Anthropology and the Internet

Cyberspace is home to researchers in various disciplines, but only a few anthropologists have thus far ventured into the cyberfield.

I provide here a basic list of web resources.

If you have an interest in the anthropology of the internet, please email me.

Daniel Martin Varisco
Chair, Department of Anthropology
Hofstra University
Hempstead, NY 11550
Daniel.M.Varisco@hofstra.edu

 Last Update June 28, 2003

About Anthropology of the Internet

Bibliography

Cybersex

E-ethnography

Internet: Basic Information

Internet Cafes

Institutes and Centers

Online Journals

Social Analysis of Cyberspace

Syllabi (Anthropology)

About Anthropology of the Internet

Anderson, Jon (1997) "Cybernauts of the Arab Diaspora: Electronic Mediation in Transnational Cultural Identities" Research on Communication and IT in the Middle East
http://www.georgetown.edu/research/arabtech/anders97.htm
 

Anthropology of the Internet - Building Blocks of a CyberAnthropology -

http://www.pscw.uva.nl/sociosite/websoc/anthropology.html
[Brief essay and site with links maintained Albert Benschop, Sociology Department, University of Amsterdam (6/03)].

"Culture, Society and Advanced Information Technology"

http://cra.org/Policy/reports/aspects/
["The National Information Infrastructure is the major technological development affecting broad segments of the American public at the end of the 20th century. Built upon convergent technological developments in telecommunications and computing and avidly promoted by industrial, government and academic interests, the NII is already changing the way Americans live, work, learn and consume."
 
Recognizing the potential of these technological developments to transform society, on June 1-2, 1995, the American Anthropological Association and the Computing Research Association, under National Science Foundation sponsorship, convened the Workshop on Culture, Society and Advanced Information Technology. This workshop brought 33 social and computer scientists from government, industry and the academic community together (plus three attendees from NSF, two from AAA and one from CRA) to examine the dimensions of social impacts of the NII and to ask what useful, critical and researchable questions the NII raises for society. (6/03)].
 
CYBER ANTHROPOLOGY
http://www.carleton.ca/~bgiven/cyberant.htm
 

Cyberanthropology.org

http://nt2348.vs.netbenefit.co.uk/

["Cyberanthropology.org is a private independent non-profit initiative. By independent, I mean that this initiative is not the creation of a university or department. The project does not benefit from any financial assistance either (although suggestions for possible funding sources are welcome). Cyberanthropology is a resource center for students, researchers and lecturers in anthropology who have an interest for cyberculture. Although the site aims to study the Internet from the perspective of social and cultural anthropology, it also draws from work in other social sciences, such as sociology, media studies, cultural studies, literary criticism, etc. The site's ambition is to present short stimulating texts on selected topics and to invite users to comment on the material presented. The site also makes information on relevant university courses, activities and a glossary available in an interactive and searchable format. "(6/03)]

The CyberAnthropology Page
http://www.fiu.edu/~mizrachs/cyberanthropos.html
["The CyberAnthropology Page is dedicated to research on cyberculture, and the formation of new cultures and cultural practices in cyberspace." Steven Mizrach (6/03)]
 
EFF "Net Culture & Cyber-Anthropology" Archive
http://www.eff.org/Net_culture/

 

Fletcher, Gordon (1997) "...Towards an Anthropology of Cyberspace"
http://www.spaceless.com/papers/14.htm
["The Project. An anthropology of cyberspace may appear initially to be a topic with limited potential. For the anthropologist who is used to, and comfortable with, discussing and interpreting the artefacts and cultural practices of ethnographic 'others' cyberspace could appear as a void in which the excesses of late capitalism are played out. However, it would be the rare anthropologist who still accepts the political and colonial undertones of the 1952 definition of their research as "The study of the cultures of primitive man" (Piddington 1952,2). To those who have staked out careers, presented courses and interacted on the Internet - the concerns and interests of anthropology similarly may appear to be far removed from any 'virtual' reality. It is, however, anthropology and particularly those elements of anthropology that are described as postmodern or reflexive that can perhaps best deal with the complexities of a social space that is both culturally and historically specific in its manifestation as the Internet while simultaneously the most recent etheral formation of 'Western' (and perhaps global) social imagination . This is not to suggest that the Internet is not 'real' in any sense. Both Marc Andersson of Netscape and Bill Gates 1 could attest to its reality and a sentiment to which the 'victims' of particularly immersive MUDs and MOOs would also agree. The Internet-as-Cyberspace brings together a series of social and cultural factors that range beyond mutally interchangeable network protocols 2 or the development of fast CPUs 3. At one level my project is to argue that Cyberspace is not new but rather a reconfiguration of previous concepts that dealt with, for example, 'spirit' and the 'virtual spaces' of damnation. The defining elements, however, that are generally emphasised in discussions of cyberspace concern the mediation of communication and experience through particular forms of technologies (cf. Rheingold 1995; Buick & Jevtic 1995)."]
 
