an effort was initiated in 1994 to use the Internet as medium for discussion and debate for national and state political posts. Minnesota E-Democracy emerged as a thoughtful and open platform for members of all parties to discuss issues with other candidates and constituents. The success of Minnesota E-Democracy has led to its further use and evolution in the 1996 United States and Minnesota elections. (author's abstract)

Alderman, E. and C. Kennedy (2001). "The Internet, Consumers and Privacy." iMP: The Magazine on Information Impacts April.
In just the last five years, there has been an explosive growth in the use of the Internet to conduct research, communicate with one another and purchase goods and services. Recent figures suggest that between 75 and 90 million Americans now use the Internet on a regular basis. Information is the currency of this new medium. We do not pay a fee for many Internet services; instead we offer up information about ourselves as we go, sometimes voluntarily and sometimes without even knowing it, and that information is compiled, bought and sold. Much of the data collected and bartered online is information we consider personal: financial and medical data, and information about our personal habits, preferences and interests.

Thus, public alarm about online privacy is growing nearly as fast as the Internet. In the past few months alone, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued two major reports regarding online security and privacy, several major national publications have featured cover stories on the topic, at least twenty states have announced they are considering legislation, and more than a dozen different bills have been introduced in Congress (authors' lead paragraphs)

Allen, A. (1997). Genetic privacy: Emerging concepts and values. Genetic secrets: Protecting privacy and confidentiality in the genetic era. M. Rothstein. New Haven, Yale University Press: 31-59.
Genetic Secrets is a comprehensive account of the legal issues and options raised by privacy and confidentiality related to recent developments in genetics and electronic record keeping in the context of the organization of health care delivery in the United States. Following from a Department of Energy sponsored workshop on Medical Information and the Right to Privacy in 1994, the volume is a collection of essays that are largely independent of each other. This independence is reflected in points discussed as being controversial in one essay while being assumed in others. For instance, Tom Murray's challenge to the notion that genetic information should be treated as different from all other medical information seems not to be considered except in Mark Rothstein's final chapter, which serves as a summary and conclusion for the entire collection, complete with recommendations for American legislation. In fact, the concluding chapter might be a good starting point for some readers. Owing to the independent nature of the essays, the style and amount of detail vary considerably among chapters. For instance, the introductory chapter (Hood and Rowen) explains genetics with a degree of detail unnecessary to understanding any of the legal or ethical issues discussed in later chapters. Further, the authors state a controversial view that is clearly not shared by all of the subsequent authors: "If preventive or therapeutic measures were available to circumvent the deleterious effects of disease-predisposing genes (readily available to all), then the question of privacy of genetic information would not be compelling." The chapters on genetic testing and the schools and the chapter on forensic applications do not supply the careful analysis characteristic of many of the other chapters. A review of international legal developments provides a degree of detail that obscures the relevance of the essay to US law. Perhaps the most important contribution to the volume is Rothstein's five-point summary of the "more basic questions of the nature and structure of legislation." He suggests that the critical questions for optimal legislation are whether new initiatives should be (1) comprehensive or incremental, (2) national or state, (3) genetic or generic, and whether they should regulate (4) access to information or to use of information, and (5) unauthorized or authorized disclosures. Discussion of these issues is of critical importance to the development of careful law, in the United States and elsewhere. Some of the detail that appears irrelevant to US law becomes interesting when other, eg, international, legal perspectives are the context of deliberation. For instance, non-US readers might find of particular usefulness the chapters on international law (Knoppers and Le Bris), the limitation of the law in determining familial obligations (Andrews), the relevance of the availability of a universal health care system to legal alternatives (Kass), the careful parsing of different dimensions of genetic privacy (Allen), and whether genetic information ought to be managed differently from other medical information (Murray). Overall, Genetic Secrets is an excellent resource for anyone interested in legal concerns related to genetic privacy. A selective reading of essays and of Rothstein's concluding chapter provides a detailed overview of the issues for US law. Genetic Secrets is concerned about genetic privacy in terms of legal responses, and there is little reference to the related social, scientific, feminist, or ethical literature. Nevertheless, ethical and social research can be directed and its legal relevance discerned through the descriptions of legal concerns in this volume. Rothstein's practical and theoretically nuanced approach to US law encourages broader exploration of the critical assumptions behind legal proposals while attempting to limit law to its proper jurisdiction. (Reviewed by Michael M. Burgess, PhD, JAMA Vol. 280:1998)

Amit, R. and C. Zott (2001). "Value Creation in E-Business." Strategic Management Journal 22: 493-520.
We explore the theoretical foundations of value creation in e-business by examining how 59 American and European e-businesses that have recently become publicly traded corporations create value. We observe that in e-business new value can be created by the ways in which transactions are enabled. Grounded in the rich data obtained from case study analyses and in the received theory in entrepreneurship and strategic management, we develop a model of the sources of value creation. The model suggests that the value creation potential of e-businesses hinges on four interdependent dimensions, namely: efficiency, complementarities, lock-in, and novelty. Our findings suggest that no single entrepreneurship or strategic management theory can fully explain the value creation potential of e-business. Rather, an integration of the received theoretical perspectives on value creation is needed. To enable such an integration, we offer the business model construct as a unit of analysis for future research on value creation in e-business. A business model depicts the design of transaction content, structure, and governance so as to create value through the exploitation of business opportunities. We propose that a firm's business model is an important locus of innovation and a crucial source of value creation for the firm and its suppliers, partners, and customers. (Annotated by Richard N. Hayes)

Amman, H. M. (1999). "Netnomics--A New Branch in Economics." Netnomics 1: 1-5.

Anandarajan, M., C. Simmers, et al. (2000). "An Exploratory Investigation of the Antecedents and Impact of Internet Usage: An Individual Perspective." Behaviour and Information Technology 19: 69-85.
Internet usage in the US workplace is increasing at a phenomenal rate. This exploratory study examines factors influencing employee internet usage and individual perceptions of the consequences of such usage. Using the Theory of Reasoned Behaviour, a questionnaire was designed and circulated to part time MBA students in north-east United States. This preliminary study suggests that the personal factors of web skills and playfulness are associated with perceived internet usefulness, the degree of internet usage, and have both positive (enhanced job characteristics, job satisfaction) and negative (increased inefficiency) impacts. Neither the personal variables of age and gender nor any of the organizational variables are important antecedent variables. To those who perceive the internet as intimidating, there was, understandably, less internet usage. Perceived usefulness was positively related to increased time of use and internet impacts. In general, the findings indicate that extending the research on microcomputers to internet usage is a promising research focus. On the basis of this study, the leadership challenge is to harness the tremendous potential of the internet, working to control and improve inefficiencies while not discouraging internet usage. (From http://www.catchword.com )

Anderson, R. H., T. K. Bikson, et al. (1995). Universal Access to E-Mail: Feasibility and Societal Implications. Santa Monica, CA, The Rand Corporation.
A study looking at the societal implications of e-mail technology and the diverging trends in access, based on income and education, that are widening the gap between an information elite and those at a disadvantage. Details the social benefits of on-line communities and implications for global democratization, and addresses the technical and economic aspects of putting a US national policy for universal access into operation. Includes an appendix of notes on interviews of key participants at five civic network sites. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or. (Book News, Inc. , March 1, 1996).

Andresen, T. (1999). "Consumer Power via the Internet." First Monday 4: 1.
Recently, there has been plenty of upbeat reporting on new opportunities provided by the Internet to business in marketing and sales and in financial services, to name a few. Most of these developments may be said to increase "firm-power". This paper describes a proposal to strongly enhance "consumer-power" to the ultimate benefit of both businesses and consumers. (Author's abstract)

Antonio, R. J. (1985). "Nietzsche's Antisociology: Subjectified Culture and the End of History." American Journal of Sociology 101: 1-4.
Although a very important figure in interdisciplinary social theory, Nietzsche is absent from sociological theory, especially in the United States. Equating rationalization with cultural homogenization and liquidation of particularity, Nietzsche saw "decadence" where modern social theorists saw progress. He held that sociology drapes cultural domination, regimentation, and exhaustion with the appearance of legitimacy. This essay explores his views about the depletion of social resources stressed in modern theory. It elaborates his "antisociology" and then traces the impact of this framework on three divergent currents of social theory. Nietzsche is read against the backdrop of modern theory in order to explore his continuing challenge to this tradition and his relevance to sociology. (Author's abstract)

Applebee, A. C., P. Clayton, et al. (1997). "Australian Academic Use of the Internet." Internet Research-Electronic Networking Applications and Policy 7(2): 85-?
It is widely assumed - and frequently asserted - that university communication practices are being radically transformed by the introduction of electronic communication. Explores the introduction of Internet access in a single university, the University of Canberra, located in the capital city of Australia. The prime objective was to identify the frequency and type of use that academic staff were making of the Internet during 1995, with supplementary objectives being to record perceptions of users toward the Internet, and barriers to its effective use. The principal finding is not unexpected: academics were making very varied use of the Internet. Some staff were utilizing some facilities on a daily basis; others were yet to begin exploring this new communication medium. A particular surprise was that at the time of this survey the Internet was being used very little for teaching. (Annotated by Ricardo B. Duque)

Aronowitz, S. and W. DiFazio. (1994). The Jobless Future: Sci-Tech and the Dogma of Work. Minneapolis, Univ. of Minnesota Press.
Aronowitz and DiFazio argue that contemporary economic growth, centered in the spread of cybernetic knowledge, computerization, and worldwide corporate reorganization, is troublesome because it does not guarantee sufficient job growth and because it privatizes knowledge, centralizing it to the detriment of the vast majority of American workers. The jobs that are being generated by and large are not organized on terms that are favorable to labor: they are not paid enough, nor do they offer the security, skill, and meaning that ostensibly contribute to the foundations of democratic, participative citizenship. Aronowitz and DiFazio argue that two trends – corporate restructuring and high- technology innovation – are converging, fuelling corporate growth and profitability yet eroding what was once a robust occupational structure. Restructuring (including downsizing, centralization, plant closings, and layoffs) has both caused and been caused by the spread of computer-mediated work and organizational technologies. (Adapted from Smith, Vicki. Jan 1996. American Journal of Sociology 10(4): 1118-1120 Book Reviews)

Aronson, S. H. (1971). "The Sociology of the Telephone." International Journal of Comparative Sociology 12: 154-166.

Arrow, K. J. (1979). The Economics of Information. The Computer Age: A Twenty-Year View. M. L. Dertouzos and J. Moses. Cambridge, MA, MIT Press.

Atkin, D. J., L. W. Jeffres, et al. (1998). "Understanding Internet Adoption as Telecommunications Behavior." Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 42: 475-490.
The present study profiles Internet adopters in terms of social locators, media use habits, and their orientation toward adopting new technologies. Findings, in terms of demographics and technology uses, offer some support for the early adopter profiles derived from diffusion theory. Although results fail to confirm our expectation that attitudinal variables of those served by online technology are more explanatory than demographics, we were able to identify technology and media use orientations that differentiate those with and without Internet access. Reprinted by permission of the publisher. (Social Sciences Abstract)

Ayers, M. D. (2000). "New Collective Identities: The Internet's Role in Shaping a Social-Psychological Process." Southern Sociological Society.
The focus of this research is the concept of collective identity & how a new form of technology & media, the Internet, constructs or deconstructs this concept. Specifically, the research question that is addressed is: Is there variation in collective identity between two different groups: a defined group in an online environment vs a defined group in an offline, physical world environment. This research is the first examination of collective identity outside of traditional, face-to-face group settings. The data that will be reported will stem from a qualitative analysis of social movement participants who are active in online social movement participation & simultaneously active in physical world social movement participation, specific to the participant's local community. (Sociological Abstracts)

Ayres, J. M. (1999). "From the Streets to the Internet: The Cyber-Diffusion of Contention." Annals, AAPSS 566: 132-143.
The Internet has been widely credited with sparking a revolution in everything from consumer shopping habits and the management of stock portfolios to the practice of popular democracy. It is also leaving its mark on the dynamics of popular contention. Political protest traditionally relied heavily on claims makers’ gathering in the streets to contest power holders. The Internet is altering this dynamic by electronically promoting the diffusion of protest ideas and tactics efficiently and quickly across the globe. Less concerned with such constraints as time and geographic space, it has caught policymakers off guard with its ease of public accessibility and immediacy of impact. This cyber-diffusion, however, has a cautionary side: while significantly enhancing the potential for disparate individuals and groups to collectively pool resources and strategy, the Internet also holds the power to turn unreliable and unverifiable information into a global electronic riot. (author's abstract)

Baake, P. and T. Wichmann. (1999). "netnomics." Netnomics 1: 89-105.
We discuss economic rationales behind peering decisions in the Internet. In the first part of the paper we analyze the decision about a bilateral peering agreement between two commercial Internet service providers (ISPs) who are in Cournot competition. In the second part we discuss multilateral peering between commercial ISPs and an academic research network (ARN). The latter is organized as a club of academic institutions who share the cost of their network. It is discussed whether peering threatens the existence of the ARN and under what circumstances a commercial ISP would want to use strategic pricing to win all ARN-members as customers. (authors' abstract)

Baecker, R. M., J. Grudin, et al. (1995). Readings in Human-Computer Interaction: Toward the Year 2000. CA, Morgan-Kauffman Publishers.
The effectiveness of the user-computer interface has become increasingly important as computer systems have become useful tools for persons not trained in computer science. In fact, the interface is often the most important factor in the success or failure of any computer system. Dealing with the numerous subtly interrelated issues and technical, behavioral, and aesthetic considerations consumes a large and increasing share of development time and a corresponding percentage of the total code for any given application. A revision of one of the most successful books on human-computer interaction, this compilation gives students, researchers, and practitioners an overview of the significant concepts and results in the field and a comprehensive guide to the research literature.

Focuses on: - Human computer interaction--historical, intellectual, and social - Developing interactive systems, including design, evaluation methods, and development tools - The interaction experience, through a variety of sensory modalities including vision, touch, gesture, audition, speech, and language - Theories of information processing and issues of human-computer fit and adaptation

Like the first edition, this book combines reprints of key research papers and case studies with synthesizing survey material and analysis by the editors. It is significantly reorganized, updated, and enhanced; over 90% of the papers are new.

An invaluable resource for systems designers, cognitive scientists, computer scientists, managers, and anyone concerned with the effectiveness of user-computer interfaces, it is also designed for use as a primary or supplementary text for graduate and advanced undergraduate courses in human-computer interaction and interface design. (amazon.com)

Baier, A. (1990). Trust and antitrust. Feminism and Political Theory. C. Sunstein. Chicago, University of Chicago Press: 279-308.

Bailey, J. P. (1998). Internet Price Discrimination: Self-Regulation, Public Policy, and Global Electronic Commerce., The Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland.
The Internet as a medium for commerce is only in the beginning stages of development. Already there are a proliferation of entrepreneurs and Fortune 500 companies alike trying to gain market share and brand name recognition while Internet commerce is still in its infancy. This early stage of Internet commerce involves experimentation of strategy and pricing to determine how to best position oneself for future profits. It is too early to tell whether Internet commerce today is representative of a market anomaly or is indicative of the future. Regardless, there are some unique aspects about the Internet which make it an excellent marketplace to test economic theory.

Internet commerce may reduce market friction. While it is difficult to formulate such a hypothesis in a testable form, this paper uses transaction cost economics, game theory, and menu costs to describe how a reduction in market friction may impact commerce on the Internet. The paper outlines four testable hypotheses and presents the results from an exploratory data set of over 30,000 observations to show that there may be more friction in Internet commerce than anticipated. Specifically, no data was found to support the hypotheses of pure price competition. However, there was data to support the hypothesis that reduced menu costs allow for more frequent price changes. Specifically, menu costs may be reduced to the point where prices can be rendered and changed dynamically. The ability to change prices dynamically for price discrimination purposes is the focus of this paper.

The paper describes why price discrimination is attractive to Internet retailers and how they can implement such a system. The paper then describes market features in the absence of regulation which may ensure protection of consumer surplus. Finally, the paper explores ways in which regulation can prevent Internet retailers from price discriminating both from self-regulation and government regulation perspectives. The paper concludes with a discussion of the drawbacks of federal or global policies at this time and recommends self-regulation of the industry along with market forces to keep price discrimination practices at bay. (Author's abstract)

Bailey, J. P. (1998). "Electronic Commerce: Prices and Consumer Issues for Three Products: Books, Compact Discs, and Software." Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development, OCDE/GD 98: 4.
Rapid technological advances in information and communication technologies and their widespread diffusion have led some to speculate about "frictionless" economies where transaction costs are nearly zero, barriers to entry and contestability disappear and markets clear instantly. This environment will give consumers new power as they search for the lowest price for a product from suppliers across the world and will generate downward pressure on prices that some believe will lead to general price deflation. This paper attempts to begin an analysis of these claims by looking at prices and their movement for three of the most popular products being purchased in the business-to-consumer segment of electronic commerce: books, music compact discs (CDs) and software. It does so by examining nearly 24 000 data points during February and March 1997 for firms that rely exclusively on the Internet for sales and a matched set of firms selling identical products who primarily use conventional channels. (Author's abstract)

Bailey, J. P. (1997). The Economics of Internet Interconnection Agreements. Internet Economics. L. W. McKnight and J. P. Bailey. Cambridge and London, MIT Press: 155-68.
We explore the economic factors associated with multiple Internet interconnection architectures, which have enabled the Internet to grow with the number of applications, number of users, and amount of network traffic. There are three Internet interconnection architectures identified by the paper: bilateral agreement, cooperative agreement, and third party administrator. While all are technically feasible, there are economic reasons for some companies to prefer one architecture over another. We argue this based on incomplete contract theory coupled with the ability of resale for interconnection. The paper concludes that bilateral agreements may be best for large Internet network providers while cooperative agreements may work best for smaller network providers. Third party administrators may exist, but the ability for the connected networks to resell their service, along with the ability for the administrator to act opportunistically, will deter this type of interconnection agreement (author's abstract presented at MIT March 1995.)

Bainbridge, W., E. E. Sims, et al. (1994). "Artificial Social Intelligence." Annual Review of Sociology 20: 407-436.
Sociologists have begun to explore the gains for theory and research that might be achieved by artificial intelligence technology: symbolic processors, expert systems, neural networks, genetic algorithms, and classifier systems. The first major accomplishments of artificial social intelligence (ASI) have been in the realm of theory, where these techniques have inspired new theories as well as helping to render existing theories more rigorous. Two application areas for which ASI holds great promise are the sociological analysis of written texts and data retrieval from the forthcoming Global Information Infrastructure. ASI has already been applied to some kinds of statistical analysis, but how competitive it will be with more conventional techniques remains unclear. To take advantage of the opportunities offered by ASI, sociologists will have to become more computer literate and will have to reconsider the place of programming and computer science in the sociological curriculum. ASI may be a revolutionary approach with the potential to rescue sociology from the doldrums into which some observers believe it has fallen. (Authors' abstract)

Bainbridge, W. S. (1999). "Cyberspace: Sociology's Natural Domain." Contemporary Sociology-A Journal of Reviews 28: 664-667.
Addresses the important role of cyberspace & the Internet in sociological research, contending that digital libraries will provide tremendous access to research information, & the Internet will revolutionize research surveys & questionnaires. The success of James Witte's Survey 2000, a Web-based questionnaire, illustrates the potential of Internet surveys despite problems of statistical reliability & effective sampling. The author's own Web-based Question Factory (QF) is another example. The QF acts as a pilot to produce continually refined questions of high statistical reliability for survey purposes. These examples illustrate how cyberspace can be employed to produce cheaper & more effective research. (Sociological Abstracts)

Bairoch, P. (1991). The City and Technological Innovation. Favorites of Fortune. P. Higonnet, D. S. Landes and H. Rosovsky. Cambridge, Harvard Univ. Press.
The essays range from a detailed empirical discussion of improvements in nutrition and health which brought increases in the ability to work harder, longer and more efficiently to several that are far more theoretical, emphasizing economic theory and model building or psychological, religious or cultural models. Some are detailed examinations of changes in a particular industry in a single country; others stress more general long-term comparative developments, including comparisons to contemporary third world countries; and still others consider the role of the public sector, the effects of managerial decision-making, the relationship between urbanization and innovation, and discrimination against women (from Harold Woodman's review in Journal of Interdisciplinary History Spring 1993:766-767.)

Bakos, Y. (1998). "The emerging role of electronic marketplaces on the Internet." Communications of the ACM 41: 35-42.
Internet-based electronic marketplaces leverage information technology to match buyers and sellers with increased effectiveness and lower transaction costs, leading to more efficient,"friction-free" markets (author's abstract)

Balas, J. (1998). "Debating Public Access to the Internet." Computers in Libraries 18: 42-45.
Discusses the debate surrounding public access to the Internet in libraries as of March 1998. ( EBSCO Host 5/2/01)

Bar, F., S. Cohen, et al. (2000). "Access and Innovation Policy for the Third-Generation Internet." Telecommunications Policy 24: 489-518.
The success of the internet in the US fundamentally rests on 30 years of consistent FCC policy which sought to maintain network openness by making key network components available to all, on cost-effective terms, so as to foster competition and innovation. The internet today enters a third phase of its history, when a critical mass of users are about to experience "always-on" high-speed access to the internet from their home. At this crucial time? the FCC may abandon its successful policy and allow owners of the broadband infrastructure to foreclose access to the infrastructure they own. This is, we show, precisely the wrong time for such a reversal. While the current debate is forced by AT&T's acquisition of TCI, its proposed acquisition of MediaOne, and the companies' ties to Excite@Home, this particular matter simply forces us to address the more general issue. What should be the terms of access to emerging network infrastructures when competition exists, but reflects "collective dominance" of a few players? We argue that policy inaction places network innovation in jeopardy and threatens the continuation of successful infrastructure re-invention. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd, All rights reserved.

Barak, A. and M. Wander-Schwartz (2000). "Empirical Evaluation of Brief Group Therapy Conducted in an Internet Chat Room." The Journal of Virtual Environments 5.
The purpose of this study was to examine group therapy procedures in an anonymous, password-protected Internet chat room. Participants were college students from several Israeli universities and community who elected to join either an Internet chat-room therapy group (n=6) or a standard face-to-face group (n=9). Both groups met for seven consecutive weekly sessions of ninety minutes each. These groups were compared to a no-treatment control group, made up of seven individuals who were referred to group therapy but who were unable to participate. Comparisons of the groups showed that both therapeutic groups had a small, statistically insignificant positive improvement in participants self-image, social relations, and well-being, with a trend in favor of the virtual group. Participants in the no-treatment control group generally remained unchanged. In addition, several group processes were found to be similar between the two therapy groups: cohesiveness, personal exposure, expression of feelings, independence, and order and organization. The Internet group, however, reported higher levels of aggression, action orientation, and therapist support and control than the face-to- face group. Participants in both therapy groups expressed general satisfaction with their respective group therapies. (Author's abstract)

Barbatsis, G. and M. Fegan (1999). "The performance of Cyberspace: An Exploration Into Computer-Mediated Reality." Journal of Computer Mediated Communication 5(1).
This phenomenological enquiry into cyberspace examines the concept of space and metaphor, explaining 'cyber'space as a figurative term and a figurative space, as something projected as a shared mental concept. Reception theory is used to theorize this figurative space as an ideational object constituted by a 'text-reader' relationship. The performance of 'cyber'space is described as a self-reflexive ideation about meaning making itself, and examined as discursive, liminal, and transformative. Examination includes examples from e-mail, chat, and 3D conference systems. (Authors' Abstract)

Bargh, J. A., K. Y. A. McKenna, et al. (2002). "Can you see the real me? Activation and expression of the "true self" on the Internet." Journal of Social Issues 58(1): 33-48.
Those who feel better able to express their "true selves" in Internet rather than face-to-face interaction settings are more likely to form close relationships with people met on the Internet (McKenna, Green, & Gleason, 2002). Building on these correlational findings from survey data, the authors conducted three laboratory experiments to directly test the hypothesized causal role of differential self- expression in Internet relationship formation. Experiments 1 and 2, using a reaction time task, found that for university undergraduates, the true-self concept is more accessible in memory during Internet interactions, and the actual self more accessible during face-to-face interactions. Experiment 3 confirmed that people randomly assigned to interact over the Internet (vs. face to face) were better able to express their true-self qualities to their partners. (from author's abstract)

Bar-Ilan, J. (2001). "Data Collection Methods on the Web for Informetric Purposes - A Review and Analysis." Scientometrics 50: 7-32.
We present different methods of data collection from the Web for informetric purposes. For each method, some studies utilizing it are reviewed, and advantages and shortcomings of each technique are discussed. The paper emphasizes that data collection must be carried out with great care. Since the Web changes constantly, the findings of any study are valid only in the time frame in which it was carried out, and are dependent on the quality of the data collection tools, which are usually not under the control of the researcher. At the current time, the quality and the reliability of most of the available search tools are not satisfactory, thus informetric analyses of the Web mainly serve as demonstrations of the applicability of informetric methods to this medium, and not as a means for obtaining definite conclusions. A possible solution is for the scientific world to develop its own search and data collection tools. (Authors' Abstract)

Barnes, S. B. (2000). "Bridging the differences between social theory and technological invention in human-computer interface design." New Media & Society 2: 353-372.
A number of different theories have been proposed to explain the relationship between technological development and social change, including: technological determinism, symptomatic development and social constructionism. A popular and influential theory describing this relationship is technological determinism. An examination of the history of the computer's graphical user interface reveals that the original inventors of this technology were influenced by theorists associated with the determinist perspective. However, when creating their actual interfaces, early designers Douglas Engelbart and Alan Kay utilized methods that support a social constructionist view of technology development. Moreover, as new social interfaces emerge that incorporate software agents into the process of computer interaction, these new designs continue to support a constructionist approach. This article will describe the relationship between theories of technological determinism and the development of graphical user interfaces to argue that a social constructionist approach bridges the gap between theory and invention. (Author's abstract)

Barnett, G. A., B. S. Chon, et al. (2001). "The Structure of the Internet flows in cyberspace." Networks and Communication Studies 15(1-2): 61-80.
This paper describes the structure of international Internet traffic based on data obtained from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and
Development for July, 1998. It also describes the relationship between the structure of the Internet and international telecommunications, as well as telephone rates, language, physical location, trade blocs, international migration, student flows and science and structural asynchrony. The results indicate that the structure of the Internet is significantly related to the structure of the international telecommunications, trade, science and
student flow networks, as well language and asynchrony. In combination, only telecommunications, trade, science and asynchrony were significant, accounting for 49.7% of the variance in the structure of the Internet. (from Authors' Abstract)

Barnett, G. A., H. W. Park, et al. (2002). A network analysis among the Canadian provinces.
This paper reports the results of a network analysis among the Canadian provinces. Available data on the migration, trade, air traffic, student
exchanges and Internet flows among the 10 provinces and two (three) territories were analyzed to describe the relational structure of Canada.
The results indicate that all five indicators of the flows among the provinces are similar. Ontario is at the center of Canadian life and the
territories are at the periphery. In between are loosely connected dyads of the Western provinces (British Columbia and Alberta, the Prairie
Provinces (Saskatchewan and Manitoba), and the Maritime provinces (Hew Foundland, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick). Quebec is strongly connected to Ontario and somewhat less closely tied to the Maritimes.

Based upon these findings, further research is proposed to re-examine the relations among the Canadian provinces and territories using the most currently available data. Recent data will also allow for the examination of how the inter-provincial relations have changed over time. (from authors' abstract)

Barry, C. A. (1997). "The Research Activity Timeline: A Qualitative Tool for Information Research." Library & Information Science Research 19: 153-179.
Outlines the seven stages of the Research Activity Timeline (RAT) data collection/analysis technique which structures the research interview around a discussion of participants' current specific work projects. Illustrates the use of RAT through results of the Information Access Project, which examined the use of information technology-assisted information systems among academics. (ERIC EBSCO)

Basalla, G. (1988). The Evolution of Technology. Cambridge, Cambridge Univ. Press.
Three emerging themes challenge the popular notion that technology advances through the efforts of a few who produce a series of revolutionary inventions that owe little or nothing to the technological past. (Amazon.com Review)

Bates, B. (1989). Evolving Into an Information Society. The Information Society. J. L. Salvaggio. Corpus Christi, TX, Whataburger, Inc.

Bates, D. W. and A. A. Gawande. (2000). "The Impact of The Internet on Quality Measurement." Health Affairs 19: 104-115.
Examines the impact of Internet on quality measurement in the health care sector. Consumers' interest on information about health; Requirements for appropriately measuring quality in medicine; Availability of quality information; Internet's provision of a low-cost, standard platform; Barriers on public access' to quality information on the Internet; Problems neglected by the Internet (Abstract found on EBSCO Host 5/2/01).

Baym, N. K. (1995). The Emergence of Community in Computer-Mediated Communication. Cybersociety: Computer-mediated Communication and Community. S. G. Jones. Thousand Oaks, CA, Sage: 138-163.
Assists readers in becoming aware of the hype and hopes pinned on computer-mediated communication technologies and of the cultures that are emerging among Internet users. Highlights specific cyber societies and how computer-mediated communication affects the notion of self and its relation to community, and examines issues of community, conduct, fixing identity, and the exercise of power in social relations. (Book News, Inc.(r), Portland, OR)

Beamish, A. (1995). "Communities Online: Community-Based Computer Networks." Working Paper.
Beamish argues that community networks are primitive, rather crude, and barely begin to address the ambitious goals that they have set out for themselves. "They are underfunded good intentions that will lose. They will collapse from the exhaustion of their volunteers and staff struggling with a lack of revenue, donated equipment, escalating demands of their users, and ambition that can't be satisfied with their resources." But this crudeness can also be seen as indication of youth. "Community networks may now [1995] be at the stage of barely being able to walk but there is every expection that they will learn to run."

The key to their future success will be the same as what it took to get them to the stage in the first place: their ability to spark and tap an extraordinary amount of energy and enthusiasm in their communities. The author suspects that community networks' role as providers of information and communication may be secondary to their role as animators for creating a stronger sense of place and community. (Author's abstract)

Bechar-Israeli, H. (1999). "From <Bonehead> to <cLoNehEAd>: nicknames, play, and identity on Internet Relay Chat <1>." Journal of Computer Mediated Communication 1(2).
This article examines nicknames of IRC users. On IRC, a person's physical existence and identity must be condensed textually into a single line which states his or her nickname, the electronic address, and a slogan or the person's real name. IRC users attempt to make these representational elements as prominent as possible, by choosing an original nick which will tempt other participants to strike up a conversation. In this paper I demonstrate that although people play many kinds of games with their nicknames, the nicks they choose are very important to them. They are an inherent part of their Net- identity, and even of their "real-life" identity. Two hundred sixty nicknames were collected from IRC logs, and were analyzed and classified. Only rarely did the IRCers in this study use their real names. The largest category was that of nicks related to the self in some way, referring to character traits, physical appearance, the physiological or psychological state of the self, or the person's profession or hobbies. The list of nicknames and the relative frequency of the different categories illustrate prominent features of electronic culture, a culture in which the individual is placed at the center. Participants in this culture have a high awareness of technology and technological change. They value linguistic virtuosity, yet they show contempt for the rules of the language. Although there is freedom to engage in constantly changing identity games through the manipulation of nicks, most people tend to keep to one nick for a long period of time. (JCMC Abstract)

Becker, H. J. (2000). "Who's Wired and Who's Not: Children's Access to and Use of Computer Technology." Future of Children 10: 44-75.
Analyzes national survey data on children's differential access to computers at home and school, noting varying conditions that affect how children experience computers. In 1998, over 75 percent of children had access to computers at school, though computer experiences differed by socioeconomic status. Poorer students had significantly less access to home computers than did wealthier students. (ERIC)

Bekavac, B. (1996). "Searching the World Wide Web." Nachructeb Fur Dokumentation 47: 195-213.
The World Wide Web allows access to a large and fast-growing amount of information. The search for relevant WWW-documents on a given topic more and more becomes a major task within the Web. This paper describes different techniques for the local and global Web-search. Client-based search-tools with automated navigation, implemented at few Web-browsers, allow a search initiated by a given site. But much more used are the server-based search-techniques which allow both local search on a given WWW-server and the world-wide search by WWW-directories or robot-based search engines. This paper studies and compares the current directory- and robot-based search-services of the Web in view of functionality. There are also some examples of alternative search engines as well as advanced search-services searching additionally beyond the internet.

Bell, D. (1989). Communication Technology: For Better or For Worse? The Information Society. J. L. Salvaggio. Corpus Christi, TX, Whataburger, Inc: 89-104.

Bell, D. (1979). The Social Framework of the Information Society. The Computer Age: A Twenty-Year View,. M. L. Dertouzos and J. Moses. Cambridge, MA, MIT Press.

Benedikt, M. (1991). Introduction. Cyberspace: First Steps. M. Benedikt. Cambridge, MA, MIT Press: 1-25.
As the introduction to the first book-length treatment of cyberspace, Benedikt's spiraling, esoteric essay is a must read. The author, a professor in the School of Architecture at the University of Texas at Austin, begins by waxing poetic about the term cyberspace, revealing it as, at once, an empty signifier and a seed for brave new worlds. Next, he situates cyberspace within four separate contexts: language, the history of media technologies, the history of architecture, and the history of mathematics. Impressionistic and flighty, the essay encapsulates the excitement found in early theorizing of the Net. Energetic and daring, it also reflects the boldness of the anthology's subtitle: First Steps. (David Silver)

Beniger, J. R. (1986). The Control Revolution: Technology and Economic Origins of the Information Society. Cambridge, MA, Harvard Univ. Press.
I was going to say that this is undoubtedly the best work ever done by a professor of communications, but that would be praising it with faint damns, and it deserves better. This is not a speculation or a vague schema but a very detailed history of the rise of technologies and techniques of communication and information-processing, and their use for controlling social and economic processes, prefaced by a general discussion of these subjects and their importance for history. His thesis is that modern information technologies, and with them the ``information society,'' began to take shape in the 1830s with the introduction of railroads, and really took off after 1880 with full industrialization. Because machine industry involves huge, fast flows of goods, it cannot be managed without a high level of information technology (in which Beniger includes things like product standardization, bureaucracy and advertising, as well as the usual mechanical devices): and if it isn't managed it simply cannot work. The first part of the economy to move at industrial speed were the railroads, and the accompanying jump in the size of the information sector is dramatic. So industrial production is a good reason to improve your information technology; and conversely, improved control technology makes new industrial developments possible.
Beniger puts the modern synthesis (not his phrase) of industry and information in the period 1880-1920. By the latter date, the technology of control had been so perfected that the economies of all the warring powers in the Great War could be managed by central planning --- those of the Allies, by combined planning. (Since this performance was repeated during the Second War, I'm tempted to say that market forces are simply too inefficient to be trusted with anything important, but this is not the place for those rants.) Since then, he says, we have been in essentially the same industrial-economic-technological phase. The advent of computers was obviously very important, but they didn't usher in the information society, because we already were one (which, I suspect, is why they were able to spread so quickly --- Beniger does not, alas, discuss computerization in detail).

I can find only four-and-a-half flaws with this book. One, he says very little about the influence of the military on this process, which is strange, since it lives by command-and-control, and mechanized warfare was invented in this country in the 1860s, well within the period he covers. Two, it is almost entirely confined to American history; but the book would have had to have been immensely expanded to cover even Western Europe in similar detail, to say nothing of Japan, or Eastern Europe, or South America.

Three, the period Beniger focuses on was also one of incredible ferment in art, literature, philosophy and general culture, and it would be fascinating to know if there were any connections between this and the control revolution (perhaps even more fascinating to learn there were none); but again, this amounts to demanding a new book, if not a new scholar.

Four, the first chapters of the book, where Beniger discusses such notions as control, communication, programming and information, gives something of their history and argues for their importance in the study of society, is long-winded, excessively detailed (do we really need mini-articles on Principia Mathematica, Gödel, Talcott Parsons, the origin of molecular biology in physics, Structuralism, and even an ``addendum'' on the nature of life?) and not as well-grounded as the remaining, historical parts of the book; but perhaps this is demanded but Beniger's audience, historians and social scientists who are unfamiliar with these matters.

Four-and-a-half, Beniger's style is far from brilliant, and especially in the introductory chapters he is tempted to lapse into sociologese. This too may be demanded by the audience, but it is not a demand which should be met. (The Bactra Review: Occasional and eclectic book reviews by Cosma Shalizi)

Bentley, K. a. P. Y. (2000). "Knowledge work and telework: an exploratory study." Internet Research: Electronic Networking Applications and Policy 10: 346-356.
Describes a case research study into how knowledge workers adopt telework as an alternative work arrangement. It reports how knowledge workers in two New Zealand organisations organise their workload to take advantage of the information and Internet technology available to them in their work and home environments. The findings of the study indicate that knowledge workers are inclined to use home-based teleworking as an adjunct to the work done during normal business hours. Their preference is still to work at the office for most of their work time. Discusses the implications of the findings for practice and research (from the source document).

Berland, J. (2000). Cultural Technologies and the "Evaluation" of Technological Cultures. The World Wide Web and Contemporary Cultural Theory. A. Herman and T. Swiss. New York, Routledge: 235-258.
The World Wide Web is the most well-known, celebrated, and promoted contemporary manifestation of "cyberspace." To date, however, most of the public discourse on the Web falls into the category of explanatory journalism -- the Web has remained largely unmapped in terms of contemporary cultural research. This book, however, begins that mapping by bringing together more than a dozen well-known scholars across the humanities and social sciences to explore the Web as a cultural technology characterized by a nexus of economic, political, social, and aesthetic forces. Engaging the thematic issues of the Web as a space where magic, metaphor, and power converge, the chapters cover such subjects as The Web and Corporate Media Systems, Conspiracy Theories and the Web; The Economy of Cyberpromotion, The Bias of the Web, The Web and Issues of Gender,and so on. (editor's book description)

Berners-Lee, T., J. Hendler, et al. (2001). "Semantic Web." Scientific American 284(5): 34-43.
"Today's World Wide Web will soon evolve into the Semantic
Web. The Semantic Web will be an extension of the current web in which
information is given well-defined meaning, better enabling computers and
people to work in cooperation. Every concept will be named simply by a
Universal Resource Identifier, a facility that defines or specifies an
entity, and, as a result, anyone will have the ability to express with
minimal effort new concepts that they invent. The Semantic Web's unifying
logical language, eXtensible Markup Language, will enable these concepts to
be progressively linked into a universal web. The structure of which will
open up the knowledge and workings of humankind to analysis by software
agents, which will roam from page to page readily carrying out sophisticated
tasks for users." (from Applied Science & Technology Abstracts)

Bernstein, J. (1964). The Analytical Engine: Computers – Past, Present and Future. New York, Random House.

Besser, H. (1995). "From Internet to Information Superhighway." Resisting the Virtual Life: The Culture and Politics of Information. J. Brook and I. A. Boal. San Francisco, CA, City Lights: 59-70.
A visiting professor at University of California at Berkeley's School of Information Management & Sciences, Besser demonstrates the need to get beyond the rhetoric and into the reality of cyberculture by deconstructing two extremely different concepts: the "Internet" and the "Information Superhighway." By analyzing the two entities in terms of content, access, privacy, and technological infrastructure, Besser makes an excellent case for replacing hyperbolic predictions with pragmatic assessments. Among the essay's many thought-provoking sound bites is Besser's not-so-rosy depiction of the Information Superhighway: "a ten-lane highway coming into the home, with only a tiny path leading back out -- just wide enough to take a credit card number or to answer multiple-choice questions" (63). (David Silver)

Biggs, S. (2000). "'Charlotte's Web': How One Woman Weaves Positive Relationships on the Net." Cyberpsychology & Behavior 3: 655-663.
This case study will explore one woman's experience of the Internet as a positive transformational medium through relationship. In order to protect the anonymity of the participant and in honor of the original female on the web, she has been referred to throughout the paper as Charlotte. This case study explores her online experience as a divorced woman in her early thirties, who soon after her discovery of the Internet began an online relationship. This resulted in, among other things, the end of her marriage. On the surface, Charlotte's story reads like that of many others. However, while that initial online relationship did not work out, she continued to use the Internet as a means of finding and developing other relationships, both platonic and romantic. She can also be distinguished from the stereotyped "online junkie," as she has maintained a strong face-to-face social life along side her Internet relationships. In her own words, "The Internet has been a positive and transformational medium in my life." As well, she has kept a detailed journal of her experience since her first foray onto the Net 18 months ago, making her an ideal candidate for a case study. Material for the case study was gathered over the course of a number of 1-hour interviews carried out online via ICQ(R) chat software. Charlotte was encouraged to reflect upon her journal before each interview, and ambiguities in the interview were resolved by E-mail follow-up. A qualitative analysis was carried out on the material through a hermeneutic frame, exploring themes of self-perception and self in relation to others.

Bijker, W., T. P. Hughes, et al. (1987). Social Construction of Technological System. Cambridge, MA, MIT Press.

Bijker, W. E. (1995). Of Bicycles, Bakelites, and Bulbs: Toward a Theory of Sociotechnical Change. Cambridge, MA, MIT Press.
This book crystallizes and extends the important work Wiebe Bijker has done in the last decade to found a full-scale theory of sociotechnical change that describes where technologies come from and how societies deal with them. Of Bicycles, Bakelites, and Bulbs integrates detailed case studies with theoretical generalizations and political analyses to offer a fully rounded treatment both of the relations between technology and society and of the issues involved in sociotechnical change. The stories of the the safety bicycle, the first truly synthetic plastic, and the fluorescent light bulb - each a fascinating case study in itself - reflect a cross section of time periods, engineering and scientific disciplines, and economic, social, and political cultures. The bicycle story explores such issues as the role of changing gender relationships in shaping a technology; the Bakelite story examines the ways in which social factors intrude even in cases of seemingly pure chemistry and entrepreneurship; and the fluorescent bulb story offers insights into the ways in which political and economic relationships can affect the form of a technology. Bijker's method is to use these case studies to suggest theoretical concepts that serve as building blocks in a more and more inclusive theory, which is then tested against further case studies. His main concern is to create a basis for science, technology, and social change that uncovers the social roots of technology, making it amenable to democratic politics. (Amazon.com Review)

Bikson, K. L. and T. L. Bikson. (2001). The Impact of Internet Use Over Time on Older Adults: A Field Experiment. Communication, Technology and Aging: Opportunities and Challenges for the Future. N. Charness and D. C. Parks. New York, Springer Publishing: 127-149.
Common stereotypes of the older adult as avoidant of new technology have not been substantiated. We revisit the field experiment conducted in the late 1980s by T. K. Bikson et al (1991). How different are older Ss who choose to use computers and participate in a computer behavior study from the general population at large? The field experiment of Bikson et al allowed for random assignment of group members to computer-based versus traditional support in the completion of identical activities. Such random assignment produced two quite similar work groups. Prior computer experience was also much the same across conditions. An open-ended item at the end of the initial interview asked Ss why they had agreed to participate in the project. In both conditions a similar pattern emerged: retirees were interested in giving information and employees were interested in getting information about the transition to retirement; the task force topic itself was a strong incentive. Besides wanting to understand how access to a networked computer system might influence group structures and interactions, the field study also sought to learn what effects it might have on S perceptions and evaluate a number of outcome measures. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2000 APA, all rights reserved

Bimber, B. (2000). "Measuring the Gender Gap on the Internet." Social Science Quarterly 81: 868-876.
This paper evaluates differences in men's & women's presence on the Internet, testing for the presence of gender-specific causes for different rates of Internet use. Methods. The paper presents new survey data collected by the author in 1996, 1998, & 1999 showing trends in Internet use, & presents regression models of Internet access & use. Results. Two statistically significant gender gaps exist on the Internet: in access & in use. The access gap is not the product of gender-specific factors, but is explained by socioeconomic & other differences between men & women. The use gap is the result of both socioeconomics & some combination of underlying gender-specific phenomena. Conclusions. Around one-half of the "digital divide" between men & women on the Internet is fundamentally gender related. Several possible causes may explain this phenomenon. 1 Table, 27 References. (Adapted from the source document)

Bimber, B. (1999). "The Internet and Citizen Communication With Government: Does the Medium Matter?" Political Communication 16: 409-428.
The Internet offers a new means by which citizens may contact government to express their views or concerns, and it raises interesting empirical and theoretical questions about whether citizen contacts are affected by communication media. This article uses survey data to explore hypotheses about whether means of communication shape contacting activity. It compares Internet-based contacts with traditional contacts, showing statistically significant but for the most part substantively small differences. Effects of technology are of two kinds, those affecting only the likelihood of citizens being active in communicating with government and those affecting the frequency or intensity of communication among those who are active. The article discusses these findings in terms of transitional effects of technology, which arise from uneven distribution of the technology in society, and in terms of inherent effects, which attend to the technology itself. The most important inherent effects involve gender and political connectedness: The gender gap in contacting is larger on the Internet than in traditional forms of communication, and political connectedness has a weaker association with communication through the Internet. (author's abstract).

