The World Wide Web and Contemporary Cultural Theory: Magic, Metaphor, Power

by Andrew Herman (Editor), Thomas Swiss (Editor)

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415925020
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	06/30/2000
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Andrew Herman is Associate Professor of Sociology and Cultural Studies at Drake University. He is the author of The "Better Angels" Of Capitalism: Rhetoric, Narrative and Moral Identity Among Men Of The American Upper Class (Westview, 1998) and the forthcoming book, The "Goods "Life: Consumer Culture and Moral Identity in Contemporary America (Blackwell).
Thomas Swiss is Center for the Humanities Professor of English and Director of the Web-Assisted Curriculum at Drake University. He is the author of two collections of poems, including Rough Cut (Illinois UP, 1997). He is editor or co-editor of a number of books, including Key Terms for Popular Music and Culture (Blackwell, 1999). Herman and Swiss, with John H. Sloop, previously co-edited Mapping The Beat: Contemporary Theory And Popular Music (Blackwell, 1998).

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments, Introduction: The World Wide Web as Magic, Metaphor, and Power, 1 So Much for the Magic of Technology and the Free Market: The World Wide Web and the Corporate Media System, 2 Webs of Myth and Power: Connectivity and the New Computer Technopolis, 3 Webs of Conspiracy, 4 Red Alert!: Rhetorics of the World Wide Web and Friction Free Capitalism, 5 Yo-Ho-Ho and a Server of Warez: Internet Software Piracy and the New Global Information Economy, 6 Shit Happens: Numerology, Destiny, and Control on the Web, 7 Hypertext Links: The Ethic of the Index and Its Space-Time Effects, 8 The Economy of Cyberpromotion: Awards on the World Wide Web, 9 The Bias of the Web, 10 Baud Girls and Cargo Cults: A Story about Celebrity, Community, and Profane Illumination on the Web, 11 Literacy Beyond Books: Reading When All the World's a Web, 12 Cultural Technologies and the Evolution of Technological Cultures, 13 Error 404: Doubting the Web, Bibliography, Contributors, Index

Editorial Reviews

"The World Wide Web and Contemporary Cultural Theory is part of a welcome academic move toward synthesizing cultural and political economy approaches... the collection as a whole is a more complex and nuanced description of the Web than many recent explorations of new information and technologies." — Ken Hillis, Topia, A Canadian Journal of Cultural Studies
"...a collection of lively, interesting essays examining such matters as the material production of the Web, the nature and circulation of its content, and how it is consumed." — Resource Center for Cyberculture Studies
"The book will be newsworthy for readers interested in a cultural studies approach to Internet-based phenomena." — Resource Center for Cyberculture Studies
"Must reading for any upper-level undergraduate or graduate-level course on computer-mediated communication." — Choice
"It is about time that the Web and the internet are theorized this side of euphoria! The Herman and Swiss collection contains valuable meditations on the impact of the Web on society and culture, shorn of the cheerleading of Wired magazine, Negroponte, Turkle, and Gates. The book is rich in theoretical insight and empirical detail, unfolding from a stage-setting theoretical paper by Robert McChesney that situates the Web in corporate, global capitalism. This chapter alone makes the book worth buying." — Ben Agger, Enculturation
"This book is iseful for poeple trying to derive meaning from the behavior, technology and application of not only the World Wide Web but the associated Internet, as well as electronice media in general"." — Social Science Computer Review
"This book is iseful for poeple trying to derive meaning from the behavior, technology and application of not only the World Wide Web but the associated Internet, as well as electronice media in general"." — Social Science Computer Review Wide Web
"The opening essay by Robert McChesney is essential reading...the anthology as a whole would be useful to students and scholars from a range of disciplines and levels of study." — Megan Mullen, Communication Booknotes Quarterly

From the Publisher

A scholarly examination of the World Wide Web as a cultural technology. More than a dozen contributors from the social sciences and humanities examine the web as a complex nexus of economic, political, social and aesthetic forces, and theorize on how the different dimensions of the web as a complex practice come together. Authors explore the presence of the corporate media system, software piracy and the writing on the web, concluding with a remark that the web is a blend of magic, metaphor, and power. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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