Hakken, David (n.d.) "Should the AAA Intervene in the Cultural Construction of Cyberspace?"
http://sts.sunyit.edu/anthropology/

 

Schwimmer, Brian (1998) "Rationale and Romance in the Anthropology of Cyberspace."
http://www.umanitoba.ca/faculties/arts/anthropology/cyberanthropology/paper.html
["Abstract: In the course of investigating "virtual" communities, researchers focused on the Internet tend to ignore a wider body of literature on community studies that goes back to Redfield's research and theorization on Mexican peasantries. This narrow perspective may very well bring us to revisit all the mistakes and controversies that have already been constructed and deconstructed over past generations. In this paper I discuss the problems of isolating, defining, and explaining "real" communities and the implications for conceptualizing and investigating emerging forms and manifestations. ]"
 
 
SYROPOULOS, APOSTOLOS (2002) "Typesetting Native American Languages." The Journal of Electronic Publishin. August, 2002, Volume 8, Issue 1.
http://www.press.umich.edu/jep/08-01/syropoulos.html
["All the native American languages spoken today are written either in some Latin alphabet, augmented with "accented" letters, or in a syllabary, a set of indivisible syllabic symbols, each of which represents a syllable. The Apache and the Navaho languages are among the native American languages that use a Latin alphabet, while Cherokee, Inuiktitut, and Cree are among the languages that use modern syllabaries. Syllabaries, common in ancient scripts, were used by the Maya and the Epi-Olmec people of Mesoamerica.
 
Because a syllabary is less expressive than an alphabetic script, it can be transcribed in an alphabetic script without losing meaning. Students of the Cherokee language learn a Latin transcription of the syllabary to make it easier to learn Cherokee. The same characteristics that allow Cherokee to be transcribed into the Latin alphabet allow the creation of typesetting tools for syllabaries. A modern typesetting tool designed to handle syllabaries should allow users to type the symbols either directly (e.g., using a Unicode editor if the script is supported by the Unicode Standard, or by some editor that supports a special character set), or by using some standard Latin transcription. (Unicode provides a unique computer-readable number -- called a code point -- for every character; this number works across platforms, programs, and languages.)
 
This article is about Omega, a modern typesetting system based on TeX, that by default accepts Unicode text files, but is capable of handling any imaginable input encoding. In addition, it introduces a number of features that make the lives of tool designers quite easy. I used these features to develop a number of tools that ease the preparation of Cherokee and Inuktitut language documents."]
 
Varisco, Daniel Martin (2001) "Anthropology, the Web and the War on Terror." Anthropology News (December) http://people.hofstra.edu/faculty/daniel_m_varisco/wtccom.htm#ant
 
Varisco, Daniel Martin (2000) SLAMMING ISLAM: PARTICIPANT WEBSERVATION WITH A WEB OF MEANINGS TO BOOT. Working Papers from the MES. http://www.aaanet.org/mes/lectvar1.htm
 
Wilson, Samuel and Leighton C. Peterson (2002) "Anthropology of online communites" Annual Review of Anthropology 31:449-467
 
["Abstract: Information and communication technologies based on the Internet have enabled the emergence of new sorts of communities and communicative practices-phenomena worthy of the attention of anthropological researchers. Despite early assessments of the revolutionary nature of the Internet and the enormous transformations it would bring about, the changes have been less dramatic and more embedded in existing practices and power relations of everyday life. This review explores researchers' questions, approaches, and insights within anthropology and some relevant related fields, and it seeks to identify promising new directions for study. The general conclusion is that the technologies comprising the Internet, and all the text and media that exist within it, are in themselves cultural products. Anthropology is thus well suited to the further investigation of these new, and not so new, phenomena."]
 