Bimber, B. (1998). "The Internet and Political Transformation: Populism, Community, and Accelerated Pluralism." Polity XXXI(1): 133-160.
The article's date of publication does not compromise its usefulness in reviewing discursive themes on the Internet's impacts (both observed and anticipated) on political participation. The author identifies two optimistic themes in the literature. Populist discourse, according to Bimber, claims the Internet will lead to a decline in group-oriented political participation, in favor of more direct interaction between citizens and governments. He argues against this likelihood, discrediting the underlying assumption that improved access to political information will results in increased political engagement. The second discursive theme, according to Bimber, is the Internet's transformation of citizen-to-citizen relations, shaping group-oriented activism. He questions the ability of these on-line relations to produce the "thick" communities required to mobilize. Bimber offers a third option, which is the prediction that the Internet will lead to more issue-oriented political organization. This new conception, called accelerated pluralism, embraces components of both the populism and the community-oriented discourse. While this prediction seems to be an original thought in Internet literature, the transformation described is not new to the larger body of social science literature. This observation is well-documented in the post-modern thinking. This work would benefit from establishing this connection, as it reaffirms Bimber's own philosophy around the Internet: the Internet should not be viewed as deterministic, but rather as, transforming and/or complementing existing behavioral patterns. [Annotated by Shelley Boulianne]

Bimber, B. (1996). Three Faces of Technological Determinism. Does Technology Drive History? M. R. Smith and L. Marx. Cambridge, MA, MIT Press: 79-100.
These thirteen essays explore a crucial historical question that has been notoriously hard to pin down: To what extent, and by what means, does a society's technology determine its political, social, economic, and cultural forms?

Karl Marx launched the modern debate on determinism with his provocative remark that "the hand-mill gives you society with the feudal lord; the steam-mill, society with the industrial capitalist," and a classic article by Robert Heilbroner (reprinted here) renewed the debate within the context of the history of technology. This book clarifies the debate and carries it forward.

Marx's position has become embedded in our culture, in the form of constant reminders as to how our fast-changing technologies will alter our lives. Yet historians who have looked closely at where technologies really come from generally support the proposition that technologies are not autonomous but are social products, susceptible to democratic controls. The issue is crucial for democratic theory. These essays tackle it head-on, offering a deep look at all the shadings of determinism and assessing determinist models in a wide variety of historical contexts.
(MIT Press)

Birnbaum, M. H. (1999). "Testing Critical Properties of Decision Making on the Internet." Psychological Science 10: 399-407.
This article reviews recent findings that violate a broad class of descriptive theories of decision making. A new study compared 1,224 participants tested via the Internet and 124 undergraduates tested in the laboratory Both samples confirmed systematic violations of stochastic dominance and cumulative independence; new tests also found violations of coalescing. The Internet sample was older; more highly educated, more likely male, and also more demographically diverse than the lab sample. Internet participants were more likely than undergraduates to choose the gamble with higher expected value, but no one conformed exactly to expected value. Violations of stochastic dominance decreased as education increased but violations of stochastic dominance and coalescing were still substantial in persons with doctoral degrees who had read a scientific work on decision making. in their implications, Internet research and lab findings agree: Descriptive decision theories cannot assume that identical consequences can be coalesced. (Author's Abstract)

Blanchard, A. and T. Horan (1998). "Virtual Communities and Social Capital." Social Science Computer Review 16: 293-307.
R. D. Putnam (1993) has developed a theory of social capital to explain the effect of decreasing community participation & civic engagement on declining institutional performance. Subsequently, there has been much speculation as to whether emerging virtual communities can counteract this trend. Here, findings on computer-mediated communication & virtual communities are applied to the networks, norms, & trust of social capital, & the possible effects of virtual communities on the privatization of leisure time are considered. Preliminary data on a physically based community in CA that is going on-line lead to the conclusion that social capital & civic engagement will increase when virtual communities develop around such communities & help foster additional communities of interest, including education, exchange of general community information, & opportunities for government & political participation. 3 Tables, 34 References. (Adapted from the source document)

Blumenthal, M. S. (1996). "Architecture and Economic Policy." Telecommunications Policy 20: 161-167.
The Internet is a passion for network technologists and a puzzle for economists. Each discipline needs to understand more of the thinking of the other to advance, but achieving that goal has been slow and difficult. Four papers were developed to further interdisciplinary analysis in the context of the 1995 Telecommunications Policy Research Conference. As explained below, it is hoped that this set of papers will advance telecommunications policy analysis by clarifying the nature of the Internet-in particular, the nature and implications of its architecture-and by framing economic questions based on that characterization, providing a foundation for further research. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.

Boal, I. A. (1995). "A Flow of Monsters: Luddism and Virtual Technologies." Resisting the Virtual Life: The Culture and Politics of Information. J. Brook and I. A. Boal. San Francisco, CA, City Lights: 3-15.
As the introduction to an interesting yet sporadic anthology, Boal's essay challenges the traditional celebratory response to digital technologies by situating them within a larger historical context. Boal is especially concerned with what he perceives to be "virtual experience" and its effects on society. This questioning is largely informed by a particular brand of neo-Luddism, a concept Boal unfortunately traces all-too-briefly. Although the author offers a critical, grounded analysis of the potential perils of cyberculture, his argument strays and veers, resulting in a somewhat disparate and oftentimes desperate call to "just log off." (David Silver)

Boehlefeld, S. P. (1996). "Doing the right thing: ethical cyberspace research." Information Society 12: 141-52.
Advocates developing ethical guidelines for the design, conduct, and publication of research using electronic media; applicability of the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) guidelines. Argues that a research project must be designed to meet a socially responsible objective, anticipate and defuse harmful results, and protect the privacy of research subjects and those accessing information.

Boling, P. (1990). The personal is political. The closet, identity politics, and outing. Privacy and the politics of intimate life. Ithaca, Cornell University Press: 132-156.

Bolt, D. and R. Crawford. (2000). The Digital Divide: computers and Our Children's Future. New York, TV Books.
From The Industry Standard. Every new technology brings with it a host of social and ethical challenges. One of the more recent of those challenges to join the fray is the digital divide, a statistical rift by gender, race and income in the use of new-economy tools like e-mail and the Web. This gap, many argue, will result in some excelling in the workplace and others getting left out in the cold, locking in forever an age-old divide between haves and have-nots. It also has become the cause du jour at the White House, with Bill Clinton and Al Gore promising to mend the rift through means traditionally favored by both the government and the Internet community: a massive infusion of cash, here in the form of computers for public schools and libraries.

In Digital Divide: Computers and Our Children's Future, David Bolt and Ray Crawford are quick to point out that a presidential promise to wire every school does little to address the real issue. Mere access is not enough. If you're going to give schools computers, you also need to provide them with ongoing technical support, upgrades and - the toughest part - training for teachers, not only in how to use the computers, but also in how to usefully integrate the technology into a meaningful curriculum. Digital Divide was written as a partner to a television series that Bolt created and produced for PBS in 1997. The book is at its strongest in documenting the reality of the divide with clear statistics and compelling stories. The poorer school districts, where minorities are usually the majority, don't have the access to technology that the wealthier districts have. Nor, for a host of reasons, is in-home technology as readily available. And in coed classrooms at all socioeconomic levels, girls are deferring to boys in seeking out and exploring new technology.

The authors offer theories as to the origins of these phenomena, but where specific solutions are craved, few are given. A fundamental discussion focuses around how to use the promised onslaught of computers in the schools. Will there be one computer per school? Class? Student? Do we integrate the computers with the current curricula so they become an enhancement of the pencil and paper and an annex to the library, or do we use them to train students in the tools of the technology trade, foregoing traditional education in the humanities? Both of these approaches require immense resources and an overhaul of the American education system, and neither the resources nor the overhaul appears to be in the picture for many years to come.

Bolt and Crawford provide a glimmer of hope by highlighting organizations (mostly nonprofit) that are aggressively addressing the divide. For poor neighborhoods, there are organizations like Plugged In, an East Palo Alto, Calif., computer resource center that offers an after-school program, as well as computer access and training for older students and adults - if they agree to use their new skills to give back to the community. And in an attempt to close the technogender gap, there's SmartGrrls, which provides educational content for girls in math and science and introduces female role models in technology. Along with detailed statistics about the people on both sides of the gap, Digital Divide concludes by providing a list of resources, including organizations and a small group of experts devoted to researching and bridging the divide. While the list is in no way comprehensive, it's a useful starting point for anyone interested in learning more about the divide and how some organizations address the issue. It also underscores the authors' case that truly bridging the digital divide is an extensive long-term project dependent on the dedication of people on every side of it. (Amazon.com Editorial Review)

Bouch, A., A. Kuchinsky, et al. (2000). Quality is in the Eye of the Beholder: Meeting Users' Requirements for Internet Quality of Service User Experience in E-Commerce. Proceedings of ACM CHI 2000 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.
Growing usage and diversity of applications on the Internet makes Quality of Service (QoS) increasingly critical [15]. To date, the majority of research on QoS is systems oriented, focusing on traffic analysis, scheduling, and routing. Relatively minor attention has been paid to user-level QoS issues. It is not yet known how objective system quality relates to users' subjective perceptions of quality. This paper presents the results of quantitative experiments that establish a mapping between objective and perceived QoS in the context of Internet commerce. We also conducted focus groups to determine how contextual factors influence users' perceptions of QoS. We show that, while users' perceptions of World Wide Web QoS are influenced by a number of contextual factors, it is possible to correlate objective measures of QoS with subjective judgements made by users, and therefore influence system design. We argue that only by integrating users' requirements for QoS into system design can the utility of the future Internet be maximized (http://www.hcibib.org/gs.cgi).

Boukhari, S. (1998). "High Stakes Over Virtual Access." UNESCO Sources 106: 21-23.
Reports that the United Nations Educational, Scientific & Cultural Organization is helping put in place guidelines to monitor public access to information on the Internet. Sponsorship of gathering to discuss the legal and social aspects of the Internet; Establishment of a legal framework concerning databases. (EBSCO Host 5/2/01)

Braman, S. (1995). "Policy for the Net and the Internet." Annual Review of Information Science and Technology 30: 5-75.

Bremer, J. and P. K. Rauch. (1998). "Children and Computers: Risks and Benefits." Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry 37(5): 559-560.
Suggests that the boom in Internet use has raised complex legal and ethical issues around access vs censorship, with particular attention to the needs of children. Advantages and disadvantages of children's access to computers and the Internet are discussed. Disadvantages include the risk of online child predators, exposure to inappropriate material, and the possibility of computer play becoming an avoidance strategy. Benefits include the opportunity for children to practice social interactions online and to gain access to information to aid in completing school assignments. The risks and benefits of chat rooms are also discussed. The role of parents and child psychiatrists in providing appropriate supervision in the use of computers and the Internet is reviewed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2000 APA, all rights reserved)

Brent, E., A. Thompson, et al. (2000). "Sociology: A Computational Approach to Sociological Explanations." Social Science Computer Review 18: 223- 236.
The capacity to explain important elements of social life is central both to the development of sociological theory and to teaching sociology. This research seeks to expand our understanding of sociological explanation through a computational approach. Explanations commonly encountered in introductory sociology texts are used to develop a typology of explanatory forms. A computational strategy that represents sociological knowledge using a combination of frames, semantic networks, and procedural rules is described. It is then demonstrated that this approach can generate the full range of these explanations for all logical combinations of conditions and for the full scope of sociological knowledge. This approach is also shown to be capable of identifying appropriate explanations, assessing the quality of explanations, and generating new insights. (Authors' abstract)

Bresnahan, T. and J. Richards. (1999). "Local and Global Competition in Information Technology." Journal of the Japanese & International Economies 13: 336-71.
We examine the implications of changing competitive dynamics in global information and communications technology (ICT) markets for government demand-steering policies whose goal is local rents. Both computing and telephony are undergoing changes in global industry structure and changes in the nature of competition. The convergence of computing and telephony and the rapid technological change (and accompanying technological uncertainty) driving this convergence reinforce trends toward vertical competition. The emergence of global ICT markets lowers entry barriers, likely encouraging government-supported local entrants into global ICT markets. There are, however, strongly offsetting disadvantages. The underlying economics of ICT markets under vertical competition will work to reinforce the dominant position of U.S.-based incumbents in many segments. The prospects for exports, command of rent-related standards, and large rents from exports are not very bright. We expect to see far more demand- steering attempts than successes. (c.1999 Academic Press)

Brewer, L. C. (2000). "The Politics and Practice of Doing Online Surveys: A Case Study of Higher Education Students in Web-Based Courses." American Sociological Association.
Many survey researchers assume that the use of computer technology will result in cost & time savings, as well as improve data quality. While these benefits may be possible, methodological problems emerged during our efforts to conduct an online survey of students in Internet courses. Areas of methodological concern addressed in this study are (1) instrument development & data collection, & (2) contacting the population & calculating a response rate. As I review these issues, I describe specific technical & organizational problems that surfaced & how they were dealt with in the context of this case. I also briefly outline changes that were made to improve a second attempt to administer our online survey. While the discussion here is limited to this particular case, many features should be applicable to online surveys in other settings.

Breznyak, M. (1999). "Presenting Psychology Research on the Internet: Obstacles and Opportunities." Behavior Research Methods, Instruments and Computers 31: 281-286.

Brown, J. R. and A. v. Dam (1999). "Human-centered Computing, Online Communities, and Virtual Environments." IEEE Computer Graphics & Applications 19: 70-75.
Presents the results of the first European Commission/National Science Foundation (EC/NSF) joint advanced research workshop on information technology. Objectives of the workshop; Consistency of cognition models; Design and evaluation of online communities; Challenges in virtual environment technology and interfaces (Author's abstract from EBSCO Host 5/3/01).

Brown, J. S. and P. Duguid (2000). The Social Life of Information. New York, NY, Harper Collins.
How many times has your PC crashed today? While Gordon Moore's now famous law projecting the doubling of computer power every 18 months has more than borne itself out, it's too bad that a similar trajectory projecting the reliability and usefulness of all that power didn't come to pass, as well. Advances in information technology are most often measured in the cool numbers of megahertz, throughput, and bandwidth--but, for many us, the experience of these advances may be better measured in hours of frustration.

The gap between the hype of the Information Age and its reality is often wide and deep, and it's into this gap that John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid plunge. Not that these guys are Luddites--far from it. Brown, the chief scientist at Xerox and the director of its Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), and Duguid, a historian and social theorist who also works with PARC measure how information technology interacts and meshes with the social fabric. They write, "Technology design often takes aim at the surface of life. There it undoubtedly scores lots of worthwhile hits. But such successes can make designers blind to the difficulty of more serious challenges--primarily the resourcefulness that helps embed certain ways of doing things deep in our lives."

The authors cast their gaze on the many trends and ideas proffered by infoenthusiasts over the years, such as software agents, "still a long way from the predicted insertion into the woof and warp of ordinary life"; the electronic cottage that Alvin Toffler wrote about 20 years ago and has yet to be fully realized; and the rise of knowledge management and the challenges it faces trying to manage how people actually work and learn in the workplace. Their aim is not to pass judgment but to help remedy the tunnel vision that prevents technologists from seeing larger the social context that their ideas must ultimately inhabit. The Social Life of Information is a thoughtful and challenging read that belongs on the bookshelf of anyone trying to invent or make sense of the new world of information. (Book review by Harry C. Edwards)

Brown, J. S. and P. Duguid (1991). Organizational learning and communities of practice: Toward a unified view of working, learning, and innovation.
In this article, Brown and Duguid (1991) discuss the need for organizations to foster working, learning, and innovating by supporting noncanonical communities and practices within organizations. The authors state that working, learning, and innovating is often misunderstood, and thus processes and practices are implemented in organizations that actually threaten instead of foster working, learning, and innovating (Brown & Duguid, 1991). These canonical processes and practices are embedded in formal job descriptions, rules and directives that are used to hold employees accountable, which prohibit synergistic collaboration. Synergistic collaboration is found in informal, noncanonical communities of practice, which leads to new insights and ideas to solve problems and address issues, thus promoting working, learning, and innovating. The authors state the gap between canonical and noncanonical practices must be closed in order for working, learning, and innovating to occur. Organizations that value employee innovation and foster noncanonical communities of practice will be successful. (Annotated by G. Leah Davis)

Brown, M. M. and J. L. Brudney (1999). Knowledge Workers in the Public Sector? A Study of Police Officers Employing Information Technology to Advance Knowledge.
This article questions whether the public sector employees can benefit
from information and technology to become genuine knowledge workers by
scrutinizing the underlying assumptions of the knowledge worker philosophy
in the setting of law enforcement agencies.

The authors first point out that harnessing information and technology to
increase the effectiveness and adaptability of the public sector
organizations is a part of the reinventing government reform efforts.
These efforts assume that public organizations can be learning
organizations, and consequently public servants can be transformed to be
knowledge workers, who will strategically use information and technology
to reduce uncertainty, improve organizational control and facilitate
rational decision-making. However, the authors point out that asymmetric
decision parameters, ill-structured problem domains and limited cognitive
capacities of the public servants threaten the utility of information and
technology for public organizations.

The authors conducted a survey to 320 street-level law enforcement
officers, performed case studies at ten law enforcement departments and
performed elite interviews with the respected scholars of the law
enforcement area in order to understand whether information and technology
applications help police officers to do their work better in an
increasingly turbulent environment. Police departments are deliberately
selected because of their long-term commitment to the learning
organization paradigm, their proximity to the citizens, which allows them
to experience the realization of any outcome benefits first-hand, their
complex work environment and the fields heavy investment on information
and technology.

The researchers found out that information and technology, instead of
increasing the flexibility of the organizations and help the
organizational members in making better decisions, promoted rigidity, not
adaptability. The quality of the data, the political nature of
decision-making and the inability to establish clear causal linkages all
contributed to this negative outcome. However, they also found out that
information and technology is more useful when there are highly structured
problem contexts (when the problem is easily defined and solutions are
well-known) as opposed to ill-structured contexts.

The authors, who are awarded by Public Administration Review for the best
written article for 1999 for another work of theirs, make many unnecessary
reiterations in the text. They write the same thing again and again, which
negatively affects the readers attention. However, their statistical
analysis and conclusion is concise and to the point.

The most interesting take-away from the article is that one can not expect
street-level workers to collect information and master the technology
unless the information and technology create fast and obvious benefits for
them.

Secondly, organizational leaders should find the delicate balance between
over and under-collection of information; so that the right amount of
information is collected without using too much of the scarce resources.
The authors point out that organizational decision-makers perform
satisficing and favor addressing the short-term essential needs by the
help of information and technology, rather than planning for the potential
uses in the long run.

Third, it becomes obvious after reading the article that the end-users of
the technology should be given extensive training to teach them how to use
information and technology as a strategic asset (accessing the right data
in the right format at the right time).

Fourth, the fact that many organizations collect information and
technology for symbolic purposes, to create an illusion of rationality
needs further attention. This issue may be quite relevant to some of the
public organizations that go online for symboling transparency, efficiency
or being up-to-date.

<Based on the critical reading of the article by Mete Yildiz>

Browning, J. (1996). "Teleconomics." Scientific American 274: 30-1.
Companies that market information on the Internet are focusing on content rather than access. If, as seems likely, the Internet model triumphs, all companies will increasingly come to depend for survival on their ability to gain the attention of consumers who are glutted with information. Gaining attention will require businesspeople to develop a deeper understanding of both the economics of information networks and the nature of information itself. The obvious way to direct the focus of customers' attention is to provide answers to the questions that consumers are already curious about. While it is hard to keep a competitive grip on content in the interlinked world of computer networks, a company can try to manipulate the questions customers ask and the context in which answers are offered in such a way as to put the competition in the shade. Alternatively, the company could try to engage their customers with the same kinds of questions the company itself is asking.

Bruckman, A. (1996). "Finding One's Own Space in Cyberspace." Technology Review 99: 48-54.
In this fascinating essay, Bruckman challenges notions of Internet violence (cyberporn, sexism, flames, to name a few forms), by putting forth a number of ways to create new and diverse virtual communities. The author, a doctoral student in the M.I.T. Media Lab and founder of two virtual communities (MediaMOO and MOOSE Crossing), uses her experience as both a critic and constructor of virtual communities in order to discuss a variety of sites, including MediaMOO and the New York-based ECHO (East Cost Hang Out) bulletin board system. Drawing from her case studies, Bruckman suggests a number of elements which can help foster a communal atmosphere: user identification, active participation, and admissions policies. (David Silver)

Bryce, J. (2001). "The Technological Transformation of Leisure." Social Science Computer Review 19: 7-16.
There is a large body of literature examining the role of communication technologies in the shaping of contemporary society. One area that has not been sufficiently considered in the literature is the influence of technology on the organization and experience of leisure. Historically, there has always been a relationship between technology and leisure, but the increasing use of the Internet and computer gaming technology during leisure time is facilitating a transformation in contemporary leisure activity and has relevance for themes in both leisure and Internet research. This article presents a brief examination of the historical relationship between technology and leisure, before examining the implications of technological change for themes in leisure and Internet research. Examined with reference to computer technology and the use of the Internet are (a) activity, place, and meaning; (b) leisure freedom and constraint; (c) deviant leisure; and (d) leisure and health.

Brynjolfsson, E. and B. Kahin (2000). Understanding the Digital Economy: Data, Tools, and Research. Cambridge, MA, MIT Press.
The rapid growth of electronic commerce, along with changes in information, computing, and communications, is having a profound effect on the United States economy. President Clinton recently directed the National Economic Council, in consultation with executive branch agencies, to analyze the economic implications of the Internet and electronic commerce domestically and internationally, and to consider new types of data collection and research that could be undertaken by public and private organizations.

This book contains work presented at a conference held by executive branch agencies in May 1999 at the Department of Commerce. The goals of the conference were to assess current research on the digital economy, to engage the private sector in developing the research that informs investment and policy decisions, and to promote better understanding of the growth and socioeconomic implications of information technology and electronic commerce. Aspects of the digital economy addressed include macroeconomic assessment, organizational change, small business, access, market structure and competition, and employment and the workforce. (Authors' abstract)

Buchanan, R. A. (1979). History and Industrial Civilization. London, Macmillan.

Buchanan, T. (2000). Potential of the Internet for Personality Research. Psychological Experiments on the Internet. M. H. Birnbaum. San Diego, CA, Academic Press: 121-265.

Buchanan, T. (2000). "Internet Research: Self-Monitoring and Judgments of Attractiveness." Behavior Research Methods Instruments & Computers 32: 521-527.
Two studies examined the relationship between self-monitoring and factors influencing romantic attraction to others. In Study I, participants completed an Internet-mediated version of the Self-Monitoring Scale (Gangestad & Snyder, 1985) and indicated which of two people (one physically attractive, one with a more desirable personality) they found most attractive. Results matched previous findings (Snyder, Berscheid, & Glick, 1985), but the effect was smaller. Study 2, a paper-and-pencil replication of Study 1, examined whether the weaker effect was due to Internet mediation and found no differences in the choices made by high and low self-monitors. Results suggested that while determinants of attraction may vary for different populations, Internet research methods can tap the same phenomena as traditional laboratory studies. (Author's abstract)

Buchanan, T. and J. L. Smith (1999). "Research on the Internet: Validation of the World-Wide Web Mediated Personality Scale." Behavior Research Methods, Instruments and Computers 31: 565-571.

Buchanan, T. and J. L. Smith (1999). "Using the Internet for Psychological Research: Personality Testing on the World Wide Web." British Journal of Psychology 90: 125-144.

Bucur, A., C. I. Renold, et al. (1999). "How do older netcitizens compare with their younger counterparts?" Cyberpsychology & Behavior 2(6): 505-513.
Compared senior citizen's use of the Internet compared to the general
population. Data from 2 surveys were analyzed: (1) a web-based
longitudinal survey, the Georgia Tech University WWW User Survey and (2)
the Current Population Survey (US Bureau of Census, March 1997). Results
show several age-based differences in how the Internet is used. All Ss
used email and read news but Ss aged 65+ years were less likely to search
the Internet, shop online, or buy tickets online. However, once older Ss
became more experienced with the Internet, their online skills and
activities were similar to those of younger Ss. Of experienced Internet
users, Ss aged 65+ years were more likely to have placed orders, completed
major purchases, bought books, and used directories, whereas younger Ss
were more likely to have created and customized web pages or taken
seminars online. Findings suggest that older citizens are becoming more
involved in Internet use. (author's abstract)

Bucy, E. P. (2000). "Social Access to the Internet." Harvard International Journal of Press-Politics 5: 50-61.
The relative costs and expertise associated with using the Internet, labeled technological and social access, have led to a concern about the rise of a "digital divide" between information haves and have-nots. To address whether and to what extent the Internet has become a medium of the masses and to identify the factors associated with social access to the Internet, I examine Internet use data from two statewide surveys, the Carolina Poll and the Indiana Poll, conducted during spring 1998. Multivariate analysis reveals that income, education, age, and family structure are important social determinants of on-line access and that Internet use is lowest among single mothers, members of lower socioeconomic groups, and older respondents. Although the online population is beginning to diversify, the Internet cannot yet claim a committed, nonelite mass audience. It is argued that the disparities in Internet use portend a looming information gap between those with access and those without.

Bulliet, R. (1994). Determinism and Pre-Industrial Technology. Does Technology Drive History? M. R. Smith and L. Marx. Cambridge, MA, MIT Press: 201-216.
These thirteen essays explore a crucial historical question that has been notoriously hard to pin down: To what extent, and by what means, does a society's technology determine its political, social, economic, and cultural forms?

Karl Marx launched the modern debate on determinism with his provocative remark that "the hand-mill gives you society with the feudal lord; the steam-mill, society with the industrial capitalist," and a classic article by Robert Heilbroner (reprinted here) renewed the debate within the context of the history of technology. This book clarifies the debate and carries it forward.

Marx's position has become embedded in our culture, in the form of constant reminders as to how our fast-changing technologies will alter our lives. Yet historians who have looked closely at where technologies really come from generally support the proposition that technologies are not autonomous but are social products, susceptible to democratic controls. The issue is crucial for democratic theory. These essays tackle it head-on, offering a deep look at all the shadings of determinism and assessing determinist models in a wide variety of historical contexts.
(MIT Press)

Burgoon, J. K., J. A. Bonito, et al. (2000). "Interactivity in Human-Computer Interaction: A Study of Credibility, Understanding, and Influence." Computers in Human Behavior 16: 553-574.
Advancements in computer technology have allowed the development of human-appearing and -behaving virtual agents. This study examined if increased richness and anthropomorphism in interface design lead to computers being more influential during a decision-making task with a human partner. In addition, user experiences of the communication format, communication process, and the task partner were evaluated for their association with various features of virtual agents. Study participants completed the Desert Survival Problem (DSP) and were then randomly assigned to one of five different computer partners or to a human partner (who was a study confederate). Participants discussed each of the items in the DSP with their partners and were then asked to complete the DSP again. Results showed that computers were more influential than human partners but that the latter were rated more positively on social dimensions of communication than the former. Exploratory analysis of user assessments revealed that some features of human-computer interaction (e.g. utility and feeling understood) were associated with increases in anthropomorphic features of the interface. Discussion focuses on the relation between user perceptions, design features, and task outcomes. (Authors' abstract)

Burke, J. (1999). The Knowledge Web: From Electronic Agents to Stonehenge and Back – and Other Journeys Through Knowledge. NY, Simon and Schuster.

Burke, J. and R. Ornstein (1995). The Axemakers Gift: A Double-Edged History of Human Culture. New York, G. P. Putnams's Sons.
Who better to trace over millennia the political, economic, psychological, and moral consequences of our species' technological breakthroughs than these two lively thinkers: Burke, host of the award-winning PBS and BBC series Connections and The Day the Universe Changed, and Ornstein, a Stanford and University of California medical center professor who has written more than 20 books, including The Evolution of Consciousness (1991) and The Roots of the Self (1993). Their argument is that the technological geniuses among us, "axemakers," improved our lives but also "redefined the way we thought, the values by which we lived, and the truths for which we died." We were given the world "in exchange for our minds." How? By valuing over all other human capacities the precise, sequential thought processes required to "cut- and-control" nature, each axemaker gift--from prehistoric times to the postmodern global economy--has, at least on some levels, reinforced caste distinctions between people permitted by nature and/or nurture to be "axemakers" and all other human beings. After sketching generation upon generation of the axemakers' short-term technological solutions and their unintended consequences, the authors paradoxically see hope in a new axemaker gift: information available in a "webbed" (rather than sequential) format on decentralized computer networks could empower non-axemakers to find more holistic, long-term approaches to our species'--and the planet's--problems. An eclectic, demanding analysis that will appeal to thoughtful readers. (Amazon.com Review by Mary Carroll)

Burke, S. K. (2000). "In Search of Lesbian Community in an Electronic World." Cyberpsychology & Behavior 3: 591-604.
Abstract: Studies have shown that friendship groups and a sense of community are important in the creation of positive lesbian identities. Sometimes it is difficult, however, for lesbians to meet other lesbians. The Internet has become an important source for many lesbians to connect with each other to find potential partners and create community ties. Giddens' idea of the creation of self-identity through continually revised self-narratives and choices among lifestyle options are used to suggest that lesbian personals ads are not just inventories of personal attributes for sale or exchange, but deliberate creations of self-definitions. As such, writing personals ads illustrates "reflexively organized life-planning." In this study of lesbian Internet personals ads, both qualitative and quantitative analyses were done. Qualitatively, the ads were placed in a conceptual hierarchy of types of interactions sought by the advertisers. The analyses reveal that two-thirds of advertisers were looking for types of meaningful relationships ranging from friendships to life-partnerships. The remainder of the advertisers were seeking non-meaningful interactions, from information to tour guides to casual sexual encounters. Many advertisers wanted to connect with lesbian communities in their own geographic regions or in places where they were planning to relocate or visit. Quantitative analysis was then done to compare contents of online ads to previously studied print ads. Results suggest that online ads are generally longer and more narrative than print ads as a result of fewer space restrictions and other factors.

Burris, B. H. (1998). "Computerization of the Workplace." Annual Reviews Sociology 24: 141-157.
Divergent conceptualizations of the recent changes in work organization that have accompanied computerization include neo-Bravermanian analyses, postindustrial analyses, and contingency analyses. To make sense of these differing views, the paper surveys sociological research on computerization and its impact on three analytically separate dimensions of the workplace: organizational restructuring, changes in worker skill, and power and authority relationships. The review reveals that computerized work organizations typically have fewer hierarchical levels, a bifurcated workforce, frequently with race and sex segregation, a less formal structure, and diminished use of internal labor markets and reliance instead on external credentialing. Variable patterns of centralization and decentralization occur, and workplace power relationships interact with technological change to produce variable political outcomes. With regard to worker skills, recent evidence suggests aggregate upskilling with some deskilling and skill bifurcation. Future research should more closely analyze the process of technological design and implementation (from author’s abstract).

Burt, R. S. (1995). Structural Holes : The Social Structure of Competition. Chicago, IL, Belknap Press.

Burton, M. C. and J. B. Walther (2001). "The Value of web log data in use-based design and testing." JCMC 6(3).
Web-based logs contain potentially useful empirical data with which World
Wide Web (Web) designers and design theorists can assess usability and
effectiveness of design choices. Most Web design guidelines from artistic
or usability principles feature no empirical validation, while empirical
studies of Web use typically rely on observer ratings. Web server logs and
client-side logs can provide naturally-occurring, unobtrusive usage data,
partially amenable to normative use assessments but particularly useful in
experimental research comparing alternative Web designs. Identification of
types of Web server logs, client logs, types and uses of log data, and
issues associated with the validity of these data are enumerated.
Frameworks that outline how sources of use-based data can be triangulated
to assess Web design are illustrated. Finally, an approach to
experimentation that overcomes many data validity issues is presented and
illustrated through a pilot experiment that used server logs to compare
user responses to frames, popup, and scrolling arrangements of a single Web site.

Butler, M. A. and B. R. Kingma (1998). "The Economics of Information in the Networked Environment." Journal of Library Administration 26: 1-296.
Discusses managing costs to libraries of access to and delivery of electronic information, with special reference to electronic publishing, intellectual property rights, resource sharing, document delivery, and institutional investment in digital resources; focus on academic and research libraries; 17 articles and panel discussions; US.

Byrne, M. D., B. E. John, et al. (1999). The Tangled Web We Wove: A Taskonomy of W\NW Use Organizing Information on the Web. Proceedings of ACM CHI 99 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.
A prerequisite to the effective design of user interfaces is an understanding of the tasks for which that interface will actually be used. Surprisingly little task analysis has appeared for one of the most discussed and fastest-growing computer applications, browsing the World-Wide Web (WWW). Based on naturally-collected verbal protocol data, we present a taxonomy of tasks undertaken on the WWW. The data reveal that several previous claims about browsing behavior are questionable, and suggests that that widget-centered approaches to interface design and evaluation may be incomplete with respect to good user interfaces for the Web. (authors' abstract)

Cai, X. and W. Gantz. (2000). "Online privacy issues associated with Web sites for children." Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 44: 197-214.
Examines collection of personal information from children using the Internet for marketing purposes; assesses degree to which Web sites have complied with industry self-regulatory guidelines; data from content analysis of 166 sites from May-July 1998; US. Some focus on parental involvement.

Cairncross, F. (1997). The Death of Distance: How the Communications Revolution Will Change Our Lives., Harvard Business School Press.

Callister, T. A. and N. C. Burbules. (1998). "Paying the Piper: The Educational Cost of the Commercialization of the Internet." Electronic Journal of Sociology 3.
The enormous educational potential of the Internet is threatened by the increasing commercialization of cyberspace. Beyond the obvious and often prohibitive costs of hardware, software, and Internet connectivity associated with entry into the world of new Information Technologies, the presence of commercial advertising has a deleterious affect on both the credibility of information found on sites hosting advertisements, and access to information with little mass appeal. The presence of the commercial and the educational existing side by side in cyberspace also has the potential to form troubling new relationships that may serve to foster consumerism more than education and exacerbate the serious issues of surveillance and privacy. (Adapted from the source document)

Camp, L. J. (2000). Trust and Risk in Internet Commerce. Cambridge, MA, MIT Press.
As Internet-based commerce becomes commonplace, it is important that we examine the systems used for these financial transactions. Underlying each system is a set of assumptions, particularly about trust and risk. To evaluate systems, and thus to determine one's own risks, requires an understanding of the dimensions of trust: security, privacy, and reliability.

In this book Jean Camp focuses on two major yet frequently overlooked issues in the design of Internet commerce systems--trust and risk. Trust and risk are closely linked. The level of risk can be determined by looking at who trusts whom in Internet commerce transactions. Who will pay, in terms of money and data, if trust is misplaced? When the inevitable early failures occur, who will be at risk? Who is "liable" when there is a trusted third party? Why is it necessary to trust this party? What exactly is this party trusted to do? To answer such questions requires an understanding of security, record-keeping, privacy, and reliability. The author's goal is twofold: first, to provide information on trust and risk to businesses that are developing electronic commerce systems; and second, to help consumers understand the risks in using the Internet for purchases and show them how to protect themselves. Rather than propose a single model of an Internet commerce system, the author provides the information and insights needed by merchants and consumers as they develop the Internet for commerce. (from Amazon)

Campbell, C. and P. Maglio (1999). "Facilitating Navigation in Information Spaces: Road-Signs on the World Wide Web." International Journal of Human-Computer Studies 50: 309-327.
A series of experiments was conducted to evaluate whether simple hyperlink annotations- traffic lights that represent Internet connection speeds-can facilitate web navigation. Traffic lights are small red, yellow or green images added around the anchor text of each link indicating its connection speed, red for slow, yellow for somewhat fast and green for fastest. The first two experiments showed that traffic lights do not facilitate perceptual processes involved in web navigation (i.e. link localization and visual search). However, traffic lights also do not distract from the process of finding links in hypertext documents and, thus have no perceptual performance cost. The third experiment showed that traffic lights facilitate web navigation performance by improving link evaluation and decision processes. This improvement is particularly marked when link relevance is low or undifferentiated. It was concluded that supplying users with information about Internet connection speeds improves web navigation performance. Thus, traffic lights provide functional cues for efficiently navigating the web. (authors' abstract)

Card, S. K., T. P. Moran, et al. (1983). The Psychology of Human-Computer Interaction. NJ, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Designing human-computer interfaces is still an art, learned best by creating many interfaces and carefully observing how real users interact with them. However, there are many tools from cognitive psychology that, if understood and applied, can yeild at least two benefits. First, by learning what is known about how humans operate, you can avoid many pitfalls in design. Second, you can make quantitative design decisions.

This book, though nearly 20 years old, contains much essential material that is unknown to many practitioners in the field! If you are designing interfaces, on the Web, for PCs, or for information appliances, you should read and understand the basic material in this book, which can never go out of date as long as humans use keyboards and mice with their hands and scan the screen with their eyes. (Jeff Raskin abstract)

Cardwell, D. (1994). The Norton History of Technology. New York, W.W. Norton & Company.

Cardwell, D. (1972). Turning Points in Western Technology. New York, Science History Publications.

Carroll, J. M. and M. B. Rosson (1996). "Developing the Blacksburg Electronic Village." Communications of the ACM 39: 69-75.
Presents an overview on the local community network in Blacksburg, Virginia. Community network projects; Human impact; Network technology; Reintegration of community. (Author's abstact from EBSCO Host).

Carroll, M. W. (1996). "Garbage in: emerging media and regulation of unsolicited commercial solicitations." Berkeley Technology Law Journal 11: 233-80.
How to regulate unsolicited advertising distributed by electronic mail; discusses labeling requirements, restrictions on sale of personal information, and bans on electronic solicitations; US.

Castellá, V. O., A. M. A. Zornoza, et al. (2000). "The influence of familiarity among group members, group atmosphere and assertiveness on uninhibited behavior through three different communication media." Computers In Human Behavior 16: 141-159.
The study of the influence of new information technologies (NIT) on verbal communication has attracted attention from researchers. Results obtained in previous studies suggest that NIT communication media produce a deindividualization in group processes that enhances uninhibited behavior and flaming. However, identity theory emphasizes the role of social context, challenging the interpretation that features of the media are the main antecedent of this behavior. The aim of the present paper is threefold: (1) to empirically test whether there are significant differences in the frequency of uninhibited behavior in groups working under face-to-face, videoconference and computer-mediated communication; (2) to test whether familiarity among group members, group climate, assertiveness and their interactions significantly predict uninhibited behavior in groups, regardless of the communication media; and (3) to analyze whether communication media moderate the prediction of these variables on informal speech and flaming. The experiment was carried out with 28 groups of five subjects each. Results show that informal speech and flaming present higher rates in computer mediated communication than in videoconference and face-to-face. Social familiarity among group members significantly predicts mild uninhibited behavior regardless of the medium, but does not account for flaming. Communication media moderate the prediction power of familiarity and its interaction with assertiveness and group climate on mild uninhibited behavior (informal speech). Results are discussed in relation to the alternative theories and models formulated. (authors' abstract)

Castells, M. (2001). Internet Galaxy: Reflections on the Internet, Business and Society. New York, Oxford University Press.
The latest book by Castells is a broad survey and synthesis of the recent research about the economic, cultural, social and political influences of the Internet, as well as a discussion of various related issues such as copyright, the digital divide and globalization. Castells also addresses the future directions of Internet development and penetration. Although in places the arguments are too broad and very optimistic, the book is well researched, backed by a lot of statistical data, and includes very useful lists of "reading links" and "e-links" at the end of each chapter. (Annotated by Webshop 2002 Participant)

Based on the author's Clarendon Lectures in Management at Oxford
University, this work focuses on the Internet and the future of networked
societies. More specifically, Castells (sociology, Univ. of California,
Berkeley; The Information Age: Economy, Society, and Culture) examines
cultures spawned by the Internet as well as the Internet's effects on
culture. He provides balanced coverage of e-business and the new economy;
the politics of the Internet, including privacy and freedom; and the
geography of the Internet. Thereafter, he considers how those topics have
influenced the globalization of the Internet and the growing digital divide.
This thoroughly researched volume features numerous international examples
and statistics that effectively illustrate key points and make the book
truly global in scope. With his knack for analyzing contemporary society,
Castells has produced a timely book indeed. Including constructive lists of
"reading links" and "e-links" at the end of each chapter, the text would
serve as a good companion for courses in the social and computer sciences.
Highly recommended for academic libraries. Colleen Cuddy, New York Univ.
Sch. of Medicine Lib. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information. From
Library Journal, Barnes&Noble Reviews)

Castells, M. (2000). The Rise of the Network Society. Oxford, Blackwell Pub.
The Rise of the Network Society, the first volume in a trilogy collectively known as the Information Age, has earned Manuel Castells comparisons to such illustrious social critics as Max Weber and Karl Marx. Just as they worked to make sense of industrial capitalism, so does Castells put forth a systemic analysis of the global informational capitalism that emerged in the last half of the 20th century. While many books have considered the development of increasingly sophisticated information technology, the shifting conditions of employment and responsibility within corporations, or the rise of corporations whose domains are spread out over several nation-states, Castells unites these topics in a comprehensive thesis, negotiating the tightrope between academic sociology and mainstream business analysis. (Amazon.com Editorial Reviews)

Castelluccio, M. (1999). "E-mail in Real Time." Strategic Finance 81: 34-38.
Reports that instant message (IM) could be the next important communication tool in finance. Online chat as a business application; Chat software; Essential elements of IM in the enterprise; Development of communities.

Catudal, J. N. (1999). Privacy & Rights to the Visual The Internet Debate. Lanham, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

Caudill, E. M. and P. E. Murphy (2000). "Consumer Online Privacy: Legal and Ethical Issues." Journal of Public Policy & Marketing 19: 7-19.
Consumer privacy is a public policy issue that has received substantial attention over the last thirty years. The phenomenal growth of the Internet has spawned several new concerns about protecting the privacy of consumers. The authors examine both historical and conceptual analyses of privacy and discuss domestic and international regulatory and self-regulatory approaches to confronting privacy issues on the Internet. The authors also review ethical theories that apply to consumer privacy and offer specific suggestions for corporate ethical policy and public policy as well as a research agenda.

Cave, M. and T. Valletti. (2000). "Are Spectrum Auctions Ruining Our Grandchildren's Future?" Information Communication & Society 2: 347-50.

Cawkell, T. (2001). "Sociotechnology: The Digital Divide." Journal of Information Science 27: 55-60.

Cawley, R. A. (1997). "Internet, lies and telephony." Telecommunications Policy 21: 513-32.
Examines Internet expansion in Europe and implications for upgrading of telecommunications local access and speed; EU chiefly, with comparison to the US. Includes discussion of Internet development, economics, pricing reform, and regulation.

Cerulo, K. (1997). "Reframing Sociological Concepts for a Brave New (Virtual?) World." Sociological Inquiry 67: 48-58.
The articles that make up this Sociological Inquiry feature emerged from the 1995 meetings of the American Sociological Association. The authors included in this issue were expressly solicited for a special session on "Technologically Generated Communities." The authors were asked to individually provide their own perspectives on the intersection of technology, community, and social action. My essay attempts to crystallize several key changes that the new communication technologies demand of conceptual frames long embraced by sociologists. In particular, the pages that follow propose some necessary adjustments to the ways in which sociologists formulate and apply three key analytic concepts: social interaction, social bonding, and empirical experience. (Author's abstract)

Ceruzzi, P. E. (1998). A History of Modern Computing. Cambridge, MA, MIT Press.

