Digital dynamics : engagements and disconnections

The growth of the Internet has not taken place in a social and economic vacuum. Instead of asking, "How is the Internet changing society," contributors to this book ask, "How are prevailing patterns of power and inequality shaping the ways the Internet is developed and used?" They examine changes in digital communication systems and how these changes relate to the wider context of society and culture. Some topics include new communication technologies and the 'democratization' of financial markets, war blogs and the war in Iraq, optical media piracy, and rural communities in the networked environment. Material originated as papers from a joint conference of the International Association for Media and Communication Research and the International Communication Association.