[Air-l] A definition of the internet

[Han N. Lee]

Hi Sam,

I believe that there are many books out there that define the Internet
(or "internet") from its historical origin (e.g., ARPARNET, network of
networks) and from sociological perspectives (e.g., Steve Jones's
edited books). In the meantime, I particularly like Annette Markham's
work that examines the actual users' understanding of the Internet and
their experience of it in a ground up fashion.

Markham, Annette N. 1998. Life Online: Researching Real Experience in
Virtual Space. Walnut Creek: Altamira Press.

The book is almost a decade old and I know that she's been updating
it. She also discusses how we researchers (qualitative researchers
more specifically) can conceptualize the Internet or Internet
communication to better utilize it for our specific research goals.

Markham, Annette N. 2004. "Internet Communication as a Tool for
Qualitative Research." In Qualitative Research: Theory, Methods, and
Practice, 95-124. Ed. David Silverman. London: Sage.
http://faculty.uvi.edu/users/amarkha/writing/silvermandraft.html

In the meantime, about a couple months ago we had a thread related to
this question. Jillana Enteen started a thread about the differences
among CMC, ICT, and digital communication. Revisiting the thread may
be helpful:

http://listserv.aoir.org/pipermail/air-l-aoir.org/2006-July/010219.html

Cheers,

Han

On 10/16/06, Sam Tilden <tildensam at yahoo.com> wrote:
> I know this is a trivial question! Does anyone have a really good definition of the Internet.
>
>   The only ones I have speaks only to the technology.
>
>   Sam
>
>
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-- 
Han N. Lee, Ph.D. Student
Department of Communication, Machmer Hall
University of Massachusetts
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Amherst, MA 01003-9278

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