Chan, Y. E. (2000). "IT Value: The Great Divide Between Qualitative and Quantitative and Individual and Organizational Measures." Journal of Management Information Systems 16: 225-26.
Abstract: A comprehensive review was conducted of IT value articles in the Communications of the ACM, Information Systems Research, Journal of Management Information Systems, and MIS Quarterly from 1993 to 1998. IT-value measures published during this period were documented, classified, analyzed, and reported. The review of these journal articles revealed a schism between the use of organization-level measures and other measures, Communications of the ACM and Information Systems Research also provided strong evidence of a schism between the use of quantitative and qualitative measures in IT-value research. The Journal of Management Information Systems and MIS Quarterly data provided more limited evidence of this schism as well. These schisms have become more pronounced over time. This may be due partly to an increasing reliance on secondary data set analyses that use only quantitative measures and organization-level analyses. The current research confirmed what many researchers suspect-schisms exist, and may be deepening, in IT-value research.

Chanda, N. (2000). "The digital divide: the gap between rich and poor is growing, but can innovators help to close it?" Far Eastern Economic Review 163(42): 50-3.
Part of a special section on the third annual Asian Innovation Awards. The writer considers whether innovation can help close the gap between the rich and the poor. He discuses the emergence of the "Digital Divide," which is the term used to highlight the fact that only 5 percent of the world is connected to the Internet. He notes that there are many people, companies, and world bodies who are investing considerable effort in applying technological innovations to intractable poverty. He details a number of examples of the various technologies being used around the world in this regard. He points to Mari Kuraishi, senior partner at the World Bank's Corporate Strategy Group, who points out that many hi-tech ideas are developed in the private sector where there is no financial incentive to market them in poor areas, and that entrepreneurship, private-sector development, and access to capital are underdeveloped in many poor countries. The writer describes some of the low- and hi-tech innovations that are being developed to help alleviate poverty. (from Social Sciences Abstracts)

Chase, L. and J. Alvarez (2000). "Internet Research: The Role of the Focus Group." Library & Information Science Research 22: 357-369.
LIS researchers have used the face-to-face focus group interview for many years. Other researchers have recently embraced a new rendition of the locus group-the online focus group. This article examines face-to-face and online focus group modes through a review of actual research experiences using the two approaches. Relevant literature is considered. Comparisons are then drawn as to similarities and contrasts in methodology, group dynamics, and group communication. Within this context, possible applications of the online focus group approach for library and in formation science researchers and practitioners can be considered. Rapid development of technology coupled with the face- to-face and the online focus group approaches may allow the creation and implementation of the hybrid version, the virtual focus group. (Authors' abstract)

Chen, P. and S. M. Hinton (1999). Realtime Interviewing Using the World Wide Web. Sociological Research Online. 4.
This paper outlines the adaptation of in-depth interviewing using World Wide Web-based interviewing software between the interviewer and their subject. Through a structured, realtime interviewing process the researcher is able to use the Internet to facilitate communication, recording interviews directly to a file without incurring the costs associated with traditional face-to-face or telephone interviews. The benefits of this approach are the ability of the researcher to conduct inexpensive interviewing over distances and elimination of transcription costs from the research process, allowing the researcher to undertake a wider range of interviews than may be possible on a limited budget. The interview method has problems associated with the depth of material available from this approach, the loss of paralinguistic cues and the limited size of the available sample, limitations that must be accounted for by any researcher considering using the approach. Adapted from the source document.

Cherny, L. (1999). Conversation and Community: Chat in a Virtual World. Stanford, CSLI Publication.
In this book Cherny gives an ethnographic study of MUDs where conversation is the primary method of communication with objects that participants could look at. Cherny used the MUD community as a primary medium where her class could meet and interact synchronously in a virtual world. She also discusses the many types of MUDs: MUCKs, MUSHes, UnterMUDs, LP MUDs, and MOOs. Her approach to studying the MUD is tailored after Bell and Newby. She takes the six approaches to the study of community: the ecological approach, communities as organizations, communities as microcosms, community study as a method, communities as types and community and networks. She further refines her study by introducing one MUD; The ElseMOO community. It contains object oriented MUDs, and has relatively rigid policy toward building, with only few users empowered to build. She also discusses MUD registers, and in particular ElseMOO jargon and in-jokes. In chapter 4 she discusses turn-taking and back channels and discusses the concept of 'Interactivity' which Rafaeli (1988) theorizes as "an expression of the extent that in a given series of communication exchanges, any third (or later) transmission (or message) is related to the degree to which previous exchanges referred to even earlier transmissions" (Cherny, p. 149; Rafaeli, p. 111). For further reading on the theory of 'Interactivity':
Rafaeli, S. (1988) Interactivity: From new media to communication. In R. B. Pawkins. J. M. Wiemann, and S. Pingree, eds., Advancing communication science: Merging mass and interpersonal processes, vol. 16, pp. 110-133. Sage Annual Reviews of Communication Research. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage. (Annotated by Chadia Abras)

Chidambaram, L. and I. Zigurs (2001). Our Virtual World : The Transformation of Work, Play, and Life via Technology. Hershey, PA, Idea Group Pub.
Since the dawn of civilization, new technologies - from the plow to the locomotive to the computer have transformed human lives. These changes have often been for the better, but occasionally also for the worse. Today's new technologies are no exception. They are dramatically changing the way we work, play and live. Our Virtual World: The Transformation of Work, Play and Life via Technology explores how these real changes have helped create our virtual world and examines the impact of these changes on individuals, organizations and society. (From Amazon.com book review).

Childers, T. (1975). The Information-Poor in America. Metuchen, NJ, Scarecrow Press.

Cho, H. and R. LaRose. (1999). "Privacy Issues in Internet Surveys." Social Science Computer Review 17: 421-434.
Surveys administered over the Internet have been plagued by low response rates &, at times, have provoked respondent rebellions against researchers who stand accused of broadcasting noxious unwanted e-mail or "spam." Here, the issue is examined from the perspective of social science research on privacy to understand the unique privacy context of Internet-based survey research. Online surveyors commit multiple violations of physical, informational, & psychological privacy that can be more intense than those found in conventional survey methods.

Internet surveys also invade the interactional privacy of online communities, a form of privacy invasion seldom encountered with traditional survey methods. Recommendations for improving response rates to online surveys are offered, using accepted privacy protection practices already found on the Internet as well as emerging Internet technologies. 1 Table, 1 Figure, 76 References. (Adapted from the source document).

Choi, S.-Y., D. O. Stahl, et al. (1997). The Economics of Electronic Commerce. Indianapolis, Macmillan Technical.
Introduces the underlying economic aspects of electronic commerce. Examines electronic commerce and the Internet; the characteristics of digital products and processes; and the Internet infrastructure and various pricing strategies for the network. Analyzes the critical problems of quality uncertainty and explores the role of intermediaries in preventing market failure. Discusses copyright protection as a means to promote market efficiency and product quality in electronic commerce. Analyzes how sellers can signal product quality to their buyers using advertising and other marketing strategies. Considers consumers' search for information and how electronic commerce is affected by buyer initiatives to find out about product quality and prices. Discusses issues of product choice and customization; the use of information about consumer preferences; and discriminatory pricing. Examines online financial services and electronic payment systems, especially those systems based on digital currency, and explores their impact on the monetary system and policy. Considers the business and policy implications of electronic commerce. Suggests directions for future economic research into the emerging electronic marketplace. Choi, Stahl, and Whinston are at the University of Texas. Index.

Choi, S.-Y. and A. B. Whinston. (2000). The Internet Economy: Technology and Practice., SmartEcon Publishing.

Chou, C. and M. C. Hsiao (2000). "Internet Addiction, Usage, Gratification, and Pleasure Experience: The Taiwan College Students' Case." Computers & Education 35.
This study explores Internet addiction among some of the Taiwan's college students. Also covered are a discussion of the Internet as a form of addiction, and related literature on this issue. This study used the Uses and Gratifications theory and the Play theory in mass communication. Nine hundred and ten valid surveys were collected from 12 universities and colleges around Taiwan. The results indicated that Internet addiction does exist among some of Taiwan's college students. In particular, 54 students were identified as Internet addicts, It was found that Internet addicts spent almost triple the number of hours connected to the Internet as compare to non-addicts, and spent significantly more time on BBSs, the WWW, e-mail and games than non-addicts. The addict group found the Internet entertaining, interesting, interactive, and satisfactory. The addict group rated Internet impacts on their studies and daily life routines significantly more negatively than the non-addict group. The study also found that the most powerful predictor of Internet addiction is the communication pleasure score, followed by BBS use hours, sex, satisfaction score, and e-mail-use hours.

Chowdary, T. H. (1999). "India's Evolution into an Information Society." Information Communication & Society 1: 171-76.
India has acknowledged that the extensive and intensive use of information and communications technologies (ITC) alone can help the nation develop its hitherto neglected human resources, emerge in the information age as a knowledge-based society and participate competitively in the world trade in services. First articulated by the Chief Minister of the State of Andhra Pradesh, as his state's `Vision 2020', the development of ICT has become a national issue, picked up by the Union Government in Delhi. Extensive use and promotion of ICT and informatization of the Indian society raises a number of policy issues: demonopolization of telecoms; universal accessibility to the internet, especially in the rural and remote areas; and the rapid spread of literacy, education and excellence so that ICT use does not accentuate the disparities between different sections of society. This article addresses these issues and suggests how the initial moves, necessarily centred around the elite and urban segments, should avoid arousing hostility elsewhere and how the development should be funded.

Chuang, J. C.-I. and M. A. Sirbu. (1999). "Optimal Bundling Strategy for Digital Information Goods: Network Delivery of Articles and Subscriptions." Information Economics & Policy 11: 147-76.
The digitization and networking of information goods necessitate a rethinking of their production and distribution economics. An N- good bundling model with multi-dimensional consumer preferences is developed to study the key factors that determine the optimal bundling strategy. Using analytical and empirical methods, mixed bundling is established as the dominant (i.e. profit maximizing) strategy. Pure unbundling is also shown to outperform pure bundling, even in the presence of some degree of economies of scale, if consumers positively value only a subset of the bundle components, which is the predominant case in the academic journal context. These results provide strong incentives for academic journal publishers to engage in mixed bundling, i.e. offer both individual articles and journal subscriptions, when selling and delivering over the Internet.

Civille, R., M. Gurstein, et al. (2001). Access to What? First Miles Issues for Broadband, Computer Science and Telecommunications Board, National Research Council: 1-29.
Rural communities may be at risk of falling behind in their quality of life and their economic state, if they are unable (or unwilling) to use information technology effectively and to use the Internet. The authors discuss how the town leaders of regional public and private partnerships need to become knowledgeable about technology in order to meet the technological needs of local businesses, organizations, and institutions. They believe that the perceived value of local citizens of various applications of technology is essential since the federal government abandoned the use of technology in rural areas after studying their access levels. (Annotated by Laura Duffy)

Clark, R. and M. Maynard (1998). "Research Methodology: Using Online Technology for Secondary Analysis of Survey Research Data-"Act Globally, Think Locally."" Social Science Computer Review 16: 58-71.
The impact & importance of online technology for performing secondary analyses of survey research are examined. An overview of the development of online technology discusses the utility of common gateway interface scripts, the creation of nonspecialist programming languages, the recommended hardware requirements for performing data analyses, & the availability & benefits of UNIX server workstations. It is contended that online technology offers the most efficient & economical medium of transferring data & has permitted the general public, government officials, students, & researchers to access survey data. Several online sources for question-level survey data - including the Roper Center for Public Opinion, Europinion, the Instit for Social Research, & ZEUS - are profiled. A model that facilitates the location, acquisition, & analysis of survey data based on the Data Exploration Program is described; specific attention is directed toward the model's interface & future innovations. It is concluded that the Internet remains an underexploited medium for locating & acquiring survey data.

Coates, V. and B. Finn (1979). A Retrospective Technology Assessment: Submarine Telegraphy – The Transatlantic Cable of 1866. San Francisco, San Francisco Press.

Cockburn, A. and S. Jones (1996). "Which Way Now? Analysing and Easing Inadequacies in WWW Navigation." International Journal of Human-Computer Studies 45: 105-129.
This paper examines the usability of the hypertext navigation facilities provided by World Wide Web client applications. A notation is defined to represent the user's navigational acts and the resultant system states. The notation is used to report potential, or "theoretical" problems in the models of navigation supported by three web client applications. A usability study confirms that these problems emerge in actual use, and demonstrates that incorrect user models of the clients' facilities are common. A usability analysis identifies inadequacies in the clients' interfaces.

Motivated by the analysis of usability problems, we propose extensions to the design of WWW client applications. These proposals are demonstrated by our system WEBNET which uses dynamic graphical overview diagrams to extend the navigational facilities of conventional World Wide Web client applications. Related work on graphical overview diagrams for web navigation is reviewed. (authors' abstract)

Cody, M. J., D. Dunn, et al. (1999). "Silver Surfers: Training and evaluating Internet use among older adult learners." Communication Education 48: 269-286.
292 older adult learners (averaging 80 years of age) were recruited from
assisted and independent living facilities to learn about computer
technologies and surf the Internet. A training program designed for adult
learners involved weekly meetings with a mentor who helped individuals
visit sites of their own choosing. Those who learned to surf the Internet
had more positive attitudes toward aging, higher levels of perceived
social support, and higher levels of connectivity. Surfers spent more time
on-line when computer efficacy was high, computer anxiety low, and
attitudes toward aging were positive. Participation in the 4-month program
was associated with significantly reduced computer anxiety and increased
ratings of perceived social support and connectivity. (author's abstract)

Cogburn, D. L. and C. N. Adeya (2002). Prospects for the Digital Economy in South Africa: Technology, Policy, People, and Strategies, United Nations University, Institute for New Technologies.
Explores the on-going development of a global digital economy through a case-study analysis of its impact on and prospects in South Africa. It argues that four factors are key to understanding the impact of the digital economy on a developing country: (1) the level of technology, including its information and communications infrastructure and system of production and distribution; (2) the policy and regulatory framework and initiatives; (3) the human capacity and income distribution; and (4) the strategic approach of the state in response to dramatic global and domestic processes. Key findings of the study are as follows: an insufficient information and communications infrastructure remains a barrier to growth of the information economy in South Africa, especially in peri-urban and rural areas; awareness of the importance of the information economy is growing, but current human resources and development strategies are insufficient to meet human capital requirements; significant efforts have been made in order to re-orient the South African policy environment into one supportive of growth in a global digital economy; and South Africa's role as a leading African and developing world economy places additional burdens on its need to engage in regional, and global policy formulation activities in support of the emergence of a new regime for global e-commerce that is supportive of the strategic goals of the developing world. (http://www.wider.unu.edu/publications/dps/dp2001-77.pdf )

Cohill, A. M. and A. L. Kavanaugh, Eds. (2000). Community Networks: Lessons From Blacksburg, Virginia. Norwood, MA, Artech House, Inc.
Stories exploring life in "America's most wired town", Blacksburg, Virginia, have appeared in major publications internationally. Articles in Esquire, USA Weekend, and Reader's Digest have captured public's interest, and now there's a revealing inside look at the five-year evolution of the Blacksburg Electronic Village -- the ground-breaking venture that has linked the citizens of Blacksburg, Virginia to each other and to the rest of the world, based on 100% Internet technology.

The book explains exactly how the Blacksburg Community Network has developed, from its original concept in 1991 to how it is managed today. It addresses the social, economic, technical, and educational impact of living in a "connected town," based on community-wide surveys, focus groups, and data logging efforts. It shows the services currently offered and how they are used by community members, and discusses what has and hasn't worked -- and why. In addition, the book describes the essential components of a community network, and offers valuable "how to" advice on designing and developing an electronic community. (Amazon.com book review)

Cole, G. (2000). "Bridging the Gap." Times Educational Supplement 4402: 10-13.
Focuses on services and programs aimed at increasing access to high technology education tools in Great Britain. Program of Microsoft UK to encourage parents to become more interactive with schools' education programs; Web site introduced by Bromcom featuring attendance records and grades. (Author's Abstract from EBSCO Host 4/29/01)

Cole, T. W. (1995). "Mosaic on Public-access PCs: Letting the World Wide Web Into the Library." Computers in Libraries 15: 51.
Provides information on the `Mosaic,' a multi-platform World-Wide Web browser. Development of the program; Selection of a WINSOCK-compliant Dynamically Linked Library (DLL); Reduction of software security risks; Development of the Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME); Production of HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) documents. INSET: Some useful guidelines, starting points, and other electronic. (Author's Abstract from EBSCO Host 4/29/01)

Cole-Gomolski, B. (1997). Internet Mail Delivers the Goods. Computerworld. 31: 47-49.
Focuses on the increasing popularity of Internet-based mail systems. Incorporation of features previously available in proprietary environments such as Notes, Exchange and GroupWise; Potential for widespread adoption of Internet Access Protocol 4 (IMAP4); Companies that have migrated from proprietary environments to Internet mail systems. (Author's Abstract from EBSCO Host 4/29/01)

Comor, E. (2000). "Household Consumption on the Internet: Income, Time, and Institutional Contradictions." Journal of Economic Issues 34(1): 105-16.
Despite much enthusiasm, the emergence of the Internet as a medium for household consumption is complex and problematic. Using empirical evidence on household income, time and cultural capacities, and by conceptualizing consumption as Veblenian, this article asks: can consumers be compelled or convinced to spend money online at levels and at a pace commensurate with investments? Although Internet consumption is being embraced by the relatively income-rich and time-poor, the development of mass market online shopping will lag.

Compaine, B. M. and W. H. Read. (1999). The Information Resources Policy Handbook: Research for the Information Age. Cambridge, MIT Press.
Twenty-two papers, most previously published, dedicated to Anthony Oettinger on the occasion of his seventieth birthday, present research spanning nearly two decades of the Harvard Program on Information Resources Policy, of which Oettinger was a cofounder. Papers focus on the hype and the potential of interactive multimedia; whether computer communication will end geography; "compunications" technologies; understanding computers and communications; understanding the attractiveness of digital formats; the role of information technology standards in the information era; information products and services as bundles of substance, format, and process that can be taken apart and put together again; publishing as a creature of technology; communications; how best to match substance with formats and processes; the size, growth, and trends of the information industries, 1987-96; strategies for managing information in modern organizations; knowledge as a strategic business resource; new competition and new media; information and communications policy research; policies for freedom; regulating communications in the twenty-first century; Federal Communications Commission reform; cybercommunities and cybercommerce; problems and prospects for on-line commerce; political gridlock on the information highway; and information resources in the twenty-first century.

Coomber, R. (1997). "Using the Internet for Survey Research." Sociological Research Online. 2: U14-U23.
The Internet and electronic mail increasingly offer the research community opportunities that it did not previously have. Access to information has increased as has access to and discussion with those working in similar areas. One other aspect of 'cyberspace' which presents enormous possibilities to the research community, currently in its infancy, is the use of the Internet to reach individuals as research subjects. In particular, there may be significant research benefits to be gleaned where the group being researched is normally difficult to reach and/or the issues being researched are of a particularly sensitive nature. This paper outlines some recent survey research using the Internet as the interface between researcher and researched. The target group, illicit 'drug dealers', are difficult to access under normal conditions and contacting a spread of such individuals across international borders was previously prohibitive. A discussion of sampling issues is undertaken which concludes that the Internet can be a valuable source of indicative as opposed to easily generalizable data. A practical guide to undertaking research via the Internet is also included. (Author's abstract)

Cooper, A. (1998). "Sexuality and the Internet: Surfing Into the New Millennium." CyberPsychology & Behavior 1: 187-193.
Highlights a few of the ways that the Internet is having an effect on sexuality. To simplify and elucidate the points, the Internet's effect on sexuality is divided into the 3 broad categories: negative patterns, positive connections, and commercial aspects. In addition, 3 of the key factors that combine to give the Internet its power are delineated. They include Access, Affordability, and Anonymity or as they are called here the "Triple A." Finally, suggestions for how the field should deal with this phenomena are offered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2000 APA, all rights reserved)

Cooper, A. (1995). About Face: The Essentials of User Interface Design. CA, IDG Books.
The cleverest code in the world is worth nothing if a program's interface proves an unwieldy barrier to users. That's why programmers and designers alike will benefit from About Face: The Essentials of User Interface Design. Here, respected software designer Alan Cooper shares his own real-world experience and design principles so that you, too, can fashion intuitive, effective user interfaces. Applicable to multimedia and Web sites as well as application software, About Face is an invaluable resource for design professionals.

Synopsis The "father" of Visual Basic, Alan Cooper, presents a methodology of user interface design that he has distilled from many years of creating award-winning personal computer software. This book does not focus on code; instead it discusses highly technical topics in clear English. Readers may not agree with everything Cooper has to say about software design, but they will find his ideas pertinent, thought-provoking, and perceptive. (amazon.com abstract)

Cooper, J. (1995). Gender Issues and IT Workshops. Proceedings of OZCHI'95, the CHISIG Annual Conference on Human-Computer Interaction.
The suggestion that women cope differently with technology than men, requires exploration. A wide range of opinion has been forthcoming. This workshop provides the opportunity to discuss current opinion and research and to canvas ideas. This can be done by submitting short papers or by the provision of discussion points prior to the workshop. Many current publications comment on the role women have on the "Information Superhighway". Results from a recently conducted survey on Australian Women users of the Internet will be. Also discussed will be the employment and education of women in the IT sector.

As the world of IT is making an impact on our daily lives does it manifest a gender division? Can we change the current way of thinking and provide a positive status to the role of women? Headlines appear creating the image that "Women may miss the bus" so the workshop will endeavour to turn around the negative publicity into that of being positive. Is their a need to provide a more available resource that women can tap into?

World Wide Web sites that are particular to women and their role in providing support will be examined. The workshop will provide an opportunity to question the need for a site that will provide easier access and support to women in Australia. This site could be a source that women will use when needed and enable women that are in IT to have a common space. The future needs for women in IT and the role education and employment plays is important in giving ongoing support and encouragement that may be necessary to keep women in the IT sector. (author's abstract)

Cooper, M. N. (2000). Disconnected, Disadvantages, and Disenfranchised: Explorations in the Digital Divide., Consumer Federation of America.
need to find it

Corbitt, B. J. (2000). "Developing Intraorganizational Electronic Commerce Strategy: An Ethnographic Study." Journal of Information Technology 15: 119-130.
This paper presents an argument for qualitative research and the use of ethnography in information systems (IS) research using a detailed investigation of the types of strategies used in implementing electronic commerce in a corporate finance institution. The paper describes how these strategies were developed and why and models those responses. This paper confirms other studies which argue that certain key elements must be in place to ensure the successful implementation of information technology (IT) or electronic commerce. However, this research has highlighted the fact that there are important influential issues operating at another level within the organization studied. Politics and the power of vested interest groups within an organization and managerial misunderstanding about what electronic commerce is created unrealistic expectations of the innovation by management.

Correll, S. (1995). "The ethnography of an electronic bar: The Lesbian Café." Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 24(3): 270-299.
This article describes an electronic lesbian bar, the Lesbian Café (LC), which was created as a computer bulletin board system (BBS) on a major on-line computer service. Little has been written on BBS, but literature on a senior citizen BBS and on computer dating has shown that there are advantages to meeting people and interacting via the computer. The primary purpose of examining the LC were to discover how a community could be created and sustained through interaction restricted to the computer and by computer, and patrons were interviewed privately and in groups via electronic mail, via telephone, and in person. Results show that the appearance of the LC is affected both by the appearance of real-world bars and by the computer as a communication medium. This study also found that four types of patrons - regulars, "newbies," "lurkers," and "bashers" - collectively form this lesbian cyberspace community. These findings challenge the traditional notion of community by demonstrating that a community can be created in a different kind of space. (Annotated by Massanari)

Cortada, J. (1993). Before the Computer: IBM, NCR, Burroughs, Remington Rand and the Industry they Created, 1865 – 1956. Princeton, Princeton Univ. Press.
Historians and contemporary analysts of the computer industry have generally begun their studies in the 1950's, with the appearance of the fisrt commercial computers. James Cortada's Before the Computer is an initial attempt to understand the prehistory of the computer as a market phenomenon by examining what he refers to as the "proto- information-processing industry," the office equipment industry that arose and flourished between 1865 and 1956. Cortada, a long-time manager at IBM, focuses especially on the tabulating machinery business, the most direct market predecessor of the computer industry and the business in which IBM got its start, but he also looks at other segments of the office equipment industry. The book is divided into three sections. Part 1 looks at the "Origins of a New Industry, 1865-1920," primarily in the United States, in response to increasing demands for information to control growing companies in an expanding U.S. economy. In Part 2, "An Age of Office Machines, 1920-1941," the focus is primarily on the tabulating industry and the evolution of IBM and Remington Rand, though he also refers to the experiences of the other firms. Part 3 covers "World War II and the Postwar Office Appliance Industry, 1941 – 1956." Before the Computer performs an important service in challenging what might be termed the "big bang" theory of computers – the all-too-common assumption that computers represent a complete break with the past, in technology and markets. (Adapted From Yates, JoAnne. 1993. Journal of Economic History 53: 966-967, Book Reviews)

Corti, L. (1999). "Text, Sound and Videotape: The Future of Qualitative Data in the Global Network." IASSIST (International Association for Social Science Information Service and Technology) Quarterly 23.
Examines primary qualitative data as a new form of secondary analysis emerging in the social sciences, largely due to British social science funding organizations' move toward formalizing archiving policies of data created in the course of research such organizations fund; since 1967. Discusses how qualitative and quantitative data differ; possible implications for acquisition, preservation, dissemination, and re-use of qualitative data for data archives; required procedures for documenting and providing access to data, and solutions to related confidentiality problems; and questions about how traditional data archives may wish to consider acquiring, storing, and disseminating data.

Corti, L. and P. Thompson (1997). "Latest News from the ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council) Qualitative Data Archival Resource Centre." Critical Social Policy 17(85-89).
Reports on the QUALIDATA Resource Center at Essex, England, which was formed as part of the Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC). Its goals are to locate, assess, & document qualitative data, arrange its deposit in public archives, & disseminate data to researchers. The center maintains an information database, available on the Internet, about the extent & availability of qualitative research material in public depositories as well as work that remains with the researcher. Sets of qualitative material that have already been deposited in various depositories in the UK are described. Plans are underway for the creation of a National Social Policy & Social Change Archive based at the U of Essex. The collection will focus on post-1945 research on issues relating to social policy, structure, & welfare. A number of recently acquired databases available for use at Essex are described. J. Lindroth.

Cowan, R. (1991). "Tortoises and Hares: Choice Among Technologies of Unknown Merit." The Economic Journal 99: 116-131.

Crawford, S., M. P. Couper, et al. (2000). "Web Surveys: Perceptions of Burden." Social Science Computer Review 19: 146-162.
Web surveys appear to be attaining lower response rates than equivalent mail surveys. One reason may be that there is currently little information on effective strategies for increasing response to Internet-based surveys. Web users are becoming more impatient with high-burden Web interactions. The authors examined the decision to respond to a Web survey by embedding a series of experiments in a survey of students at the University of Michigan. A sample of over 4,500 students was sent an e-mail invitation to participate in a Web survey on affirmative action policies. Methodological experiments included using a progress indicator, automating password entry, varying the timing of reminder notices to nonrespondents, and using a prenotification report of the anticipated survey length. Each of these experiments was designed to vary the burden (perceived or real) of the survey request. Results of these experiments are presented. (Authors' abstract)

Cremer, J., P. Rey, et al. (2000). "Connectivity in the Commercial Internet." Journal of Industrial Economics 48: 433-472.
We study the 'backbone market' in the Internet. After discussing the structure of the Internet, we use an extension of the Katz-Shapiro network model to analyze the strategies that would be used by dominant backbone. We show that a larger backbone prefers a lower quality interconnection than the smaller one. We then analyze a 'targeted degradation' strategy where the larger backbone lowers the quality of interconnection to its smaller rivals in turn. Finally, we show that the qualitative results are robust to the possibility of multihoming' by clients.

Crispin, S. W. (2000). "Free for all?" Far Eastern Economic Review 163(38): 29.
In Thailand, where privatization of domestic telecommunications services is slated for later in 2000, concern is rising that rather than creating a more liberal, efficient market place, privatization may only widen a growing digital divide between rural and urban areas. Much depends on the discretionary powers of the yet-to-be-established National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), whose seven members must by law be free of political and private interests in the telecoms sector. The powers and duties that the NTC will have and the concerns that are arising in relation to whether vested interests rather than national interests will determine how the commission will operate are discussed. (from Social Sciences Abstracts)

Crowley, D. and P. Heyer (1991). Communication in History: Technology, Culture, Society. New York, Longman.

Cummings, J. N., B. Butler, et al. (2000). The quality of online social relationships., Carnegie Mellon University.
People are heavily using the Internet for interpersonal communication. Yet claims about the impact of the Internet on social relationships are controversial. The research summarized in this article compares the quality of online and offline social interaction and relationships. The studies compare bankers’ and college students’ evaluations of online and offline communication, the quality of social relationships sustained online versus offline offline among a sample of new Internet users, and the quality of social interaction in listservs, a type of online group. All of these studies suggest that computer-mediated communication, and especially electronic mail, is less valuable for building and sustaining close social relationships than other means, such as face-to-face contact and telephone conversations. The implications of these findings depend, however, on whether the interaction online adds to or substitutes for offline interaction and relationships. (authors' abstract)

Cummings, J. N. and R. Kraut (2000). Domesticating computers and the Internet., Carnegie Mellon University.
During the past 30 years there has been a substantial shift in who uses personal computers and the Internet and what they do while using them. In the beginning users were highly educated men in technical professions, who used personal computer and the Internet heavily for work. This paper uses data from three national phone surveys to document how personal computers and the Internet have become domesticated over the past 5 years and to explore the mechanisms for this shift. Now people logon more often from home, and use their computers and the Internet for pleasure and for personal purposes rather than for paid employment. Analyses comparing veteran versus novice Internet users in 1998 and comparing the change in use within a single sample between 1995 and 1996 support two complementary explanations for how these technologies have become domesticated: Shifting population of Internet users and shifting Internet environment. (authors' abstract)

Cummings, J. N., L. Sproull, et al. (2002). "Beyond hearing: Where the real-world and online support meet." Group Dynamics 6: 78-88.
A random sample survey of an online self-help group for people with hearing
loss was conducted. Two factors predicted active participation in the group: a
lack of real-world social support and being comparatively effective (having less
disability, coping more effectively, and using real-world professional
services). More active participation in the group was associated with more
benefits from the group and stronger reports of community orientation. The
authors also found evidence that integration of online and real-world support
(if it existed) benefited participants. That is, if supportive family and
friends in the real world shared the online group with participants,
participants reported above average benefits, whereas if supportive family and
friends were uninvolved in the online group, participants reported below average
benefits. (journal abstract)

Dahlberg, L. (2001). Extending the Public Sphere through Cyberspace: The Case of Minnesota E-Democracy. First Monday. 6: 3.
Over the last decade a lot has been said about the possibilities of the Internet enhancing the public sphere. The two-way, decentralized communications within cyberspace are seen as offering the basis by which to facilitate rational-critical discourse and hence develop public opinion that can hold state power accountable. However, this potential has largely gone unrealized. Instead, cyber-interaction is dominated by commercial activity, private conversation, and individualized forms of politics. In this paper I investigate how the present Internet may be used to more fully facilitate the public sphere. To do this I evaluate Minnesota E-Democracy, an Internet-based initiative that attempts to develop online public discourse. Drawing upon a model of the public sphere developed from Jürgen Habermas' work, I show how the initiative structures discourse to overcome many of the problems that presently limit democratic deliberation online. While some significant limitations do remain, I conclude that Minnesota E-Democracy provides a basis from which online deliberative initiatives can, given adequate resourcing and further research, extend the public sphere through the Internet. (author's abstract)

Damer, B. and A. Bruckman (1996). Peopled Online Virtual Worlds: A New Home for Cooperating Communities, a New Frontier for Interaction Design. Proceedings of ACM CSCW'96 Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work.
Multi-user virtual worlds are proliferating on the Internet. These are two and three dimensional graphical environments inhabited by users represented as digital actors called "avatars". Through this new medium for cooperating communities, a wide variety of Internet users are participating in a large scale social experiment and collaborating on a variety of projects. The inhabited virtual world is an exciting new medium for HCI professionals including interaction and graphic designers, and educators and researchers focused on distance learning and teleworking. It also appeals to children and ordinary users of the Internet as a vast new digital playground and a venue for personal expression. This panel will present a brief overview the inhabited virtual world medium and then discuss its merits and limitations as a medium for cooperating communities and interaction design.

Daraghai, B. (2001). E-Finance Forecast: A Consumer Guide. Money. 30: 129-132.
Focuses on the online financial industry in the United States as of March 2001. Outlook for stock and fund investing on the Internet; How banking transactions are not yet available online; Reluctance of consumers to make loan contracts online. (Ebsco abstract)

Daumas, M. (1962 (1979)). History of Technology and Inventions: Progress Through the Ages, 3 vols. New York, Crown.

David, P. A. (1991). The Hero the Herd in Technological History: Reflections on Thomas Edison and the Battle of Systems. Favorites of Fortune. P. Higonnet, D. S. Landes and H. Rosovsky. Cambridge, Harvard Univ. Press.
The essays range from a detailed empirical discussion of improvements in nutrition and health which brought increases in the ability to work harder, longer and more efficiently to several that are far more theoretical, emphasizing economic theory and model building or psychological, religious or cultural models. Some are detailed examinations of changes in a particular industry in a single country; others stress more general long-term comparative developments, including comparisons to contemporary third world countries; and still others consider the role of the public sector, the effects of managerial decision-making, the relationship between urbanization and innovation, and discrimination against women (from Harold Woodman's review in Journal of Interdisciplinary History Spring 1993:766-767.)

David, P. A. (1990). "The Dynamo and the Computer: An Historical Perspective on the Modern Productivity Paradox." The American Economic Review 80: 355-361.

David, P. A. (1985). "Clio and the Economics of QWERTY." Economic History 75: 332-337.

Davies, S. (1997). Re-engineering the right to privacy: How privacy has been transformed from a right to a commodity. Technology and Privacy: The new landscape. P. Agre and M. Rotenberg. Cambridge, MA, The MIT Press: 143-165.

Davis, R. (1999). The Web of Politics: The Internet's Impact on the American Political System. New York, Oxford University Press.
Davis describes the fabric of political communication on the Internet as of the 1996 presidential election through a comprehensive set of surveys and content analyses. Layered on top of this detailed study is the persistent theme that there is no evidence that the Internet has revolutionized the American political system. He stresses that old power, represented by incumbent politicians, big labor, government bureaucracies, and the rest, are doing just fine thank you, and have adapted to this new technology much in the same way they adapted to radio and television.

The Web of Politics does stand out as a benchmark study of political communication on the Internet, where the author blends a meta-analysis of survey research with his own in-depth examination of the state of the art circa 1996. The last chapter, describing the methods he employed to study the topic is worth a look because traditional research techniques, such as probability sampling, are problematic in studying the Internet, and it is interesting to see how Davis has approached some of the thornier issues. (excerpts from book review by John E. Newhagen).

Davis, R. and D. Owen (1998). New Media and American Politics. New York, Oxford University Press.
This book examines the effect on modern politics of the new media, which include talk radio, tabloid journalism, television talk shows, entertainment media, and computer networks. Authors Davis and Owen discuss the new media's cultural environment, audience, and content, before going on to evaluate its impact on everything from elections to policy making to the old media itself. (adapted from book jacket)

Davis, S. F., B. G. Smith, et al. (1999). "An Examination of Internet Usage on Two College Campuses." College Student Journal 33: 257-260.
Some individuals use the Internet beyond reasonable expectations and suffer from Internet Addiction Disorder, which produces significant, negative consequences in the daily lives of these individuals. This research sought to ascertain Internet availability and use by 184 college students at a small, private liberal arts university and 349 at a medium-size, public university. Although the majority (91%+) of the students sampled on both campuses had access to the Internet, extensive hours online (>25) were reported only by the students (especially men) at the public institution. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2000 APA, all rights reserved)

Dawson, A. C. (1999). "The Internet: Towards a Global Political System." Policy 15: 29-33.
Whether pressure for cyber-market regulation will lead to creation of a central body concerned with regulation of e-commerce, and from that a global system of laws will develop, and a global federation. Topics include regulation and self-regulation, and economic and legal international cooperation.

Dawson, L. L. (2000). Researching Religion in Cyberspace: Issues and Strategies. Religion on the Internet: Research Prospects and Promises. J. K. Hadden and D. E. Cowan. New York, Elsvier: 25-54.

de Fontenay, E. (1999). "Should the Internet Care about Regulation? Regulation and Convergence." Netnomics 1: 173-85.

de la Mothe, J. and G. Paquet, Eds. (2000). Information, Innovation and Impacts: Economics of Science, Technology and Innovation. Boston, Kluwer Academic.
Twelve papers, the outcome of a Statistics Canada/Program of Research on International Management and Economy (PRIME) joint research workshop held in Ottawa, during March 1999, consider the innovative use of information and its social, organizational, and industrial impacts; how Statistics Canada might design statistics to more effectively comprehend the new economy; and the associated public policy agenda. Papers discuss the significance of interactivity and intangibility in the services sector (Ian Miles); approaches to knowledge production in "learning firms" (Keith Newton); strategies and organizational forms based on innovation, high skills, organizational flexibility, and trust (Graham Vickery); how to capture the elusive social impacts of technology (Susan A. McDaniel); digital households in Canada (George Sciadas); the use of the Internet and electronic commerce in the Canadian banking and insurance industry (Daood Hamdani); innovation, information technologies, and human capital in the German service sector (Georg Light); the impact of the information revolution on global corporations (Cliff Wymbs); ways in which networked communications are challenging existing understandings of the legal concepts of privacy and property (Valerie Steeves); Canadian telelearning experiences (Laura Winer); the paradox of no apparent, measurable productivity gains in conjunction with immense investments in information and communications technologies (Nico Stehr); and public policies for empowering information and networks (John de la Mothe).

de Sola Pool, I. (1983). Technologies of Freedom., Harvard University Press.

December, J. (1996). "Units of analysis for internet communication." Journal of Communication 46: 14-38.
A moderately technical discussion addresses problems in defining units of analysis for Internet communication research. Difficulties of sociological research on the effects of the Internet due to its vastness, diversity, & widespread diffusive public understanding are pointed out. A distinction between Internet & non-Internet communication is outlined. Internet communication is viewed as a composite of a wide range of media for interpersonal communication employed through a specific protocol. Many forms of non-Internet communication that resemble Internet communication exist, but conceptual implications differ greatly. A general outline of Internet structure is provided, describing the client-server relationship, the mechanism that makes Internet communication possible. Classifications of communication types (eg, communication, interaction, information transfer), definitions of media or cyberspace, media classes, & objects (terms used to subdivide portions of the Internet) are discussed. 74 References. N. Sun (Sociological Abstracts)

DeGenne, A. a. M. F. (1999). Introducing Social Networks. London, Sage.
An accessible introduction to the study of social networks. More than just a technical manual, it is a practical handbook and up-to-date review of the latest social network research. With technical jargon kept to a minimum, real-life examples are used to illustrate the techniques and ideas explored. The book also includes a useful summary of the concepts needed for dealing with more advanced techniques and the main computer software packages used for social network analysis. (From publisher's description)

Dellaert, B. G. C. and B. E. Kahn. (1998). How Tolerable is Delay? Consumers' Evaluations of Internet Web Sites After Waiting., Tilburg Center for Economic Research.
How consumers' waiting times affect their retrospective evaluations of Internet Web Sites is investigated in four computer-based experiments. Results show that waiting can but does not always negatively affect evaluations of Web Sites. Results also show that the potential negative effects of waiting can be neutralized by managing waiting experiences effectively. A conceptual framework and formal random utility model is introduced.

DePrince, A. E., Jr. and W. F. Ford. (1999). "A Primer on Internet Economics: Macro and Micro Impact of the Internet on the Economy." Business Economics 34: 42-50.
This paper assesses the impact of the internet on the structure and growth potential of the U.S. economy. It begins with a review of recently compiled data on the extent to which the internet is contributing to the economy's overall output and employment. It then examines the Internet's microeconomic impact on traditional channels of production and distribution across various industries. The paper identifies and discusses some basic factors determining the sectoral rate of diffusion of Internet activities, It then presents a macroeconomic analysis of the Internet's impact on the economy's productivity, price stability and, hence, its noninflationary growth potential, i.e. its NAIRU. It closes with a business economist's checklist of Internet issues facing his/her employer (EconLit)

Derr, T. K. and T. I. Williams (1960). A Short History of Technology. London, OUP.
Chronologically, this text is divided into two parts. The first examines the development of technology up to the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in Britain. The second continues the story to 1900. Each section is preceded by an historical introduction, and the book concludes with a series of tables designed to show the interrelation of events named in the text. Profusely illustrated. (Amazon.com Review)

Dertouzos, M. (1997). What Will Be: How the New Information Marketplace Will Change Our Lives. San Francisco, Harper.
" ...the Information Marketplace will affect all human activity," projects author Michael Dertouzos. As director of the MIT Laboratory for Computer Science, Dertouzos presents a realistic view of where current technology is headed, but without all of the distracting hype. He conveys his technical predictions in an accessible writing style, which makes the weighty subject matter read more like a novel, appealing to a nontechie audience. In addition, Dertouzos sprinkles vignettes of the future throughout the text to help readers envision technologies that have yet to be introduced.

Imagine using a personal network called a "bodynet," to talk on the phone, watch TV, read e-mail, and take pictures from wherever you are. In our workplaces, future innovations will increase productivity: Employees in different locations will be able to do groupwork together and order merchandise from around the world via e-forms. Our governments will link to a world network to engage in issues of diplomacy, trade, tourism, and more.

For newcomers, the book provides a brief history of the field of information technology and explains the most current advances in technology. What Will Be also unveils many upcoming technologies in the Information Marketplace that will transform our lives. Because the author is an expert in information technology, he is naturally enthusiastic about the inventions that new technology will bring. It is only in the last portion that Dertouzos addresses some of the humanist concerns over emerging technologies, such as information overload and a greater disparity between rich and poor. (Amazon.com)

Dertouzos, M. and J. Moses (1981). The Computer Age: A Twenty-Year View. Cambridge, MA, MIT Press.

Dewan, R. M., M. L. Freimer, et al. (1998). "Internet Service Providers, Proprietary Content, and the Battle for Users' Dollars." Communications of the ACM 41: 43-8.
A report titled "Internet Service Providers, Proprietary Content, and the Battle for Users' Dollars" says that as prices for Internet access decrease, fees for information and other content on the Web will increase. Prepared by the William Simon School of Management in Rochester, N.Y., the report predicts that the rise in fees for content will parallel the growth of "900" telephone services. In addition, the study cites an increasing trend toward taxing Internet access, which already is taxable in 10 states and District of Columbia. (Information Week 9 Nov 98)

Dewar, J. A. (1998). "The Information Age and the Printing Press: Looking Backward to See Ahead." n/a n/a.
There are some provocative parallels between the communications changes enabled by networked computers and those enabled by the printing press in its early days. Each defining technology represents an important breakthrough in the ability of humans to communicate with each other; each enables important changes in how we preserve, update and disseminate knowledge; how we retrieve knowledge; the ownership of knowledge; and how we acquire knowledge. The printing press era was dominated by unintended consequences of applications of the technology and we are already seeing the dominance of unintended consequences in some areas of networked computers. Despite the strength of the parallels between the two eras, it would be unwarranted to conclude that the network era will progress as did the printing press era. However, the strength of the parallels does suggest that: 1) networked computers could produce profound cultural changes in our time, 2) unintended consequences are not only possible but likely to upset conventional extrapolations of current trends (or even historical parallels), and 3) the changes could take decades to see clearly. ( http://www.rand.org/publications/P/P8014/P8014.pdf )

Dieberger, A. (1997). "Supporting Social Navigation on the World Wide Web." International Journal of Human-Computer Studies 46: 805-825.
This paper discusses a navigation behavior on Internet information services, in particular the World Wide Web, which is characterized by pointing out information using various communication tools. We call this behavior social navigation as it is based on communication and interaction with other users, be it through email, or any other means of communication. Social navigation phenomena are quite common although most current tools (like web browsers or email clients) offer very little support for it. We describe why social navigation is useful and how it can be supported better in future systems. We further describe two prototype systems that, although originally not designed explicitly as tools for social navigation, provide features that are typical for social navigation systems. One of these systems, the Juggler system, is a combination of a. textual virtual environment and a web client. The other system is a prototype of a web-hotlist organizer, called Vortex. We use both systems to describe fundamental principles of social navigation systems. (C) 1997 Academic Press Limited.

