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The Internet is comparatively young. Only
forty years ago, MIT professors Kleinrock and Licklider wrote papers
about
large
scale communication networks; and less than 13 years ago, the first World
Wide Web browser was demonstrated.
Today,
with
an estimated 500 million users worldwide, the Internet has become
a global resource and a technology of great economic and social impact.
How can we best understand the emergence of the Internet and its impact
on society?
Some social scientists and historians see technology
as driving social change, others see technology as largely a product
of social processes.
And, not unexpectly, there is a middle position, which Manual Castells
argues for in The Rise of the Network Society:
Of course, technology does not determine society. Neither does
society script the course of technological change, since many factors,
including individual inventiveness and entrepreneurialism, intervene
in the process of scientific discovery, technological innovation,
and social applications, so that the final outcome depends on a complex
pattern
of interaction (1996:5).
As to the Internet's societal value, assessments vary from
the utopian to the dystopian. Some emphasize the potential of the Internet
to improve the quality of life and the efficiency of business, while
others focus on the potential of the Internet as an engine
of inequality and source of
social
pathologies.
As I'm sure you have already discovered, the Internet
has generated intense conflicts over public policy, regulation,
and
law. Like
nearly
all public
policy disputes,
these conflicts involve parties with different
value systems, different economic interests, different philosophies of
governance, and different legal perspectives. Hopefully, in your study
of the Internet you will not only become more skillful in understanding
the social processes behind these conflicts; but also, you will think
through your own positions to these complex and often bitterly contested
issues.
At CyberSociety.org, we are committed to a few operating principles:
(1) We won’t try to tell you what to think. Instead, we’ll
endeavor to stimulate your thinking by exposing you to important questions
and issues and to people and organizations offering research or positions
about them.
(2) We won’t try to be comprehensive. The list of potential
questions and issues is a long one. Instead, we’ll focus on several
key topics. In the process, we're confident that you’ll
think about more issues and potential approaches and sources
for studying them.
(3) We provide links to many websites that are outside our site and
outside of our control. We can't vouch for their accuracy or trustworthiness
and we don't endorse their positions or content. Use good
judgement and evaluate each source.
(4) We’ll never try to finish this site. First, the field is
always changing. Second, we’re committed
to adding new topics and new resources on a continual basis. So check
back
often to see what
we’ve added. And share your suggestions with us!
You can email us at Editor.
Kenneth Oman, Editor
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