Technoculture: From alphabet to cybersex

Title page......Page 3
Contents......Page 5
Figures and tables......Page 9
Acknowledgments......Page 11
Glossary and abbreviations......Page 14
Introduction......Page 25
The mythology of technology......Page 35
Is technology neutral? Mythology and gun control......Page 37
Technology's relationship to power and privilege......Page 39
The method and the mythology of the electric light bulb......Page 41
The ABC of technological advantage......Page 43
Progress - for whom?......Page 46
Being postmodern......Page 47
The challenge of change......Page 49
Conclusion......Page 53
Piecing together an understanding of technoculture......Page 55
The social control of the telephone......Page 56
Discourse analysis and the social biography of things......Page 58
The expectation and experience of technology use......Page 60
The theories of adoption and diffusion......Page 61
High and low involvement in technology adoption......Page 63
Adopter charactertistics......Page 65
Factors which affect product diffusion......Page 67
Interpersonal influence......Page 69
Opinion leaders......Page 70
VALS (Values and lifestyles segmentation)......Page 73
Conclusion......Page 75
What is a 'domesticated technology'?......Page 77
Integrating technology into the household......Page 78
Imagining community......Page 80
Boundary markers......Page 82
Technology as a boundary-breaker......Page 84
Power and consumption......Page 86
Maslow's hierarchy of needs......Page 88
Applying Maslow's theory to online behaviour......Page 90
Household validation and the exploration of experience......Page 91
Researching the dream......Page 93
Conclusion......Page 94
The massification of media and information......Page 95
Time, space and communication......Page 97
Media effects?......Page 99
The objectivity of the media......Page 101
The media and globalisation......Page 102
The local in the global......Page 103
Postmodernism and the information society......Page 105
Postmodernism, peasants and the proletariat......Page 107
The information economy......Page 109
Commodification in the postmodern......Page 110
Conclusion......Page 111
The nature of information......Page 112
From chaos to wisdom......Page 115
The technologically convergent society......Page 117
The information workforce......Page 119
Information and education......Page 123
Bureaucracy and information......Page 124
The central data bank......Page 125
Privacy, information security and freedom of information......Page 127
opyright and intellectual property rights......Page 129
Conclusion......Page 131
The public interest......Page 133
Justifying the public interest......Page 134
Redefining the public interest......Page 135
Information poverty......Page 137
Information access......Page 138
Transition, stress and information poverty......Page 140
The information divide......Page 142
The thoroughly modern first, second and third worlds......Page 144
Building information wealth: Malaysia......Page 147
Conclusion......Page 148
The public sphere......Page 150
Habermas' ideal for a public sphere......Page 151
Government, citizenship, information and the public sphere......Page 152
Cyberspace and the public sphere......Page 154
The public sphere and national identity......Page 156
Technology in an indigenous public sphere......Page 158
The social sphere and imagined community......Page 162
Particularistic media and the micro public sphere......Page 164
Conclusion......Page 166
Regulation as a contest of interests......Page 167
Regulating telecommunicatons: the language of debate......Page 170
A global informaiton infrastructure......Page 173
Regulation and national identity......Page 174
Regulating freedoms of speech and communication......Page 176
Undermining government: media and communications underground......Page 177
Regulating the access and dissemination of information......Page 179
Moral panics......Page 182
Conclusion......Page 186
Popular culture and the public sphere......Page 187
Constructing popular culture......Page 188
Television in popular culture: The Young and the Restless......Page 191
Popular culture on the Internet......Page 192
Interactivity and technoculture......Page 194
The importance of popular culture broadcasting in people's lives......Page 196
Internet community and popular culture......Page 198
Cyborgs and science fiction......Page 200
Conclusion......Page 204
Gendered competence with technology......Page 205
Gendering technology......Page 206
Fear of technology......Page 209
The masculine world of the hacker......Page 211
Power and compulsion on the Internet......Page 213
What about cybersex?......Page 214
Gender and harassment on the Internet......Page 218
Gender in Internet culture......Page 220
Gendering postmodern media consumption......Page 222
Conclusion......Page 225
Getting connected to cyberspace......Page 226
Some Internet definitions......Page 227
A taxonomy of cyberspace?......Page 230
Screening the senses in cyberspace......Page 233
Feeling your way on the Internet......Page 236
Hate on the Net......Page 238
Panicking about morality......Page 239
Is cyberspace brain-changing?......Page 242
Conclusion......Page 244
Work and gender in the information society......Page 245
Is the postmodern female?......Page 246
The full-time part-time woman......Page 247
The modern man......Page 250
Metaphor......Page 251
Technocultural technology......Page 252
Technocultural policy......Page 254
Technocultural culture......Page 257
Technocultural society......Page 260
References......Page 265
Index......Page 277