Dierkes, M. and U. Hoffmann (1992). New Technologies at the Outset: Social Forces in the Shaping of Technological Innovations. New York, Campus Verlag.

Diffie, W. and S. Landau. (1998). Privacy: Protection and threats. Privacy on the line: The politics of wiretapping. Cambridge, MA, The MIT Press: 125-150.
While the general public may not realise this yet, encryption is one of the most important political issues affecting us all at the beginning of the next century. In the past, you were most likely to come across encryption while reading a spy-novel on the beach; today, you rely on encryption every time you use you web browser or use a cash point - and this is only the beginning. Both electronic commerce and electronic communications crucially rely on secure encryption and both are becoming more prevalent in our lives.
The battle between those that want secure encryption available to the common people and those who want to exercise state control to stop this has been raging largely unnoticed for years, surfacing only briefly in skirmishes such as the Clipper chip and the Zimmerman/PGP trial. This book describes, in detail, the modern history of this political battle. Inevitably, the focus is largely on the development in the USA and the European and international situation is relegated to a small - but interesting - section. Usually this would draw criticism from me, but in this case it is probably justified. The US is by far the leader in this field and their policies tend to dominate and lead other national policies. So while more international information would be interesting, this will probably have to wait for another book.

This book is a history of the politics of the subject. Although its outlines the workings of some simple ciphers, it does not even attempt to describe the workings of their modern counterparts. If that is what you are looking for, you have to look elsewhere ( Applied Cryptography (2nd ed) : Protocols, Algorithms and Source Code in C , by Bruce Schneier, Addison Wesley, 1996 could be a good first choice). It does, however give you a basic idea of what public key encryption is all about, and why it is important.

In summary, therefore: If you want to learn about the history and politics of encryption and wiretapping, mainly in the US, this book is a prime resource. (reviewed by Burkhard Kloss in ACCU July 1998)

DiMaggio, P., Hargittai, E., Neuman, W. R., & Robinson, P. (2001). "Social implication of the Internet." Annual review of Sociology 27: 307-336.
The Internet is a critically important research site for sociologists testing theories of technology diffusion and media effects, particularly because it is a medium uniquely capable of integrating modes of communication and forms of content. Current research tends to focus on the Internet's implications in five domains: 1) inequality (the“digital divide?; 2) community and social capital; 3) political participation; 4) organizations and other economic institutions; and 5) cultural participation and cultural diversity. A recurrent theme across domains is that the Internet tends to complement rather than displace existing media and patterns of behavior. Thus in each domain, utopian claims and dystopic warnings based on extrapolations from technical possibilities have given way to more nuanced and circumscribed understandings of how Internet use adapts to existing patterns, permits certain innovations, and reinforces particular kinds of change. Moreover, in each domain the ultimate social implications of this new technology depend on economic, legal, and policy decisions that are shaping the Internet as it becomes institutionalized. Sociologists need to study the Internet more actively and, particularly, to synthesize research findings on individual user behavior with macroscopic analyses of institutional and political-economic factors that constrain that behavior.
(From authors' abstract)

The purpose of this article is clear throughout. It is intended to review the current state of social research on the Internet and to encourage further research on this subject. This article begins its review with a discussion of the concept and assumptions of "digital divide" and the politics of the Internet. These subjects are, in my view, critical to any work on the Internet and society, as they are necessary components to any discussions of this technology's impact on everyday life. Describing patterns of penetration and factors affecting Internet access and use reflect the value of DiMaggio and Hargattai's work on the social implications of the Internet. The other authors clearly contribute to the comprehensiveness of the literature research. This review covers the Internet's relationship to social capital, time use, community, politics, organization and culture. Two themes are accentuated throughout this review. One, there is much enthusiasm about the possibilities presented by this technology, but it is too soon to know the full extent of these possibilities and impacts. Two, while research is in its infancy, preliminary results indicate support for the Internet complementing rather than replacing (displacing) existing media and behaviors.
The comprehensiveness of the piece makes it useful for anyone proposing research in this field. It locates specific interests in a larger body of discourse and research on the Internet's implications on society. [Annotated by Shelley Boulianne]

DiMaggio, P. and E. Hargittai (2001). From the 'Digital Divide' to 'Digital Inequality': Studying Internet Use As Penetration Increases, Center for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies, Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University.
This working paper enhances the discourse around the so-called 'digital divide.' The authors critique the assumptions around the digital divide, specifically the dichotomies - information haves/have nots; access/no access; and users/nonusers. Their critique is based on the premise that Internet access does not equate to Internet use. They offer an alternative conception - digital inequality - with five factors constructing inequality. These include technical means, autonomy, skill, social support and purposes of Internet use. Each factor is described with a set of hypotheses that could be used to test this conception. The authors end on a familiar note (see DiMaggio, et al. 2001), which is to highlight the role of government, internet service providers and other institutions in shaping people's experiences of the Internet and to encourage further research on the Internet's impact on society. This work will greatly benefit from empirical testing of the hypotheses underlying the concept of digital inequality. While this work is still "in development" stage, it is a valuable piece for informing public policy and inequality discourse. In order to reap the benefits of this technology, investments beyond infrastructure are required. [Annotated by Shelley Boulianne]

Dimmick, J., S. Kline, et al. (2000). "The Gratification Niches of Personal E-mail and the Telephone - Competition, Displacement, and Complementarity." Communication Research 27: 227-248.
The theory of the niche predicts that a new medium will compete with established media for consumer satisfaction, consumer time, and/or consumer advertising dollars. Competition between e-mail and telephone use was measured in this study at the level of gratifications derived by consumers. Gratifications and gratification opportunities (consumers' beliefs that a medium allows them to obtain greater opportunities for satisfaction) were derived from an analysis of open-ended questions. A second sample was interviewed by telephone and rated both mediums on gratification and gratification-opportunity scales. Forty-eight percent of respondents reported using the phone less since they adopted e-mail. Results indicate that a wider spectrum of needs is being served by the telephone, whereas e-mail provides greater gratification opportunities. The results indicate competition, but also indicate that the two mediums are not close substitutes.

Dinardo, J. E. and J.-S. Pischke (1997). "The Returns to Computer Use Revisited: Have Pencils Changed the Wage Structure Too?" Quarterly Journal of Economics: 291-303.
This paper investigates the relationship between the wage differentials and computer based job or using computers on their jobs. According to the surveys from Germany, we assure that the pattern of wages with computer related jobs in Germany is quite similar to those in the U.S. Next, we estimate the wage differentials in terms of the properties of jobs. We discuss that these discoveries bring in some issues related to how computer skill reflects wage differentials. (from author's abstract)

Dix, A., J. Finlay, et al. (1993). Human-Computer Interaction. NJ, Prentice-Hall.
Extensively revised and rewritten in light of recent advances, this best-selling book is a comprehensive examination of human-computer interaction. It provides a multi- disciplinary approach to the subject through a synthesis of computer science, cognitive science, psychology and sociology, and stresses a principled approach to interactive systems design that fits a software engineering environment. (Amazon.com abstract)

Dodge, M. (2002). Exploring the geographies of the Internet, the Web and other emerging Cyberspaces., Cyber Geography Research.
Does Cyberspace have a geography? What do we know about the nature, shape, size, distribution and geography of the Internet, the World-Wide Web and Cyberspace?

I believe that Cyberspace has many geographies. This resource list is the result of my research into the geographies of Cyberspace. It is a somewhat eclectic list of information resources that help us measure and map these new virtual geographies of the Internet, the Web and Cyberspace.

If you are looking for maps of the Internet, the Web and other Cyberspaces please check out Atlas of Cyberspaces.

If you would like to be kept informed of updates to the Geography of Cyberspace Directory please register to receive the free Cyber-Geography Research Bulletin. Any comments you may have are most welcome. If you would like to add a link please feel free to contact me (m.dodge@ucl.ac.uk).

Dodge, M. (2002). An Atlas of Cyberspaces.
The Atlas of Cyberspace illustrates graphically, the shapes, structures and complex forms of the Internet, the World-Wide Web and other virtual media. Drawing on five years worth of research, and divided into four key sections - infrastructure and traffic, information navigation, community and communication, artistic visions - the best and most interesting maps of cyberspace have been compiled into this unique atlas for the Internet age. (authors@atlasofcyberspace.com)

"It seems ironic that one of the best references about the Web is actually a book, but there it is. This colorful, enlightening, and sometimes startling look at the reach and depth of the Internet is rendered in graphs, charts, and maps collected from public and private sources. The authors show visual representations of Internet traffic hopping from country to country, e-mail flow, chat room usage, and online game areas. A map showing the "urban development" over time of the online world AlphaWorld appears similar to how a real-world metropolis would develop. It's stunning. If you ever wanted to know what cyberspace looks like, this is a good place to start." (Harvard Business School Working Knowledge Book Review 7 Jan 2002)

Dodge, M. and R. Kitchin. (2000). Mapping Cyberspace, Routledge.

In probing how information and communication technologies are reconfiguring space-time relations, Dodge (Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis, U. College-London) and Kitchin (Human Geography, U. of Ireland, Maynooth) introduce the geographies and cartographies of cyberspace and the information society. Topics include mapping asynchronous media, mapping synchronous social spaces, spatial cognition, and imaginative mappings of cyberspace. In the concluding chapter on future trends, the authors look beyond the technical details of mapping technology to consider its implications, highlighting such issues as whether cyberspace will make geography as we know it obsolete and how it will alter social relations. Among the illustrations are eight color plates of interactive visualizations of traffic flows, and b&w representations such as a clickable UK website directory and virtual world interfaces. Includes substantial reference material. (Book News, Inc.®, Portland, OR --This text refers to the library binding edition of this title)

Dolan, D. P. (2000). The Big Bumpy Shift: Digital Music via Mobile Internet. First Monday. 5: 12.
The promise and rise of mobile Internet technologies and markets will be remembered as one of the most profound global information technology developments of the next few years. Mobile Internet technologies and practical applications necessary for widespread public use are advancing rapidly in Japan and are likely to catch on quickly in other countries. The remarkable adoption of mobile Internet in Japan and the popularity of digital music file sharing services such as Napster in the United States create a situation in which powerful synergies are possible between these two fundamental forces. Digital music via mobile Internet creates attractive opportunities for music artists, music consumers, entrepreneurs, and major music labels facing an uncertain future for music industry distribution practices. The realization of such opportunities depends not only on technological and business innovations, but also on the willingness among all parties involved to collaborate in equitable and valuable ways. (Author's abstract)

Doms, M., T. Dunne, et al. (1997). "Workers, wages, and technology." Quarterly Journal of Economics.
This paper explains the variation of wages and productivity in terms of the adoption and the use of technologies. The results of this paper indicate that the more plants use new technologies the more they employ professionals in each area. However, it is not necessarily that there is a coherent relation between skill upgrading and the adoption of new technologies. It implies that new technologized plants have more experienced workforces. (from author's abstract)

Dordick, H. and G. Wang (1993). The Information Society: A Retrospective View. Newbury Park, CA, Sage Publications.
Dordick and Wang have produced a work, grounded on a potentially fruitful idea, which is unfortunately seriously flawed in its execution. The basic idea was a good one: to examine some standard quantitative indices of the degree of ``informatization'' in 21 nations (9 high-income, 6 middle-income, and 6 low-income); analyze the trends and patterns in their informational sectors; and assess the relationships between informatization (as they define it) and some measures of economic and social development. The measures used reflect the influence of Machlup, Porat-Rubin, and related Japanese and other quantitative studies of the knowledge industry and the information economy. With the exception of a single statistical correlation exercise (p. 123), the authors eschew ``rigid statistical analyses'' (p. viii), although they do include a number of tables and graphs.

The core of the work is in Chapters 5, 6, and 7, which focus on trends in the computer-telecommunications infrastructure; the informational sector and economic growth; and informational technology and social change, respectively. The conclusions of the work include the following: measures of information and of ``informatization'' need to be treated cautiously; nonetheless, they may be useful guides in assessing the growth of the ``informatized'' sector within countries over time; informatization (at least as defined by their measures) does not appear to be a golden key to social and economic development; and it is possible to overinvest in informatization.

As a guide to the uninitiated into the standard works and international data sources on quantitative aspects of the information economy and certain basic problems of measurement, Dordick & Wang's work is adequate, if somewhat prosaic. With tighter editing, it might have served as a useful supplementary text for global communications and international development courses. Yet I cannot recommend it highly. Indeed, reading it not infrequently brought to mind the sound of fingernails on a chalkboard. The work is not tightly argued nor tightly organized. Its definitions are often loose, the rationale for selecting certain variables as ``critical'' ones is not spelled out fully, and as a result there is a flavour of proof by assertion in a number of the definitions and conclusions. Most of the book's conclusions, in fact, do not flow necessarily from the quantitative analysis, directly or even indirectly. This gives the book a sort of ``jerry-built'' character, almost as if it were the penultimate draft of the book it should have been under a sterner editorial hand.

The work has a number of weaknesses. The methodology of the elementary quantitative exercises is not spelled out clearly, and the variables in the graphs (the information in which could often have been communicated more usefully in tabular form) are often labelled inadequately. Readers of the work also need to be cautioned that its ``percentage change'' figures refer indiscriminately to total percent change over a multiyear period, average annual rates of change, or percent changes in percentages. Calculations (for example, of productivity growth) often rely on numerical data which (as the authors correctly explain, after the fact) are highly suspect. The logic underlying the choice of the 21 countries used (not 19, as the authors state) is nowhere spelled out.

Three further irritants detract from the work. First, the grammar should have been tidied up at numerous points; repeated misspellings (``Kusnetz'' for ``Kuznets'' and ``principal'' for ``principle'') should have been eliminated (the limits of ``Spellcheck'' strike again); and ``media'' and ``data'' are still plurals, at least for the pedantic crowd. Second, among the few calculations that one can actually check, there are calculation errors (as on p. 88) that tend to weaken one's confidence in the other numbers generated. Third, the ``political theory'' of the work is basically a rather uncritical Amerocentric amalgam of the ``political modernization'' literature of the 1960s, a free-market, consumerist view of information, and junior high school civics text homilies. There are a few brief and reductionistic references to the concerns of critical communications theorists, but the analysis of these concerns is superficial, and most of them are dismissed rather casually. The net result at points is a combination of the rhetoric of pragmatism with the vision of Pollyanna.

Dordick & Wang's study is emphatically not an unmitigated disaster. Warts and all, it still makes some useful points. The tone of frustration in this review stems from the fact that had it fully delivered on its promise, it could have done much more. (Ian Parker, University of Toronto)

Douglas, K. M. and C. McGarty (2002). "nternet identifiability and beyond: A model of the effects of
identifiability on communicative behavior." Group Dynamics 6: 17-26.
K. Douglas and C. McGarty (2001) demonstrated that being identifiable to an
in-group audience in a computer-mediated communication (CMC) setting leads
people to describe anonymous out-group targets in more abstract or stereotypical
ways. On the basis of these findings and the social identity model of
deindividuation effects (SIDE; S. Reicher, R. Spears, & T. Postmes, 1995), the
authors aimed to test a model of the effects of identifiability on communicative
behavior in and beyond CMC. Participants in 3 studies, 1 CMC and 2 pen and
paper, were asked to write responses to controversial messages. In all 3
studies, communicators who were identifiable to an in-group audience used more
stereotypical language to describe anonymous out-group targets. Studies 2 and 3
suggested that rather than being strategic, this may result from more subtle or
implicit communicative processes. (journal abstract)

Downes, E. J. and S. J. McMillan (2000). "Defining Interactivity." New Media & Society 2: 157-179.
The literature on interactivity includes many assumptions and some definitions but few tools for operationalizing the concept of interactivity in computer-mediated environments. This article takes an early step in filling that gap. In-depth interviews with 10 individuals who work and teach in the field of interactive communication led to a conceptual definition of interactivity based on six dimensions: direction of communication, time flexibility, sense of place, level of control, responsiveness, and perceived purpose of communication. Suggestions are made for applying these dimensions to multiple forms of computer-mediated communication. Future research should empirically test the existence and application of these dimensions. (Authors' abstract)

Drucker, P. F. (1972). The First Technological Revolution and Its Lessons. Technology and Culture. M. Kranzberg and W. H. Davenport. New York, Schocken Books: 41-49.
Aware that we are living in the midst of a technological revolution, we are becoming increasingly concerned with its meaning for the individual and its impact on freedom, on society, and on our political institutions. Side by side with messianic promises of utopia to be ushered in by technology, there are the most dire warnings of man's enslavement by technology, his alienation from himself and from society, and the 250 destruction of all human and political values. (author's intro see http://xroads.virginia.edu/~DRBR/d_rucker5.html for full text)

Dudley, L. M. (1991). The Word and the Sword: How Techniques of Information and Violence Have Shaped our World. Cambridge, MA, Blackwell.
Leonard Dudley claims that the territorial size of states and their method of operations in any historical period depend on the available technology for communications and military actions. Communications are the key to creating a community that can be convinced to pay taxes to a common government; the military is the means to force the recalcitrant to pay and to defend that community against others. Dudley argues that different technologies of communications and military force have different economies of scale; thus, the optimal size of state organizations will vary over time. He selects four major innovations in information technology and four in military technology and then claims that these eight innovations were the only ones in recorded history that were sufficient to transform social organization. (Adapted from Gladstone, Jack A. 1993. Journal of Economic History 53: 462-463 Book Reviews)

Duff, A. S. (2000). Information Society Studies. New York, Routledge.
We are often told that we are 'living in an information society' or that we are 'information workers'. But what exactly do these claims mean, and how might they be verified? In this important methodological study, Alistair Duff cuts through the rhetoric to get to the bottom of the 'information society thesis'. Duff presents the argument that there are in reality several 'information society theses', each with its own disciplinary origin and tradition. One talks about an 'information economy'. Another, the Japanese theory of the 'informationised society', measures communication flows, while a third focuses on IT and the 'information revolution'. This book brings together the various schools and examines them systematically in a comparative setting. It represents one of the first in-depth treatments of the field as a whole. Wide-ranging in coverage, this work will be of interest to scholars in information science, communication and media studies and social theory. It is a key text for the newly-unified specialism of information society studies, and an indispensable guide to the future of this discipline. (Amazon.com Review)

Dunkerley, M. (1996). The Jobless Economy?: Computer Technology in the World of Work. Cambridge, MA, Blackwell Publishers.

Dyson, E. (1998). Privacy protection: time to think and act locally and globally. First Monday. 3: 1.
Questions whether the Internet community can adequately govern itself, to avoid the need for national and international regulations protecting personal privacy; with analysis of technical and political issues and players. Reprinted from Release 1.0, April 1998.

Dyson, E. (1997). Release 2.0: A Design for Living in the Digital Age. New York, Broadway Books.
Esther Dyson is renowned for her digital savvy and is much syndicated as a sybil of cyberculture. She aims to bring us all out of the dark ages into the Brave New World of the digital age. This compilation is the hardback version of her electronic mailing list - Release 1.0. It's a populist text aimed at the 'beginner' and the small businessman, which addresses general topics such as communities, work, education, Net governance, intellectual property rights, and privacy. Her purpose is to reveal how information technology is affecting all aspects of our lives.

Her approach is to pose questions - 'What is the right size for a [Net] community?' or 'What kinds of investment can one make in a community?' This appears to be a communicative and intelligent approach to discussing problems of the Net, but when you begin to think about it these are actually non-questions. What's more they are followed by non-answers, and these in turn are followed by non-predictions. For instance, 'Those who succeed will be those who are good at getting their new designs or themselves noticed'. When was this ever not the case, one wonders?

There is a reasonable index, only very rare references to sources, no bibliography, and a short list of URLs is not annotated in any way. All this suggest that she is not in the habit of scrutinising her claims carefully - and keep in mind that she makes her living by selling advice to other people. She might have an impressive track record as an investment analyst, but on the strength of this, I don't think I would take her technological advice on which brand of floppy disk to buy.

© Roy Johnson 1998 (Mantex UK)

Ebo, B. (1998). Cyberghetto or Cybertopia? Race, Class, and Gender on the Internet. Westport, CT, Praeger.
This collection of papers investigates the Internet's impact on racial, gender, & class divisions in US society. Two competing perspectives have emerged to address these issues. The first imagines the Internet as a kind of cybertopia capable of producing egalitarian social networks. The second argues that the Internet is producing a cyberghetto by intensifying the racial, gender, & class stratifications that exist in contemporary society. This book assesses the relative value of these positions drawing on analyses of the best available empirical data. Themes addressed include the growing digital divide in society, ways of meeting the technological needs of the poor, & the role of commercialism in the political economy of the Internet. Racial issues are also considered, focusing on how the Internet is represented by the media, how it represents minority groups. Gendered aspects of the Internet are also discussed. No settled judgment is made in whether the Internet portends a cybertopia or a cyberghetto, but directions & trends are identified. The book contains a Preface & 14 Chpts with Notes in IV PARTS. (D. Ryfe)

Economides, N. (1998). "U.S. Telecommunications Today." Business Economics 32(2): 7-13.
This paper reviews the current conditions in the U.S. telecommunications industry. It first examines the impact of technological and regulatory change on market structure and business strategy, and then the impact on pricing of digitization and the emergence of Internet telephony. Then the paper considers the effects of the 1996 Telecommunications Act on market structure and strategy in conjunction with the history of regulation and antitrust intervention in the telecommunications sector. After discussing the impact of wireless technologies, the paper concludes with some short-term predictions, as well as concern about the derailment of the implementation of the 1996 Act by aggressive legal tactics of entrenched monopolists (the local exchange carriers), and the real danger that the intent of Congress in passing the 1996 Act to promote competition in telecommunications will not be realized. (Author's Abstract)

Economides, N. (1997). "The Economics of Networks." Brazilian Electronic Journal of Economics.
I analyze the salient features of networks and point out the similarities between the economic structure of networks and the structure of vertically related industries. The analysis focuses on positive consumption and production externalities, commonly called network externalities. I discuss their sources and their effects on pricing and market structure. I distinguish between results that do not depend on the underlying industry microstructure (the "macro" approach) and those that do (the "micro" approach). I analyze the issues of compatibility, coordination to technical standards, interconnection and interoperability, and their effects on pricing and quality of services and on the value of network links in various ownership structures. I also briefly discuss the issue of interconnection fees for bottleneck facilities. (author's abstract)

Edge, D. (1995). The Social Shaping of Technology. Information Technology and Society. N. Heap, R. Thomas, G. Einon, R. Mason and H. Mackay. Thousand Oaks, Sage.

Elkin-Koren, N. and E. M. Salzberger. (1999). "Law and Economics and Cyberspace." International Review of Law & Economics 19: 553-81.
The growing entity of Cyberspace exerts a crucial influence on the perception of the state, markets and the law, and, by derivation, on the economic analysis of law. The paper is intended to provide a preliminary and tentative look at the challenges posed by Cyberspace to the project of the economic analysis of law.

We begin by applying the Chicago model of law and economics to cyberspace, examining the characteristics of the market in Cyberspace, analyzing possible market failures in comparison to market failures in the non-virtual world. This analysis is followed by an application of transaction cost economic analysis to Cyberspace, focusing on the Calabresi-Melamed model of private law. We find that the traditional analysis of competition, market failures, and the role of central intervention have to be significantly modified in order to remain useful in Cyberspace. Cyberspace is predicted to eliminate or at least notably diminish some of the common market failures, such as some of the traditional public goods (i.e., information) or monopolies, and some of the non-virtual market problems of lack of information, externalities, and transaction costs. On the other hand, Cyberspace creates some market deficiencies that are less notable in the traditional markets. The technological race between enforcement measures by the code and counter measures is the most significant example. Costs involved in verifying information is another.

The last part of the paper provides a discussion on the role of "law", and offers several general thoughts about the "state" or our public sphere in light of the Neoinstitutional school of law and economics. Some general descriptive and prescriptive insights are drawn. Our major conclusion from the analysis relates to the challenges Cyberspace poses to the whole project of economic analysis of law. The emergence of Cyberspace requires some fresh conceptual thinking by the Law and Economics movement, towards which we provide just an outset. (author's abstract)

Ellul, J. (1980). The Technological System. New York, Continuum.
The Technological System is one of the most important books of the second half of the twentieth century. In it, Jacques Ellul convincingly demonstrates that technology, which we continue to conceptualize as the servant of man, will overthrow everything that prevents the internal logic of its development, including humanity itself -- unless we take the necessary steps to move human society out of the environment that 'technique' is creating to meet its own needs. (Robert Theobald, The Nation, from jacket cover)

Elmer, G. (1997). "Spaces of Surveillance: Indexicality and Solicitation on the Internet." Critical Studies in Mass Communication 14: 182-191.
Investigates the significance of the index in the process of (1) mapping & formatting sites, spaces, & words on the Internet & (2) diagnosing, tracking, & soliciting users. Unlike the back-of-book or even hypertextual index that references information in a larger text, some Internet indexes are argued to actually allow movement through space to other sites & pages. Further, this process of jumping into other spaces' increasingly commercial domains, facilitated by indexical technologies known as robots or spiders, often leads to the solicitation of users' demographic & psychographic information. Such indexical technologies are increasingly being called on by commercial interests to automate the process of solicitation whereby the mere entry or "jump" into a site on the Internet triggers the accumulation of demographic & psychographic data. 19 References.

Erickson, B. H. (1996). "Culture, Class, and Connections." American Journal of Sociology 102: 217-251.
Bourdieu's analysis of class and culture errs in neglecting two important aspects of social structure: social networks and class relations at work. He expects high-status culture to be useful in class because it is correlated with class, but culture used at work includes both genres related to class (used in domination) and genres unrelated to class (used in coordination). High-status culture is correlated with class but excluded, not used, in the competitive private sector.The most widely useful cultural resource is cultural variety, and social network variety is a better source of cultural variety than is class itself. (Author's abstract)

Ericson, R. and K. Haggerty (1997). Identities. Policing the risk society. Toronto, University of Toronto Press.
Topics covered in this book include policing as risk communication; policing, risk, and law; community policing and risk communications; risk disclosure; risk institutions; risk and social change; risks to securities, careers, and identities; and communication technologies. (Risk World Bookstore)

Estabrook, L. S. and E. Lakner. (2000). "Managing Internet Access: Results of a National Survey." American Libraries 31: 60-63.
Presents the results of a survey conducted by the Library Research Center of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign about access control of the Internet in public libraries. Prevalence of Internet-management strategies in libraries, including written policies, parental permission for children's use of the Internet, and filtering tools; Questions raised by the survey(Abstract found on EBSCO Host 5/2/01).

Etzioni, A. (2000). The Limits of Privacy. New York, Basic Books.
Draws on communitarian thinking to trace the limits of personal privacy in a good society, ie, one that strikes a proper balance between individual rights & the common good. The post-WWII period in the US is characterized as one in which the rights of individuals have been aggrandized to the detriment of the common good. Although it is widely thought that privacy in the 1990s is under siege, it is argued that advocates of a strong notion of personal privacy have actually succeeded in delaying necessary public actions. This argument is elaborated in a discussion of five public policies: human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) testing for newborn children; Megan's law, which attempts to protect children by notifying communities of the presence of sex offenders; the issue of privately encrypted communications on the Internet; the introduction of new biometric identification systems, which constitute a form of national identification cards; & recent efforts to protect the privacy of medical records. In each of these cases there is a fundamental tension between personal privacy & the common good; most often, the forces for privacy win when it is threatened by the public sector, but not when it is violated by the private sector. A set of mechanisms for creating a balance between privacy & the common good are presented that is hoped will lead toward a new, communitarian conception of privacy. Contains an Introduction & 6 Chpts with Notes. (D. Ryfe)

Etzioni, A. and O. Etzioni (1999). "Face-to-Face and Computer-Mediated Communities, A Comparative Analysis." The Information Society 15(4): 241- 248.
In this article we combine the perspectives of sociology and computer science to compare face-to-face (f2f) and computer-mediated communications (CMC) from the viewpoint of their respective abilities to form and sustain communities. We also identify a third type of community--a hybrid--that is based on a combination of face-to-face (f2f) and CMC, or off- and online communications. The article thus in effect addresses an oft-asked question: Can virtual communities be "real" have the same basic qualities as f2f communities? The article is exploratory, because much of the necessary evidence has not yet been generated, and the relevant technologies are rapidly changing (from EBSCO host).

Etzioni, A. and O. Etzioni. (1997). "Communities: Virtual vs. Real." Science 277: 295.
Considers the debate over whether human relations in virtual communities can be as intimate, strong, and affect-laden as they are in social communities. Why it is important to recast the question to ask what virtues of online communities are absent in off-line ones; The positive qualities of computer-mediated communities. (EBSCO host abstract 3/12/01)

Evans, F. (2000). "Cyberspace and the Concept of Democracy." First Monday 5: 10.
We often speak of democracy as a mere decision-making procedure rather than as a "form of life." Part of the reason for this formalism is the difficulty of revealing the aspects of individual and social existence that provide the impetus toward democracy and that democratic practices should reflect and augment. I argue that the Internet's status as a "virtual" rather than actual reality (its status as a serendipitous form of what phenomenologists call an epochéor a "placing within brackets" of our standard beliefs) reveals some of the more important aspects underlying democracy. In particular, the Internet's virtual status indicates that society is what I term a "metamorphosing multi-voiced body." This implies that democracy off-line and online must support the interplay or solidarity among the "voices" of this body (as opposed to their mere plurality) and simultaneously respect their heterogeneity. It must adopt the "interplay of equally audible voices" as its political ideal. Because this interplay among voices produces new discourses, democracy's valorization of the multi-voiced body must also affirm the metamorphosis that society's creativity brings about. I also consider what this view of democracy means for current issues concerning the fate and character of the Internet as well for the clash between the liberal, communitarian, and deliberative views of online democracy. (author's abstract)

Evans, J. R. (2001). "Online business education in the twenty-first century: an analysis of potential target markets." Internet Research: Electronic Networking Applications and Policy 11: 246-260.
The future of online business education seems quite bright. Three-fifths of the 1,700 US institutions of higher learning that are engaged in distance education - 55 percent of which offer credit-bearing business courses - already use some form of Internet-based technology. Nonetheless, there have been no large-scale studies of potential online business students in terms of their traits and desires. In this article, the background of distance education is presented. Then, the results of a major survey, involving NPD's Online Research Panel, are discussed. In all, 2,651 adults participated in the survey, 1,945 of whom indicated some interest in online business education. Eight propositions are tested, relating to demographics, courses versus programs, reasons for enrolling or not enrolling, desired features, customer service expectations, tuition, prestige and value, and institutional attributes. (from Author's abstract)

Eveland, W. P. J. a. S. D. (2000). "Examining Information Processing on the World Wide Web Using Think Aloud Protocols." Media Psychology 2: 219-244.
Some theorists argue that the node-link design of the Web mimics human information storage and that Web use encourages individuals to process information efficiently and effectively, potentially increasing meaningful learning. However critics claim that Web navigation increases cognitive load and often produces disorientation. This reduces the processing devoted to meaningful learning, and, thus the Web may potentially inhibit learning. In an examination of information processing on the Web using a quantitative analysis of think aloud protocols, the authors found that users spend a substantial proportion of their cognitive effort orienting to the content and structure of the Web, and this effort comes at the expense of elaborative and evaluative processing. The sample population consisted of 4 high-Web-use males, 4 low-Web-use males, 4 high-Web-use females, and 4 low-Web-use females. Additional findings suggest that, at least during a single relatively short session, time spent in a given site does not reduce the processing devoted to orientation. Finally, this paper offers a theoretically informed strategy for analyzing information processing activities that may be of use to other scholars.

Falch, M. and A. Henten (2000). "Digital Denmark: from Information Society to Network Society." Telecommunications Policy 24: 377-394.
The Danish Government recently issued a new policy report, Digital Denmark, on the "conversion to a network society", as a successor it its Information Society 2000 report (1994). This is part of a new round of information society policy vision statements that are, or will be forthcoming from national governments everywhere. Denmark provides an interesting case study because it ranks high in the benchmark indicators of information network society developments. This position has been obtained largely by public sector initiatives and without erosion of the highly reputed Scandinavian model for a welfare society. However, globalisation and the spreading use of new information and communication technologies and services challenge this position. This article examines Denmark's performance in implementing its IS 2000 plans, the background to the Digital Denmark report, and its implications for the next phase of information society development.

Falk, J. (1998). "The Meaning of the Web." The Information Society 14: 285-293.
Speculation about the meaning of the Net (the Internet and potentially associated networks) and its most rapidly developing dimension, the Web (the World Wide Web), are both symptoms and components of a broader reshaping of world politics, economy, and culture. These changes challenge many of the categories within which we have grown used to thinking about the shape and meaning of society and its future. For individuals and local communities, the promises, hopes, and fears associated with the growth of the Web have particular poignancy as they face the challenge of establishing and asserting their identity in a ever more complicated and interdependent world and, through that, finding a strategy for achieving the sort of future they would like to live. The Net and the Web are technologies that promise us access to the world, but they and their associated social and economic trends challenge many of the premises upon which our identity is forged. The Net facilitates the development of new forms of transnational community organization, opening up the promise of more effective ways of acting as citizens across the broader social terrains in which it must be expressed. This article reconsiders the traditional theoretical tools that we have available to understand these issues. It addresses some of the central difficulties and possibilities available to us in rethinking identity, exploring the new promising cultural potential of the Web and Net in a more integrated and simultaneously frightening world.

Farrel, G. (2001). The Changing Faces of Virtual Education. The Commonwealth of Learning. Vancouver.
The Changing Faces of Virtual Education is a study on the latest "macro developments" in virtual education. It is a follow-up on COL's landmark study on current trends in "virtual" delivery of higher education (The Development of Virtual Education: A global perspective, 1999). Both reports were funded by the British Department for International
One of the conclusions of the authors of the 1999 report was that the development of virtual education was "more rhetorical than real!" Dr. Glen Farrell, study team leader and editor of both reports, says "This follow-up study concludes that, two years later, virtual education development is a lot more rhetorical, and a lot more real!"
In terms of the rhetoric, virtual education is now part of the planning agenda of most organisations concerned with education and training. And the terminology being used to describe the activities is even more imprecise and confusing! On the reality side, there are many more examples of the use of virtual education in ways that add value to existing, more traditional delivery models. However, a remarkable feature of this surging interest in virtual education is that it remains largely focussed on ways to use technology to deliver the traditional educational products (i.e., programmes and courses) in ways that make them more accessible, flexible, and cheaper and that can generate revenues for the institution.
As global discussions on closing the "digital divide" have observed, it is not surprising that the report notes that a major feature of the current state of virtual education development is that it depends on where you live. The growth is largely occurring in countries with mature economies and established information and communication infrastructure (ICTs). A lack of such infrastructure, together with the lack of development capital, means that the developing countries of the world have not been able to, as yet, use virtual education models in their efforts to bring mass education opportunities to their citizens.
However, the report demonstrates that there are several trends emerging that are likely to bring about radical changes to the way we think about the concepts of campus, curriculum, courses, teaching/learning processes, credentials/awards and the way ICTs can be utilised to enable and support learning. These trends, called "macro developments" in the report, include new venues for learning, the use of "learning objects" to define and store content, new organisational models, online learner support services, quality assurance models for virtual education and the continuing evolution of ICTs. Each of these "macro developments" is defined and described in separate chapters of the report. The final chapter looks at their impact on the development of virtual education models in the future. While the conclusions will be of general interest, particular attention has been paid to the role these developments are likely to have in the evolution of virtual education systems in developing countries. (From the online introduction)

Faulhaber, G. R. (1997). "Public Policy for a Networked Nation." INSEAD Working Papers 97/55/EPS.
The phenomenal growth of the Internet over the last few years suggests that demand for two-way broadband networks to homes and businesses may be emerging. The development of such an "information superhighway" represents the convergence of a number of previously distinct industries: computers, entertainment, telephone, cable TV, and the Internet. Each of these industries not only has its own strengths and culture, but also a unique relationship to government and the public policy process, from full regulation to full competition. This paper explores the likely public policy outcomes for two-way broadband networks, in terms of demands for universal service, quality of service, natural monopoly, and integration of content and conduit. The findings are that a competitive model is likely to best serve the interests of the nation and the world, but that sustaining that model against demands for some form of government intervention may be difficult. Several options are suggested.

Fernandez, R. M., E. J. Castilla, et al. (2000). "Social Capital at Work: Networks and Employment at a Phone Center." American Journal of Sociology 105(5): 1288-1356.
This article argues that a common organizational practice-the hiring of new workers via employee referrals-provides key insights into the notion of social capital. Employers who use such hiring methods are quintessential "social capitalists," viewing workers' social connections as resources in which they can invest in order to gain economic returns in the form of better hiring outcomes. Identified are three ways through which such returns might be realized: the "richer pool," the "better match," and the "social enrichment" mechanisms. Using unique company data on the dollar costs of screening, hiring, and training, this article finds that the firm's investment in the social capital of its employees yields significant economic returns. (Author's Abstract)

Ferraro, A. (1998). "Electronic Commerce: The Issues and Challenges to Creating Trust and a Positive Image in Consumer Sales on the World Wide Web." First Monday 3: 6.
We live in a world increasingly propelled by technological change. The next big thrust in a quest to make our lives better, simpler and more productive is electronic commerce (or E-commerce). What is E-commerce? Who will use it? What are the barriers to its successful implementation? How will a viable consumer model be constructed?

While I will examine the technology that makes this e-commerce possible, I will also examine the issues of trust and image in e-commerce. It is not possible to separate the issues of technology, security, and trust. The whole image that secure, Web-based commerce needs polishing if it will ever meet expectations. One prediction claims that e-commerce will achieve revenues of $200 billion globally by the end of the year 2000. Considering that in 1995 approximately $131 million of goods were purchased online, the jump to $200 billion is staggering.

The technologies that make the World Wide Web and e-commerce possible have some potentially negative components. Privacy issues are a major concern for many, since there are the means to collect consumer information easily with digital tools. Transaction security is equally important as well. These issues need timely resolution with government and business working together to ensure the privacy of consumers and the fidelity of transactions. Business and government need to develop a set of specific standards that are part of a uniform business code for transacting business on the Internet.

Without cooperation, government agencies will step in and deal in a reactionary mode to abuses that are either taking place or imagined. (Author's abstract)

Finholt, T. A. and G. M. Olson (1997). "From Laboratories to Collaboratories: A New Organizational Form for Scientific Collaboration." Psychological Science 8(1): 28-36.
This article explores the potential impact of collaboratories on psychology. A collaboratory is a computer-supported system that allows scientists to work with each other, facilities, and databases without regard to geographical location. The impact of collaboratories is discussed in terms of changes in the organization and practice of scientific work as this work moves from physical to virtual settings. Examination of prototype collaboratories in the physical sciences shows that use of collaborateries produces changes through improved access to scarce resources, support for joint work among distant colleagues, and opportunities for broader participation in research by students. Similar results in psychology are predicted if psychologists exploit collaboratories' capabilities to design new ways of conducting research, rather than adopting collaboratory technology as an extension of the status quo. (Annotated by Ricardo B. Duque)

Fischer, C. S. (1992). America Calling: A Social History of the Telephone to 1940. Berkeley and Los Angeles, Univ. of California Press.
Claude Fischer casts a wide net in his ambitious effort to document the social role of domestic telephone service. Working with an enviably large research staff over a period of several years, he has collected and analyzed a wealth of material related to telephone adoption and usage in the United State. The value of Fischer's book is twofold. First, having this material collected in one place is a great service for those interested in the development of telephone service or the role of technology in the development of modern life. The book includes material about other technologies – especially the automobile in its contrasting and parallel developments with the telephone – and research on related issues of social life – such as how people spent their time and their preferences for certain forms of communication – making the volume a rich mine for sociologists, historians, and communication theorists. Second, his approach to understanding the technology is more sophisticated than most. He argues that technologies can have multiple and contradictory consequences because they are put to use by purposeful actors who choose to use the technology within such constraints as personal income, marketing strategies, availability, and government regulations. This user-centered approach to studying technology moves us beyond more deterministic approaches. The main interpretive theme of the book is that Americans used the telephone for "sociability", which extended and enhanced their way of life rather than altered its essential contours or character. (Adapted from Rakow, Lana. 1999. American Journal of Sociology 99:1693-1695, Book Reviews)

Flagg, G. (2000). "NCLIS Completes Library Internet Study." American Libraries 31: 12.
Reports on the sixth public library Internet survey by the United States National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS). Description of the survey, which measures levels of connectivity, public access, training support, and technological funding in U.S. public libraries; Survey findings, which found public libraries have expanded their Internet connections and added public-access services since the last survey. (Abstract found on EBSCO Host 5/2/01)

Fleitas, J. (1998). "Spinning Tales From the World Wide Web: Qualitative Research in an Electronic Environment." Qualitative Health Research 8: 283-292.
How do you learn about the texture of life from children with medical problems, and how do you translate their narratives into a web site for all to read? This article attempts to answer those questions. It describes the process of using qualitative research strategies to gather data for a Web-based project, "Band-Aides and Blackboards: When Chronic Illness, or Some Other Medical Problem Goes to School." The article discusses the rationale for using the Internet as a forum for collecting data and explores the advantages and disadvantages of its use. In addition to the Internet,focus groups and individual interviews were identified as rich sources of stories from children with serious health problems, and the article examines their utility In addition, it details the process of publicizing an invitation, attracting children, and acquiring parental permission for their inclusion. The text fakes a look at the barriers that were encountered along the route and addresses each of them, describing as it does the strategies employed to overcome them. A number of web addresses from the site are included as reference so that readers cart go "on-line" for a more in-depth understanding of the process.

Flora, J. L. (1998). "Social Capital and Communities of Place." Rural Sociology 63(4): 481-506.
This article poses the questions, "Does Social Capital make a difference for well being in communities of place? How might rural sociologists utlilize social capital to further well being in communities? Flora contrasts rational choice and embedded perspectives of social capital. Flora et al. introduces and discusses ESI or Entrepreneurial Social capital as an alternative to social capital in this context. The ESI framework focuses upon converting social capital into organizational forms that facilitate collective action, thus; social capital is a prerequisite in order to build partnerships within a community, although Flora states that it is not enough. Essentially, ESI is a set of concepts, principles, and indicators of communities' ability to address issues and solve problems collectively, which serves to create a more successful economic and social state of a community. The author finds that ESI contributes to economic development and that internal solidarity is more closely related to community self-development while industrial recruitment is better predicted by strong external ties. (Adapted from the author's abstract)

Forester, T. (1985). The Information Technology Revolution. Oxford, Basil Blackwell.
If the automobile and airplane business had developed like the computer business, a Rolls Royce would cost $2.75 and would run for 3 million miles on one gallon of gas. And a Boeing 767 would cost just $500 and would circle the globe in 20 minutes on five gallons of gas." Tom Forester's comparison points up the dramatic reduction in the cost of computing and this collection of essays he has assembled unfolds the equally dramatic changes that the revolution in electronics, computing, and telecommunications has brought about in the way we live and work-and maybe even think.
The Information Technology Revolution emphasizes actual case studies and much of the material has been written by computer engineers in the front line of technological change. Extensive chapters deal with the revolution in telecommunications, artificial intelligence and the "fifth generation" of supercomputers, the rise of the personal computer and the use of information technology in schools, factories, offices, banks, shops, and hospitals.

Among the social issues discussed are computer crime, privacy, the impact of new technology on women, the Third World, 'smart' weapons, and the future of work itself. A final section of the book assesses the extent to which this revolution is transforming Western society.

The Information Technology Revolution is a sequel to Forester's edited collection The Microelectronics Revolution (MIT Press paperback, 1980). It contains entirely new material published between 1980 and 1984. Chapters are presented as in the earlier book: an introductory article is usually followed by either detailed case studies or pieces that explore some of the issues in greater depth - a format particularly useful for teaching purposes. Comprehensive guides to further reading follow each chapter.

Tom Forester is a free-lance journalist living in England. He has contributed numerous articles to New Society, The Times, The Guardian, The Sunday Times, New Statesman, and Labour Weekly. (book description amazon.com)

Forester, T. (1981). The Microelectronics Revolution: The Complete Guide to the New Technology and its Impact on Society. Cambridge, MA, MIT Press.