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Cybersex Research
Hamman, Robin
1997 The Application of Ethnographic Methodology in the Study of Cybersex. Cybersociology Magazine, #1. http://www.socio.demon.co.uk/magazine/1/plummer.html
 
Sannicolas , Nikki
1997 Erving Goffman, Dramaturgy, and On-Line Relationships. Cybersociology Magazine, #1. http://www.socio.demon.co.uk/magazine/1/is1nikki.html

 

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E-ethnography Sites
Arctic Cyber Anthropology.
http://www.nbc.brygge.dk/blubber.html

["Welcome to Arctic Cyber Anthropology. My name is Neil Blair Christensen. I work as a Journal Publishing Manager for Blackwell Munksgaard; a publisher that specializes in scientific journals within the Blackwell publishing group. I am also affiliated with the Department of Eskimology, University of Copenhagen, where I teach from time to time, and from where I have a BA and an MA."(6/03)]

DEVELOPMENT ANTHROPOLOGY IN ACTION: Indigenous Plant Protection in Yemen: D. M. Varisco
http://www.aiys.org/webdate/plant1.html
["This website explores a case study in the development anthropology of sustainable agriculture in Yemen. The project was carried out in 1991 by a five-man team led by Dan Varisco." (6/03)].
 
Going home: continuity and change in modern Mongolia An On-Line Photographic Exhibition by Barbara Hind (1)
http://www.intergraphjournal.com/enhanced/vol1issue3/hind/hindframes.htm
["Using the Slide Show: The Photos in the Exhibition have been organized into a slide show. Images will automatically change after approximately 1 minute. However, you can progress through the images at your own speed by using the back and next buttons. Your Comments: As with all iNtergraph contributions, readers comments and reactions to the exhibition are welcome and indeed encouraged. To leave your comments use the discussion forum on the right. (6/03)].
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Internet and Cyberspace:

Basic Information

 
Cyberatlas

http://cyberatlas.internet.com/

["The site provides readers with valuable statistics and Web marketing information, enabling them to understand their business environment and make more informed business decisions. CyberAtlas gathers online research from the best data resources to provide a complete review of the latest surveys and technologies available. Since its inception in 1996, CyberAtlas has amassed numerous awards from reputable Web sites such as PC Magazine and USA Today. Also noteworthy, major Web sites and Internet sources cite CyberAtlas as the place to begin your online research." (6/03)].

 

Digerati

http://www.edge.org/digerati/

[" Who are the "digerati" and why are they "the cyber elite"? They are the doers, thinkers, and writers who have tremendous influence on the emerging communication revolution. They are not on the frontier, they are the frontier. The digerati evangelize, connect people, adapt quickly. They like to talk with their peers because it forces them to go to the top of their form and explain their most interesting new ideas. They give each other permission to be great. That's who they want to talk to about the things they are excited about because they want to see if it plays. They ask each other the questions they are asking themselves, and that's part of what makes this cyber elite work."(6/03)]
 

ECHELON

http://www.fas.org/irp/program/process/echelon.htm

["ECHELON is a term associated with a global network of computers that automatically search through millions of intercepted messages for pre-programmed keywords or fax, telex and e-mail addresses. Every word of every message in the frequencies and channels selected at a station is automatically searched. The processors in the network are known as the ECHELON Dictionaries. ECHELON connects all these computers and allows the individual stations to function as distributed elements an integrated system. An ECHELON station's Dictionary contains not only its parent agency's chosen keywords, but also lists for each of the other four agencies in the UKUSA system [NSA, GCHQ, DSD, GCSB and CSE]'(6/03)]

 

