Internet

This title is from a series in communication and contemporary media theory. It offers an introduction to the Internet as a communication technology, stressing the opportunities it offers, the limitations it imposes, and the uses it allows.

It's written in an academic style which is heavy on multiple introductions, signposting, and cross-referencing. The authors trace the history of writing from cuneiform to the invention of the Internet, introducing a sociological note to their presentation to show digital takeup in countries throughout the world (the so-called 'digital divide'). Sweden is at the top of the table with an 85% rating, the USA and UK are interestingly equal eleventh at 78%, and Niger comes last with 0.04%.



This leads rapidly into the legal and political issues of Internet use, then they move on to consider the main features of computer mediated communication (CMC). This covers email, newsgroups, blogs, and video-conferencing.

Next comes what they quite rightly regard as the essence of the Internet - hypertext. Their examination plunges deeply into Saussure and linguistic theory, then into Latin notions of rhetorical devices in speech communication. It's only with the help of one seminal writer in the field (Jay Bolter) that they get back on course, with a brief history of hypertext as it actually exists. They conclude:

The evolution of hypertextual communication, and in particular of the Internet, clearly shows that playful, theoretically experimental practices are to be regarded as a childhood disease of hypertext technology, rather than its maturity.

The next section is on websites. Once again the approach is very theoretical - so much so that although they have one or two diagrams showing 'The Website Communication Model' and 'stakeholder's goals', there isn't a single picture of a website or even a screenshot from one. It's difficult to imagine who would want to approach the subject in this hands-off way, apart from other academics writing articles to bolster their CVs.

They do much better on explaining how search engines work - perhaps because the topic lends itself to abstract explanations and doesn't need graphic illustrations. Their last chapter is probably the most interesting. It deals with the impact of the Internet on traditional media such as newspapers and broadcasting; then they consider online communities, gamers, government, and eLearning. There's also a very useful bibliography of further reading and resources.