Forge, S. (2000). "Open Source: The Economics of Giving Away Stuff, and Software as a Political Info." 2: 5-7.
Free ware or open source software, even called brown bag software, seems to have no value. Because why would anybody give away anything that does have value? In fact the community in the largest sense, of the economy and the society that depends on it, have benefited enormously and tangibly from such open development software: the internet and the World Wide Web are just some of its children. Open source software heralds a new kind of economic cooperation, rather than combat. Moreover its donation is a political statement, affecting billions of people. Its growing power now makes the mightiest of software publishers take it seriously.

Fountain, J. E. (2000). "Constructing the Information Society: Women, Information Technology, and Design." Technology in Society. 22: 45-62.
For the first time in history, women have the opportunity to play a major and visible role in a social transformation of potentially monumental proportions. The extensive reach and penetration of information technology into virtually every area of society creates enormous opportunities for women. But women's lack of representation in IT design roles may prevent them from capitalizing on these opportunities. Most current discussion and analysis focuses on the increasing numbers of women as users of information technology with great emphasis on their use of the Internet and World Wide Web. Comparatively little attention has been given to the potential role women might play as designers in an information-based society. As the data in this paper clearly indicate, women are poorly represented in the sector that constitutes the growth engine of the U.S. economy and that bears primary responsibility for the scientific and technological development of an Information Society. The human capital requirements of the Information Society demonstrate the need for women to strengthen their participation as experts, owners and designers of information technologies.

This paper argues that stronger representation by women in technical roles not only would help to redress a troubling human capital deficit, but is highly likely to modify and expand the range of technological applications, products, standards and practices to benefit all of society. On the importance of women as scientific and technical experts, see [1,2]. To develop this argument, the paper surveys across several policy areas to identify a central challenge that does not neatly fit into established policy categories. The first section of this paper distinguishes between the types of contributions that may be made by users of information technology versus its designers. The second section surveys current participation rates of women in IT-related fields within education and industry in order to gauge the near-term supply of women designers and experts. The third section argues, by analogy to the fields of medicine and psychology, that the degree of participation by women is likely to have a notable effect on professional practice and technological developments within the fields that constitute information technology.

The current economy presents a stellar opportunity for women to assume leadership roles in research and development of information technologies and applications. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, use of the Internet, World Wide Web and other digital technologies continues to proliferate. The U.S. economy and its labor needs have shifted radically producing a serious deficit of IT workers. The U.S. Department of Commerce [3. p. 4] uses the following definitions and categories to denote information technology and related occupations: computer scientists, computer engineers, systems analysts and computer programmers. The classification is based on categories used by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Demand for workers able to develop, apply and use these technologies extends beyond the computer and software industries into service industries, including health care, manufacturing, transportation, government and education. Information technology accounted for more than a third of the nation's real economic growth from 1995 to 1997 [3, p. 5]. If not addressed, labor market shortages in information technology related occupations are estimated to diminish national productivity, the development of new products and services. economic growth, and national competitiveness [4]. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that approximately 137 800 new jobs in information technology occupations have been and will be produced each year from 1996 to 2006. The U.S. educational system awarded only 24 098 bachelors degrees and 9658 associate's degrees in computer and information sciences in 1995 and 1996 [5. Tables 238 and 153. pp. 280, 286]. Immigration policy has recently been modified, with passage of the American Competitiveness and Workforce Improvement Act of 1998, to meet the current shortfall of IT workers [6]. Firms seek to employ skilled workers from abroad, notably from India, Russia, Eastern Europe. Southeast Asia and South Africa. But while the U.S. government has temporarily raised the quota of skilled non-immigrant visas to accommodate increased demand, the legislation includes a sunset provision that mandates lowering the cap by 2002. Even if immigration levels are not reduced. evidence of a global deficit of information technology workers (see [7] for one example) is likely to constrain the ability of firms to use immigration policy and global outsourcing of IT activities [4, p. 2]. The U.S. political economy requires modernization of domestic employment and education policies to sustain growth in the information society. (C) 2000 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Fountain, J. E. C. t. I. S. W., Information Technology, and Design". Technology in Society. January. 22(1):45-62. (2000). "Constructing the Information Society: Women, Information Technology, and Design." Technology Review.
The first section of this paper distinguishes between the types of contributions that may be made by users of information technology versus its designers. The second section surveys current participation rates of women in IT-related fields within education and industry in order to gauge the near-term supply of women designers and experts. The third section argues, by analogy to the fields of medicine and psychology, that the degree of participation by women is likely to have a notable effect on professional practice and technological developments within the fields that constitute information technology. (Annotated by Ricardo B. Duque)

Fox, S. (2000). "Trust and Privacy Online: Why Americans Want to Rewrite the Rules." The Pew Internet & American Life Project, Washington, D.C.
In a season of growing concern about privacy on the Internet, The Pew Internet & American Life Project surveyed 2,117 Americans, 1,017 of whom are Internet users, from May 19 to June 21 about trust and privacy online. Their responses illustrated some fascinating cross currents on these issues. Online Americans have great concerns about breaches of privacy, while at the same time they do a striking number of intimate and trusting things on the Internet, and the overwhelming majority have never had a seriously harmful thing happen to them online.

On some major points, though, there is a powerful consistency: The first point is that American Internet users overwhelmingly want the presumption of privacy when they go online. The second point is that a great many Internet users do not know the basics of how their online activities are observed and they do not use available tools to protect themselves. (From website)

Franzen, A. (2000). "Does the Internet Make Us Lonely?" European Sociological Review 16: 427-438.
The Internet and its potential effects on society receive much attention in public discussions. Many discussants expect that the World Wide Web will enhance global trade of products and services and thus will increase economic wealth. However, social scientists are concerned with possible social side-effects of the Internet. Specifically, a recent experimental study by Robert Kraut et al. (1998) found that greater use of the Internet decreases communication within the family, diminishes the size of the subjects' local social networks, and increases feelings of loneliness and depression. This study sheds doubt on the generality of these findings. Results from a survey of 15 842 Internet users and a control group of 1196 non-users conducted in Switzerland suggest that Internet use neither decreases respondents' network size nor the time spent with friends. The study also shows that electronic mail is widely used and has positive effects on people's social networks. The study uses many socio-demographic control variables and statistical methods to control for simultaneity. (Sociological Abstracts)

Frederick, H. H. (1993). Global Communication and International Relations. Belmont, CA, Wadsworth Publishing.
In the foreword to Global Communication and International Relations, George Gerbner says that this book is a ``tour de force'' that will help us to meet the challenges of participating in the making of communication policies that shape ``not only our culture and perspectives but increasingly our history and fate.'' When I first read this endorsement I was sceptical, thinking of the other books I have sifted through with similar declarations that do not live up to their author's promises. I now realize that Gerbner may be correct. This book is intelligent and understandable. It manages to communicate clearly despite the complexity of its task of integrating diverse disciplines, theories, and debates, together with today's rapidly developing systems of communication technology. Frederick's encyclopedic set of references and footnotes alone are worth the price of the book. I agree with Frederick's assertion that his book ``is currently the only integrated textbook in the burgeoning field of global communication'' (p. v).

Twelve months ago I knew almost nothing about electronic mail. Today I use it to communicate with colleagues around the world and with it I can access international databases that were previously unavailable to me. Almost every day I find that I face new changes in communication technologies and channels. The beauty of Frederick's book is that it provides the macro-level context necessary for grappling with the accelerating changes in our daily lives. It also provides a thorough yet concise history of long-distance communication that supplements a detailed presentation of the competing theories and emerging controversies currently facing us.

As someone who specializes in development communication I am impressed by Frederick's meticulous treatment of issues such as the growing gap between the information-rich and information-poor, the New World Information and Communication Order (NWICO), the dramatic politic changes at UNESCO, and the role of communication in war and peace. With every issue Frederick provides us with carefully researched and well-documented information from authoritative sources. Some footnotes are even accompanied by e-mail addresses to enable the reader to contact an author or organization directly.


One of my favourite chapters is ``Channels of Global Communication,'' which covers everything from interpersonal communication and language to the transmission of packet data via satellite. The writing never becomes too technical nor jargonistic and people who have never used electronic mail will feel as comfortable reading the chapter as cyberpunks. It also includes useful lists of international organizations involved with global communication, including agencies of the United Nations, international telecommunications unions, international and alternative press agencies, and research associations and training institutes.

Frederick's book is not without problems. One serious problem is the book's limited, two-page discussion of women in international communication. This discussion, unlike the rest of the book, barely touches the surface of the available research and appears as little more that an afterthought. I also found the encyclopedic detail of the book wasted by the neglect to include both a name index and an alphabetically organized bibliography. The publishers missed the opportunity to make it both a textbook and a reference text.

There are some minor but irritating problems as well. A non-American reader will probably perceive the sometimes subtle and sometimes not-so-subtle American- centred point of view. For example, Frederick discusses several U.S. organizations and commissions without mentioning their U.S. identities. He assumes the reader will know these organizations and commissions are U.S. entities. Thus, despite the author's anti-imperialist tenor, a bit of cultural imperialism manages to find its way into the book. Canadian readers will note there are few references to Canadian researchers with the exception, of course, of Harold Innis and Marshall McLuhan. Frederick dismisses McLuhan too quickly, claiming that McLuhan has a ``hopelessly idealistic'' and ``zany brand of media metaphysics'' (pp. 119-120). Readers from Newfoundland will likely find more annoyance with the change in their capital's spelling from St. John's to ``Saint John's'' (p. 37).

Readers from the developing world and those interested in alternative communications will appreciate Frederick's coverage of global communication issues and debates. However, they may disagree with his stated choice to avoid addressing specific communication activities within developing countries and within the world of alternative communications. Frederick leaves us with a macro-level understanding of the issues and positive suggestions for policies that may improve access to communication channels and reduce the gaps between the communication rich and communication poor. However, he tells us very little about the micro-level world in which people are using communication channels today, at the grassroots, to assert their rights to communicate. Frederick helps us to think globally but does little to help us to explore options for acting locally. (Don Richardson, University of Guelph; Canadian Journal of Communication Volume 18, Number 4, 1993)

Freeman, C. (1998). Social Inequality, Technology and Economic Growth. Technology and In/Equality: Questioning the Information Society. S. Wyatt, F. Henwood, N. Miller and P. Senker. London, England, Routledge.
Many 'information society' enthusiasts, both academics and policymakers, claim that the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) will relieve people of drudgery, improve access to information and entertainment, and result in greater social justice. Dissident voices suggest that the application of ICTs will exacerbate social inequalities through the creation of information haves and have-nots, result in greater social control through the growth of electronic surveillance and polarise the labour market. All of the contributors challenge the technological determinism which can be found on both sides of this debate.

This book analyses both the potentials and constraints represented by technologies in specific contexts. The focus is on applications of ICTs in the media industries, in education and in work because of their position in respect of access to and control over crucial resources such as information, knowledge, skills and income. Some of the key issues addressed include: democracy and broadcasting technologies; gender, class and ethnicity in technological education and lifelong learning; class, gender and skills in the workplace; and the global economic inequalities associated with technological innovation.

Contributors to this book develop a critique of the information society by addressing questions of equality and inequality in ways that combine structural analysis with an analysis of individual and collective agency. Differential access to, and control over, ICTs is the focus of all chapters. The contributors ask if, where and how such differences constitute inequalities and suggest what might be done to prevent such outcomes.

The contributors draw on a wide range of theoretical ideas, and explain them in a way that is lively and accessible to the non-specialist. The book is thus an ideal introduction to the subject of technology and inequality for students studying across a range of disciplines. (University of East London webpage)

Freeman, C. and L. Soete. (1994). Work for All or Mass Unemployment? Computerised Technical Change into the Twenty-First Century. London, England, Pinter.
A sketch of the disastrous social consequences of unemployment in disenfranchising individuals from, contributing to anomie, crime, and other ills is the starting point of this policy-oriented work. What is to be done? Freeman and Soete's policy recommendations for reducing unemployment follow directly from their view of theory. First, smooth the structural adjustments caused by the shock of the "biggest juggernaut that ever rolled" (p.39), innovations in information and communications technologies (ICTs) with retraining programs to usher in the information society. Second, preserve aggregate demand for labor with lower skills through public works programs in environmental improvements and the caring professions. (Adapted from Steinmuller, W. Edward. Mar 1996. Journal of Economic Literature 34(1): 137-138 Book Reviews)

Freeman-Longo, R. E. (2000). "Children, Teens, and Sex on the Internet." Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity 7: 75-90.
With the growing number of Internet users and access to an increasing number of web sites and a variety of materials by underaged persons. This article uses Grounded Theory to address (a) the limited but growing knowledge of the area, (b) ways in which children and teens can access this material, (c) positives and negatives associated with developing online relationships that can become sexual, (d) the growing concerns regarding children's access to adult-oriented materials including sexual addiction, and (e) the potential short- and long-term affects. This article also addresses recommendations for the future regarding ways to guide youth about the potential hazards associated with the use of online adult-oriented web sites, ways to reduce the incidence of children and teens accessing these materials, and useful prevention strategies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2000 APA, all rights reserved)

Frey, B. F. (2000). "Investigating moral intensity with the World-Wide Web: A look at participant reactions and a comparison of methods." Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers 32: 423-431.
Reports the results of a vignette- and questionnaire-based research project over the World-Wide Web investigating the influence of moral intensity (MI) on decision making in a business context. A qualitative analysis of the feedback in terms of e-mail communications was used to provide insights into the reactions and responses of participants to both the research method and the topic of research. A quantitative analysis approach was used to compare the survey results (570 returns, mean age 37 yrs) with the outcome of a mail administration of the same survey (406 New Zealand business people, mean age 46 yrs). Implications are discussed, and some methodological recommendations are derived. Analysis of the quantitative results of the Web-based questionnaire administration indicated that 3 of the 6 MI components were particularly important determinants of several outcome variables. This pattern of results essentially replicated findings yielded by a previous mail administration of the survey, even though a smaller amount of variation in the outcome variables was accounted for. Neither occupational background nor the region of origin of participants measurably influenced the results.

Frieden, R. (1999). "Last Days of the Free Ride? The Consequences of Settlement-Based Interconnection for the Internet." Info 1: 225-38.
During the internet's government-sponsored, promotional' phase, most internet service providers (ISPs) agreed to interconnect facilities at centralized locations, and to 'peer' with any ISP regardless of customer base, geographical reach and bandwidth, without any transfer payments or settlement of accounts. This article tracks the evolution of internet interconnection and charging arrangements and draws comparisons with the arrangements of telecommunication carriers. Initially characterized by text-based communication in a non-commercial environment, with wider access more imperative than profits, the internet is changing as it privatizes and matures. Although customers are currently provided with 'seamless' access to individual networks of the internet, changes are putting the status quo under pressure. Customers are suffering from network congestion caused by increased demand in the volume and bandwidth requirements of traffic. Some ISPs are financially challenged by the need to invest in upgrades, the decline in government subsidies and from an imbalance in the flow of traffic between operators. This article looks at alternative models for remedying these problems and the potential consequences. In particular it focuses on how pricing arrangements could change the nature of ISP relationships, from a peer-based to a hierarchy-based system. (EconLit)

Friedman, D. (2000). "Privacy and Technology." Social Philosophy & Policy 17: 186-212.
After identifying three types of privacy rights - physical, attentional, & informational - the third type is discussed in light of threats to it posed by modern information & communication technologies. It is shown that informational privacy is somewhat dependent on the other two types; by violating one's personal space or demanding one's attention away from matters of the private sphere, information technologies impinge on the individual's right to keep certain personal information to him or herself. Reasons why informational privacy is valued in contemporary society are reviewed, considering related economic issues (eg, rent seeking, blackmail, property), norms, & government intervention. New technologies with the ability to violate informational privacy are identified, including information processing, encryption, & surveillance devices. The public quality of "realspace" is compared to the privacy of cyberspace, & implications for the protection of privacy rights are discussed. (K. Hyatt Stewart).

Froomkin, A. M. (1999). "Legal issues in anonymity and pseudonymity." Information Society 15: 113-27.
Discusses costs of anonymity in its elimination of accountability and advantages in terms of the citizen's transactional or political freedom, existing legal and constitutional restrictions, and practical issues facing would-be regulators; US. Included in a collection of articles under the overall title "Special issue: Anonymous communication on the Internet".

Gaiser, T. J. (1997). "Conducting On-Line Focus Groups: A Methodological Discussion." Social Science Computer Review 15: 135-144.
Introduces an exploratory methodology for conducting on-line research with focus groups. Both the mechanics & ethical implications of such research are described, eg, recruitment, timing, use of topic guides, & moderating on-line groups; & the need for flexibility, the expectation of contentiousness, & the situatedness of the information produced. The method's strengths & weaknesses are discussed, particularly in relation to traditional face-to-face focus groups. The benefits & drawbacks of the various "spaces" available for focus group research in the computer-mediated environment, eg, Internet relay chat groups, multiuser dimensions, Web conference pages, & bulletin boards, are discussed.

Galimberti, C., S. Ignazi, et al. (2001). "Communication and Cooperation in Networked Environments: An Experimental Analysis." Cyberpsychology and Behavior 4(1): 131-146.
Interpersonal communication and cooperation do not happen exclusively face to face. In work contexts, as in private life, there are more and more situations of mediated communication and cooperation in which new online tools are used. However, understanding how to use the Internet to support collaborative interaction presents a substantial challenge for the designers and users of this emerging technology. First, collaborative Internet environments are designed to serve a purpose, so must be designed with intended users' tasks and goals explicitly considered. Second, in cooperative activities the key content of communication is the interpretation of the situations in which actors are involved. So, the most effective way of clarifying the meaning of messages is to connect them to a shared context of meaning. However, this is more difficult in the Internet than in other computer-based activities. This paper tries to understand the characteristics of cooperative activities in networked environments-shared 3D virtual worlds-through two different studies. The first used the analysis of conversations to explore the characteristics of the interaction during the cooperative task; the second analyzed whether and how the level of immersion in the networked environments influenced the performance and the interactional process. The results are analyzed to identify the psychosocial roots used to support cooperation in a digital interactive communication. (Annotated by Ricardo B. Duque)

Gandy, O. H. (1996). Legitimate business interest: No end in sight?, University of Chicago Legal Forum: 77-137.

Gandy, O. H. (1993). The Panoptic Sort A Political Economy of Personal Information. Boulder, Westview Press.
Business and government are sharing more and more information about each of us, thereby raising InfoTech ethical quandaries that find us unprepared.

Major car rental companies, for example, have begun to use electronic links to government computers to check driving records of potential renters. They are turning away 6 to 10 percent, although rental clerks are not given any details to share with rejected applicants. A puzzled or offended driver who wants to complain is referred to the State Motor Vehicle Bureau. There a low-level bureaucrat explains no one has a right to rent a car. Nor is there any right to have the contested rejection explained, or to secure proof that there has been no computer error...a situation readers of Kafka would find wryly familiar.

Anyone made nervous by the fact that giant credit agencies, amoral government agencies, and other snoops are busy creating an electronic dossier on millions of us will get no comfort from this jeremiad.

Indeed, when the Information Superhighway and the merger of TV, PC, fax, and phone are yesterday's news, perhaps by 2005 or before, powerful forces (marketers, social engineers, etc.) are likely to possess an extraordinary ability to sort us out according to our perceived value in the marketplace and our assumed susceptibility to various political messages.

Convinced this double-barreled prospect threatens our minds and souls as do few other hazards of the InfoTech Age, Gandy, Jr., traces fascinating links among telemarketing, mail surveys, focus interviews, and other sorting and surveillance tools.

These links are condemned for promoting a panoptic future that does not engender trust and community, but pushes us instead further away from our democratic ideals. (The term "panoptic" was first applied by Jeremy Bentham to a prison he designed that warders with complete and endless surveillance of their inmates).

A work in critical theory, the book draws on such leading theorists as Jurgen Habermas, Jacques Ellul, Max Weber, Michel Foucault, and other unsparing critics of technology. Often complex and sometimes turgid, they are rendered "reader friendly" by the author's considerable writing skills.

This is not to suggest the book is a light or easy read: Quite the contrary. It is packed with demanding information, challenging with fresh ideas, and vexing with its thoroughgoing indictment of a "sorting mechanism /that/ cannot help but exacerbate the massive and destructive inequalities that characterize the U.S. political economy...."

Readers who expect social critics to offer engaging reform ideas after laying out a major problem will learn as early as page 2 that Gandy, Jr., has no such intent. Instead, with unsparing honesty he exposes weaknesses in various reforms popular with those desperate to believe the panoptic sort can readily be tamed and transformed.

Paradoxically, by firmly denying this wishful possibility, he makes a case for mounting new efforts to expose, oppose, and replace the system he sees unfolding: "My project is not the lion's roar, just a tiny rent in the screen. There is much more to be seen. Make a hole for yourself, or help me to widen the one that I have already begun."

Palliatives, of course, only earn the author's scorn, as, for example, calls for creation of a Sort-defying "buffer" between individuals and marketers.

As explained by Don Peppers and Martha Rogers (N.Y.Times, August 22,1993) we could urge or even require media companies to expunge the identity of individuals before they could sell sales data gathered about them through media-use analysis to eager marketers Sales offers could then be made to prospective buyers only within the media company's own interactive system. Consumer-viewers could use interactive systems to publicize what they wanted to purchase, knowing they could get back marketer "bids" without having to reveal their identities.

Clever and promising, this reform sidesteps the underlying question of appropriate limits on data gathering per se, the dark heart of the Panoptic Sort Challenge.

Those made anxious by the voracious appetite of power elites for gathering information about most of us, and those reluctant to blindly embrace InfoTech, will find much of value in this harrowing critique of a "high-tech cybernetic triage." Few books so effectively execrate the "all-seeing eye of the difference machine that guides the global capitalist system," its awesome data sorting mechanism.

Thoroughly alarming, this book offers a healthy counter to the rosy picture of cybernetic capitalism painted by George Gilder, Fortune, and other sources of technological optimism. Much as cyberpunk literature forces readers to consider a chilling realm of InfoTech possibilities, its unsparing diatribe forces us to confront the shriveled-soul realm the public will inherit unless we soon find effective ways to regulate the Sort. (Reviewed by Arthur B. Shostak, Ph.D)

Gardyn, R. (2001). "Saving the Earth, One Click at a Time: Electronic Commerce and Environmental Issues." American Demographics 23: 30-3?
The Internet has provided environmentally-conscious consumers, known by some as "light greens," with a new approach to environmental activism: shopping. Whether they buy from the increasing number of Internet companies specializing in environment-friendly products or frequent mainstream retailers through charity mall sites that donate a portion of sales to green causes, e-commerce is expanding opportunities to "do the right thing" for the environment. Moreover, for marketers trying to develop consumer loyalty and retention, the Internet has provided a better method of targeting these customers. The use of the Internet to market to the light green consumer segment is discussed. (Social Sciences Abstracts)

Garfinkel, S. L. (1998). "The Web's Unelected Government." Technology Review 101: 38-46.
Part of a special section on the unknown Internet. The World Wide Web Consortium, or W3C, is the nearest thing the famously decentralized Web has to a governing body. At last count, W3C had 275 member organizations, including companies, nonprofit organizations, industry groups, and government agencies from around the globe. Although the consortium, based at MIT, has brought a measure of order to the unruly mires of the Web, it has many critics who say the group has become a significant maker of public policy and, as such, should start to act like one. They contend that the W3C should open its membership and meetings to broader, more democratic participation. The writer discusses the creation of the Web, censorship and privacy, and the structure of W3C, and the role of W3C founder and director Tim Berners-Lee is examined.

Garson, G. D. (2000). Social Dimensions of Information Technology: Issues for the New Millennium. Hershey, PA, Idea Group Publishing.
Information technology issues and social issues intersect in an increasing number of contexts, especially in modern libraries. This work is an anthology representing many differing perspectives on the various impacts of information technology. Twenty essays, each a revised version of a paper originally published in Social Science Computer Review explore social, political and educational aspects of the use of information technology. G. David Garson, editor of this volume and also editor of Social Science Computer Review, brings to this book his extensive background in public administration and computer systems. He is a full professor at North Carolina State University, and the author of several books and many articles relating to technology and social issues. Garson states that this anthology strives to achieve a balance between breadth and depth. For most readers this goal has been met quite well. The science and technology librarian, however, will have to expend some effort in identifying that material which is of the greatest interest. The book is divided into five parts, designated as focusing on the social, political, educational, personal and international dimensions of information technology. For those librarians endeavoring to better understand how libraries and library users may be impacted by the increasing use of information technology Part III, addressing the educational dimensions of information technology and comprising four papers, is of particular interest. Providing information via remote access and distance learning is an increasing concern in many libraries. Science and technology librarians grappling with these issues will find this section an excellent source of the non-librarian perspective. Beyond Part III readers will need to determine which papers are germane to their specific needs and interests. Librarians may find that some of the papers have little direct impact on their local circumstances, but those who wish to read all of the papers should develop a broad context in which to analyze the subject.
As this work addresses many facets of a broad issue, the index is especially helpful in identifying and locating pertinent readings. In this volume, the endnotes and references are retained with each individual paper. Readers will appreciate the "About the Authors" section that precedes the index. This section provides useful biographical and contact in formation about authors that librarians might not otherwise be familiar with.
Garson has produced a work that will be appreciated by busy information professionals who wish to develop a broader based understanding of these concerns. This compilation provides an efficient means of developing such a perspective (from "Book Reviews: Social Dimensions of Information Technology: Issues for the New Millennium" by Daryl C. Youngman published in Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship, Number 33, Winter 2002).

Garton, L., C. Haythornthwaite, et al. (1997). "Studying Online Social Networks." Journal of Computer Mediated Communication 3(1).
When a computer network connects people or organizations, it is a social network. Yet the study of such computer-supported social networks has not received as much attention as studies of human-computer interaction, online person-to-person interaction, and computer-supported communication within small groups. We argue the usefulness of a social network approach for the study of computer-mediated communication. We review some basic concepts of social network analysis, describe how to collect and analyze social network data, and demonstrate where social network data can be, and have been, used to study computer-mediated communication. Throughout, we show the utility of the social network approach for studying computer-mediated communication, be it in computer-supported cooperative work, in virtual community, or in more diffuse interactions over less bounded systems such as the internet. (authors' abstract)

Gasman, L. (1997). The Technological Realities of Internet Commerce. The Future of Money in the Information Age. Washington, D.C., Cato Institute.

Gassee, J.-L. (1987). The Third Apple: Personal Computers and the Cultural Revolution. San Diego, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.

Gavin, N. T. (2001). The Economy, Media, and Public Knowledge (Studies in Communication and Society Series), Leicester University Press.

Gelman, S. R., D. Pollack, et al. (1999). "Confidentiality of Social Work Records in the Computer Age." Social Work 44: 243-252.
Though computers have brought social, cultural, & economic benefits, they also challenge social workers to preserve a basic tenet of the profession - confidentiality. Electronic record systems & rapid changes in communication over the Internet are outpacing the profession's ability to ensure privacy. Discussed here are some ideas about information protection, along with recommendations to minimize violations of privacy.

Gendron, B. (1977). Technology and the Human Condition. New York, St. Martin's Press.

Ghosh, R. A. (1998). "Cooking Pot Markets: An Economic Model for the Trade in Free Goods and Services on the Internet." Brazilian Electronic Journal of Economics.
It has long been assumed that there is something beyond economics involved in the proliferation of free goods and services on the Internet. Although Netscape's recent move to give away the source code for its browser shows that the corporate world now believes that it is possible to make money with free software--previously eyed with cautious pessimism--money is not the prime motivator of most producers of the Internet's free goods, and neither is altruism. Efforts and rewards may be valued in intangibles, but, as this paper argues, there is a very tangible market dynamics to the free economy of the Internet, and rational economic decisions are at work. This is the "cooking-pot" market: an implicit barter economy with asymmetric transactions.

Gibson, R. and S. Ward (2000). "A Proposed Methodology for Studying the Function and Effectiveness of Party and Candidate Web Sites." Social Science Computer Review 18: 301-319.
The growth of party and candidate activity on the World Wide Web over the past 5 years has provoked much comment and criticism. Although initially most assessments were descriptive and anecdotal, more recent studies have taken a more systematic and quantitative approach to this topic. This article builds on the existing literature by developing a coding scheme that addresses two basic questions applicable to all political web sites: (a) what the purpose of the sites are, and (2) how effectively they deliver their contents. In doing so, this article attempts to standardize the study of party web sites and to promote the growth of cross-national and longitudinal comparative research in this area. (Authors' abstract)

Giddens, A. (1984). The Constitution of Society: Outline of the Theory of Structuration. Berkeley, University of California.
A must read for anyone in social science. For, it synthesizes ideas of two camps in a comprehensive way. That is, it overviews two main bipartisan ideas of social studies (Structuralism/Functionalism (Marx, Weber, Straus, Blau, etc.) and Interpretative studies (Shutz, Goffman, Garfinkel, etc.); and posits a emerging way of exploring social phenomena (Structuration Theory). In brief, his theory suggests that the structural approaches treating structure* as a sui-generis should be abandoned because it is agents' day-to-day life activities that result in structure*. Hence, it posits that structures** as rules and resources are both constraints and medium of human actions. Disentangling this idea, Giddens proposes stratified model of actions (reflexive monitoring, rationalization, and motivation of action) and individuals (with discursive consciousness, practical consciousness, and unconscious motives), which will constantly results in intended (through routinization) and unintended consequences of actions (through de-routinization). These consequences (as rules and resources), in turn, constrain and enable human agents' future social actions. Three aspects of these recursive interactions between agents and structures*** emerge -- signification, domination, and legitimation, which are realized through communication, power, and sanction in social interactions.
*, ** In Giddens, the equivalent term for “structure” in traditional sociological meanings might be “structural properties or social and system institutions.” Structure* refers to the traditional concept. Structure** refers Giddens' idea of rules and resources that are brought into in social actions.
*** This view in fact suggests that structures only have their virtual characteristics, (can be identified ONLY in human social interaction), which invites other critics such as Archer (1995) and Craib (1992).
Archer, M. S. (1995). Realist Social Theory: The Morphogenetic Approach (Vol. 26). Cambridge ; New York: Cambridge University Press,.
Craib, I. (1992). Anthony Giddens. London, UK: Routledge.
(Commented by Hyo Kim)

Gillett, S. E. (2000). "Universal Service: Defining the Policy Goal in the Age of the Internet." The Information Society 16: 147-49.
The current universal service policies for the Internet focus almost entirely on physical connectivity. This emphasis is misplaced because the Internet is an overlay network that rides piggyback on the existing telecommunications infrastructure. The focus instead should be on Internet services and the end-user equipment and training needed to access them. (From http://www.catchword.com )

Globerman, S., T. W. Roehl, et al. (2001). "Globalization and Electronic Commerce: Inferences from Retail Brokering." Journal of International Business Studies 32(4): 749-68.
E-commerce has contributed to the retail brokerage industry becoming more global and more contestable. By examining the different stages of the value chain, we can analyze the differential impact of the information and communication technology (ICT) revolution on each segment of the industry. To date, the primary drivers of globalization have been manifested at the "wholesale" stage of the industry. In contrast, important features of the broker-customer interface have perpetuated a multi-locational competitive
structure at the retail stage of the industry. Nevertheless, actual and potential competition has been significantly increased by the spread of e-commerce at all stages of the industry. E-commerce innovations encourage both standardization and variety within an increasingly competitive industry. (Journal Abstract)

Goeritz, A. S. and J. Schumacher (2000). "The WWW as a Research Medium: An Illustrative Survey on Paranormal Belief." Perceptual & Motor Skills 90: 1195-1206.

Goffe, W. L. and R. P. Parks (1997). "The Future Information Infrastructure in Economics." Journal of Economic Perspectives 11: 75-94.
This paper is a first look at how the information infrastructure for economists will change with the arrival of the Internet. While paper has long been used for the flow of information in the profession, computer networks are starting to supplement it and, in the not-to- distant future, will replace paper. The authors examine the myriad ways in which a networked world will benefit the profession. The most exciting is the easy access to the material that lies at the heart of their profession: journals, working papers, data, and teaching.

Goffman, E. (1967). Interaction Ritual: Essays in Fact-to-Face Behavior. Chicago, Aldine.
"This work addresses all that goes into interactions when
people meet face to face. Goffman takes an ethnographic approach in analysis
of how we enact ourselves by our responses to and our readings of other
people. The work pre-dates significant changes in interaction technology
and focuses on some physical aspects of face to face interaction as well as
social and psychological. Much of what is described however abstracts to
more mediated experiences." (comments by G. Craig Murray)

Goggin, G. and C. Newell (2000). "An End to Disabling Policies? Toward Enlightened Universal Service." The Information Society 16: 127-133.
This article argues that an enlightened, inclusive vision of universal service is possible by learning lessons from disability. Telecommunications policy has historically built in norms that needlessly exclude people who are regarded as having a disability and therefore being outside of the mainstream. Accordingly, universal service policies focus on availability and affordability of telecommunications services, rather than on their accessibility and functionality. The article shows how rethinking universal service through disability can lead to inclusive policies that benefit everybody. (From http://www.catchword.com )

Goiman, S. P. "The Network Advantage of Regions: The Case of the USA, Europe, and China."
The Internet spans the globe, but not all nodes, networks, or regions
connected to it are equal. Recently it has been demonstrated that the vast
success of the Internet as a global network is due in large part to its
scale free nature. This paper will examine the fiber network structures of
the USA, Europe, and China to examine the role scale free characteristics
play in their structure, evolution, and success. The results will be
examined as a test of the validity of using scale free indices to explain
the social and economic disparities governing competitive systems. The
hypothesis behind mis work being that regions can flourish based on a
network advantage just as they would from a comparative or competitive
advantage. (from author's abstract)

Golob, T. F. and A. C. Regan (2001). "Impacts of Information Technology on Personal Travel and Commercial Vehicle Operations: Research Challenges and Opportunities." Transportation Research Part C - Emerging Technologies 9: 87-121.
Abstract: Travel, like many other aspects of daily life is being transformed by the information technology (IT) revolution. Accessibility can no longer be measured only in terms of travel time, distance or generalized travel cost. IT gives people virtual accessibility to a rapidly growing range of activities. E-commerce has become a catalyst for structural changes in the freight transportation industry and is changing where freight moves, the size of typical shipments and the time within which goods must be delivered. In this paper, we explore some of the potential effects of IT on transportation, both personal and freight.

Gong, J. and P. Srinagesh. (1997). The Economics of Layered Networks. Internet economics. L. W. McKnight and J. P. Bailey. Cambridge and London, MIT Press.

Gowan, M. (2001). "FUTURE Web." PC World 19: 105-112.
Speculates on the future of the Internet, as of April, 2001. Predictions regarding high-speed Internet access, electronic commerce and subscription software; Opinion that in the future, the Internet will be graphics-intensive, overflowing with video and 3-dimensional images; Perception that offline and online life will blur as computer users shop, listen to music and run software; Mention of the Digital Divide Network, which provides resources dealing with the so-called digital divide. INSET: THE NET TAKES HOLD (UCLA Internet Project's Jeffrey Cole) (Author's abstract from EBSCO Host 4/19/01).

Gralla, P. (1999). How the Internet Works. New York, Que.

Granovetter, M. S. (1973). "The Strength of Weak Ties." American Journal of Sociology 78: 6r.
A rather limited aspect of small-scale interaction is chosen--the strength of interpersonal ties--& it is shown, in some detail, how the use of network analysis can relate this aspect to such varied macro-phenomena as diffusion, SM, pol'al org, & soc cohesion in general. It is argued that the degree of overlap of 2 individuals' friendship networks varies directly with the strength of their tie to one another. The impact of this principle on diffusion of influence & information, mobility opportunity, & community org is explored. Stress is laid on the cohesive power of weak ties. Most network models deal, implicitly, with strong ties, thus confining their applicability to small, well-defined groups. Emphasis on weak ties lends itself to discussion of relations between groups & to analysis of segments of soc structure not easily defined in terms of primacy groups. The major implication here is that the personal experience of individuals is closely bound up with larger-scale aspects of soc structure. Linkage of micro & macro levels is of central importance to the development of social theory. (Author's abstract)

Graziano, M. (2001). "The Music Downloading Deluge: 37 million American adults and youths have retrieved music files on the Internet." Pew Internet and American Life Project Washington, D.C.
Close to 30 million American adults have downloaded music files over the Internet and it has been one of the fastest growing Internet activities in the past half-year, especially among men. Surveys by the Pew Internet & American Life Project show that between July-August 2000 and February 2001, the number of American adults who have downloaded music online shot up more than 40%.

In the six months between August 2000 and February 2001, music downloading became an increasingly regular activity for Internet users. The number of adult American Internet users downloading music on any given day doubled to more than 6 million. That is twice the number of Internet users buying retail products online on any given day and equal to the number seeking health information in the Web or looking for travel information.

The striking growth of the music downloading population occurred across virtually every demographic group and level of online experience. It was pronounced among the very freshest newcomers to the Internet as well as the most experienced online veterans. The increase in the number of music downloaders also occurred among online men and women, the well-to-do and those in modest economic circumstances, and in different racial and ethnic groups, particularly among Hispanics. (Adapted from website)

Greenfield, D. N. (1999). "Psychological Characteristics of Compulsive Internet Use: A Preliminary Analysis." CyberPsychology & Behavior 2: 403-412.
This study attempted to address the areas of Internet use and abuse by analyzing data derived from an online survey of 17,251 individuals (aged 8-85 yrs). Data were collected from a joint project with ABCNEWS.com, in which survey participants answered a 36-item questionnaire regarding their Internet use and behavior. The main findings of the study supported previous research indicating that approximately 6% of those surveyed met the criteria for Internet addiction. The study also examined the unique factors involved with sexuality on the Internet, and supported the frequently observed tendency for the progression of virtual sexual behavior to real-time sexual relations. A clear correlation was also found between cybersexual behavior and subsequent realtime sexual activity. In addition, there was an assessment of factors contributing to Internet addiction that was addressed using a regression analysis; the psychological regression found that nearly 46% of Internet addiction variance was accounted for by the variables examined in the study. The contribution of factors unique to Internet use, such as disinhibition, anonymity, ease of access, accelerated intimacy, time distortion (dissociation), and intensity/stimulation of online content were also explored. The study supports the compulsive nature of Internet use for certain individuals and offers suggestions for further research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2000 APA, all rights reserved)

Grewlich, K. W. (1998). "A charter for the Internet." Telecommunications Policy 22: 273-9.
Argues that transnational nature of global networks reduced effectiveness of purely national or regional regulatory initiatives. The article argues that there is an increasing need for international cooperation to internationalize process of liberalization, deregulation and fair competition, as well as a need for common international legal framework of ordering principles. It asserts that the governments have a role to play. (Angela Campbell, Georgetown University Law Center:Communications Law in Transition Newsletter Oct. 1999)

.

Griffiths, M. (2000). "Internet Addiction - Time to be Taken Seriously?" Addiction Research 8(413-418).

Grossman, L. K. (1995). The Electronic Republic: Reshaping Democracy in the Information Age. New York, Viking.
In recent years, there has been a movement to limit the powers of government and our elected representatives in the United States. An increase in the use of public referendums and other initiatives on the ballot are indicative of the desire to put power back in the hands of the people. Attempts at instituting term limits for members of Congress are part of the same trend. At the same time, political participation, measured in terms of how many people vote in an election, has been on the decline for years with the one exception being the latest presidential election in 1992.

In The Electronic Republic Lawrence K. Grossman examines the phenomenon that is transforming the representative system created by our Founding Fathers to a direct democracy in which laws are enacted by the people themselves. Grossman points out that direct democracy was not what the framers of the Constitution had in mind. They envisioned a system where public opinion would not be transformed from a raw state into public policy.

Grossman writes, "Nevertheless, however carefully the new government was to withhold power, insulate the country against the people's 'temporary delusion,' and provide the 'opportunity for more cool and sedate reflection,' American representative democracy was firmly rooted in the principle that human beings in general 'possessed the inherent capacity to govern themselves.'"

The recent explosion in computer and information technology has led some people to hail these innovations as the path to a more participative system through electronic town meetings, computerized ballots, and online question and answer sessions with can didates and representatives. It is now possible to take a virtual tour of the White House, email your representative in Congress, or look up the exact wording of a bill, all from the comfort of your den.

The Electronic Republic offers suggestions for what policy might be implemented to allow us to improve the representative system that the Founders intended without suffering from the dangers of "mobacracy," the sort of push-button, whim-driven, public-opinion government that the Constitution was to prevent. The question that Grossman takes on is how might new communications technologies be implemented to increase the sort of grassroots participation that most Americans say they want without throwing out the process of deliberation and debate that has worked so far.

Where Grossman's book differs from other publications in this field is that it neither embraces new technologies as the ultimate solution nor discounts them as useless toys that are only good for wasting time. Where others have often taken the extreme views, Grossman has moderated his obvious enthusiasm with the proper skepticism. The most impressive aspect of the book is that it considers the problem of discovering all that it will take to improve our system. There is no one answer, no one solution. Improving our system will only come about through a combination of factors. If you want a list of possibilities to consider, read The Electronic Republic.

Copyright © 1995 by Brennon Martin. All Rights Reserved (CMC Magazine Nov.)

Gruber, S. (1999). "Communication Gone Wired: Working Toward a 'Practiced' Cyberfeminism." The Information Society 15: 199-208.
This article complicates concepts of gender and race in virtual environments by presenting a case study of an African American woman's (Celie's) on-line personalities. It discusses how one woman's presence in a college class and her on- line contributions to a (cyber)community of peers influenced her and the group's perspectives on violence and gender issues. The article shows that Celie's interactions on a virtual forum are related to and an extension of a multitude of factors such as her upbringing, her schooling, her wish to succeed in an environment often inhospitable and hostile to her needs, and her gendered identity. A close analysis of her online voice provides a starting point for cyberfeminists to look more closely at virtual forums and their potential for enhancing student learning, diversity, and multiple perspectives in classroom environments. This article also encourages feminist scholars to continue explorations centered around the multiple discourse strategies employed by participants in any given conversation. (from http://www.catchword.com)

Guadagno, R. E. and R. B. Cialdini (2002). "Online persuasion: An examination of gender differences in computer-mediated interpersonal influence." Group Dynamics 6: 38-51.
The purpose of this research was to investigate how computer-mediated
communication affects persuasion in dyadic interactions. Two studies compared
participants' attitudes after hearing a series of arguments from a same-gender
communicator via either e-mail or face-to-face interaction. In Study 1, women
showed less message agreement in response to e-mail versus face-to-face
messages, whereas men showed no difference between communication modes. Study 2
replicated this finding and examined the impact of prior interaction with the
communicator. For women, the condition that provided the least social
interaction led to the least message agreement. For men, the condition that
provided the most social challenge led to the least message agreement. Results
are interpreted in terms of gender differences in interaction style. (journal abstract)

Gulati, R. and J. Garino (?). "Get the right mix of bricks & clicks." Harvard Business Review 78(3): 107-114.
The bright line that once distinguished the dot-com from the incumbent is rapidly fading. Success in the new economy will go to those who can execute clicks-and-mortar strategies that bridge the physical and virtual worlds. But how executives forge such strategies is under considerable debate. Despite the obvious benefits that integration offers cross-promotion, shared information, purchasing leverage, distribution economies, and the like - many executives now assume that Internet businesses have to be separate to thrive. They believe that the very nature of traditional business - its protectiveness of current customers, its fear of cannibalization, its general myopia - will smother any Internet initiative.
Authors Ranjay Gulati and Jason Garino contend that executives don't have to make an either-or choice when it comes to their clicks-and-mortar strategies. The question isn't, "Should we develop our Internet ch or launch a spin-off?" but rather,"What degree of integration makes sense for our company?"
To determine the best level of integration for their companies, executives should examine four business dimensions: brand, management, operations, and equity. Drawing on the experiences of three established retailers - Office Depot, KB Toys, and Rite Aid - the authors show the spectrum of strategies available and discuss the trade-offs involved in each choice.
By thinking carefully about which aspects of a business to integrate and which to keep distinct, companies can tailor their clicks-and-mortar strategy to their own particular market and competitive situation, dramatically increasing their odds of e-business success. (Annotated by Richard N. Hayes)

Gumperz, J. J. (1982). Language and Social Identity. New York, Cambridge University Press.
Throughout Western society there are now strong pressures for social and racial integration but, in spite of these, recent experience has shown that greater intergroup contact can actually reinforce social distinctions and ethnic stereotypes. The studies collected here examine, from a broad sociological perspective, the sorts of face-to-face verbal exchange that are characteristic of industrial societies, and the volume as a whole pointedly demonstrates the role played by communicative phenomena in establishing and reinforcing social identity. The method of analysis that has been adopted enables the authors to reveal and examine a centrally important but hitherto little discussed conversational mechanism: the subconscious processes of inference that result from situational factors, social presuppositions and discourse conventions. The theory of conversation and the method of analysis that inform the author's approach are discussed in the first two chapters, and the case studies themselves examine interviews, counselling sessions and similar formal exchanges involving contacts between a wide range of different speakers: South Asians, West Indians and native English speakers in Britain; English natives and Chinese in South-East Asia; Afro-Americans, Asians and native English speakers in the United States; and English and French speakers in Canada. The volume will be of importance to linguists, anthropologists, psychologists, and others with a professional interest in communication, and its findings will have far-reaching applications in industrial and community relations and in educational practice. (From publisher's description)

Gurak, L. J. (1999). Persuasion & Privacy in Cyberspace The Online Protests Over Lotus Marketplace & the Clipper. New Haven, Yale University Press.
Writings about cyberspace tend too often toward utopia or dystopia, oversimplifying and overgeneralizing in the process. In contrast, Gurak's book offers a refreshingly balanced analysis of how cyberspace offers both new possibilities and threats. Through close empirical analysis of two specific online protests -- against Lotus MarketPlace and the Clipper Chip -- Gurak argues convincingly that cyberspace enables unprecedented opportunities for information distribution and community formation, thereby enhancing the power of citizens. However, she also shows how cyberspace promotes insularity and misinformation, squelching dissent and inhibiting its potential. Though both protests focused on privacy, the lessons they offer have implications for anyone concerned with public discourse.
Gurak's analyses are wonderfully detailed and clear, and will be accessible to readers from a wide variety of backgrounds. She displays an unusual sophistication about the conduct of online research, offering an important lesson for other scholars. Ultimately she argues that online communities are persuasive bodies whose nature arises from a combination of human agency and complex societal forces rather than being determined by the computer medium. Instead of worrying about whether online community will replace offline community, she suggests that the real concern should be the insularity and extreme specialization that online forums encourage. Our challenge is to understand which voices do not enter the debate, why they don't, and how the internet's potential to foster broader, more inclusive discussions can be enhanced. One could quibble with some of her points -- the anger she sees in the Lotus MarketPlace protest letters is more apparent to her than the reader, her comments on the "extreme" gender differences in online interaction styles are overstated, and she never addresses the issue of why these two very different kinds of ethos would appeal to the same community of privacy advocates -- but these concerns are minor compared to the overall strength of the work. Gurak's book is one of the best so far on cyberspace, both for its content and its demonstration that our understanding of the internet will come not from polemic, but from close analyses of real instances of online interaction. (Nancy Baym The Information Society 15(3), pp. 209-210.)

