Virtual Culture: Identity and Communication in Cybersociety [Paperback]

Steve Jones (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0761955267 | ISBN-13: 978-0761955269 | Publication Date: May 20, 1997 | Edition: 1

Virtual Culture marks a significant intervention in the current debate about access and control in cybersociety exposing the ways in which the Internet and other computer-mediated communication technologies are being used by disadvantaged and marginal groups - such as gay men, women, fan communities and the homeless - for social and political change.

The contributors to this book apply a range of theoretical perspecitves derived from communication studies, sociology and anthropology to demonstrate the theoretical and practical possibilities for cybersociety as an identity-structured space.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Not long after William Gibson hit the charts with his cyberpunk fiction, especially the groundbreaking (or Web-busting) Neuromancer, discussions were buzzing with ideas about how technology affects our culture and our beliefs. The essays that Steven Jones has collected explore cybersociety, online cultures, and their relationship not only to one another but also to traditional societies. The experiences of typically marginalized cultures--"cyberhate," Third World representation, gay identity in cyberspace, and punishment of "virtual offenders"--are also explored, as in Ananda Mitra's essay, "Virtual Commonality: Looking for India on the Internet." Virtual Culture is a cutting-edge book that addresses the effects and defects of discourse and community on the Web.

About the Author

Steve Jones is professor and head of the Department of Communication at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He is author/editor of numerous books, including Doing Internet Research, The Encyclopedia of New Media, CyberSociety, and Virtual Culture. He is co-founder and president of the Association of Internet Researchers and co-editor of New Media & Society, an international journal of research on new media, technology, and culture. He also edits New Media Cultures, a series of books on culture and technology for Sage Publications, and Digital Formations, a series of books on new media for Peter Lang Publishers.

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Sage Publications Ltd; 1 edition (May 20, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0761955267
• ISBN-13: 978-0761955269
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,336,708 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Steve Jones is UIC Distinguished Professor of Communication, Research Associate in the UIC Electronic Visualization Laboratory, Adjunct Professor of Electronic Media in the School of Art & Design at the University of Illinois - Chicago, and Adjunct Research Professor in the Institute of Communications Research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He holds the Ph.D. in Communication from the Institute of Communications Research, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (1987), M.S. in Journalism from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (1984) and a B.S. in Biology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (1984). He served as Head of the Department of Communication at the University of Illinois - Chicago from 1997 to 2003, and as Head of the Faculty of Communication at the University of Tulsa from 1992 to 1997. He served as Associate Dean of Liberal Arts & Sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago from 2006 - 2009.

Jones is author and editor of numerous books, including Society Online, CyberSociety, Virtual Culture, Doing Internet Research, CyberSociety 2.0, The Encyclopedia of New Media, Rock Formation: Technology, Music and Mass Communication (all published by Sage), The Internet for Educators and Homeschoolers (ETC Publications), Pop Music & the Press (Temple University Press) and Afterlife as Afterimage: Understanding Posthumous Fame (Peter Lang Publishing). He has published numerous articles in scholarly journals including ones in IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications, Cultural Studies, Journal of Virtual Environments, Works and Days, Iowa Journal of Communication, Stanford Humanities Review, Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, Critical Studies in Mass Communication, The Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media and American Journalism. His research interests include the social history of communication technology, virtual environments and virtual reality, popular music studies, internet studies, and media history.

Jones was the founder and first President of the Association of Internet Researchers and serves as Senior Research Fellow at the Pew Internet & American Life Project. He has made numerous presentations to scholarly and business groups about the Internet and social change and about the Internet's social and commercial uses. He is co-editor of New Media & Society, an international journal of research on new media, technology, and culture and edits Digital Formations, a series of books on digital media, the Internet and communication (Peter Lang Publishing). His research has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the Tides Foundation. In addition to numerous honors and awards, the International Communication Association and the Carl Couch Center for Social and Internet Research created the annual Steve Jones Internet Research Lecture at the International Communication Association convention in recognition of his contributions to the study of communication and technology.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Is the Persona a defense or a culprit?, June 23, 2001

By 

Jacques COULARDEAU "A soul doctor, so to say" (OLLIERGUES France) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Virtual Culture: Identity and Communication in Cybersociety (Paperback)

This book is essential to understand the concept of persona in cybersociety. It is based on many articles that take examples of exchanges among people on one chat or in one forum, and how these exchanges can be effective as for changing the points of view of the cybernauts, to elaborate a common interest among the participants of the site who may have come together haphazardly or out of mere chance. It also shows how arguments can be effective on others and even push some negative topics into some straits, such as racist points of view that are confronted to arguments the standard racist paticipants have little chance to get across in real society, due to the ghettoisation of ideological groups. This book also shows how one gets onto the Internet, into these forums and chats by deciding on what personae they want to have, persona that may have little to do with the real selves of the persons behind : a male becomes a female, etc. This leads to a serious discussion of crime in such an environment. A crime is the result of the non-respect of a rule set by the webmasters of the site. But it cannot be dealt with as if it were the same « crime » in society. Hence a sexual crime in such an environment has little to do with the same sexual crime in society because it is a virtual crime, a crime that has no reality, no real direct consequences. Anyone can anyway protect themselves against such « agressions » by the personae they choose (some kind of shield that keeps the anonymity of the individuals), and by always being able to log-off, get out of the site. So what is a proper punishment for such « virtual crimes » ? The question is at least extremely complex and such crimes cannot be dealt with by normal courts. So what procedures and what « courts » can exist on the Internet. Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, Paris Universities II and IX.