“Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty.” (Choice, 1 April 2012)
“Together, the comprehensive and quite thought-provoking individual essays provide richly insightful perspectives into the extent to which the internet is shaping and being shaped by human cultures and societies, and the various ways in which scholars might consider and approach such processes.” (Digital Journalism, 19 August 2014)
“The editors of the Handbook of Internet Studies are to be congratulated on creating a state-of-the art collection that represents and celebrates the diversity of theoretical and disciplinary approaches marking this brave new field. A new must-have reference book for Internet Studies.” Caroline Haythornthwaite, University of Illinois
“This indispensable volume reflects the complexity of Internet studies–indeed, the Internet itself–by bringing together a diverse set of voices, geographies, disciplines, and arguments. It is not only an important resource for practitioners, but will also spark the curiosity of those on the edges of the field, including humanists, social scientists, and engineers alike.”
Michael Zimmer, University of Wisconsin
“The Handbook of Internet Studies is a comprehensive and useful volume that will appeal to students, teachers and researchers. It provides a welcome survey of the still-emerging field of Internet Studies and can readily serve as a jumping-off point for further exploration. I highly recommend it to those who have been following the field since its emergence in the 1990s as well as to those new to the field.” Steve Jones, University of Illinois at Chicago
“Of all media, the internet holds the most wide-ranging, deep and complex depiction of contemporary society. If you want to understand today’s society, you need to study the internet. This handbook is landmark, documenting that internet studies have now come of age.” Niels Ole Finnemann, Aarhus University, Denmark
From the Inside Flap
To fully understand the impact and significance of the Internet, it is essential to consider its historical, societal, and cultural contexts. This Handbook presents a wide range of original essays by established scholars in the field of Internet studies exploring the role of the internet in modern societies, and the continuing development of its academic study.
Presenting a range of standpoints intended to provide both introductory and more sophisticated frameworks for understanding the many areas of Internet research, the collection explores the history of the Internet, the Internet and society (including such topics as community, networks, law, identity, and politics), and the Internet and culture (including the media connection, news, entertainment, Web 2.0 and social media).
Within each section, individual chapters provide in-depth analysis of current research, debates and questions being raised in that particular sub-area. Chapters point to major findings in the area, as well as challenges and questions that the sub-area is currently grappling with. Concluding with a discussion of the future of the internet, the as yet unrealized potentials of current Internet-related technologies, and the impact of possible future technologies within both the developed and developing worlds, the Handbook of Internet Studies is thought-provoking and insightful reading for both students and researchers in the field.
From the Back Cover
To fully understand the impact and significance of the Internet, it is essential to consider its historical, societal, and cultural contexts. This Handbook presents a wide range of original essays by established scholars in the field of Internet studies exploring the role of the internet in modern societies, and the continuing development of its academic study.
Presenting a range of standpoints intended to provide both introductory and more sophisticated frameworks for understanding the many areas of Internet research, the collection explores the history of the Internet, the Internet and society (including such topics as community, networks, law, identity, and politics), and the Internet and culture (including the media connection, news, entertainment, Web 2.0 and social media).
Within each section, individual chapters provide in-depth analysis of current research, debates and questions being raised in that particular sub-area. Chapters point to major findings in the area, as well as challenges and questions that the sub-area is currently grappling with. Concluding with a discussion of the future of the internet, the as yet unrealized potentials of current Internet-related technologies, and the impact of possible future technologies within both the developed and developing worlds, the Handbook of Internet Studies is thought-provoking and insightful reading for both students and researchers in the field.
About the Author
Robert Burnett is Professor and Research Chair of Media and Communication Studies at Karlstad University, Sweden.
Mia Consalvo is Associate Professor in the School of Media Arts and Studies at Ohio University.
Charles Ess is Distinguished Research Professor, Interdisciplinary Studies, and Professor of Philosophy and Religion, Drury University, Springfield, Missouri, USA. He is also Professor MSO in the Information and Media Studies Department at Aarhus University in Denmark.
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