Habermas, J. (1989). The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into Bourgeois Society. Cambridge, MA, MIT Press.
Habermas's most complete exploration of the notion of the public sphere is found in The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society (1989). Central to many theorists in the area of print culture, the public sphere is further elaborated by Habermas in Volume Two of The Theory of Communicative Action as he discusses the distinction between lifeworld and system. As Johanna Mehan notes:

This distinction between public and private parallels, but is not identical to, the distinction he draws between system and lifeworld. On the one hand, action in the modern world is coordinated by sytems which function according to means-end rationality; the market is a paradigmatic example of such a system... On the other hand, actions are coordinated primarily by communicatively mediated norms and values, and by the socially defined ends and meanings which constitute the fabric of the lifeworld (6-7).

Mehan further states that Habermas sees the differentiation and structure of the public and private spheres as "essential to the character of modernity" (Feminists Read Habermas 6). (From the Jurgen Habermas Web Resource)

Haddon, L. G. (2000). "Social Exclusion and Information and Communication Technologies: Lessons From Studies of Single Parents and the Young Elderly." New Media & Society 2: 387-406.
Current notions of social exclusion are to an extent anchored in older concerns with relative poverty, which had the merit of considering not just material deprivation but also the social and cultural dimensions of participation or exclusion. The focus of this article is on the role of ICTs in relation to people's ability to participate in society. It draws upon detailed qualitative research on single parent and young elderly households to explore what counts as experiences of inclusion or exclusion and the processes behind them. Dealing mainly, but not exclusively, with the more traditional ICTs of telephony and broadcasting, the article considers processes of self-exclusion as people have mixed evaluations of these technologies derived both from current circumstances and past experiences. It then looks beyond the acquisition of ICTs to show how other modes of access to these resources are important before reflecting upon the quality of experience of ICTs, not just in terms of the functionality on offer but also taking into account that technologies are themselves symbolic goods. Finally, and drawing on more recent research, the article asks what lessons might be learnt from these traditional ICTs when considering newly emerging ones like the internet. (Author's abstract)

Hagel, J. and A. G. Armstrong. (1997). net.gain: Expanding Markets Through Virtual Communities. Boston MA, Harvard Business School Press.
Building relationships with customers has been a buzz phrase in many business circles for years. Now John Hagel and Arthur Armstrong declare that's not enough. They make a strong case that business success in the very near future will depend on using the Internet to build not just relationships, but communities. The payoff, they maintain, will be phenomenal customer loyalty and high profits. But, they warn, this race will definitely go to the swift. Here's a cyberspace book that could make your business future. Not everyone agrees with Hagel and Armstrong, but with stakes so high they deserves a serious reading. (Amazon.com)

Hagel, J. and M. Singer (1999). Net Worth: Shaping Markets When Customers Make the Rules. Boston, Harvard Business School Press.
Consumers already recognize the need to protect their privacy when using the Internet to communicate, browse for information, and purchase goods and services. With Net Worth, authors Hagel and Singer build an intriguing scenario in which customers take control of their personal data and refuse to surrender it without some compensation. As customers search for the best deal and the safest place for their information assets, an opportunity emerges for firms to leverage new, web-based strategies and act as "infomediaries"--brokers or intermediaries who help customers maximize the value of their data. Net Worth constructs a new business model around the infomediary, and reveals the coming battle among infomediaries for customers' trust and private information. The authors examine the opportunities the infomediary will present for businesses and consumers alike, as customer-centric brands rise up as the primary source of new value creation, forcing companies to reassess the nature of their core businesses and their long-held beliefs about brands and marketing. (Amazon.com)

Hague, B. N. and B. D. Loader (1999). Digital Democracy: Discourse and Decision Making in the Information Age. New York, Routledge.
The exponential growth of new Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) such as the Internet, alongside growing concerns about the failure of advanced societies to live up to the democratic ideal, has produced much interest in the prospects for a 'digital democracy'. On one side, evangelists of the emancipatory potential of ICTs describe the emergence of an electronic social commons in which citizens can deliberate in an informed manner on matters of collective concern. On the other side there are those who present a vision of the death of democracy and the emergence of a 'Big Brother' state based upon electronic surveillance of citizens. By drawing together empirical evidence from Europe, the US and Canada, this collection of essays attempts to separate the rhetoric from the reality concerning the actual and potential impacts of ICTs on democratic institutions and practice. (adapted from book jacket)

Hahn, H. (2000). Internet Insecurity. Paramus, Prentice-Hall.
Don't be fooled, this is a not a computer security book. To be sure, the book does explain how to protect your privacy — both at work and at home — and how to make sure that your computer is secure from viruses and hackers. However, there is more — a lot more.
The term "Internet Insecurity" refers to the anxiety and confusion we all feel when we contemplate the forces of modern technology and how they shape our lives and control so much of what we do and what we think. Has it ever bothered you that corporations have much more power than individuals? Have you ever wondered why, when it comes to privacy, the governments which are supposed to represent us have so much trouble defending our interests (especially in the United States)? What about personal relationships, rumors, hoaxes, money, and interpersonal communication? What about your rights when you use a computer at work? This book is an intelligent person's guide to understanding why things are the way they are and what you can do to take control. Along the way, you will read about society, technology, business, politics, psychology, history, philosophy, relationships and money. (Harley Hahn Website)

Hallblade, S. and W. M. Mathews (1980). Computers and Society. Monster or Messiah? W. M. Mathews. Jackson, MI, Univ. of Mississippi Press.

Hampton, K. N. (2000). "Reconnecting the Disaffiliated? Computer Mediated Communication, Social Capital and Civic Engagement in the Wired Suburb of Netville." American Sociological Association.
How have social capital & civic engagement been affected by the rise of personal computers & computer-mediated communication (CMC)? Will the Internet reconnect the disaffiliated, or will CMC only contribute to a further disengagement of American community life? Ethnographic & survey data are used from the long-term study of "Netville," a wired suburb near Toronto, to investigate the effects of advanced communication technology on social relationships. Greater involvement with friends, family, & neighbors is linked to greater involvement in the Internet. Using the Internet is associated with high levels of local in-person contact. Internet relationships are not restricted to a unique social realm but are intertwined with existing personal communities. (Sociological Abstracts)

Hampton, K. N. (1999). "Computer-Assisted Interviewing: The Design and Application of Survey Software to the Wired Suburb Project." BMS, Bulletin de Methodologie Sociologique 62(April): 49-68.
Explores the use of Internet & personal computer-assisted interviewing (CAI) in the U of Toronto's (Ontario) Wired Suburb (Netville) Project. The use of CAI in this project differs from other examples in its use of social network questions, a time-use diary, & Internet (Web) & personal computer-based interviewing of a small residential population. The purpose is to (1) enhance understanding of why CAI, specifically computer-assisted personal interviewing & computerized self-administered interviewing may be more appropriate for some research projects than others, (2) explore specific problems with the technology & approach used in this study, & (3) explore specific challenges for the use of CAI in social network & time-use analysis. 2 Tables, 2 Figures, 7 References. Adapted from the source document. (Sociological Abstracts)

Hargittai, E. (2000). "Radio's Lessons for the Internet." Communications of the ACM 43: 50-57.
Although the radio and the Internet differ in many respects, they share important similarities.The technical aspects of radio use depend on the limited resources of the ether, while there are no such natural limits to transmitting data over theInternet. Regarding their uses, the radio today is mainly a broadcast medium, whereas the Internet encompasses the functions of all existing media.Despite these and other differences, the origins andearly evolution of these two media are similar in many ways. Most important is that much like the Internet, the radio in its earliest years was also a one-to-one communication medium and only later became primarily a broadcast medium. (author's intro.)

Hargittai, E. (2000). "Open Portals or Closed Gates? Channeling Content on the World Wide Web." Poetics 27: 233-253.
This paper explores what the tension between information abundance and attention scarcity implies for the diversity of information accessible to users of the World Wide Web. Due to limited user attention, there is a role for gatekeepers in the online content market. Sites that catalog Web content and primarily present themselves as content categorization services are identified as the gatekeepers in the new information age. Exploring the mechanisms by which they organize content is essential to understanding how user attention is allocated to information available on the Web. Theories about media content diversity are delineated to suggest what we may expect with respect to content diversity online. Methods for future empirical investigation are suggested. Finally, the policy implications of the argument are presented. (Author's abstract)

Hargittai, E. (1999). "Weaving the Western Web Explaining Differences in Internet Connectivity Among OECD Countries." Telecommunications Policy 23(10-11).
Despite the Internet's increasing importance, there is little social
scientific work that addresses its diffusion. Our knowledge is especially
limited with respect to the conditions that encourage its spread across
nations. This paper takes a first step in explaining the differences in
Internet connectivity among OECD countries.
After examining the impact of economic indicators, human capital,
institutional legal environment, and existing technological infrastructure,
the empirical analyses show that economic wealth and telecommunications
policy are the most salient predictors of a nation's Internet connectivity. (from authors' abstract)

Harmon, D. and S. Boeringer (1997.). "A Content Analysis of Internet-Accessible Written Pornographic Depictions." Electronic Journal of Sociology. 3.
Concerns over the availability of sexually explicit material in what has come to be termed "cyberspace" have recently blossomed into a national debate on the subject. Attempts to restrict access to the sexual side of the Internet have expand Ed to involve universities, access providers, and the Federal Government, which enacted substantial new restrictions upon Internet content as part of the 1995 Telecommunications Reform Bill. These restrictions, which were ruled unconstitutional recently by the Supreme Court, were enacted in part due to research suggesting that the Internet is a veritable smorgasbord of pornographic entertainment, available to anyone, regardless of age, with a computer and Internet access. While there are serious question regarding the research project which provided much of the press and governmental officials' information on the subject, the issue is important enough to warrant more research before the social science community can claim to be informed. This project assesses the content of images contained in one of the more commonly accessible Usenet newsgroups: alt.sex.stories. (From author's introduction)

Hartmann, H. I. (1987). Computer Chips and Paper Clips: Technology and Women's Employment. Washington, DC, National Academy Press.

Hartmann, H. I., R. E. Kraut, et al. (1986). Computer Chips and Paper Clips: Technology and Women's Employment. Washington, DC, National Academy Press.

Harvey, J. H. and J. Omarzu (1999). Minding the close relationship: A theory of relationship enhancement. New York, Cambridge University Press.
Describes a new concept called "minding," which demonstrates principles by which couples can achieve and maintain long-term closeness and satisfaction. This book brings together the latest scholarship on relationships with practical advice, and it compares the theory of minding with several other theories about maintaining closeness. The activity of minding yields a cooperative, consensual approach that cannot be achieved by either partner's individual acts and, once achieved, makes partners feel validated and special in their relationships. (from the jacket)

Hausman, J. (1997). Taxation by Telecommunications Regulation., National Bureau of Economic Research.
Telecommunications regulation in the U.S. is replete with a system of subsidies and taxes. Because of budgetary spending limits, Congress is unable to increase general taxes to pay for social programs and thus funds these programs from taxes on specific sectors of the economy. In this paper I consider the Congressional legislation which established a program so that all public schools and libraries in the U.S. will receive subsidized service to the Internet. The cost of the program is estimated to be $2.25 billion per year. Congress passed legislation that directed all users of interstate telephone service to pay for the program. Using analytical methods from public finance, I calculate the efficiency cost to the economy of the higher taxation of interstate telephone services to fund the Internet access discounts. I estimate the cost to the economy of raising the $2.25 billion per year to be at least $2.36 billion (in addition to the $2.25 billion of tax revenue), or the efficiency loss to the economy for every $1 raised to pay for the Internet access discounts is an additional $1.05 to $1.25 beyond the money raised for the Internet discounts. This cost to the economy is extremely high compared to other taxes used by the Federal government to raise revenues. I discuss an alternative method by which the FCC could have raised the revenue for the Internet discounts which would have a near zero cost to the economy. (Author's abstract)

Hayles, N. K. (1993). The Seductions of Cyberspace. Rethinking Technologies. V. A. Conley. Minneapolis, MN, University of Minnesota Press: 173-190.
In this thought-provoking essay, Hayles traces the history and social ramifications of virtual reality (or VR) technologies. Although her discussion has little to do with the Internet, it is valuable in two ways. First, it is quite possible, if not inevitable, that within the next few years, VR will be integrated into computer-mediated communication technologies such as the Internet and the World Wide Web. In other words, tomorrow's MOOs and MUDs may resemble the VR Body Zone described by Hayles. Second, many of the questions raised by Hayles to examine virtual reality are more than applicable to cyberculture. Thus, students of cyberculture can gain from Hayles' discussion of contemporary society's transformation from biomorphism to technomorphism and the subsequent cultural changes such a transformation brings. (David Silver)

Haythornethwaite, C. (2000). "Online personal networks." New media & society 2: 195-226.
Personal relationships are noted for intimacy, frequent interaction, the maintenance of multiple relations, face-to-face contact and a desire for proximity. What happens to such relationships when face-to-face contact is unavailable or severely limited? How do pairs maintain personal relationships at a distance and via computer-mediated communication, and what do their personal networks look like under these conditions? Social network data from four computer-supported distance learning classes are used to build a picture of the size and composition of students' personal online networks. Individuals reported on their communications regarding instrumental and social relations with others in their class, and on which media they used to maintain these relations. In keeping with social network studies, those who communicate more frequently maintain more relations and more socially supportive relations, and report more positively about their desire for future work and social interaction. Individuals benefit from closer ties by feeling a stronger belonging to the class and perceiving greater social interaction among class mates. Unique to the online multi-media environment, strongly tied pairs use more media to communicate and appropriate both the technology and occasions for interaction to maintain their ties. Interview data from members of the same program reveal that pairs with closer ties used computer media to create virtual proximity, whispering to each other via Internet Relay Chat during synchronous classes, and seeking out others via email late at night. (Author's abstract)

Haythornethwaite, C. (1998). "Work, Friendship, and Media Use for Information Exchange in a Networked Organization." Journal of the American Society for Information Science 49(12): 1101-1114.
We use a social network approach to examine how work and friendship ties in a university research group were associated with the kinds of media used for different kinds of information exchange. The use of electronic mail, unscheduled face-to-face encounters, and scheduled face-to-face meetings predominated for the exchange of six kinds of information: Receiving Work, Giving Work, Collaborative Writing, Computer Programming, Sociability, and Major Emotional Support. Few pairs used synchronous desktop videoconferencing or the telephone, E-mail was used in similar ways as face-to-face communication. The more frequent the contact, the more "multiplex" the tie: A larger number of media was used to exchange a greater variety of information. The closeness of work ties and of friendship ties were each independently associated with more interaction: A greater frequency of communication, the exchange of more kinds of information, and the use of more media. (Annotated by Ricardo B. Duque)

Haywood, T. (1998). Global Networks and the Myth of Equality: Trickle Down or Trickle Away? Cyberspace Divide. B. D. Loader. New York, Routledge.
Brian Loader's edited collection, Cyberspace Divide, brings together diverse perspectives on issues related to equity/social exclusion, social interactions/identity, and strategies for social inclusion to ICTs. Loader is located at the Community Informatics Research and Applications Unit at the University of Teesside in the U.K., where many of these papers originally emenated. Loader's purpose in compiling this volume is to start the policy discussion on the complex issues related to social exclusion of the information society within both developed and developing countries, and to consider how notions of public policy, governance and the formation of identities impact upon access. Divided into three main sections, this collection, although reflectings its U.K.-centric bias, is, nonetheless, a welcome contribution to the access debate.

The first section of the book concentrates on issues of difference and social exclusion. Trevor Haywood reiterates the fact that "despite the convergence of a whole range of new technologies, easy access to the information that can really empower and liberate people still looks likely to be the preserve of an affluent minority" (p. 26). He is especially concerned that the economic paradigm used to describe global networking discounts the social dimension of networking. (Leslie Regan Shade: CMC Magazine Dec. 1998)

Headrick, D. (2000). When Information Came of Age: Technologies of Knowledge in the Age of Reason and Revolution, 1700-1850. Oxford, Oxford Univ. Press.
In his previous works, Headrick, a professor of social science and history at Roosevelt University in Chicago, has chronicled technological developments in the late 19th and the 20th centuries. Historians seldom make bold claims for the period preceding their specialties, but that is what Headrick does here: he deems the years 1700-1850 a period of exceptional innovation, featuring a "cultural revolution in information systems" that prepared the way for developments ranging from the punch card to the World Wide Web.

When Information Came of Age provides a respectful overview not of hardware breakthroughs but of the conceptual leaps made by scientists, scholars, artisans, businesspeople, government officials, and publishers. It begins with monuments of system that were essential to later science--Linnaeus's binomial classification scheme, still the international standard for living matter from E. coli to Homo sapiens; Lavoisier's chemical nomenclature; and metric weights and measures. It reviews the theory and practice of quantification, the still-vibrant faith in the power of population statistics and other numbers to guide policy decisions. Headrick quotes the first director of Napoleon's statistical bureau, who acknowledged the limitations of his work: "The most exact determination of the number of vegetables that France produces will not bring forth one additional cabbage in her gardens."

The chapter on graphic representation suggests that war may be healthy for mapmaking and other arts of information display: colonial conflicts and the revolutionary era helped bring cartography to new heights. Some illustrations from the period are still reprinted in graphics texts as classics for emulation with the latest computerized methods. There was also a new wealth of textual information, led by Diderot's Encyclop‚die and Samuel Johnson's dictionary. And the nascent U.S. Post Office and the French optical telegraph laid the foundations for today's communication networks.

As Headrick recognizes, some readers will quibble about omissions, such as the Foudrinier papermaking machine that helped flood the world with print. Still, he has produced an original, lucid synthesis, one that serves to remind us that today's controversies often have long pedigrees. Many of our debates on Internet privacy and encryption, for instance, have their origins in the postal service and legislative controversies of the French Revolution. The recounting of the history of power and information has only begun, and this book is an outstanding contribution.
(Reviewed by Edward Tenner: Wilson Quarterly Spring 2001)

Heap, N., R. Thomas, et al. (1995). Information Technology and Society. Thousand Oaks, Sage.

Heeks, R. (2002). " i-Development not e-Development: Special Issue on ICTs and Development." Journal of International Development 14: 1-11.
This article provides a review of a collection of articles contained in a 2002 issue of the Journal of International Development devoted to discussing the role of ICTs in development. The article calls for an integration of the conceptualization of ICTs with other information handling technologies and for their use to be integrated fully into the goals of the respective development projects. While Heeks cautions against excessive optimism with regard to use of ICTs he concludes that "ICTs do offer genuine possibilities for development" and that it is just that they need to be adequately harnessed and their use approached in the right way. The article contains a list of weblinks related to ICTs and development. (annotated by Tanja Sargent)

Heffeman, N. (2001). Capital, Class and Technology in Contemporary American Culture: Projecting Post-Fordism. NY, Pluto Press.
Postmodernism and postmodernity have become key terms through which contemporary cultural change is theorized. In this original and stimulating study, Nick Heffernan demonstrates that the postmodern is not only a cultural matter: it bears on the transformations wrought by and within contemporary capitalism itself. To ask the postmodern question, according to Heffernan, is necessarily to inquire into the nature of Western capitalist societies as they have developed in the second half of the twentieth century, and in the process to engage in a series of complex meditations on capital, class, and technology.

In a stimulating reading of the relationship between cultural forms of social, economic, and political change in postwar America, Heffernan uses a range of cultural texts--film, literature, reportage--to illuminate the processes and modes by which crisis and social, economic, and cultural changes are registered. Using the links between narrative cultural forms and the process of historical understanding, he brings together debates that have so far been conducted largely within the separate domains of political economy, social theory, and cultural criticism to provide a compelling analysis of contemporary cultural change. By relocating postmodernism in the context of changing modes of capitalism, Heffernan puts the question of class and class agency back at the center of the critical agenda. (Amazon.com book description)

Heilbroner, R. L. (1994). Technological Determinism Revisited. Does Technology Drive History? M. R. Smith and L. Marx. Cambridge, MA, MIT Press: 67-78.
These thirteen essays explore a crucial historical question that has been notoriously hard to pin down: To what extent, and by what means, does a society's technology determine its political, social, economic, and cultural forms?

Karl Marx launched the modern debate on determinism with his provocative remark that "the hand-mill gives you society with the feudal lord; the steam-mill, society with the industrial capitalist," and a classic article by Robert Heilbroner (reprinted here) renewed the debate within the context of the history of technology. This book clarifies the debate and carries it forward.

Marx's position has become embedded in our culture, in the form of constant reminders as to how our fast-changing technologies will alter our lives. Yet historians who have looked closely at where technologies really come from generally support the proposition that technologies are not autonomous but are social products, susceptible to democratic controls. The issue is crucial for democratic theory. These essays tackle it head-on, offering a deep look at all the shadings of determinism and assessing determinist models in a wide variety of historical contexts.
(MIT Press)

Heilbroner, R. L. (1967). Do Machines Make History. Technology and Culture. M. Kranzberg and W. H. Davenport. New York, Schocken Books: 335-345.

Helander, M., T. K. Landauer, et al. (1997). Handbook of Human- Computer Interaction. Amsterdam, North-Holland.
This completely revised edition, of the Handbook of Human-Computer Interaction, of which 80% of the content is new, reflects the developments in the field since the publication of the first edition in 1988. The handbook is concerned with principles for design of the Human-Computer Interface, and has both academic and practical purposes. It is intended to summarize the research and provide recommendations for how the information can be used by designers of computer systems. The volume may also be used as a reference for teaching and research. Professionals who are involved in design of HCI will find this volume indispensable, including: computer scientists, cognitive scientists, experimental psychologists, human factors professionals, interface designers, systems engineers, managers and executives working with systems development. Much of the information in the handbook may also be generalized to apply to areas outside the traditional field of HCI. (from website)

Helpman, E. (1998). General Purpose Technologies and Economic Growth. Cambridge and London, MIT Press.
Traditionally, economists have considered the accumulation of conventional inputs such as labor and capital to be the primary force behind economic growth. Now, however, many macroeconomists place technological progress at the center of the growth process. This shift is due to new theoretical developments that allow researchers to link microeconomic aspects of the innovation process with macroeconomic outcomes.
Most economists have viewed technological progress as an incremental process. A few have focused on the role of drastic innovations--those that introduce a discontinuity. The contributors to this volume are concerned with the type of drastic innovation called general purpose technologies (GPTs). A GPT has the potential to affect the entire economic system and can lead to far-reaching changes in such social factors as working hours and constraints on family life. Examples of GPTs are the steam engine, electricity, and the computer.

The study of GPTs is relatively new. A universal theoretical framework for dealing with GPTs does not yet exist. The essays in this book both further our understanding of GPT-driven economic growth and lay the foundation for further developments of the available frameworks.

Contributors: Philippe Aghion, Ciff Bekar, Timothy Bresnahan, Kenneth Carlaw, Alfonso Gambardella, Richard G. Harris, Elhanan Helpman, Peter Howitt, Richard G. Lipsey, Kevin M. Murphy, Craig Riddell, Paul Romer, Nathan Rosenberg, Manuel Trajtenberg.

Most economists have viewed technological progress as an incremental process. A few have focused on the role of drastic innovations - those that introduce a discontinuity. The contributors to this volume are concerned with the type of drastic innovation called general purpose technologies (GPTs). A GPT has the potential to affect the entire economic system and can lead to far-reaching changes in such social factors as working hours and constraints on family life. Examples of GPTs are the steam engine, electricity, and the computer. The study of GPTs is relatively new. A universal theoretical framework for dealing with GPTs does not yet exist. The essays in this book both further our understanding of GPT-driven economic growth and lay the foundation for further developments of the available frameworks. (http://hallbusinesses.com/)

Henshall, S. (2000). The COMsumer Manifesto: Empowering Communities of Consumers through the Internet. First Monday. 5: 5.
The coming economic era and precepts are emerging as totally different from industrial capitalism. We're learning that e-businesses and their networks destroy many of our basic concepts of production, marketing and distribution. Jeremy Rifkin [1] notes that in this "Age of Access" we are entering an era in which lifelong customer relationships are the ultimate commodities market. This provides a different, more positive, and perhaps more likely view.

The Internet is changing business models and empowering consumers to create new communities that combine the power to aggregate rich sources of individually personalized data in real-time activities. Large-scale data aggregators are emerging to navigate and mediate info markets. While information records are proliferating, new standards for content capture and management are appearing. Most companies continue to hope they will control their customers' information assets. However, what if this is not true or becomes impossible? What if consumers decide to band together and control their own personal information? Are you ready to freely give your customers their data records? Are you prepared to live up to the COMsumer Manifesto?

This article offers a disruptive antidote to the hierarchical, closed, supply-system, explicit, knowledge-driven, "We Know What You Want" data mine world where many customers feel powerless. This is a world well beyond 1999's "Net Worth" [2] and 2000's "The Cluetrain Manifesto" [3]. Infomediaries are not just trustworthy agents which sit between the vendor and the customer [2], and markets are not just conversations [3]. In this new world, communities sense needs, desires, and wishes for the future and create new data markets - to which organizations must respond or die! We are closing in on the "tipping point" [4] where COMsumers take complete control of their destiny by collectively owning their personal information assets. (Author's abstract)

Hensmans, M., F. A. J. van den Bosch, et al. (2001). "Clicks vs. bricks in the emerging online financial services industry." Long Range Planning 34(2): 231-247.
The emergence of electronic commerce raises important questions about the building and leveraging of legitimacy for both practitioners and scholars of strategy. New entrants' click-and-mortar or click-and-click business models are challenging the legitimacy of large and mature brick-and-mortar incumbents. The implications of this challenge for the financial services industry-as for many other industries-are only starting to become clear. This article contributes to these initial understandings by developing a conceptual framework that considers which e-strategies 'bricks' (incumbent organisations such as ABN AMRO bank and Prudential Banking) and 'clicks' (new entrants such as KPN and First-e) adopt to improve their competitiveness. Four relevant organisational types in the emerging online financial services industry are identified, and ties to legitimacy-providing organisations are assessed for their potential both as buffers against environmental turbulence and bridges towards changing stakeholder perspectives. (Annotated by Richard N. Hayes)

Henwood, F., S. Wyatt, et al. (2000). Critical Perspectives on Technologies, In/Equalities and the Information Society. Technology and In/Equality: Questioning the Information Society. S. Wyatt, F. Henwood, N. Miller and P. Senker. London, England, Routledge.
Many 'information society' enthusiasts, both academics and policymakers, claim that the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) will relieve people of drudgery, improve access to information and entertainment, and result in greater social justice. Dissident voices suggest that the application of ICTs will exacerbate social inequalities through the creation of information haves and have-nots, result in greater social control through the growth of electronic surveillance and polarise the labour market. All of the contributors challenge the technological determinism which can be found on both sides of this debate.

This book analyses both the potentials and constraints represented by technologies in specific contexts. The focus is on applications of ICTs in the media industries, in education and in work because of their position in respect of access to and control over crucial resources such as information, knowledge, skills and income. Some of the key issues addressed include: democracy and broadcasting technologies; gender, class and ethnicity in technological education and lifelong learning; class, gender and skills in the workplace; and the global economic inequalities associated with technological innovation.

Contributors to this book develop a critique of the information society by addressing questions of equality and inequality in ways that combine structural analysis with an analysis of individual and collective agency. Differential access to, and control over, ICTs is the focus of all chapters. The contributors ask if, where and how such differences constitute inequalities and suggest what might be done to prevent such outcomes.

The contributors draw on a wide range of theoretical ideas, and explain them in a way that is lively and accessible to the non-specialist. The book is thus an ideal introduction to the subject of technology and inequality for students studying across a range of disciplines.
(University of East London: Innovation Studies webpage)

Hern, M. and S. Chaulk. (2000). "Roadgrading Community Culture: Why the Internet Is So Dangerous to Real Democracy." Democracy & Nature 6: 111-120.
Presents an anarchist analysis of the Internet as inherently degrading of local community & the possibility of real democracy emerging. It is suggested that rampant virtuality, based on the eradication of time & space as functional communicative restraints, acts to separate individuals from their face-to-face relationships & localities. Further local community is the only forum in which genuine democracy & an ecological society can hope to thrive. In asking the question, "Where do you want to go today?," the Internet attempts to create a virtual everywhere, a universalizing logic that is to communication what the World Trade Organization & globalization are to economics. Further, a view of technology & society in dialectic relationship with one another is proffered, suggesting that democratic tools & a democratic society rely on one another for their emergence (authors' abstract)

Herring, S. (1996). "Linguistic and Critical Analysis of Computer-Mediated Communication: Some Ethical and Scholarly Considerations." The Information Society 12: 153-168.
This essay compares two proposals (Cavazos, 1994; King, this issue) relating to whether and how CMC researchers should cite electronic messages used as data. Although the proposals prescribe opposite solutions, both contain similar assumptions about the nature of CMC (e.g., that it is homogeneous; that members of a "virtual community" have shared agendas) and about the nature of research (e.g., that it is content focused; that it is ideally consensual; that it should not affect the researched in any way). These assumptions are argued to reflect discipline-specific biases that exclude other legitimate forms of CMC research. Two examples are discussed of research paradigms that are excluded by the guidelines: linguistic analysis in the positivist tradition, and critical analysis in the social realist tradition. The critical paradigm in particular raises a number of additional ethical considerations not addressed by the proposed guidelines. It is suggested that existing ethical guidelines within each discipline largely suffice to guide on-line research, with the addition of a CMC-specific recommendation clarifying the rights and obligations of researcher and researched in restricted-access as compared with open-access on-line groups. (from http://www.catchword.com)

Herring, S. C. (1999). "The Rhetorical Dynamics of Gender Harassment On- Line." The Information Society 15: 151-167.
This article compares two extended interactions that took place recently on the Internet, one from a recreational Internet Relay Chat (IRC)channel, and the other from an academic listserv discussion group. The two interactions exhibit similar gender dynamics, which can be characterized as harassment of female by male participants.

This harassment takes different forms, in keeping with the possibilities inherent in the two modes of computer-mediated communication. Whereas female participants on IRC are kicked off the channel, in the discussion group harassers must rely exclusively on language to intimidate and silence. This "rhetoric of harassment" crucially invokes libertarian principles of freedom of expression, constructing women's resistance as "censorship." A rhetorical analysis of the two harassment episodes thus sheds light on the means used to construct and maintain asymmetrical gender and power dynamics in different modes of CMC. (from http://www.catchword.com)

Hert, P. (1997). "Social Dynamics of an On-Line Scholarly Debate." The Information Society 13: 329-360.
This article focuses on different means of constructing a scholarly on-line debate related to the field of science, technology, and society. The study shows how scientific interactions are reproduced in a new medium while, simultaneously, some users take advantage of new possibilities offered by the medium. The first section analyzes how the debate emerged, was constructed, and subsequently revealed the heterogeneity of goals and ideas among the participants. The second section discusses the practices that the participants explored to make the debate evolve. Two attitudes, identified as strategic and tactical, were observed. The tactical practices were to enable the emergence of a sense of community. From this perspective, the way some participants sustained mobilization and stimulated participation are analyzed. The strategic attitude is illustrated through the behavior of those who tried to be the leaders in the debate. (from http://www.catchword.com)

Hess, B. (1999). "Graduate Student Cognition During Information Retrieval Using the World Wide Web: A Pilot Study." Computers & Education 33: 1-13.
The intensity of Internet use in higher education, particularly the World Wide Web, has stimulated concern regarding the ways in which students acquire necessary skills for managing, filtering, and storing vast amounts of information. Research is beginning to focus on how students think about an Internet search and how they use cognitive strategies for information retrieval. The purpose of this study was to describe and interpret the cognition of a graduate student during information retrieval using the World Wide Web. The participant was a doctoral student in psychology with little experience using the Internet, particularly fewer experiences with the World Wide Web. The student performed an open search of her dissertation topic (i.e., child temperament), followed by a pre-arranged task requiring the student to answer several questions regarding the American Civil War using only the Web to obtain the information. Three qualitative sources of data were collected involving student cognition: observation, think aloud protocols, and an in-depth interview. A core category derived from the qualitative analysis indicated that the student's thoughts and perceptions centered on information overload. A systematic approach outlined two major dimensions of this core category: knowledge and personal characteristics. Within each dimension several subcategories were identified. The results are interpreted within a theory of information processing. Implications for continuing this line of research are provided. (Author's abstract)

Hewson, C. M., D. Laurent, et al. (1996). "Proper Methodologies for Psychological Studies Conducted via the Internet." Behavior Research Methods, Instruments and Computers 28: 186-191.

Higa, K., O. R. L. Sheng, et al. (2000). "Understanding Relationships Among Teleworkers' E-Mail Usage, E-Mail Richness Percpetions, and E-Mail Productivity perceptions Under a Software Engineering Environment." IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management 47(2): 163-173.
This study was undertaken to investigate the use of e-mail and its implications under a telework environment for distributed software engineering, For this, the relative strength between a social influence and individual attributes in affecting teleworkers' e-mail use was studied. Management support was used as the representative social influence, and age, status, and ease of use represented individual attributes. An examination was also made on how e-mail use, individual attributes, and management support affected the perceptions of e-mail's information richness and e-mail productivity. Two different types of surveys, log sheets and perception-based self-reports, as wed as interviews and e-mail correspondences composed the data sources, Three hierarchical regression models were defined and tested for the hypothesis validation, Data analysis indicated that management support was a much more powerful indicator for teleworkers' media use than individual characteristics. Furthermore, although labeled as a relatively lean medium from the media richness theory perspective, e-mail could become an effective and richer communication tool through an active social construction process of management support . Finally, the management support and perception of e-mail as a rich medium were both highly influential in creating teleworkers' positive perception on e-mail productivity. This study rendered a strong indication that effective adoption of e-mail by teleworkers as an information-rich medium could benefit distributed work and distributed organizations through enhanced work productivity. (Annotated by Ricardo B. Duque)

Higonnet, P., D. S. Landes, et al. (1991). Favorites of Fortune: Technology, Growth, and Economic Development since the Industrial Revolution. Cambridge, MA, Harvard Univ. Press.
The essays range from a detailed empirical discussion of improvements in nutrition and health which brought increases in the ability to work harder, longer and more efficiently to several that are far more theoretical, emphasizing economic theory and model building or psychological, religious or cultural models. Some are detailed examinations of changes in a particular industry in a single country; others stress more general long-term comparative developments, including comparisons to contemporary third world countries; and still others consider the role of the public sector, the effects of managerial decision-making, the relationship between urbanization and innovation, and discrimination against women (from Harold Woodman's review in Journal of Interdisciplinary History Spring 1993:766-767.)

Hill, K. A. and J. E. Hughes (1998). Cyberpolitics: Citizen Activism in the Age of the Internet. Lanham, Rowman & Littlefield.
This book analyzes the content of political discussion on the Internet to see how the Internet is being used politically. It uses empirical research to answer questions such as: Who are the "cybercitizens" using the Internet, how do they participate in the political process, and who uses the Internet most effectively to accomplish political ends? They conclude that as the Internet grows, it will change the nature of political action, discourse, and effect less than it will itself be changed by politics. (adapted from book jacket)

Hills, J. and M. Michalis (2000). "Restructuring Regulation: Technological Convergence and European Telecommunications and Broadcasting Markets." Review of International Political Economy 7: 434-64.
This article looks at the European Union (EU) policy of technological "convergence", concentrating on the convergence of telecommunications and broadcasting. The underlying theme is that regulatory agencies are political actors and their actions need to be analysed in the context of who benefits from the policy outcome. In addition, regulatory regimes are themselves variables in bureaucratic/institutional turf wars and in the political process. The specific case discussed here of DC XIII of the European Commission responsible for telecommunications provides an example of attempts by a regulatory agency to broaden the scope of its regulatory reach. It shows how it utilized a theoretical reconstruction of markets to justify alterations both at EU and at national level in regulatory regimes that would have had direct consequences in benefiting its allied telecommunications and Internet operators and in disadvantaging public service broadcasters. The article discusses the ensuing reactions to this intervention. It concludes that DC XIII's attempts to redefine markets and regulatory regimes in its own interests and in the interests of its traditional industrial allies have not only been thwarted, but have strengthened the sectoral-based regulatory regime it wished to displace, and have also undermined its own credibility as a regulator.

Hiltz, R. S. and M. Turoff (1993). The Network Nation :Human Communication via Computer, MIT Press.
The Network Nation... contained a fascinating vision. In it home computers are as common as the telephone. They link person to person, shrinking, as the authors put it, `time and distance barriers among people, and between people and information, to near zero.' In its simplest form, the Network Nation is a place where thoughts are exchanged easily and democratically and intellect affords one more personal power than a pleasing appearance does. Minorities and women compete on equal terms with white males, and the elderly and handicapped are released from the confines of their infirmities to skim the electronic terrain as swiftly as anyone else."--Teresa Carpenter, Village Voice

Hindman, D. B. (2000). "The Rural-Urban Digital Divide." Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 77: 549-560.
This study used national survey data to determine whether the "digital divide" between metropolitan and nonmetropolitan populations was widening. The findings showed that one's income, age, and education were more closely associated with the use of information technologies than was geographical location. The positive association among status indicators and technology use appeared to be strengthening over time. The study concluded that contrary to utopian prediction of the universal benefits provided by the tools of the digital revolution, innovative uses of information technologies are likely to remain closely associated with social indicators.

Hix, D. and H. R. Hartson (1993). Developing User Interfaces: Ensuring Usability.
A textbook for a graduate computer science course, and a resource for practicing programmers and software developers who deal with user interfaces. Outlines basic principles, practical procedures, quantitative processes, and other tools for designing interfaces independently of any particular system. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.

Ensuring usability in a user interface requires keen attention to both the interface itself and the process by which it is developed. This book presents state-of-the-art guidelines on both of these topics--interface and process--in a single comprehensive volume, written in a practical step-by-step approach.

The publisher, John Wiley & Sons - Presents state-of-the-art material on user interface product and process in a single volume with an easy-to-understand, practical approach. Discusses representation techniques for interface design. Addresses user interface design in light of newest technology, including MS Windows, X and a variety of object-oriented tools. Provides examples for successful implementation. Based on successful course taught nationwide. (From Book News, Inc. , August 1, 1993 -from Amazon.com)

Hobart, M. and Z. S. Schiffman (2000). Information Ages: Literacy, Numeracy, and the Computer Revolution. Baltimore, John Hopkins Univ. Press.
In a sweeping history of information technology from ancient times to the present, the authors show how revolutions in the technology of information storage, from the invention of writing to the introduction of computers, have profoundly transformed ways of thinking. They emphasize that information is a historical creation of the human mind rather than a fixed aspect of reality.

The late twentieth century is trumpeted as the Information Age by pundits and politicians alike, and on the face of it, the claim requires no justification. But in Information Ages, Michael E. Hobart and Zachary S. Schiffman challenge this widespread assumption. In a sweeping and captivating history of information technology from the ancient Sumerians to the world of Alan Turing and John von Neumann, the authors show how revolutions in the technology of information storage - from the invention of writing approximately 5000 years ago to the mathematical models for describing physical reality in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries to the introduction of computers - profoundly transformed ways of thinking. (Booknews, Inc. )

Hoffman, D. and T. Novak (1998). Bridging the Digital Divide: The Impact of Race on Computer Access and Internet Use.
The consequences to American society of this race gap in Internet use are expected to be severe (Beaupre and Brand-Williams 1997). Just as A.J. Liebling observed for the freedom of the press, the Internet may provide for equal opportunity and democratic communication, but only for those with access. The United States economy may also be at risk if a significant segment of our society, denied equal access to the Internet, lacks the technological skills to keep American firms competitive.

Given these concerns, we set out to systematically investigate the differences between whites and African Americans in the United States with respect to computer access, which is the current prerequisite for Internet access, and Web use. We wished to examine whether observed race differences in access and use can be accounted for by differences in income and education, how access impacts use, and when race matters in the calculus of equal access. We believe our results may be used as a window through which policymakers might view the job of ensuring access to the Internet for the next generation. (from authors' introduction.)

