White noise : an A-Z of the contradictions in cyberculture

Transcending recent attempts to pigeonhole 'the information revolution', this book shows how the paradoxical aspects of new media and the Internet (is it masculine or feminine? Does it mean peace or war?) are the peculiarly intense expression of the contradictions underlying our whole society. Andrew Calcutt is an enthusiastic champion of the potential for new communications technology, and a trenchant critic of the culture of fear which prevents its realisation. Front Matter....Pages i-xi Anarchy/authority....Pages 1-10 Boys/girls....Pages 11-18 Community/alienation....Pages 19-27 Democracy/diversity....Pages 28-34 Equality/elitism....Pages 35-40 Free/fee....Pages 41-47 Gates/anti-Gates....Pages 48-55 Hackers/slackers....Pages 56-61 Innovation/stagnation....Pages 62-72 Journalism/personalism....Pages 73-77 Knockers/boosters....Pages 78-80 Logical/mystical....Pages 81-84 M-o-R/counterculture....Pages 85-92 Nostalgia/futurism....Pages 93-97 Overload/information....Pages 98-101 Play/work....Pages 102-105 Queer/ordinary....Pages 106-107 Risk/safety....Pages 108-113 Subject/object....Pages 114-121 Technical/cultural....Pages 122-124 Universal/particular....Pages 125-130 Virtual reality/‘virtual reality’....Pages 131-141 War/peace....Pages 142-148 X-rated/infantilized....Pages 149-155 Youth/age....Pages 156-157 Zero sum game/everything to play for....Pages 158-160 Back Matter....Pages 161-180 Born out of frustration with recent attempts to pigeon-hole 'the information revolution' as either the i-way to utopia or the devil's own dystopia, White Noise: an A-Z of the contradictions in cyberculture cuts through the vapourware surrounding the Internet and shows how the paradoxical aspects of new media (Is it masculine or feminine? Will it mean peace or war? Does it enhance community or confirm alienation?) are the expression of the inherent contradictions underlying our whole society. Andrew Calcutt is an enthusiastic champion of the potential for new communications technology, and a trenchant critic of the culture of fear and self-limitation which prevents its realization. Above all, at a time when events and social processes are often assumed to be beyond our control, he seeks to accentuate the positive capabilities of human beings and the technologies which we have created.
Going beyond recent attempts to pigeonhole the information revolution as either the information highway to utopia or the devil's own dystopia, this book cuts through the furor surrounding the Internet and shows how the paradoxical aspects of new media are an expression of the inherent contradictions underlying society as a whole. Andrew Calcutt is an enthusiastic champion of the potential for new communications technology and a trenchant critic of the culture of fear and self-limitation which prevents its realization. At a time when events and social processes are often assumed to be beyond our control, he seeks to accentuate the positive capabilities of human beings and the technologies which we have created.

This book breaks the common ground underlying both utopian and dystopian visions of our cyberfuture.

Booknews

With chapters arranged from to popular culture writer Andrew Calcutt shows how paradoxical aspects of the Internet reflect contradictions underlying all of society. His essays on the technological and social aspects of the Internet are permeated by an optimism about the state of humankind. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Annotation Transcending attempts to pigeonhole the information revolution, this text should show how the paradoxical aspects of new media and the Internet (is it masculine or feminine?; does it mean peace or war?) are the expression of the contradictions underlying our whole society This headline from The Guardian shows the divergence of opinion on the vexed relationship between the Internet and the state.