[Air-l] summer gems

david silver dsilver at u.washington.edu
Sat Aug 17 15:18:08 PDT 2002


Folks,

Perhaps as a complement to the interesting abstracts of papers coming
through air-l, I'd like to share some interesting readings I've been
mulling over throughout the summer.  Am I imagining things or has the
summer pipeline of publications been particularly interesting this summer?

* INFORMATION, COMMUNICATION, & SOCIETY 5: 1 (Jan 2002)

Special issue title "Work, Difference and the New Media Industries" guest
edited by Nina Wakeford, this is one of the first focused attempts to
examine the workers and work environments of new media.  With a diverse
set of methodological approaches, the contributors examine new media work
and its accompanying rhetoric.  A few of the chapters focus on firms based
in Silicon Valley and one (by Rosalind Gill) draws from workers from six
European countries.  It seems to me that the contributors are tapping into
a whole new realm of Internet studies.  Bravo!

Contents:

Keeping Up: Web Design Skill and The Reinvented Worker pp. 1 - 26
Nalini P. Kotamraju

Hot Jobs in Cool Places. The Material Cultures of New Media Product
Spaces: The Case of South of the Market, San Francisco pp. 27 - 50
Andy C. Pratt

Occupational Technologists as an Occupational Community: Ethnographic
Evidence pp. 51 - 69
Daniel Marschall

Cool, Creative and Egalitarian? Exploring Gender in Project-Based New
Media Work in Europe pp. 70 - 89
Rosalind Gill

Trusting Strangers: Work Relationships in Four High-Tech Communities pp.
90 - 108
J.A. English-Lueck, Charles N. Darrah, Andrea Saveri

Playing at work: Understanding the Future of Work Practices at the
Institute for the Future pp. 109 - 136
Lonny J Brooks, Geoffrey Bowker

* INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SEXUALITY AND GENDER STUDIES 7:2/3 (July 2002)

Special issue title "Queer Webs: Representations of LGBT People and
Communities on the World Wide Web" guest edited by Jonathan Alexander,
this is an excellent compilation and does for studies of sexualities and
the Net as Wired Women and Virtual Gender did for Net + gender and Race
and Cyberspace did for Net + race/ethnicity.  I'm still reading it but so
far I've enjoyed and learned a lot from Alexander's "Homo-Pages and Queer
Sites: Studying the Construction and Representation of Queer Identities on
the World Wide Web" and Donald Snyder's "'I Don't Go By Sean Patrick':
On-Line/Off-Line/Out Identity and SeanPatrickLive.com."  Diverse and in
depth contributions.  It's great to see a work like this appear.  Perhaps
the next step is to put together a volume that explores simultaneously the
multiple perspectives of race, gender, class, and sexuality as they relate
to the Net and new media.

Contents:

Introduction to the Special Issue: Queer Webs: Representations of LGBT
People and Communities on the World Wide Web pp. 77-84.
Jonathan Alexander

Homo-Pages and Queer Sites: Studying the Construction and Representation
of Queer Identities on the World Wide Web pp. 85-106
Jonathan Alexander

Under the Rainbow Flag: Webbing Global Gay Identities pp. 107-124
Bettina Heinz, Li Gu, Ako Inuzuka, Roger Zender

Virtually Belonging: Risk, Connectivity, and Coming Out On-Line pp.
125-137
Sally R. Munt, Elizabeth H. Bassett, Kate O'Riordan

Cross-Dressers in Cyber-Space: Exploring the Internet as a Tool for
Expressing Gendered Identity pp. 139-161
Jane E. Hegland, Nancy J. Nelson

The Newhalf Net: Japan's "Intermediate Sex" On-Line pp. 163-175
Mark McLelland

"I Don't Go By Sean Patrick": On-Line/Off-Line/Out Identity and
SeanPatrickLive.com pp. 177-195
Donald I. Snyder

Razorgirls and Cyberdykes: Tracing Cyberfeminism and Thoughts on Its Use
in a Legal Context pp. 197-213
Bela Bonita Chatterjee

Suicidality and Sexual Orientation in Five Continents: Asia, Australia,
Europe, North America, and South America pp. 215-225
Robin M. Mathy

"Behind the Mask": An African Gay-Affirmative Website pp. 227-234
Jonathan Alexander

* LISA NAKAMURA, CYBERTYPES: RACE, ETHNICITY, AND IDENTITY ON THE INTERNET
(Routledge, 2002)

For my money, I think this is one of the best books the nascent field has
to offer, especially from a humanities approach.  A blend of cultural
studies, visual analysis, and postcolonial studies, the book approaches
the Net broadly and leaves us with a ton of interesting things to think
about.  I'll be assigning this in my undergrad class in the fall and most
likely to my graduate class in spring.

Any other reading lists folks want to share?  Enjoy the summer while it
lasts,

david silver
http://faculty.washington.edu/dsilver/





More information about the Air-L mailing list