Hoffman, D. L., Thomas P. Novak, and Marcos A. Peralta. (1999). "Information Privacy in the Marketplace: Implications for the Commercial Uses of Anonymity on the Web." The Information Society 15: 129-139.
Argues that the primary barrier to the successful commercial development of the World Wide Web is the current lack of consumer trust in this new commercial medium. This lack of trust is engendered primarily by the industry's documented failure to respond satisfactorily to mounting consumer concerns over information privacy in electronic, networked environments. How such concerns are affecting the growth & development of consumer-oriented commercial activity on the Web is examined, along with implications for potential industry response. In the short run, the commercial development of the Web depends on giving consumers the opportunity to be anonymous when engaging in information exchanges & online transactions. Ultimately, however, commercial Web providers must come to realize that the Internet dramatically shifts the balance of power between a business & its customers, & therefore, radical new business strategies will be required for long-term success. Because the Web offers unprecedented opportunities for interacting with customers, strategies that take advantage of the medium's unique features are likely to reap important rewards in customer satisfaction, loyalty, & retention. Therefore, in the long run, the most effective way for commercial Web providers to develop profitable exchange relationships with online customers is to gain consumer trust by allowing the balance of power to shift toward more cooperative interactions. (OCLC abstract)

Hoffman, D. L., T. P. Novak, et al. (2000). "The Evolution of the Digital Divide: How Gaps in Internet Access May Impact Electronic Commerce." Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 5: 3.
Enthusiasm for the anticipated social dividends of the Internet appears boundless. Indeed, the Internet is expected to do no less than virtually transform society. Yet even as the Internet races ambitiously toward critical mass, some social scientists are beginning to examine carefully the policy implications of current demographic patterns of Internet access and usage. Key demographic variables like income and education drive the policy questions surrounding the Internet because they are the most likely have a differential impact on the consequences of interactive electronic media for different segments in our society. Given these concerns, we set out to conduct a systematic investigation of the differences between whites and African Americans in the United States with respect to computer access, the primary current prerequisite for Internet access, and Web use. We wished to examine whether observed race differences in access and use can be accounted for by differences in income and education, how access influences use, and when race matters in the calculus of equal access. The particular emphasis of this research is on how such differences may be changing over time. We believe our results may be used as a window through which policymakers might view the job of ensuring access to the Internet for the next generation. (Author's abstract)

Hoffman, L. J. and L. Cranor (2001). "Internet Voting for Public Officials: Introduction." CACM 44(1): 69-71.
People have voted by mail for years to elect officers of corporations and other organizations. More recently, they have begun casting these votes via the Internet. A logical next step, many say, is allowing ordinary citizens to vote for public officials via the Internet.
Internet voting has played a role in several recent U.S. presidential elections. The history-making 2000 elections included approximately 250 selected U.S. military personnel stationed overseas. Almost 50% of the votes in the Arizona Democratic Party's March 2000 binding presidential primary were cast via the Internet. In the Alaska Republican Party's January 2000 presidential straw poll, 35 people voted via the Internet. And in 1996, the Reform Party offered its members the option of voting for its presidential candidate by casting their ballots online, by mail, by phone, or in person. (Authors' Abstract)

Holderness, M. (1998). Who Are the World's Information Poor? Cyberspace Divide. B. D. Loader. New York, Routledge.
Brian Loader's edited collection, Cyberspace Divide, brings together diverse perspectives on issues related to equity/social exclusion, social interactions/identity, and strategies for social inclusion to ICTs. Loader is located at the Community Informatics Research and Applications Unit at the University of Teesside in the U.K., where many of these papers originally emenated. Loader's purpose in compiling this volume is to start the policy discussion on the complex issues related to social exclusion of the information society within both developed and developing countries, and to consider how notions of public policy, governance and the formation of identities impact upon access. Divided into three main sections, this collection, although reflectings its U.K.-centric bias, is, nonetheless, a welcome contribution to the access debate.

The first section of the book concentrates on issues of difference and social exclusion. Trevor Haywood reiterates the fact that "despite the convergence of a whole range of new technologies, easy access to the information that can really empower and liberate people still looks likely to be the preserve of an affluent minority" (p. 26). He is especially concerned that the economic paradigm used to describe global networking discounts the social dimension of networking. (Leslie Regan Shade: CMC Magazine Dec. 1998)

Horrigan, J. (2000). The Holidays Online: Emails and E-greetings Outpace E-commerce., Pew Internet and American Life Project Washington, D.C.
Just before Thanksgiving, we added questions to our core survey to examine how people used the Internet to buy holiday gifts, why they did it, and how they felt about that experience. We also wanted to see how much people used the Internet for noncommercial activities such as getting information about the religious aspects of Christmas, Chanukah, and Kwanzaa, seeking information about holiday-celebration ideas, and using email and e-greetings to make contact with family and friends. Our survey was in the field from November 22 to December 21 and involved interviews with 3,493 American adults -- 2,038 of them are Internet users. The results we report here about the number of people who purchased gifts online during the holiday season are based on the responses of those who answered questions in the survey's final week: This represents the 521 Internet users who were interviewed from December 14 through December 21. The other results represent our findings from those interviewed during the entire period. We discovered 12 basic insights into the holiday experience online. (From report introduction)

Horrigan, J. P. (2000). New Internet Users: What they do online, what they don't, and implications for the 'Net's future, Pew Internet and American Life.
With Internet penetration now at about half of all Americans, new users will be coming online for some time into the future, while the Internet itself continues to evolve. Tomorrow’s new user will not be like today’s, just as today’s new user differs from yesterday’s. This paper compares new users surveyed in a March 2000 poll to those from a November 1998 poll, and it examines what types of activities people pursue online in the two time periods.

In exploring the characteristics and usage habits of new Internet users, this paper finds that the most enthusiastic new Internet users are women, and that this group feels most comfortable engaging in fun activities online (e.g., playing games, listening to music). Relative to long-time users, this group is reluctant to conduct financial or commercial transactions over the Internet. Additionally, people’s willingness to engage in transactions online is found to be a significant threshold point for online activities; once new users who have chosen to make an online transaction, their Internet usage patterns are similar to more experienced users. Finally, new users today are different from new users of two years ago; in 1998, new users quickly engaged in fun activities, but used the Internet as an information utility to a greater extent than their 2000 counterparts.

A likely explanation for new users’ reluctance to conduct transactions online is worry over the security and privacy of sending credit card information over the Internet. New users are almost twice as likely as veteran Internet users to report high levels of concern over online credit card theft, but they are only half as likely as Internet veterans to have purchased something online. New users’ quick embrace of fun activities suggests that they value a choice of a wide variety of Internet content as they learn to use the Internet. (Author's abstract)

Huberman, B. A. (2001). The Laws of the Web. Cambridge, MIT Press.
In this book Bernardo Huberman explains the 'laws of the Web' - observed regularities in web traffic and link structure, and their explanation. Huberman has established, for example, that the surfing patterns of individuals are describable by a precise law. Despite its haphazard growth, the Web hides powerful underlying regularities--from the organization of its links to the patterns found in its use by millions of users. In this sense, the Web is a gigantic informational ecosystem that can be used to quantify and test explanations of human behavior and social interaction. [Summarized from the book cover]

Hugill, P. J. (1999). Global Communications Since 1844: Geopolitics and Technology. Baltimore, MD, Johns Hopkins Univ. Press.
"Global village" is one of the root metaphors of cyberspace. This metaphor of an electronically-tethered, cozy, tribal community dominates images of cyberspace in the mass media--and not a few scholarly monographs. This "romantic" image often tends to emphasize the harmony and universal brotherhood that "communications" supposedly engenders. Very few observers draw attention to the "realpolitik" of cyberspace: that the technology of telecommunications has long been enmeshed within strategic and geopolitical considerations.


Peter Hugill does not look to McLuhan for his models and inspiration. He looks instead to McLuhan's less-celebrated mentor, the Canadian political economist Harold Innis. Innis argued that empires in the past achieved dominance by their control over communications systems. Innis identified two types of communications media and their hegemonic implications. "Durable" communications media, like stone and parchment, allowed for the control of time. "Light" media, such as papyrus and paper, allowed for the control of space. Hugill is clearly indebted to Innis's categories, but then places them within other theoretical traditions. One is the geopolitics of the British geographer Halford Mackinder. In 1919, Mackinder made a distinction between territorial states--those that gain wealth through occupation and exploitation of space--and trading states--those that gain wealth through trade, and are thus more "global" in orientation. The other theoretical tradition is the world-systems theory of Immanuel Wallerstein, and especially the examination of hegemonic struggles within the core economies. In so combining Innis, Mackinder and Wallerstein, Hugill is interested in the hegemonic struggles between territorial and trading states within the core of the world-system, and the ways in which their hegemony was insured through global telecommunications technologies.


While his book is theoretical, Hugill nevertheless presents a chronological narrative that might be of greater comfort to historians. At the beginning of this period, Britain held hegemonic dominance largely because of their control of the burgeoning global telecommunications system. This system was based on telegraphy and the undersea cables that distributed it throughout the world. The United States and Germany emerged at the end of the nineteenth century as possible challengers to British hegemony. The Germans failed to overtake Britain in part because they were a territorial state, and thus failed to develop appropriate technologies that might have displaced Britain--a trading state--as a global hegemon.


The Americans might have surpassed Britain after the First World War, but were "delayed" in this hegemonic shift because they initially failed to deploy a viable system that could supplant British control of telegraphy. Interestingly, the United States Navy, according to Hugill, was at the center of American efforts to find a technology that could supplant British telegraphy. In addition to pushing for a larger fleet, the Navy similarly worked to develop a wireless system. Wireless telegraphy and radio were the leading candidates to challenge British technological control of global telecommunications. However, both suffered from technical limitations that did not allow them to be deployed as technologies of global hegemony. Only after the Second World War, once telephony was wedded to satellite technology that could efficiently extend the system across the globe, could the United States emerge as the new hegemonic power. This marriage of telephone and satellite was undertaken by both American commercial interests and the efforts of the US government in the form of the space program.


Hugill's history ends in 1971, at about the same time that the Americans began networking computers. Yet the geostrategic implications of Hugill's study clearly extend to the Internet. Transmission of information in cyberspace is carried out over both land-based and submarine fiber-optic cables, potentially bypassing satellite transmission as the key technology of global telecommunications. The United States does not own a monopoly on these cables; Britain and France are very close competitors. The implication is that, at least in the short run, there is not likely to be a monopoly over fiber-optics like the British enjoyed with undersea telegraph cables or the Americans enjoyed with satellite-driven telephony. Thus, it appears unlikely that a global hegemonic power like the British will emerge in the era of networked computing. More likely is a multipolar system either of competing states--such as the United States, a united Europe and Japan--or a decentralized system of transnational trading interests. Hugill sensibly refrains from defining only one future path, preferring instead to envision several equally likely scenarios. "The lesson of a history informed by social science," he maintains, "is that we should not...be blinded by the assumption that the future will merely be a continuation of the past. What the past teaches us in this case is that the information economy has been around for some time and is no longer a particularly risky or forward-looking investment."(239) We might also note that the information economy and its antecedents have long been dominated by realpolitikers, not by romantic idealists of the global village. (David J. Staley from the Jouranl of the Association for History and Computing, 4/2000)

Hugill, P. J. (1993). World Trade Since 1431: Geography, Technology and Capitalism. Baltimore, John Hopkins Univ. Press.
This book operates on two levels. The first, as the title promises, is a sweeping macrohistorical interpretation of five and a half centuries of world history. In two introductory chapters and a conclusion, Peter J. Hugill offers a model for the interactions of technology, the development of capitalism, the geography of trade, and global politics. Hugill begins with a review of some well-known models of global change, in particular those of Lewis Mumford, Joseph Schumpeter, Immanuel Wallersteing, and George Modelski and William Thompson. He appropriates various aspects of these models to create his own model to account for the technological, economic, and political fluctuations in world history. He finds two of them especially useful. One is Mumford's three phases of technology: the Eotechnic or organic phase, the Paleotechnic or coal-and- iron phase, and the Neotechnic or twentieth century phase. The other is Modelski and Thompson's history of sea power and merchant shipping. Combining them, he divides world history into five "world leadership cycles" defined by their hegemon or leading maritime power: in the Eotechnic phase, first Portugal, then Holland, and finally England; in the Paleotechnic phase, Great Britain; and in the Neotechnic phase, the United States. Though the introductory chapters present technology as one variable among many, in the rest of the book, Hugill clearly sees transportation as the driving force of history. Although the technology of transportation is central to Hugill's understaningd of world history, his interpretation is anything but deterministic. Historians dissatisfied with the traditional nation-centered approach to technology will welcome his comprehensive knowledge of U.S. and European transportation systems and his well- informed comparisons between them. The technical details of transportation systems are presented with both their social construction and their political and economic impacts. In this reviewer's opinion, the book succeeds better as a history of technology than as a macrohistorical model. (Adapted from Headrick, Daniel R. 1995. Journal of Economic History 55:205 Book Reviews)

Hundt, R. (1997). "The Internet: From Here to Ubiquity." Computer 30: 122-4.
Reed Hundt, FCC chair, in a speech at the IEEE Computer Society's Hot Chips Symposium August 26, 1997, in Palo Alto, California, gave his analysis of and recommendations for the future of the Internet. This article was excerpted from that speech. Although you may not agree with Hundt's policies and visions for the Internet, I think you will agree that he raises many important issues that will influence the Internet's next generation. Reed Hundt's term as FCC chairman will expire June 30, 1998, but all signs indicate that his views reflect those of the Clinton administration and will be reflected in his successor's policies. (computer@computer.org. —Ron Vetter)

Hunter, C. D. (2000). "Social Impacts - Internet Filter Effectiveness - Testing Over- and Underinclusive Blocking Decisions of Four Popular Web Filters." Social Science Computer Review 18: 214-222.
In the wake of the Littleton, Colorado, shooting tragedy, public attention has again been focused on the problem of potentially harmful Internet content. Many parents and legislators have proposed that commercially available filtering software is the best way to keep children away from the "red light districts of cyberspace" while also protecting the First Amendment. Civil libertarians and others, however, have noted that Internet content filters do not work as advertised, failing to block much dangerous material and also unjustly blocking benign content. The aim of this article is to assess these competing claims by rigorously testing the effectiveness of four popular filtering programs: CYBERsitter, Cyber Patrol, Net Nanny, and Surf Watch. The findings of this study suggest that current support for filtering software should be reconsidered.

Hurd, J. M. and A. C. Weller (1997). "From Print to Electronic: The Adoption of Information Technology by Academic Chemists." Technology Libraries 16(3-4): 147-170.
In recent years large academic research libraries have acquired and made available to their users numerous information technologies designed to facilitate information retrieval and support the research process. Ranging from online computer catalogs, databases, and electronic journals to Internet-based resources, these new products are costly for university libraries but are acquired because of the much-enhanced access to information they offer for both faculty and students. This paper examines data collected in two surveys, four years apart, for a group of university faculty chemists who were queried about their use of electronic resources. The two surveys represent a long term, and continuing, effort to document the adoption of technological innovations by university faculty. The role of librarians as change agents will be explored as will issues related to promotion and training of faculty in the use of electronic resources. (Annotated by Ricardo B. Duque)

Hurley, D. and J. H. Keller, Eds. (1999). The First 100 Feet : Options for Internet and Broadband Access. Cambridge, MIT Press.
The growth of the Internet has been propelled in large part by user investments in infrastructure, including computers, internal wiring, and connections to the Internet providers. This "bottom-up" approach has minimized the investment burden on those who provide internet services. Now, however, as new technologies allow and new applications demand higher-bandwidth connections, the source of investment for "the last 100 feet" of connectivity from the Internet service provider to individual homes and businesses becomes a significant issue.

Recasting the "problem of the last 100 feet" as "opportunities for the first 100 feet," this book challenges individuals, businesses, and policymakers to rethink fundamental issues in telecommunications policy. The contributors explore market issues associated with bottom-up investment in the first 100 feet (focusing on new technical opportunities such as spread spectrum wireless, satellites, and the use of electric power networks), and describe the challenges facing nontraditional providers of telecommunications services such as cities and utilities.
(Publisher's Abstract; Amazon.com)

Hurley, D., H. Varian, et al., Eds. (1999). Internet Publishing and Beyond: The Economics of Digital Information and Intellectual Property. Cambridge, MIT Press.
Every year digital libraries and electronic publishing become more pervasive, yet one fundamental question is still unresolved. What economic and business models will emerge for online information? Innumerable books and articles have been written where pundits describe their view of the future, often on the flimsiest of evidence, but there is surprisingly little solid economic analysis that is accessible to the non-specialist.

This book goes a long way towards filling the gap. It does not attempt to predict the future or prescribe what to do. Instead it performs a more limited and hence more valuable task. This set of nine essays examine whether conventional economic models match the realities of digital information. The viewpoint tends to be that of an organization with information products to sell, which is trying to understand the economic possibilities; however, the insights are equally useful to consumers of information.

The two editors bring a very strong background. Varian, an economist, is Dean of the School of Information Management and Systems at the University of California, Berkeley. He is well known for his thoughtful and eminently readable studies of information on the Internet. Kahin is a lawyer who is now at the University of Maryland. He has a varied background. He has studied information policy in academic life, was legal advisor to the group that established the DVD standard and served as a policy analyst for the White House during the Clinton administration. The editors have assembled a group of authors from economics, information science, law, computing, mathematics and many other disciplines. This is a book about economics, but its authors have wide practical experience of the topics that they are discussing.

The opening chapter by DeLong and Froomkin discusses the technical differences between physical goods and digital information. Most of our views of markets are dominated by physical goods, where sellers can force buyers to pay for the goods they use, where costs have little or no economy of scale, and individuals can see clearly what goods are for sale and what they are buying. Under such circumstances, markets respond to Adam Smith's doctrine of the invisible hand of competition. With digital information, none of these assumptions apply. The authors ponder whether the inherent market balance that open competition provides with physical goods may not apply with information and whether other mechanisms are needed to avoid a winner-takes-all marketplace.

This is followed by two interesting case studies, about advertising as a form of revenue and business models for online newspapers. The second of these two chapters has a fascinating description of the struggles that existing organizations have in adapting. The story of how newspapers appear to have lost the lucrative market for classified advertisements to specialist start-up organizations is a salutary lesson.

Most of the following chapters look at specific aspects of this situation. Sometimes the models help to explain phenomena that we have all observed, but often the conclusions are surprising. For example, in looking at the economics of copy protection for software, Shy describes how unlicensed copying of software or photocopying of journal articles may increase the seller's revenues. Varian has an illuminating chapter on the creation of different versions of goods to encourage those customers who have greater means to pay. Strategies for pricing railway tickets in the nineteenth century help us to understand peculiarities of software licensing.

Several of the chapters discuss bundling. For example, will a publisher of scientific journals gain from selling articles individually, or by bundling them into journals or groups of journals? In practice, publishers have chosen bundling. The article by Bakos and Brynjolfsson shows that, over a wide range of assumptions about demand curves and transaction costs, this maximizes the revenue for the publisher. This chapter illustrates another strength of the book. Complex economic arguments are explained in readable sentences with simple graphs. A few of the other chapters suffer from the inclusion of unnecessarily complex mathematical notation, but mainly this is a book that can be understood without being a specialist.

Many readers of D-Lib Magazine have a special interest in scholarly publishing. As we read this book, perhaps we should ponder the observation made by Fishburn, Odlyzko and Siders that the market for scholarly journals, "is both unstable and full of perverse economic incentives not easily captured by standard economic models." To illustrate this point, and as a final indication of the modern world of scholarly information, the editors of this book are at the University of Maryland and the University of California at Berkeley; the book is published by the MIT Press; yet the copyright belongs to the President and Fellows of Harvard College!

Copyright (c) 2001 William Y. Arms (from D-Lib Magazine 2/2001)

Hurwitz, R. (1999). "Who Needs Politics? Who Needs People? The Ironies of Democracy in Cyberspace." Contemporary Sociology 28: 655-661.
Explores democratic politics in the context of cyberspace, arguing that it is an area contested by public & private interests along one dimension & by civil liberties & state power along another. Highlighted is how network-based political activities support or hamper democracy. It is concluded that Internet activists, while successful at disseminating political information, have done less well in terms of generating a significant & stable audience & commanding decisionmaker attention. Three models of democracy are discussed - deliberative, partisan, & monitorial - with the last deemed most suitable for collection "netizen" action. (Sociological Abstracts)

Huxley, A. (1972). Achieving a Perspective on the Technological Order. Technology and Culture. M. Kranzberg and W. H. Davenport. New York, Schocken Books.

Imparato, N., Ed. (2000). Public Policy and the Internet: Privacy, Taxes, and Contract., Hoover Institution Press.
It is becoming clearer every day that the future of e-commerce will have as much to do with how policy issues are resolved as with how any technological challenge is overcome. This book, Public Policy and the Internet: Privacy, Taxes, and Contract, published by Hoover Institution Press and edited by Hoover Research Fellow Nicholas Imparato, illuminates for the novice and expert alike three of the most vexing and newsworthy policy areas.

Andrew Grove (Chairman, Intel), Charles Schwab and David Pottruck (co-CEOs, Charles Schwab Corporation), Pete Wilson (former governor of California), Jerry Yang (co-founder and director, Yahoo) and other prominent leaders met at the Hoover Institution to discuss three separate reports on privacy, taxation, and contract. Each paper constitutes the core of one of the chapters of this volume. Furthermore, the authors used the discussion with executives and other academics to sharpen their understanding of the issues and to clarify their own recommendations and conclusions.

Mary Cronin, formerly a columnist for Fortune magazine and currently professor of management at Boston College, writes about privacy and electronic commerce, and has surveyed opinion and position papers regarding how to deal with on-line privacy, the meaning of privacy in electronic commerce, and the arguments between advocates of self-regulation and legislative models. She describes how the insistence on protecting privacy of individual information could either promote on-line business growth or constrain competition and stifle entrepreneurial opportunities.

Charles McLure, Hoover Institution senior fellow, describes the impediments to equal tax treatment of electronic commerce, and current norms and practices in state sales and national taxation. McLure outlines his proposals, leading with a single, uniform nationwide base for sales and use taxes, to the Advisory Commission on Electronic Commerce. He presents a rich background for understanding, should electronic commerce not be taxed, how to define electronic commerce, what technique should be used to effect the exemption, and how the benefits can be limited to the intended beneficiaries.

Margaret Jane Radin, the William Benjamin Scott and Luna M. Scott Professor of Law at Stanford University, and codirector of Stanford Law School's Program in Law, Science and Technology, discusses the crisis for contracts precipitated by the advent of electronic commerce. She identifies the challenges associated with five interrelated problems: authentication, binding commitment, standardization, excluded terms, and jurisdiction and choice of law. (Hoover Institute Press Release 7/2000)

Inkster, I. (1991). Science and Technology in History: An Approach to Industrial Management. New Brunswick, NJ, Rutgers Univ. Press.
Analyzes the connection between science, technology, and industrial development from the 18th century to the present in Europe and the European diaspora, Japan, China, and India. The topics include the industrial revolution, technology transfer, and the role of institutions. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or. (From Book News, Inc. amazon.com)

Internet, I. t., J. Authors : Abbate, et al. Inventing the Internet.
Abbate (history, Univ. of Maryland) provides what may be the
finest extended work on Internet history and development to date. With an
eye for the social constructs that shaped the Internet, she explores the
Cold War genesis of ARPANET, created by the Defense Department's Advanced
Research Projects Agency, and its technological successors. Abbate makes
much of the military origins of the earliest computer networks and of issues
surrounding packet-switching technology. She considers major players--not
just institutions but people like Paul Baran, Robert Kahn, Vinton Cerf,
Lawrence Roberts, and Donald Davies--and pays special attention to the
astonishing way in which ARPANET eventually metamorphosed into an
egalitarian paradigm of commercial and civilian interaction by the 1990s.
Though the constant use of parenthetical notation is distracting, and a
much-needed glossary is sadly omitted, this book is useful for anyone
studying information technology. Recommended for all public and academic
libraries.--Dayne Sherman, Southeastern Louisiana Univ., Hammond Copyright
1999 Cahners Business Information. (From Library Journal, Barnes&Noble
Reviews)

Introna, L. D. and H. Nissenbaum (2000). "Shaping the Web: Why the Politics of Search Engines Matters." Information Society 16: 169-185.
This article argues that search engines raise not merely technical issues but also political ones, Our study of search engines suggests that they systematically exclude tin some cases by design and in some, accidentally) certain sites and certain types of sites in favor of others, systematically giving prominence to some at the expense of others. We argue that such biases, which would lead to a narrowing of the Web's functioning in society, run counter to the basic architecture of the Web as well as to the values and ideals that have fueled widespread support for its growth and development, We consider ways of addressing the politics of search engines, raising doubts whether, in particular, the market mechanism could serve as an acceptable corrective. (Author's abstract)

Ito, M. (1996). "Theory, Method, and Design in Anthropologies of the Internet." Social Science Computer Review 14: 24-26.
The study of the Internet challenges the anthropologist on many fronts. It demands a robust theoretical engagement with the technologies and semiotics of digital information and their relation to material and social realities. It calls for a redefinition of many core methodological touchstones such as ''fieldwork'' and ''participant observation.'' Finally, the study of the Internet requires the analyst to engage self-reflexively in the study of and accountability to politics ''close to home'' and entailing relations of ''studying up.'' While anthropological notions of ''the field'' and ''culture'' are being destabilized at the core of the discipline, ethnographic approaches to new domains of media, science, and technology exhibit a resilient anthropological attention to embodied contexts of practice and everyday experience. This brief statement addresses the study of the Internet from the point of view of an anthropologist engaged with the field.

ITU (2001). The Internet in an African LDC: Uganda Case Study., International Telecommunications Union.
One of the most liberal markets in Africa and the first country on the continent where the number of mobile subscribers has overtaken fixed-line users, the Republic of Uganda is poised to become a unique laboratory for the development of wireless Internet. Already, the primary means of corporate access to the Internet is from microwave radio and GSM data services are growing. With two cellular operators already in the market, and with the newly-privatized incumbent, Uganda Telecom Ltd., planning to start a third mobile service, the likelihood is that mobile may become the primary form of Internet access within the next five years. A mission to Uganda was carried out in February 2000 involving Michael Minges and Tim Kelly plus a consultant, Walter Brown. The mission was co-ordinated with the Ministry of Works, Housing and Communications which is currently drafting an Information Technology (IT) policy document for consideration by Parliament. The Internet case study will help shape the recommendations to be presented. Preliminary suggestions regarding IT policy have been contributed to the Ministry.

ITU (2001). The Internet in the Andes: Bolivia Case Study., International Telecommunications Union.
The structure of the telecommunication sector in Bolivia is different from most other countries. Local service is provided by 16 telephone cooperatives, long distance service by one private company and mobile cellular by two private companies (a third license was issued late last year and expected to start operations in the 4th quarter of 2000). Fixed telephone operators have a monopoly until November 2001 when the market is to be fully opened to competition.

The Internet market is experiencing fairly rapid growth but is nonetheless constrained by a number of factors. The most notable are legal restrictions that forbid Internet Service Providers (ISPs) from directly providing their own outgoing international connectivity or domestic leased lines. The ISPs claim that this results in higher costs, poor service and unfair competition from the traditional telecom operators that provide Internet access. Other factors such as low incomes (after Haiti, Bolivia is the second poorest country in the Latin American and Caribbean region), lack of awareness and shortages of and antiquated communication equipment also affect Internet take-up.

An ITU team consisting of Michael Minges, Ben Petrazzini and a consultant, Sonia Jorge, visited La Paz from 15 -19 May to carry out research for the Bolivia Internet Case Study. The country's telecom regulator, Superintendencia de Telecomunicaciones (SITTEL), hosted the team. To date, there has been no comprehensive document produced on the state of the Internet in Bolivia. SITTEL is looking forward to the ITU report as it will assist their plans to become more involved in Internet policy issues. The nation makes an interesting addition to the Internet case study series since there are a number of factors that are different from other countries studied. These include a unique telecom structure, dispersed Internet usage (for example there are more Internet users in the tropical city of Santa Cruz than the Andean capital of La Paz), growing Spanish content and a mix of Internet providers ranging from incumbent telecom operators to pan-regional ISPs.

ITU (2001). Internet in a Transition Economy: Hungary Case Study., International Telecommunications Union.
The telecommunication sector in Hungary has been evolving at a steady pace since the political changes in the early 1990s, and Hungary now has one of the most developed telecommunication networks in Central and Eastern Europe. The country is a signatory to the 1997 WTO Agreement on telecommunications and is gearing up for European Union Membership by the year 2002. The Internet market in Hungary has benefited from the overall growth of the telecommunications sector: the total number Internet users has more than doubled over the past two years, from under 300,000 in 1998 to 715,000 in October 2000. The growth of the Internet has mainly been driven by demand in the academic sector, where the Hungarnet network now serves between over half of the market, i.e., 350,000 and 400,000 users. The commercial market has also grown in recent years, albeit more slowly than the academic sector, reaching some 152,000 dial-up subscribers by April 2000. The main barrier to the development of the Internet in Hungary has been the high local call tariffs. The incumbent operator, Matav, still maintains a monopoly over long-distance and international calls, and has a market share of more than 75% over local services. A mission to Hungary was carried out in October 2000 involving Tim Kelly and Lara Srivastava of the ITU, and was coordinated in conjunction with Jozsefne Pergel of the Hungarian Communication Authority (HIF). Preliminary recommendations have been submitted to the HIF for comment.

ITU (2001). The e-City: Singapore Internet Case Study., International Telecommunications Union.
The island city Republic of Singapore may just be one of the most wired places on the planet. Government data state that Singapore's household Internet penetration rate is the highest in the world at 42 per cent (end 1999). Indeed the sign of the Internet is everywhere including buses and taxis plastered with advertisements for dot coms.

One of the factors behind Singapore's success is strong government support for Information and Communication Technology (ICT). This includes the elaboration of a number of plans for developing an intelligent island, backed by concrete programs. It also includes progressive liberalization of the telecommunication industry including the introduction of across-the-board, full competition from 1 April 2000.

An ITU mission led by Michael Minges and two consultants, Magda Ismail and Larry Press, carried out field research in Singapore in July 2000. The aim is to understand how government support has boosted Singapore's ICT sector and to determine how these policies can be transplanted to other countries. The Singapore Internet Case Study will also serve as an example of best practice to compare other Internet Case Studies too.

ITU (2000). The Internet from the Top of the World: Nepal Case Study., International Telecommunications Union.
A Least Developed Country which is slowly moving towards a more liberal market, the Kingdom of Nepal has turned out to be one of the more dynamic Internet markets in South Asia. The licensing of many ISPs combined wit the liberalisation of the VSAT data market has created suitable conditions for the Internet to thrive. Nepal's citizens enjoy some of the lowest prices for Internet access in the region. A mission to Nepal was carried out in January 2000 involving Michael Minges and Tim Kelly, plus two consultants, Larry Press and Seymour Goodman. The mission was coordinated with the Nepal Planning Commission (NPC), which is currently drafting an Information and Communications Technology Policy for the country. As part of the mission, a draft policy document on e-commerce was provided to the NPC.

Jackson, L. A., Kelly S. Ervin, Philip D. Gardner and Neal Schmitt (2001). "Gender and the Internet: Women Communicating and Men Searching”." Sex Roles 44: 363-379.
This research examined gender differences in Internet use and factors responsible for these differences. A sample of 630 Anglo American undergraduates completed the Student Computer and Internet Survey that contained questions about e-mail and Web use, and about potential affective and cognitive mediators of use. Based on a general model of Internet use, we predicted and found that females used e-mail more than did males, males used the Web more than did females, and females reported more computer anxiety, less computer self-efficacy, and less favorable and less stereotypic computer attitudes. Path analysis to identify mediators of gender differences in Internet use revealed that computer self-efficacy, loneliness, and depression accounted in part for gender differences, but that gender continued to have a direct effect on use after these factors were considered. Implications for realizing the democratizing potential and benefits of Internet use are discussed (from author’s abstract).

Jacobsen, H.-A., O. Gunther, et al. (2000). "Component Leasing on the World Wide Web." Netnomics 2: 191-219.
MMM is an infrastructure for managing the deployment and use of distributed application services on the WWW. MMM propagates a paradigm that enables the leasing of software components, as opposed to the classical software licensing model. Applications reside and execute on the software provider's platforms, but are managed through the MMM infrastructure. Users interact with the application services through a standard Internet browser, not requiring any additional software. The MMM user interface offers users a virtual file space, application service composition functions, execution support, and visualization features. The MMM implementation is based on standard Web technologies, such as HTML, XML, and MetaHTML, distributed object computing frameworks, such as CORBA, and database technology, such as ODBC. In this paper we give a technical account of the MMM architecture and discuss its primary features. (Authors' Abstract)

Jacobson, D. (1999). "Impression Formation in Cyberspace: Online Expectations and Offline Experiences in Text-based Virtual Communities." Journal of Computer Mediated Communication 5(1).
How do people in cyberspace picture one another? More specifically, how do individuals engaged in text-based computer-mediated communication (CMC), with its paucity of visual and auditory cues, form impressions of those with whom they interact? And how do expectations formed online compare with offline experiences? Researchers have begun to answer these questions, drawing primarily on theories of stereotyping. This article uses prototype theory and related models to extend previous research and to account for discrepancies between online image and offline reality. It draws on interviews with individuals who first met others online and subsequently moved to face-to-face interaction; it also utilized comparisons between text-based impressions formed online and photographs displayed on web pages. (Author's Abstract)

Jaffe, J. M., Y.-E. Lee, et al. (1999). "Gender Identification, Interdependence, and Pseudonyms in CMC: Language Patterns in an Electronic Conference." The Information Society 15: 221-234.
A quasi-experimental study examines how pseudonymous identification in a computer-mediated communication (CMC) context might (1) reflect a motivation for gender-based status parity and (2) mitigate supposed gender-based communication differences associated with social interdependence. One hundred and fourteen undergraduate students were assigned to participate in one of two separate computer-based, bulletin-board-style discussion groups or "forums". In one forum, participants were identified by their real names while participants in the other were identified by self-chosen pseudonyms. Consistent with expectations, analyses of conference transcripts and pseudonym choices indicated that (1) women tended to mask their gender with their pseudonym choice while males did not, and (2) women in both forums generally tended to exhibit certain dimensions of social interdependence more frequently than men. These dimensions included references to others, references to self, and supporting statements. Contrary to expectations, pseudonymous identification was not associated with a statistically significant mitigation of gender differences in three of the four indicators of social interdependence. With respect to incidences of self-references, to a statistically significant degree, gender differences in the pseudonymous forum were less often manifested than in the real-name forum. (From http://www.catchword.com )

Jaffee, D. (2003). ""Virtual Transformation: Web-Based Technology and Pedagogical Change"." Teaching Sociology.
Web-based instructional technologies are transforming teaching and learning in higher education. This important development requires sociological analysis for the purpose of understanding the significance of this change and developing effective policies to enhance the transition to effective virtual learning environments. In the context of a model of organizational change, this paper examines how the application of web-based instructional technologies is unleashing forces that are disrupting established and institutionalized pedagogical practices, and reconfiguring faculty and student roles and relations. A critical aspect of this transition is the shift in the pedagogical ecology from the physical to the virtual classroom. The paper examines the potential impact of these changes on pedagogical quality and student learning.

Jaffee, D. (1998). "Institutionalized Resistance to Asynchronous Learning Networks." Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks 2(2).
Most of the literature on Asynchronous Learning Networks (ALNs) has focused on the pedagogical and technological advantages of this educational delivery mode and the way ALNs can respond to the changing demands and pressures placed on institutions of higher education. However, there are considerable obstacles preventing the widespread implementation of ALNs. These obstacles, and the associated forms of opposition and resistance, must be analyzed in an organizational context that examines the prevailing academic culture and the widely institutionalized value placed on classroom-based teaching and learning. The recognition of the classroom as a sacred institution in higher
education, and a major source of professorial identity, is a necessary first step toward developing strategies for organizational change and pedagogical transformation.

Jeffries, R., J. R. Miller, et al. (1991). User Interface Evaluation in the Real World: A Comparison of Four Techniques Practical Design Methods. Proceedings of ACM CHI'91 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.
A user interface (UI) for a software product was evaluated prior to its release by four groups, each applying a different technique: heuristic evaluation, software guidelines, cognitive walkthroughs, and usability testing. Heuristic evaluation by several UI specialists found the most serious problems with the least amount of effort, although they also reported a large number of low-priority problems. The relative advantages of all the techniques are discussed, and suggestions for improvements in the techniques are offered. (authors' abstract)

Jimba, S. W. and M. I. Atinmo (2000). "The Influence of Information Technology Access on Agricultural Research in Nigeria." Internet Research-Electronic Networking Applications and Policy 10(1): 63-71.
Examines the relationship between accessibility to information technology and research publications among users of agricultural libraries in Nigeria. A self-constructed questionnaire, which had a reliability coefficient of 0.90, was used to collect data. A total of 150 questionnaires were distributed and a response rate of 78.7 per cent was obtained. Data were analyzed using the Pearson product moment correlation coefficient and the student t-test. Results showed that there was no significant association between accessibility and research publications. The finding is discussed in the context of information technology benefits in developing countries generally. Suggestions are proffered on how to improve the benefits of IT access. (Annotated by Ricardo B. Duque)

John, R. (1995). Spreading the News: The American Postal from Franklin to Morse. Cambridge, Harvard Univ. Press.
Winner of the Allan Nevins Prize of the Society of American Historians

In the seven decades from its establishment in 1775 to the commercialization of the electric telegraph in 1844, the American postal system spurred a communications revolution no less far-reaching than the subsequent revolutions associated with the telegraph, telephone, and computer. This book tells the story of that revolution and the challenge it posed for American business, politics, and cultural life.

During the early republic, the postal system was widely hailed as one of the most important institutions of the day. No other institution had the capacity to transmit such a large volume of information on a regular basis over such an enormous geographical expanse. The stagecoaches and postriders who conveyed the mail were virtually synonymous with speed.

In the United States, the unimpeded transmission of information has long been hailed as a positive good. In few other countries has informational mobility been such a cherished ideal. Richard John shows how postal policy can help explain this state of affairs. He discusses its influence on the development of such information-intensive institutions as the national market, the voluntary association, and the mass party. He traces its consequences for ordinary Americans, including women, blacks, and the poor. In a broader sense, he shows how the postal system worked to create a national society out of a loose union of confederated states. This exploration of the role of the postal system in American public life provides a fresh perspective not only on an important but neglected chapter in American history, but also on the origins of some of the most distinctive features of American life today. (Harvard UP.)

Johnson, J. (1997). Universal Access to the Net: Requirements and Social Impact. Proceedings of ACM CHI 97 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.
This article addresses the following questions: Where do we stand today with respect to achieving universal access to the Internet? What is required (particularly in the HCI realm) to achieve it? What are some of the consequences and side-effects -- positive and negative -- for society? (author's abstract)

Johnson, S. (1999). Interface Culture: How New Technology Transforms the Way We Create and Communicate., Basic Books.
It's rare to find a book on Internet issues that is as cogent, fair, and insightful as Interface Culture. While the Birkerts and Negropontes of the world spin out one-sided fables that read more like the dialogue from characters in bad distopian/utopian science fiction, Steven Johnson uses a keen intellect, honed with the reading techniques of Nietzsche and Derrida, but lacking unnecessary jargon, to show how computer interfaces have transformed our lives. In up-to-the-minute examples, Johnson presents a compelling case for a cultural shift as important as the one that accompanied the rise of literacy or the fall of the church. (amazon.com)

Johnson, S. (1997). Interface Culture. San Francisco, Harpers Edge.
In Interface Culture, Steven Johnson deftly paddles against this zeitgeist by examining the machine, software, and network interfaces of the past half century in light of more archaic developments...He combines his insight and his engaging prose to achieve what so many writers fail to: make the reader feel smart by providing new tools with which to understand technology...Johnson's sitting pretty on a mountain of visions, and, luck for us, her shares the wealth. (From Wired on amazon.com)

Jones, G. (1997). "Virtual-communities, Virtual-settlements and Cyber-archaeology: A Theoretical Outline." Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 3: 3.
If useful explanations are to be provided about the relationship between computer mediated communication (CMC) technologies and online behavior, then a longer-term perspective needs to be taken than the current focus of CMC researchers. This paper provides such a perspective by outlining in theoretical terms how a cyber-archaeology of virtual communities can be conducted. In archaeology, researchers focus on cultural artifacts. A similar focus on the cultural artifacts of virtual communities should be a focus for CMC researchers as these artifacts can provide an integrative framework for a community's life, be it virtual or real. It is proposed that CMC researchers pursue cyber-archaeology by systematically examining and modeling the framework for virtual community life provided by their cultural artifacts.

The systematic exploration of cyber-space via cyber-archaeology cannot proceed without adequate linguistic tools that allow for taxonomy. The first step in the creation of such a taxonomy is to distinguish between virtual communities and their cyber-place, the virtual settlement. The second, is to and operationalize the term virtual settlement so that they can be systematically characterized modeled. With this new terminology, it is possible to detail a cyber-archaeology where technological determinism is replaced with the notion of bounded hierarchies and material behavior. The theoretical outline will show how cultural artifacts can play a role in constraining the forms virtual settlements can sustain. The modeling of the boundaries of virtual settlements via cyber-archaeology should dramatically increase our understanding of communication in general (Author's abstract).

Jones, S. (1999). Doing Internet Research: Critical Issues and Methods for Examining the Net. Thousand Oaks, CA, Sage.
This is a book which should first be described by what it is not: it is not a book about using the Internet as a general research tool, it does not tell you about online bibliographies and the wonders of search engines. It is not about doing research using the Internet but about doing research on the effect of the Internet itself. The full title makes this clear; the book presents a range of essays (13 in all) covering issues and methods that can be used to study the Internet.

The Internet is now a major phenomenon having consequences for how people act and interact socially and in business. This book aims to describe ways in which researchers might set out to study the Internet as a field of research and looks at various methodologies that have been applied. The audience for this book is likely to be those who wish to study the social effects of this new communication medium, but it should also include those who wish to read about some of the results of the studies reported.

Steve Jones' own introductory paper has a sound basis on the impact of the Net and how it merits study. He looks at the history of the Internet leading up to the big commercial push that is now behind the Net and raises issues such as persistence and ephemera. These points are well made but the speed at which the e- World has moved makes some of the statements seem obvious (and certainly more obvious now than when written in 1998). This is a problem that effects much of this book, as it also effects other books in the field. It means that some of the worthy argument that is made for the need to study this area is of less value than it might have been. In contrast though, the need for methodologies and agreed approaches to studying the Net has increased and it is in those areas the book ought to offer some answers.

Across the papers the practical themes that can be picked out are how to deal with communications, analysis of sites, analysis of pages, and community and culture. Of these it is the communication area that dominates with roughly half of the papers addressing issues to do with the monitoring and reporting of online communication activity. In each case a particular study is presented and the approach and problems discussed in an open way. This structure makes using the book as a source of guidance and advice quite difficult. For instance in two sections there are extracts from chat and email exchanges that bring out points relating to those particular examples but ones that are not easily generalised. This is particularly important as the examples given are fairly extreme and so seem to mask the methodologies. Some sections do give more concrete advice: it is worth singling out the essay by Fay Sudweeks and Simeon Simoff that looks at how to analyse the depth and structure of email threads and provides a useful indicator of how to categorise the level of interaction in messages. There is also a study of the effect of questionnaire length within surveys of newsgroups (concluding that shortening a questionnaire does not significantly increase the amount of response), and advice on ways that networks can be studied. The essays that look at analysis of sites and texts also provide examples and pointers rather than a clear guide to usable tools.

Overall I consider this book somewhat disappointing. It operates best as a collection of papers whereas I was hoping for a more coherent view. There has not been enough effort to ensure a general lesson can be drawn and the final chapter of the book misses the chance to draw things together. The last few essays consider issues of culture, an area of work I do not know. However, I do think that this is a book that can be looked at again and it could prove valuable if the researcher were engaged in a study of communications in particular. I recommend this book if you want a sound argument for carrying out research into the Internet and if you would like to see some examples before seeking the answers for yourself. (Book review by Patrick McAndrew)

Jones, S. (1998). Cybersociety 2.0 Revisiting Computer-Mediated Communication and Technology. Thousand Oaks, CA, Sage Publications.
Cybersociety 2.0, the new edition of Steven G. Jones's Cybersociety, is also rooted in criticism and analysis of computer-mediated technologies to assist readers in becoming critically aware of the hype and hopes pinned on computer-mediated communication and the cultures that are emerging among Internet users. Both books are products of a particular moment in time and serve as snapshots of the concerns and issues that surround the burgeoning new technologies of communication. After a brief introduction to the history of computer-mediated communication, each chapter in this volume specifically highlights specific cyber "societies" and how computer-mediated communication affects the notion of self and its relationship to the community . Contributors probe issues of community, standards of conduct, communication, the means of fixing identity, knowledge, information, and the exercise of power in social relations. They also question how traditional sociological inquiry can adapt itself to most effectively study computer-mediated social formations (From publisher's website).

