Shaping the Network Society

Information and computer technologies are used every day by real people
with real needs. The authors contributing to Shaping the Network Society describe
how technology can be used effectively by communities, activists, and citizens to
meet society's challenges. In their vision, computer professionals are concerned
less with bits, bytes, and algorithms and more with productive partnerships that
engage both researchers and community activists. These collaborations are producing
important sociotechnical work that will affect the future of the network
society.Traditionally, academic research on real-world users of technology has been
neglected or even discouraged. The authors contributing to this book are working to
fill this gap; their theoretical and practical discussions illustrate a new
orientation -- research that works with people in their natural social environments,
uses common language rather than rarefied academic discourse, and takes a pragmatic
perspective. The topics they consider are key to democratization and social change.
They include human rights in the "global billboard society"; public computing in
Toledo, Ohio; public digital culture in Amsterdam; "civil networking" in the former
Yugoslavia; information technology and the international public sphere; "historical
archaeologies" of community networks; "technobiographical" reflections on the
future; libraries as information commons; and globalization and media democracy, as
illustrated by Indymedia, a global collective of independent media
organizations.