The Internet in Everyday Life (Information Age Series) [Hardcover]

Barry Wellman (Editor), Caroline Haythornthwaite (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 23, 2002 | ISBN-10: 0631235078 | ISBN-13: 978-0631235071 | Edition: 1

The Internet in Everyday Life is the first book to systematically investigate how being online fits into people's everyday lives.

• Opens up a new line of inquiry into the social effects of the Internet.


• Focuses on how the Internet fits into everyday lives, rather than considering it as an alternate world.


• Chapters are contributed by leading researchers in the area.


• Studies are based on empirical data.


• Talks about the reality of being online now, not hopes or fears about the future effects of the Internet.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Wellman is to be congratulated for pulling together a collection of excellent articles that will make a valuable contribution to empirically grounding discussions about the effects of the Internet on our everyday life experiences." Communication & Society

"Its breadth, depth and empiricism make for an immensely impressive collection which is likely to influence the field of internet studies for years to come" New Media and Society

"Work like that done in The Internet in Everyday Life is invaluable in helping us see and understand the technological world in which we are immersed. As such, it makes a major contribution to our discipline and our society." Contemporary Sociology

"A powerful collective statement both about the domestication of the Internet in everyday life and about the need for new kinds of questions and methodologies in the next generation of Internet studies." Social Forces

From the Back Cover

The Internet in Everyday Life brings together many pioneering studies that systematically investigate how being online fits into everyday lives. Until now, the Internet has been treated and discussed as detached from daily life, occupying some separate sphere of social endeavor. This collection of original articles from leading scholars in North America, Asia, and Europe moves discussion of the Internet closer to home, showing how the Internet does not exist "out there" but is instead an integral part of daily work and home life.

Contributors show who is on the Internet and what they are doing there. They debate whether the Internet adds to or detracts from the well-being of individuals, communities, and societies. They demonstrate how the Internet affects friendship, social capital, social support, civic involvement, school, work, and shopping. They reveal the extent to which the Internet is supporting new forms of human relationships, and describe what gets dropped and strained when Internet hours are added to already full schedules.

The book goes beyond speculation to provide solid findings. Articles are informed by results from surveys, interviews, and ethnographic data about behavior on and with the Internet. Taken as a whole, this considered body of evidence should raise the level of debate about the impact of the Internet and raises serious questions about the popular myth that Internet use increases social alienation.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 588 pages
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell; 1 edition (December 23, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0631235078
• ISBN-13: 978-0631235071
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.2 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,073,076 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Fell below my expectations, October 8, 2010

By 

J. Bishop - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Internet in Everyday Life (Information Age Series) (Paperback)

I had hopes for this book. I was expecting it to be like Don Norman's The Design of Everyday Things, but I was left disappointed. It is basically just a collection of papers, most of which are based on more concise version of papers that appeared in the American Behavioral Scientist 45(3), which is freely available to students and academics with the right privileges. It's a beyond being paid for on an individual basis, but I found my library's copies of Social Computing: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications by Subhasish Dasgupta a more comprehensive edited work for the contemporary age of social networks on the Internet. If you're a student you can always get it by Inter-Library loan if your library doesn't have it, or ask your them to buy it as it's well worth reading - it is more up-to-date than this dated work, which is basically available online anyway.

6 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Shouldn't the editor identify himself in a review?, February 21, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Internet in Everyday Life (Information Age Series) (Paperback)

I'm sure this is a good book but I'd like to see truth in advertising!

1 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Use of Internet for Non-business and non-workplace Scenarios, December 23, 2004

By 

Dr. Mohamed Taher (Toronto) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Internet in Everyday Life (Information Age Series) (Paperback)

The comment on editor (using the reviewer's sacred space) is not out of place. Amazon has a different logic to treat people. In the previous incarnation amazon.com had an option for author's to comment. Now, I presume, it is turned into Guide.

amazon.co.uk and amazon.ca have differences in this regard, and in the ultimate this strategy (of sorts) hurts the authors, reviewers, commentators, etc.

Internet in Everyday Life is a kind of book that I could lay my hands, on the very day it appeared in the market.

--- Comments forthcoming --- I will be back soon and give a full picture of the book, its structure, approach and value for the every day life.