Jones, S. and A. Cockburn (1995). "Four Principles of Groupware Design." Australasian Special Issue (Part 1) Interacting with Computers 7: 195-210.
Groupware design is at a stage where identification, clarification and validation of best practice is critical if its potential is to be realised. The paper examines and records the major causes of groupware failure, and provides four groupware design principles that encapsulate the problems and guide design teams around them. The principles an extendable framework that is a synthesis of design lessons recorded in CSCW literature. (authors' abstract)

Jonscher, C. (1999). The Evolution of Wired Life: From the Alphabet to the Soul-Catcher Chip – How Information Technologies Change Our World. New York, Wiley.
This is hardly the first book that promises to answer the question of how digital technologies are changing the nature of human reality. What's surprising is its answer: not much. In The Evolution of Wired Life: From the Alphabet to the Soul-Catcher Chip--How Information Technologies Change Our World, Charles Jonscher argues lucidly against the oft-heard proposition that computers are here to revolutionize, or even replace, the workings of our minds and societies. Drawing partly on the long prehistory of today's information technologies--reaching back all the way to the invention of alphabetic writing in the ancient Middle East--he makes a strong case for the contrary view: that human thoughts and interactions have always had, and always will have, more importance than the tools used to convey them. Jonscher's no Luddite, though. A London investment banker and information-policy expert, he began his career as a programmer in the '70s, and he has retained an admiration for and deep understanding of computers. In fact, anyone looking for an inspired and intelligent introduction to the nature of digital technology--how it works, how it came to be, how it both resembles and differs from such intimately human mechanisms as the brain and the genome--need look no further. Jonscher doesn't dispute that computers are a fascinating philosophical conundrum, or that the question of "who we are in the digital age," as he puts it, isn't an interesting one. What he resists, compellingly, "is the claim that by deciding we're computers, we've cracked the mystery of human life. (By Julian Dibbell, amazon.com editorial review)

Jonsson, N., D. Novosel, et al. (2001). Successful management of complex, multinational R&D projects. Proceedings of the 34th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS-34).
In this article, the authors discuss how the globalization of R&D products has changed the fundamentals of project management. The authors present a theoretical framework that identifies important aspects to consider when managing global projects. A case study was conducted at Asea Brown Bovery Ltd. in order to investigate and identify success factors and the difficulties in the project management process. The findings suggest that global projects require global R&D project teams. Although managing in the global context is complex, global project teams may help organizations become more effective and achieve their goals. (Annotated by G. Leah Davis)

Kahin, B., Ed. (1994). Building Information Infrastructure. New York, McGraw-Hill.
BUILDING INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE is the outcome of a joint project by the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University Program on Science, Technology and Public Policy Program and the Program on Strategic Computing and Telecommunications in the Public Sector. BUILDING INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE is also the first original book published by Primis, McGraw-Hill's new electronically based, on-demand publishing program.

The National Research and Education Network (NREN) is the integrating component of the U.S. initiative in high performance computing and communications supported by both the Bush Administration and Congress. It is not an untested vision but the further evolution and enhancement of the present Internet -- an open, enabling environment of interoperating networks and distributed resources that uses fiber optic networks already built by the private sector. Originally conceived as a tool for scientists engaged in advanced computing, the NREN is now seen by educators, librarians, and publishers as a broadbased utility for transforming the ways knowledge is delivered and used. At the same time, the evolving Internet, already partially privatized and commercialized, is increasingly viewed as a key applications- driven path to the broadband infrastructure of the future.

BUILDING INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE presents the NREN as a practical enterprise in developing information infrastructure that must be informed by economic, legal, and technological insights. Written for a diverse audience in government, industry, and education, the book is intended as an aid to planning and policy development at local, state, and national levels. (HIPP website; publisher abstract)

Kahin, B. and J. Abbate, Eds. (1995). Standards Policy for Information Infrastructure. Cambridge, MIT Press.
Although there are many competing visions of information infrastructure, there is universal agreement that standards will play a critical role. The history of OSI, the Internet, and industry consortia shows that standards development has become a rich, multifaceted process, critically linked to market strategy and major issues of public policy.

The thirty-three contributions to this book present a comprehensive picture of the state of the art in standards development for information technology and the options for federal policy. The book includes both independent analysis and the perspectives of major stakeholders and other interested parties -- such as AT&T, the American National Standards Institute, the European Commission, and the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers. (MIT Press)

Kahin, B. and J. H. Keller, Eds. (1997). Coordinating the Internet. Cambridge, MIT Press.
For years, the world saw the Internet as a creature of the U.S. Department of Defense. Now some claim that the Internet is a self-governing organism controlled by no one and needing no oversight. Although the National Science Foundation and other government agencies continue to support and oversee critical administrative and coordinating functions, the Internet is remarkably decentralized and uninstitutionalized. As it grows in scope, bandwidth, and functionality, the Internet will require greater coordination, but it is not yet clear what kind of coordinating mechanisms will evolve.

The essays in this volume clarify these issues and suggest possible models for governing the Internet. The topics addressed range from settlements and statistics collection to the sprawling problem of domain names, which affects the commercial interests of millions of companies around the world. One recurrent theme is the inseparability of technical and policy issues in any discussion involving the Internet. (MIT Press)

Kahin, B. and J. Keller., Eds. (1995). Public Access to the Internet. Cambridge and London, MIT Press.
Questions such as what level of Internet access should be available to whom, how it should be priced, what role the government should play in providing it, and so forth are debated at length in Usenet newsgroups and other online fora. Much of this material is of low quality, however, and many people who need to know about these issues do not participate in such discussions (unfortunately policy and laws regarding computer networks are regularly made by people who have never actually used them). Public Access to the Internet, a collection of papers on Internet access issues produced by the Harvard Information Infrastructure Project, therefore fulfills an important need.
The opening essays are broad introductions to the access issues raised by the Internet, addressing in particular the role of the United States National Information Infrastructure (NII) project and the need to balance commercial and public-interest viewpoints. Two essays, one focusing on the WELL and the other on Usenet, provide introductions to Net sociology and culture which explain why no purely individualist paradigm suffices to describe the Internet. Five papers look at access issues for particular groups: users in the education system, community networks, public libraries, American Indians, and the poor and unemployed. These are as interesting for the information they provide about existing use (as of 1994) as for their attempts to predict future needs and their recommendations for government action. Three papers look at the effects new users with different expectations and usage patterns are having on the network architecture, as well as at the different levels of access actually available. The final four papers look at some of the issues involved in implementing charging schemes; the importance of better network analysis and real quality of service distinctions is clear.

While some may disagree with their normative recommendations - they advocate various forms of government intervention to broaden the range of people with Internet access and support the introduction of some form of packet-based charging -, the various authors do know what they are talking about. There are a small number of minor mistakes scattered through the volume: Keller writes about gopher and World Wide Web protocols being "built on top of the existing file transfer protocol"; Branscomb rather distractingly omits the definite article in "the Internet" about half the time; and Sproull and Faraj insist on using "bulletin boards" to refer to Usenet newsgroups (though they make it clear they know better). A decision has clearly been made not to tackle censorship issues at all, I think wisely. (Though censorship is an important subject and, given its appallingly poor treatment in the mass media, one which could do with similar treatment, it is largely separable from access issues.)

All the works discuss the situation in the United States and the details of prices, government policies, cable TV operators, laws, and so forth are obviously different elsewhere. But the general issues remain the same (at least in Australia; possibly less so in Europe) and, given the dominance of the United States in networking, even the US-specific material will be of global interest. Public Access to the Internet should be read by politicians, public servants, and others involved in formulating policy about networks. Internet users keen on having sane policies formulated by their governments might like to buy a copy for their local representative. Individual papers will be useful to those with more specific needs - anyone wanting an introduction to the sociology of the Internet or the problems of pricing network usage, for example. (Danny Yee
9 December 1995)

Kahin, B. and C. Nesson, Eds. (1997). Borders in Cyberspace: Information Policy and Global Information Infrastructure. Cambridge, MIT Press.
That the Internet is global is a truism, but it is one that many - and among them, unfortunately, most legislators - still completely fail to comprehend. Borders in Cyberspace is a study of some of the legal and policy issues raised by a "global information infrastructure" (or GII, though most of the contributors write simply about "cyberspace" or "the Internet").
The opening chapter argues that cyberspace has clear boundaries and should therefore constitute a jurisdiction of its own, albeit a unusual one where genuine competition between alternative rule sets is possible. The second chapter sets the Internet in the context of global communication more broadly, stressing the continuities provided by traditional media organisations. (There's some excellent material in this chapter, particularly about Africa and Eastern Europe, but there are also signs of cluelessness: among other things it calls Yahoo a browser and claims that the .com domain is for transnational corporations!) The next chapter reinforces the first, arguing that networks should be recognised as "semi-sovereign entities", capable of regulating themselves. The other chapters are a statistical analysis of correlations between democracy and email connectivity (suggesting that the latter is a better predictor of democracy than other indicators); a look at the consequences of anonymity and regulatory arbitrage for attempts at censorship of the Internet; and a survey of the jurisdictional issues which the Internet creates for existing courts and arbitration systems (this is legally the most technical of the chapters and the one most reliant on details of United States law).

Part two deals with particular issues in the context of the GII. A highly theoretical chapter on digital piracy applies theories of public goods (from Lösch, Samuelson, and Tiebout) to the Internet, considered as a marketplace for competition between different intellectual property regimes. A chapter on "Free Speech and the GII" calls for an international ius cogens based law to regulate "speech that advocates the following irrevocably reprehensible behavior...: piracy, slavery, genocide, apartheid, aggressive warfare, terrorism, and torture". You don't have to be a "free speech absolutist" like me to wonder if there might not be some disagreement about what belongs in this list, given that the English-speaking nations are more concerned about obscenity than anything else (it is worth noting that one of the authors of this chapter is German). Other chapters address privacy (advocating cooperative privacy codes, though a little pessimistic about their likely success), cryptography (a comparison of the policies of the United States, France, Russia, China, and Japan), international information policy (with the sharing of meteorological data as an example), and consumer protection laws (from an Australian perspective!). One of the few features common to all these issues is the discordance between the positions of the United States and those of other countries within the developed world.

There is nothing radically new in Borders in Cyberspace, but it wastes surprisingly little space rehashing common knowledge or providing basic background information. One consequence is that it is not entirely suitable for those without online experience (or at least previous involvement with network policy issues). It is, nevertheless, the best introduction to the legal and policy consequences of a global Internet that I have seen anywhere: it really should be mandatory reading for anyone involved with developing law or policy for the Internet. (Danny Yee 12 March 1997)

Kahin, B. and H. R. Varian (2000). Internet Publishing and Beyond: The Economics of Digital Information and Intellectual Property. Cambridge, MA, MIT Press.
The rapid growth of the Internet and the World Wide Web is transforming the way information is accessed and used. New models for distributing, sharing, linking, and marketing information are appearing. This volume examines emerging economic and business models for global publishing and information access, as well as the attendant transformation of international information markets, institutions, and businesses. It provides those in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors with a practical framework for dealing with the new information markets. Topics addressed include the effects of various technological factors and market environments on pricing; the relationship among classic production costs, transaction costs, and the economic value of intellectual property; the effects of different pricing practices for telecommunications and Internet services on the pricing of information; the bundling and unbundling of information services; changing cost structures and the allocation of rights among authors, publishers, and other intermediaries; the effects of markets for complementary products and services, including advertising, on the pricing and use of information; and policy implications of different pricing models. A Publication of the Harvard Information Infrastructure Project in Collaboration with the School of Information Management and Systems at the University of California at Berkeley. (From book description on amazon.com)

Kahin, B. and E. Wilson, Eds. (1997). National Information Infrastructure Initiatives: Vision and Policy Design. Cambridge, MIT Press.
Despite the global nature of the Information Revolution, most policies for information infrastructure are developed at the national level. These national policies reflect local economic, social, historical, and political circumstances and exhibit remarkable differences in vision, policy design, and implementation strategy. In general, they reflect the reality that private sector will play the leading role in developing the new infrastructure.

National Information Infrastructure Initiatives includes a dozen case studies analyzing how national-level policy initiatives address the challenge of information technology, interactive content, and new applications, as well as the "information superhighway." These contributions examine the interplay of issues in different sectors, including telecommunications, broadcasting, publishing, and information technology. The national cases are supplemented with studies of regional and international initiatives that push and pull on national policies. (MIT Press)

Kalil, T. (1995). "Public Policy and the National Information Infrastructure." Business Economics 30: 15-20.

Kaminer, N. and Y. M. Braunstein (1998). "Bibliometric analysis of the Impact of Internet Use on Scholarly Productivity." Journal of the American Society for Information Science 49(8): 720-730.
Variables measuring the nature and level of Internet usage by natural scientists improve the explanatory power of a traditional bibliographic model of scholarly productivity. The data used to construct these variables come from the log files generated by the internal accounting modules of the UNIX operating system. The effects of Internet usage on productivity are quantifiable, and it is possible to calculate tradeoffs between Internet usage and the more traditional inputs. (Annotated by Ricardo B. Duque)

Kanfer, A. (1999). It's A Thin World: The Association Between Email Use and Patterns of Communication and Relationships.
Research on computer-mediated communication has focused on organizational settings, largely because it was only in organizations that people had access to email. The recent growth in Internet access has made it possible to investigate the impact of email on personal relationships together with those that are work-related. In the current paper, several hypotheses are tested regarding the overall association between email use and patterns of communication and relationships. Data are collected from a sample of community leaders - some who use email and some who do not. The community leaders maintained communication diaries for one week. Additional information was obtained about all communication partners. Results portray a "thin world" associated with email use - one in which people tend to have relatively weak ties with their communication partners and where communication partners are more spread out than in the world of non-email users.

Kang, J. (1998). "Information privacy in cyberspace transactions." Stanford Law Review 50: 1193-1294.
Cyberspace is the rapidly growing network of computing and communica-tion
technologies that have profoundly altered our lives. We already carry out
myriad social, economic, and political transactions through cyberspace, and, as
the technology improves, so will their quality and quantity. But the very technology
that enables these transactions also makes detailed, cumulative, invisible
observation of our selves possible. The potential for wide-ranging surveillance
of all our cyber-activities presents a serious threat to information privacy. To
help readers grasp the nature of this threat, Professor Jerry Kang starts with a
general primer on cyberspace privacy. He provides a clarifying structure of
philosophical and technological terms, descriptions, and concepts that will help
analyze any problem at the nexus of privacy and computing-communication
technologies. In the second half of the article, he focuses sharply on the specific
problem of personal data generated in cyberspace transactions. The private
sector seeks to exploit this data commercially, primarily for database marketing,
but many individuals resist. The dominant approach to solving this problem
is to view personal information as a commodity that interested parties
should contract for in the course of negotiating a cyberspace transaction. But
this approach has so far failed to address a critical question: Which default
rules should govern the flow of personal information when parties do not explicitly
contract about privacy? (from Author's Abstract)

Karvonen, K. (2000). The Beauty of Simplicity Age before Beauty., Proceedings of 2000 International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces.
In this paper we show how discussion about design quality or even usability is often discussion about aesthetics. First, we introduce some definitions of beauty in aesthetics. Then, we introduce how the beauty of the Web design affects the feeling of online trust, and bring forth observations about this design quality as an aesthetic notion. As a result, we present how simplicity and beauty affect the user's experience and interpretation of the design, and contemplate on how this perception may vary according to cultural background, age, and the amount of user experience. We will also envision some future trends for the aesthetics of user interfaces. (author's abstract)

Kasday, L. R. (2000). Proceedings of the 2000 International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces.
The Web Accessibility Visual Evaluator (WAVE) is a tool that, in addition to performing automated checks, helps users perform the human judgments essential for evaluating if a web page is universally accessible to people with and without disabilities. For example, the WAVE (a) inserts the information accessed by people who are blind (e.g. alternative text, structural markup, reading order) into the representation seen by people who are sighted; (b) flags audio content requiring equivalents for people who are deaf; and (c) flags objects requiring continuous motor control that require equivalent discrete access for people with motor disabilities; thus helping the user evaluate whether access by people with and without disabilities is functionally equivalent. (author's abstract)

Katsikides, S. A. (1998). The Societal Impact of Technology. Brookefield, USA, Ashgate.
This paper provides an overview of the sociology of technology. It reviews different arguments about the sociology of technology and examines the path to social change. After reviewing those classical and contemporary theories which define the impact of technological processes, this paper explores the effects of society on technology and suggests that technological change derives from different societal traditions and as such accumulates and reflects social processes and cultures. It is argued that these views could build the basis for the analysis of social conflicts in industrialised countries. (Innovation Abstracts June 1997)

Katz, J. (1999). Caller-ID, privacy, and social processes. Connections. Social and Cultural Studies of the Telephone in American Life. New Brunswick, NJ, Transaction Publishers: 141-208.
No technology is more ubiquitous than the telephone, and none less examined. Rutgers communications scholar James Katz introduces his book with this observation, though recognizing that it applies less to studies of the social history of the phone than to its contemporary social use and users. Thus, the phone has been overshadowed by social research on the more glamorous technologies, notably the Internet. Yet, cell phone and pager ownership increases rapidly ( so rapidly that in some countries like Finland pubic phone booths are being removed ); phone companies offer a host of add- on services; and our right to privacy is constantly invaded by unwanted phone intruders. Such are the grist for Katz’s mill.

Katz offers here a series of eleven chapters, most previously published and some co-authored, which empirically analyze critical social questions pertaining to wireless phone communications, and to organizational change in the U.S. telephone business. The greatest strength of the book lies in the fact that most of these questions have never before been seriously asked. Thus, the first of the book’s four sections focuses primary on cell phone ownership and use, and public attitudes towards voice mail and phone answering services. The second section examines a variety of ethical issues surrounding privacy and caller I.D., provides empirical analyses of unlisted subscribers, and explores the extent of obscene phone calls as well as the socio-economic and racial characteristics of their recipients. Section three is devoted to studies of demand for U.S. phone services and to local phone markets. Finally, Katz reaffirms a powerful anti-determinist stance by providing numerous illustrations of how people may creatively use phone technologies in ways never foreseen by their developers.

Overall, Connections provides a fine blend of the empirical and speculative, in which a central focus on both interpersonal and organizational relations points the way to important social policy issues. For example, who uses cell phones and beepers, why are they used, and what are the complex social ramifications of that use? Again, are some feminists correct in treating obscene phone calls as a technological symptom of male dominance? And is Caller I.D., as some scholars argue, an invasion of personal privacy? Such questions permeate the book, and the answers, within the American context, move between the expected and the surprising. As a case in point, Katz’s research indicates that the great majority of American women have at some time received an obscene call, but that, like rape victims, the receivers are disproportionately unmarried, Afro-American and under 65 years old. However, since American males are also quite likely to receive such calls, the majority from other men, but also about one-third from women, the “ male dominance” viewpoint is brought into question. Clearly, there is also some link between obscene calls and unlisted phone numbers, but whereas unlisted subscribers are typically thought of as relatively well-off people trying to maintain their privacy, in actuality Katz finds the typical unlisted subscriber is likely to be relatively low-income, have a limited education, be a single woman and be black. Therefore, amongst other matters, the data on both obscene calls and unlisted numbers point to the threatening and unstable social environments which often confront racial minorities in the United States. By contrast, cell phone ownership tends to be linked to higher income status, though the technology is no longer “ a male power tool” since gender differences in ownership are apparently negligible. But, once again, race and ethnicity step in, with Hispanics and blacks much more likely than whites to be cell phone users.

Typical of this book is the plethora of tentative explanations offered to explain the empirical findings. For example, heavy utilisation of cell phones by minorities lends itself to two plausible alternative explanations first, that low status people tend to acquire relatively affordable high status technologies; secondly, that these groups are more outgoing and connected.. Katz offers these alternatives for consideration, and welcomes prospects for further research.

However, this also typifies Katz’s stance as the detached observer, offering suggestions, but more rarely – except in the case of Caller I.D. – taking a stand. For example, his fascinating account of change in the U.S. telephone business points to a half million staff cuts between 1992-94, but this grim statistic just forms a background to an analysis of failures and successes in implementing cultural change in organizations (for which read streamlining and downsizing); and also to speculations on the prospects for European telephone companies with entrenched employee rights who wish to follow U.S. “aggressive methods” of instilling a new corporate culture in order to compete. No criticisms are offered of these “aggressive methods” and their outcomes, despite the fascinating examples of the human problems faced when introducing new corporate agendas. However, for the sociologist used to reading studies which take powerful moral positions, the absence of them here is almost disturbing.

This is not a criticism of the book per se , but rather a comment on Katz’s approach to his research data. But, naturally, the collection does have some limitations. First, the central focus is avowedly American, so although relevant research findings drawn from other countries are included, there is hardly a nod at comparative analysis. Secondly, like most anthologies of previously published work, not all of the chapters are equally appealing to a Canadian ( or perhaps even American ) academic audience. In particular, those dealing with consumer behaviour in telephone markets appear to have been written primarily for policy makers within the industry itself. Third, the book contains a chapter of 61 pages weighing various arguments surrounding privacy and Caller I.D. This is a hot legal and ethical issue in the United States, and Katz, having observed that privacy is “a cherished [ American] value,” proceeds to weigh the arguments to the point of reader exhaustion in order to back his pro-I.D. position. The issue is certainly an important one, but there is a certain irony that it is deemed worthy of so much attention when, in the workplace, U.S. employees’ privacy is often violated by video-cameras, E-mail checking and even genetic testing. They would undoubtedly benefit from receiving those European employee rights which are currently under siege from American corporate agendas.

I am likely to use this book for my advanced course in telecommunications policy, because it offers so much that is not available elsewhere. Also, its strong anti-technological determinist stance is refreshing, particularly in the concluding chapter which offers many examples of how people have adapted communications technologies to their own, often quirky, needs. My favourite example of the sudden disappearance in 1996 of 25 percent of Borneo’s public pay phones. The cause was the theft, and adaptation, of the handsets by local fishermen to emit a high pitched sound which attracted fish. In the face of technology, human ingenuity know no bounds. ( Robert Pike, Canadian Journal of Sociology Online March - April 2000)

Katz, J. and P. Aspden. (1997). "Motivations For and Barriers To Internet Usage: Results of a National Public Opinion Survey." Internet Research: Electronic Networking Applications and Policy 7: 170-188.
Analyzes a national random telephone survey, carried out in October 1995, on the motivations for and barriers to Internet usage. Eight percent of the random sample reported being Internet users, while surprisingly another 8 percent reported being former users. In total, 85 petcent of respondents reported having heard of the Internet. The survey shoed evidence of a digital divide, Internet users being generally wealthier and more highly educated, and blacks and Hispanics disproportionately unaware of the Internet. Social and work netwoeks appear to be important for stimulatin interest in the Internet and providing users with support. As to reasons for using the Internet, socio- personal development appears to be the key driver, while nonusers have a decidedly different set of beliefs about the Internet's value. As to the barriers to Internet usage, even experienced users find it difficult to get started, which confirms other studies of this topic. Barriers include cost and difficulties in understanding how to use the internet. Concludes that the result of the survey indicate that people strongly desire an easier-to- use Internet. (Authors' abstract)

Katz, J. E. (1997). "The Social Side of Information Networking." Society 34: 9-12.
Explores the social implications of information technologies, focusing on growing use of the Internet & wireless communication in the US. Noting the increased use of personal communication devices, social issues regarding the appropriate use, etiquette, privacy, & security of these devices are discussed. Contrary to the belief that technology drives culture, it is suggested that study of the social use of technology reveals patterns for adapting & transforming technology to meet specific social ends. The use of social controls in regulating the daily use of these technologies is argued to have indirect effects ranging from the delayed experience of personal communication to the rapid expansion of the mobile culture. Citing the advent of cellular phones as a popular resource for both business & private applications, it is reasoned that personal choices regarding the use of such information-networking technologies will play a large part in determining future social trends. (Sociological Abstracts)

Kavanaugh, A. (2000). "Blacksburg: The Intercrossing of Social and Informatic Networks." Societies 2: 95-97.
Despite Robert Putnam's (eg, 1995) claims that the electronic age has diminished communities' social capital or social engagement, a study of the situation in Blacksburg, VA, demonstrates that the development of networks on the Internet actually has positive effects on social networks. How Blacksburg has sought to bring technology to its 36,000 residents is discussed, as is the way the Internet & certain of its features like E-mail & chatrooms have brought the community closer together. It is held that Internet networks, rather than replacing social networks, coexist with them in a state of superposition. (Author's abstract)

Kaye, B. K. and T. J. Johnson (1999). "Research Methodology: Taming the Cyber Frontier-Techniques for Improving Online Surveys." Social Science Computer Review 17: 323-337.
The World Wide Web and other new electronic technologies might soon become prime survey vehicles due to convenient, verifiable, low-cost delivery and return systems as well as easy access and feedback mechanisms. However, along with the benefits of this new technology come new experiences and lessons to be learned and shared by researchers. The authors created and posted a survey on the Web to examine the uses of the Web for political information. The purpose of the article, however, is not to report on the political survey's findings but rather to address issues concerning online research, discuss the implications of an online environment for traditional survey techniques, share Web survey experiences from an ex post facto perspective, and present recommendations for future online research, specifically in the areas of Web survey design, sampling, data collection and responses, and publicity. (Authors' abstract)

Keane, J. (1995). "Structural Transformations of the Public Sphere." Communication Review 1: 1-22.
We are living in times in which spatial frameworks of communication are in a state of upheaval. The old hegemony of state-structured and territorially-bound public life mediated by radio, television, newspapers and books is being rapidly eroded. In its place are developing a multiplicity of networked spaces of communication which are not tied immediately to territory, and which irreversibly fragment anything resembling a single, spatially-integrated public sphere within a nation- state framework. The conventional ideal of a unified public sphere and its corresponding vision of a republic of citizens striving to live up to some "public good" are obsolete. Public life is today subject to "medievalization", not as Habermas defined it in Strukturwandel der ffentlichkeit, but in the different sense of a developing and complex mosiac of differently sized, overlapping and interconnected public spheres. This restructuring of communicative space forces us to revise our understanding of public life and its "partner" terms, such as public opinion, the public good and the private/public distinction (author's abstract)

Kedzie, C. R. (1997). Communication and Democracy: Coincident Revolutions and the Emergent Dictators Dilemma. N/A, N/A.
Description: (by social science information gateway http://www.sosig.ac.uk)
This paper addresses the relationship between democracy and the new communication technology, such as email and the Internet, using the example of political communication in the former Soviet Union. The author concludes that one cannot reject the hypotheses that democracy and networked communication are positively correlated and if nations such as the USA seek to influence democratic development worldwide they cannot disregard the critical role of the new information technology.

Kehoe, C., J. Pitkow, et al. (1999). GVU's 10th WWW User Survey General Demographics Summary, Graphic, Visualization, & Usability Center, Georgia Tech University.
This is the main document for the Graphic, Visualization, & Usability Center's (GVU) 10th WWW User Survey. GVU runs the Surveys as public service and as such, all results are available online (subject to certain terms and conditions). The 10th Survey was run from October 10, 1998 through December 15, 1998. The GVU Survey is now also sponsored by a Corporate Council that provides financial support to the survey effort as well as providing new directions for the surveys to explore. Special pointers to the survey were provided by Yahoo, MindSpring and DoubleClick. (From GVU's website)

Kelly, E. P. and H. C. Rowland. (2000). "Ethical and online privacy issues in electronic commerce." Business Horizons 43: 3-12.
The Intel and GeoCities episodes are indicative of consumers' growing fears over online privacy and electronic commerce. The rapid pace of technological advances, coupled with the explosion of Web usage, provides an opportunity for companies to gather personal information on an unprecedented scale. Online privacy is an area of growing concern for consumers, marketers, and the government. The advent of electronic commerce brings with it a host of ethical issues surrounding customer privacy. This article highlights the current status of electronic commerce and information-gathering techniques and examines ethical concerns regarding online customer privacy. (from Authors' Introduction)

Kendall, L. (1998). "Meaning and Identity in ‘Cyberspace’: The performance of gender, class, and race online." Symbolic Interaction 21: 129-154.
This article explores issues of gendered, classed, and raced identities using examples drawn from my research on a type of online forum known as a mud. I critique previous accounts of research regarding identity online which have suggested that online interactions encourage greater identity fluidity and multiplicity. Drawing on examples from face to face interviews and online interaction, I discuss several aspects of identity. I first examine participants efforts to meet face-to-face and discuss their privileging of offline information regarding identity. Using two examples of “gender-switchers”, I then show how some participants distance themselves from experiences of gendered identities which might otherwise disrupt previously held beliefs about gender. Next I discuss classed and raced identities, which participants express in conversations about income and ethnicity. These discussions point to the interconnections between online and offline interpretations of class and race. Thus, in discussing these examples, I emphasize the need to examine not just online performances, but also the participants’ interpretations of such performances. Despite the potentially disruptive effects of online ambiguity, many participants continue to believe in essence and continuity of identity. (author's abstract)

Kent, R. and M. Lee (1999). "Using the Internet for market research: A study of private trading on the Internet." Journal of the Market Research Society 41: 377-385.
Reviews the methodological difficulties involved in conducting market research over the Internet. Also presented are results of a study of private trading over the Internet and analyses of how private traders view risks involved with trading, establish motives behind private trading activity, and identify potential solutions to security issues. 8,300 e-mail invitations to participate in a survey were sent out through a multimedia corporation. 240 surveys were completed and returned of which 94 were from traders and 146 were from non-traders. The response rate achieved, while small, seems to be typical of surveys over the Internet so far. Of those who responded to the traders' questionnaire, most had traded more than once and over a third had traded more than 10 times. The main motivation for trading on the web were convenience, value, product availability, and speed. The most common method used to improve security was to check up on the proposed trading partner's history or asking for references from other people with whom they have already traded. Even a topic such as one involving a population of e-mail users, which should be ideal for research using the Internet, presents difficulties of sampling and self-selection that are hard to overcome. ((c) 2000 APA/PsycINFO, all rights reserved)

Khan, K. S. and C. Locatis (1998). "Searching Through Cyberspace: The Effects of Link Display and Link Density on Information Retrieval From Hypertext on the World Wide Web." Journal of the American Society for Information Science. 49: 176-182.
Is it better to have a large number of hypertext links on an index type page, or to lower the link per page density? Should the links appear within the text of paragraphs, or in lists constructed for that purpose?

Sixty four magnet high school students were divided into expert and novice classes based on self reported browsing levels. A 15 page document on an unfamilar topic was structured into nine chapters and linked to 18 related external documents. Each of four versions of the document had a table of contents with links to chapters, and each chapter had links to relevant and irrelevant subchapters, and to the external documents which themselves had external links. The versions had either high or low density links and either list or in paragraph link placement.

Six search tasks ranked by difficulty were utilized, with subjects randomly assigned to the four treatments. Search time and numbers of links were recorded by observers. Indicating the display in which an answer could be found was correct completion and accuracy was the percent of tasks correctly completed. Prioritization was scored by giving points for completing tasks in order of difficulty.

Results were analyzed by a multivariate analysis of variance to test for link density interactions and display type effects. The use of lists of links and low density display produces positive effects upon overall performance. (Authors' abstract)

Kiesler, S., R. Kraut, et al. (2000). "Troubles With the Internet: The Dynamics of Help at Home." Human-Computer Interaction 15: 323-351.
Despite advances in technology, nearly everyone experiences technical challenges using home computers and the Internet. In a field trial of household Internet usage, 89% of 93 families needed support from a computer help desk in the 1st year they used the Internet. However, usually only the most technically involved members of the family requested external technical support, and this behavior was associated with other computer-related behaviors in the household. We explore the process by which a family member with comparatively high technical skill or enthusiasm, often a teenager, becomes the family guru, makes external support requests, and becomes the person in the family to whom others turn for technical help. The family guru benefits from this role, influences the household's adoption of technology, and represents an important link between households and computer support professionals. The role also is a fascinating example of the evolution of intergeneration relationships. (From http://www.hcibib.org/gs.cgi)

Kiesler, S., J. Siegel, et al. (1984). "Social Psychological Aspects of Computer-mediated Communication." American Psychologist 39(10): 1123-1133.
Describes some of the issues raised by electronic communication, including time and information-processing pressures, absence of regulating feedback, dramaturgical weakness, paucity of status and position cues, social anonymity, and computing norms and immature etiquette. An empirical approach for investigating the social psychological effects of electronic communication is illustrated, and how social psychological research might contribute to a deeper understanding of computers and technological change in society and computer-mediated communication (CMC) is discussed. A series of studies that explored how people participate in CMC and how computerization affects group efforts to reach consensus is described; results indicate differences in participation, decisions, and interaction among groups meeting face to face and in simultaneous computer-linked discourse and communication by electronic mail. Findings are attributed to difficulties of coordination from lack of informational feedback, absence of influence cues for controlling discussion, and depersonalization from lack of nonverbal involvement and absence of norms. (103 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2000 APA, all rights reserved) (From EBSCO Host).

Kiesler, S., D. Zubrow, et al. (1985). "Affect in Computer-Mediated Communication: An Experiment in Synchronous Terminal-to- Terminal Discussion." Human-Computer Interaction 1: 77-104.
With the spread of computer networks, communication via computer conferences, electronic mail, and computer bulletin boards will become more common in society, but little is known about the social psychological implications of these technologies. One possibility is a change in physiological arousal, feelings, and expressive behavior -- that is, affect. These computer-mediated communication technologies focus attention on the message, transmit social information poorly, and do not have a well-developed social etiquette. Therefore, these technologies might be associated with less attention to others, less social feedback, and depersonalization of the communication setting. In the present study we examined what would happen to feelings and interpersonal behavior in an experiment in which two people met for the first time and discussed a series of questions in order to get to know one another. We measured arousal (pulse and palmar sweat), subjective affect (emotional state and evaluations), and expressive behavior (self- disclosure and uninhibited behavior) in both synchronous computer-mediated and face- to-face discussions. (For comparison purposes, we also examined these effects under high- and low-evaluation anxiety). Communicating by computer did not influence physiological arousal, and it did not change emotions or self-evaluations. However, people who communicated by computer, evaluated each other less favorably than did people who communicated face-to-face, they felt and acted as though the setting was more impersonal, and their behavior was more uninhibited. These findings suggest that computer-mediated communication, rather than provoking emotionality per se, elicits asocial or unregulated behavior. Of course, our data are based on a laboratory experiment using just one type of computer-mediated communication, but the results are generally consistent with anecdotal evidence and new field research on how people use computers to communicate in organizations. (authors' abstract)

Kim, A. J. (2000). Community building on the Web: Secret strategies for successful online communities. Berkeley, Peachpit Press.
Kim starts by stating the most important part in community building and that is the purpose that unites all members. She offers a case study of a successful community being built. The next step is the places that bring people together where people talk and territories are mapped. One important part of the formula is profiling the members to get to know them. She suggests creating a database and suggests that each member creates a persona and a social identity. Each member should have a role in the community, the visitors should be welcomed, novices should be instructed and regulars should be rewarded. Leaders should be empowered and the elders should be honored. Leaders should have a defined role and the community should differentiate between unofficial and official leaders. She offers a case study Power to the people: The Slashdot moderator system. Etiquette of behavior and rules to live by should be clearly stated and policies and rules should be enforced. Events should be planned and rituals should be defined. She also advocates the creation of subgroups. (Annotated by Chadia Abras)

Kim, J. (1999). "An Empirical Study of Navigation Aids In Customer Interfaces." Behaviour & Information Technology 18: 213-224.
Designing effective navigation aids for customer interfaces is critical for the success of cyber shopping malls. Navigation aids can be classified into either basic ones which are based on the structure of the malls or add-ons which are not. Add-on navigation aids provide various short-cuts to promote efficient traversal of the cyber shopping malls, but too many of them would increase the complexity of the customer interface. Metaphors have been used widely for the design of add-on navigation aids, but little research evaluates their impact on the processes and outcomes of customers' behavior in cyber shopping malls. This paper presents an empirical study that investigates the navigation process of customers and the subjective evaluation of their shopping experience. This research implemented two versions of a test-bed cyber shopping mall according to different metaphors used; one based on a spatial metaphor, and the other based on a non spatial metaphor. The results of the experiment indicate that navigation aids based on the spatial metaphor were used more frequently, which resulted in better understanding about the entire structure of the cyber shopping malls, which in turn led to an increased ease of finding target items and also a more pleasant shopping experience. The benefits of navigation aids based on the spatial metaphor became more evident when customers were looking for ad hoc category items rather than common items. This paper presents plausible explanations for the results and implications for the design of navigation aids for cyber shopping malls. (Author's abstract)

King, A. B. (2000). "Mapping the Unmappable: Visual Representations of the Internet as Social Constructions." SLIS-Strategic Leadership in Information Science, Indiana University Center For Social Informatics. Working Paper.
Deciding what sort of visual representation is necessary and adequate to usefully depict a terrain is the major challenge of cartography. This challenge grows when the terrain being mapped is less stable and less permanent than mountain ranges and rivers. Disagreeing about how to map physical reality is one thing; disagreeing about whether the objects being are mapped representing are physical at all generates a higher level of ontological confusion. This is the conundrum that one faces when one attempts to visually represent the Internet. When called upon to describe the Internet, people seem inclined to draw pictures (create visual representations) of this rather ethereal "thing." These pictures of the Internet are rarely drawn the same by all people, but vary dramatically in form, style, and content. As such, these pictures provide a multitude of answers to the question "What is the Internet," answers that carry important implications for the future of that explosive "communications medium" (or is it a "community," a "world," or something else entirely?). (Author's abstract)

King, S. (1994). "Analysis of Electronic Support Groups for Recovering Addicts." Interpersonal Computing and Technology: An Electronic Journal for the 21st Century 2(3): 47-56.
ESGs are a type of virtual community. Virtual communities are a new phenomena. They are groups of people that exchange ideas and information through the posting of messages on electronic bulletin boards (BBSs), by sending email to a common list of recipients and by exchanging private email. This fast growing phenomena is being used by many people to fulfill, in part, their need for a community of peers (Rheingold 92). Addicts in recovery have formed ESGs on many local and international networks. Very little is known about the therapeutic value they receive from exchanging ideas this way. According to Sparks (1992), it is known that recovering addicts using ESGs receive "24 hour availability, selective participation in entering and responding to messages, anonymity and privacy, immediate and/or delayed responding, and recording of transmissions." This is very different from traditional support groups . At meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and Narcotics Anonymous (NA) members typically share only once, or not at all, during the hour they are together as a group. (From author's introduction on http://www.helsinki.fi/science/optek/1994/n3/king.txt).

King, S. and A. Barak (1999). "Compulsive Internet Gambling: A New Form of an Old Clinical Pathology." CyberPsychology & Behavior 2: 441-456.
Focuses on unique and psychologically significant factors that are involved in Internet gambling behavior, in comparison to traditional gambling procedures. Several of the aspects of Internet gambling, which are believed to facilitate excessive online gambling, are examined. These include practical ease of access to online gambling and the anonymity and privacy of gambling from one's own home, as well as other factors. An overview of the graphical interface of several typical virtual casinos shows how seductive and realistic the online casino experience can be. The psychologically derived methods used by Internet casinos to make online gambling attractive, accessible, and easily operated are delineated. A review of the literature related to excessive traditional gambling behavior is used as a basis for analysis of online gambling behavior, in order to assess the extent of virtual gambling. Studies of the effects on the psychological welfare of communities that underwent introduction to traditional casino gambling are reviewed, and evaluation is made about how virtual gambling might have negative social influence worldwide. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2000 APA, all rights reserved)

King, S. A. (1996). "Researching Internet Communities: Proposed Ethical Guidelines for Reporting of Results." The Information Society 12: 119-127.
Communication researchers and social scientists are quickly discovering the value of data that exists in the postings of members of Internet e-mail, Usenet, and real-time groups. The ability to communicate with one's peers, no matter how esoteric the interests, is causing an explosion in the number of new virtual communities. The interpersonal dynamics of these groups are increasingly coming under the scrutiny of academic research. The ability to do naturalistic observations of group dynamics, as they are exhibited in these exchanges of text, has captured the attention of many researchers. The institutional review boards of major universities are granting researchers exempt or expedited status for this work, due to the public nature of the notes being analyzed. These studies often involve the lack of informed consent. Guidelines based on the American Psychological Association ethical guidelines for use of human subjects in research are proposed. (Author's Abstract)

Kirby, M. (2000). "Privacy protection: a new beginning?" Prometheus 18: 125-32.
The OECD Principles on Privacy had an importance extending far beyond their subject matter1. It concerned the capacity of law-making institutions in democratic societies to respond to large and complex developments of global technology. Let me remind you that this was a novel initiative for that hard-nosed international body of economists and statisticians. The OECD had grown out of the Marshall Plan by which the economies of Western Europe had been rescued from devastation by the drive, generosity and capital of the United States of America. As such, the OECD was not a body concerned with human rights. It could leave such nebulous and contentious topics to the Council of Europe, the European Court of Human Rights or the never-ending debates in the United Nations, including in its agency UNESCO, meeting in Paris on the other side of the River Seine. (Author's intro)

Klawe, M. and N. Leveson (1995). "Women in computing: where are we now?" Communication of the ACM 38(1): 29-35.
The authors begin with a description of the sexism that discourages girls in high school from preparing for college majors in physical science and engineering, from enrolling in such majors when they reach college, and (among those women who actually enroll in such majors) from completing bachelor's degrees in these majors. Similar problems for women are described for master's and doctoral programs, which reduce the population of women pursuing technical careers. On the other hand, the authors admit that the proportion of women researchers in industry and academia is increasing. The paper concludes with suggestions for support activities designed to end sexist attitudes and encourage women to seek careers in computer science; a sidebar describes some actual activities that have occurred or are being planned. This paper contributes little new knowledge of the problem of sexism in physical sciences and engineering in academic environments, which is known throughout all such di!
sciplines and not confined to comp
uting. As a practicing software engineer, I was disappointed that a paper with such a general title did not address my career's aspects of computing (a gap filled by other papers in this issue of Communications of the ACM). Instead, it concentrated on the academic aspect of computing learning, teaching, and research. Rather than depending on a different paper with an equally narrow focus, I would have preferred a comparison of how sexism affects women in teaching and research careers versus how it affects women with practicing careers (software engineering, development, testing, and so on). As someone who has supervised, worked with, and been supervised by women, I suspect the latter aspect of computing might show a different picture. ( Reviewd By "David E. Ross" Online Computing Reviews Service)

Klein, H. (2001). "The Feasibility of Global Democracy: Understanding ICANN's at Large Election." Info 3(4): 333-45.
Processes of globalization raise thorny issues of legitimacy as global governance institutions find themselves making policy decisions that have little grounding in popular consent. One solution would be to implement global democracy. Desirable as this might be, however, many scholars argue that global democracy is simply not feasible, for the social preconditions of democracy cannot be realized at the global level. These social preconditions can be conceived as: membership, communication community, interest aggregation, and democratic culture. The global elections held in 2000 by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) provide an opportunity to test the claims of the sceptics of global democracy. Those elections cast doubt on the strong claims of critics: all four preconditions of democracy were present to some extent, despite the global nature of the election. Without claiming that global democracy is easily achieved, the evidence from the ICANN case suggests that it is not impossible, In part, this is because the sectoral focus of today's processes of globalization counteracts globalism's dispersive tendencies. (Author's Abstract)

Kleinman, S. S. (2000). "Social Identification in a Computer-Mediated Group for Women in Science and Engineering." Science Communication 21(4): 344-366.
Women often face different issues than men when they pursue careers in science and engineering. This case study of a computer-mediated group dedicated to issues concerning women in science and engineering explored how some women in these fields are using computer-mediated groups as resources for social support, information, role models and mentors. The findings suggest that online groups can be helpful for promoting professional development and satisfaction and that affiliation with an online group can be especially beneficial when a person's face-to-face social network is unavailable or non-existent. A striking finding was the degree to which lurkers derive social identity benefits. (Annotated by Ricardo B. Duque)

Klemm, F. (1959). A History of Western Technology. London, Allen and Unwin.

Klinenberg, E. and A. Perrin (2000). "Symbolic Politics in the Information Age: The 1996 Republican Presidential Campaigns in Cyberspace." Information, Communication & Society 3: 17-38.
This paper traces the use of the World Wide Web as a medium of political communication during the 1996 American presidential campaigns. Beginning with the Republican campaigns' use of the medium during the primary election season, a typology of uses of the web is outlined. While all campaigns felt it necessary to participate in the World Wide Web, different candidates used the medium differently. Furthermore, no campaign made full use of the much-publicized interactive capacity of the web; they used it more as a new means of transmitting traditional mass-media literature (videos, graphics, etc.) and as a way of providing access to large volumes of campaign information (voting records, speeches, position papers, etc.). (authors' abstract)

Kling, R., Ed. (1999). Special issue: Identity, voice, and community formation via the Internet. Information Society.
This special issue of The Information Society, 15(4), devoted to "Identity, Voice, and Community Formation via the Internet" developed through a serendipitous grouping of ar