Electronic Tribes
The Virtual Worlds of Geeks, Gamers, Shamans, and Scammers
Published on 1. July 2008
Book
Hardback
331 pages
978-0-292-71773-2 (ISBN)
Description
Whether people want to play games and download music, engage in social networking and professional collaboration, or view pornography and incite terror, the Internet provides myriad opportunities for people who share common interests to find each other. The contributors to this book argue that these self-selected online groups are best understood as tribes, with many of the same ramifications, both positive and negative, that tribalism has in the non-cyber world. In Electronic Tribes, the authors of sixteen competitively selected essays provide an up-to-the-minute look at the social uses and occasional abuses of online communication in the new media era. They explore many current Internet subcultures, including MySpace.com, craftster.org, massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) such as World of Warcraft, music downloading, white supremacist and other counterculture groups, and Nigerian e-mail scams. Their research raises compelling questions and some remarkable answers about the real-life social consequences of participating in electronic tribes.
Collectively, the contributors to this book capture a profound shift in the way people connect, as communities formed by geographical proximity are giving way to communities-both online and offline-formed around ideas.
Collectively, the contributors to this book capture a profound shift in the way people connect, as communities formed by geographical proximity are giving way to communities-both online and offline-formed around ideas.
Reviews / Votes
"The major contribution of this book is that the idea of 'tribe' is fully and robustly explicated in ways that challenge existing wisdom, particularly the idea that Internet users are best understood as communities... The richness of diverse research resources is evident in every chapter. I particularly commend the editors on the international perspective and the inclusion of such a surprising array of subcultures." H. L. Goodall Jr., Director, Hugh Downs School of Human Communication, Arizona State UniversityMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Austin, TX
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Weight
681 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-292-71773-2 (9780292717732)
Copyright in bibliographic data is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or its licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
New editions
Tyrone L. Adams | Stephen A. Smith
Electronic Tribes
The Virtual Worlds of Geeks, Gamers, Shamans, and Scammers
Book
06/2008
University of Texas Press
€43.51
Shipment within 10-20 days
Persons
TYRONE L. ADAMS is the Richard D'Aquin Professor of Journalism and Communications at the University of Louisiana, Lafayette. STEPHEN A. SMITH is Professor of Communication at the University of Arkansas.
Content
* Foreword, Ronald E. Rice * Acknowledgments * Introduction: Where Is the Shaman? Jim Parker * Part I: Conceptualizing Electronic Tribes * Chapter 1. "A Tribe by Any Other Name ... ," Tyrone L. Adams and Stephen A. Smith * Chapter 2. Mimetic Kinship: Theorizing Online "Tribalism," Veronica M. Davidov and Barbara Andersen * Chapter 3. Electronic Tribes (E-Tribes): Some Theoretical Perspectives and Implications, Bolanle Olaniran * Chapter 4. Revisiting the Impact of Tribalism on Civil Society: An Investigation of the Potential Benefits of Membership in an E-Tribe on Public Discourse, Christina Standerfer * Part II: Social Consequences of Electronic Tribalism * Chapter 5. Theorizing the E-Tribe on MySpace.com, David R. Dewberry * Chapter 6. Don't Date, Craftsterbate: Dialogue and Resistance on craftster.org, Terri L. Russ * Chapter 7. Guild Life in the World of Warcraft: Online Gaming Tribalism, Thomas Brignall III * Chapter 8. At the Electronic Evergreen: A Computer-Mediated Ethnography of Tribalism in a Newsgroup from Montserrat and Afar, Jonathan Skinner * Part III: Emerging Electronic Tribal Cultures * Chapter 9. "Like a neighborhood of sisters": Can Culture Be Formed Electronically? Deborah Clark Vance * Chapter 10. Gerald M. Phillips as Electronic Tribal Chief: Socioforming Cyberspace, Ann Rosenthal * Chapter 11. Digital Dreamtime, Sonic Talismans: Music Downloading and the Tribal Landscape, Michael C. Zalot * Chapter 12. Magic, Myth, and Mayhem: Tribalization in the Digital Age, Leonie Naughton * Part IV: Cybercrime and Counterculture among Electronic Tribes * Chapter 13. Mundanes at the Gate ... and Perverts Within: Managing Internal and External Threats to Community Online, Steve Abrams and Smaragd Grun * Chapter 14. Brotherhood of Blood: Aryan Tribalism and Skinhead Cybercrews, Jody M. Roy * Chapter 15. Radical Tribes at Warre: Primitivists on the Net, Mathieu O'Neil * Chapter 16. A "Tribe" Migrates Crime to Cyberspace: Nigerian Igbos in 419 E-Mail Scams, Farooq A. Kperogi and Sandra Duhe * About the Contributors * Index