Description
By (author) Castells, Manuel
Short /annotation:
How much do we know about the Internet – its history, its technology, its culture, and its uses? What are its implications for the business world and society at large? Manuel Castells brings his experience and knowledge to bear on the Internet galaxy.
:
The Web has been with us for less than a decade. The popular and commercial diffusion of the Internet has been extraordinary – instigating and enabling changes in virtually every area of human activity and society. We have new systems of communication, new businesses, new media and sources of information, new forms of political and cultural expression, new forms of teaching and learning, and new communities. But how much do we know about the Internet – its history, its technology, its culture, and its uses? What are its implications for the business world and society at large? The diffusion has been so rapid that it has outpaced the capacity for well-grounded analysis. Soem say everything will change, others that little will change.Manuel Castells is widely regarded as the leading analyst of the Information Age and the Network Society. In addition to his academic work, he acts as adviser at the highest international levels. In this short, accessible, and informative book, he brings his experience and knowledge to bear on the Internet Galaxy.How did it all begin? What are the cultures that make up and contest the Internet? How is it shaping the new business organization and re-shaping older business organizations? What are the realities of the digital divide? How has the Internet affected social and cultural organization, political participation and communication, and urban living?These are just some of the questions addressed in this much needed book. Castells avoids any predictions or prescriptions – there have been enough of those – but instead draws on an extraordinary range of detailed evidence and research to describe what is happening, and to help us understand how the Internet has become the medium of the new network society.
Table of contents:
Opening: The Network is the Message ; 1. Lessons from the History of the Internet ; 2. The Culture of the Internet ; 3. e-Business and the New Economy ; 4. Virtual Communities or Network Society? ; 5. The Politics of the Internet I: Computer Networks, Civil Society, and the State ; 6. The Politics of the Internet II: Privacy and Liberty in Cyberspace ; 7. Multimedia and the Internet: The Hypertext beyond Convergence ; 8. The Geography of the Internet: Networked Places ; 9. The Digital Divide in a Global Perspective ; Conclusion: The Challenges of the Network Society
Review quote:
A very readable and stimulating book.
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[An] excellent, readable, nontechnical summary of the history, social implications and likely future of Internet business.
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. . . a superb guide to the workings of the internet and its wider implications. . . . [Castells] brings a sociologist”s understanding of the importance of culture in business to his analysis of the internet. . . . stands supreme as a wise and insightful guide to the web.
Review quote:
The Internet is shaping society and in turn being shaped by society. It takes a scholar of Manuel Castells”s range to do justice to this phenomenon. His book is learned without being pompous, and insightful without being impenetrable. If we ever get a discipline of Internet studies, this will be one of its founding texts.
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Manuel Castells has proved once again that he has an unmatched synoptic capacity to make sense of the complexities of a networked world, and here writes with clarity and insight about everything from the history of the technology to the subcultures that have done so much to shape it.
Review quote:
Castells is probably the world”s
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