Electronic Frontier Foundation

http://www.eff.org/

[" The Electronic Frontier Foundation is comprised of passionate people &emdash; lawyers, volunteers, and visionaries &emdash; working in the trenches, battling to protect your rights and the rights of web surfers everywhere. The dedicated people of EFF challenge legislation that threatens to put a price on what is invaluable; to control what must remain boundless. "(6/03)]

 

INTERNET & NETWORKING: Surveys and Statistics

http://www.ifla.org/II/stats.htm

 
Netdictionary
http://www.netdictionary.com/html/index.html
[Useful dictionary of technical terms; produced by: Albion.com ; author & compiler, Seth Ross. (6/03) ]
 
Techno-Spiritual Quotes [Collected By Jeremy S. Gluck]. Cybersociology Magazine, # 7, 1999.

http://www.cybersociology.com/

[Selected quotes from early organizers and researchers.]

 

The World Wide Web History Project

http://www.webhistory.org/home.html

["The World Wide Web History Project is a collaborative effort to record and publish the history of the World Wide Web and its roots in hypermedia and networking. Its founding principle is to work together in as open and cooperative a manner as possible in producing a definitive history and historical archive of the Web. Explicit goals are to provide accurate and balanced history with input from as many sources as possible and maximum access to the results worldwide. The Project is currently taking steps to incorporate as a non-profit organization.

 

To date the Project has used two primary research methods: personal recollections, either taken down in interviews or recorded on their own time by sources, and archival research. We have been videotaping nearly all interviews in digital video format. Besides offering CD-quality sound and near-broadcast quality video, this format makes it easy to output still shots from video. " (6/03)].
 
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Internet Cafes
 
Rao, Madanmohan
Bringing The Net To The Masses: Cybercafes In Latin America. Cybersociology Magazine, #4 http://www.socio.demon.co.uk/magazine/4/4cybercafe.html
 
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Institutes and Centers
 
The Association of Internet Researchers
http://www.aoir.org/index.html
 
["The Association of Internet Researchers is an academic association dedicated to the advancement of the cross-disciplinary field of Internet studies. It is a resource and support network promoting critical and scholarly Internet research independent from traditional disciplines and existing across academic borders. The association is international in scope." (6/03)]

 

Center for Digital Discourse and Culture

http://www.cddc.vt.edu/index2.html

["The Center for Digital Discourse and Culture (CDDC) is a college-level center at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in the College of Arts and Sciences. Working with faculty in the Virginia Tech Cyberschool, the CDDC provides one of the world's first university based digital points-of-publication for new forms of scholarly communication, academic research, and cultural analysis. At the same time, it supports the continuation of traditional research practices, including scholarly peer review, academic freedom, network formation, and intellectual experimentation. Our aim is to be open to all forms of cultural, ideological, methodological, and scientific discourse, while encouraging diversity, interdisciplinarity, and academic excellence." (6/03)]

 

Center for Internet and Society (CIS)

http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/

["The Center for Internet and Society (CIS) is a public interest technology law and policy program at Stanford Law School and a part of Law, Science and Technology Program at Stanford Law School. The CIS brings together scholars, academics, legislators, students, hackers, and scientists to study the interaction of new technologies and the law and to examine how the synergy between the two can either promote or harm public goods like free speech, privacy, public commons, diversity, and scientific inquiry. The CIS strives as well to improve both technology and law, encouraging decision makers to design both as a means to further democratic values.. (6/03)].

 

Center for Internet Studies

http://www.cis.washington.edu

["The Center for Internet Studies (CIS) at the University of Washington is an interdisciplinary research and teaching unit for the study of the Internet's global impact on society. CIS is primarily concerned with how the disruptive forces often associated with the Internet revolution impact various social, political, and economic systems. Established in 1999 by Rex Hughes and Chris Coward as the world's first university Internet Studies center, CIS is known for several pioneering initiatives that have helped to establish the field of Internet Studies such as the Internet Political Economy Forum (IPEF), a consortium of the University of Washington, University of Cambridge, and the National University of Singapore for the study of the Internet... Principal Investigative Areas: Disruptive Technologies . Globalization . Economic Development . Innovation and Entrepreneurship . Broadband . Security . eGovernment . Regional Attitudes." (6/03)]

 

Internet Studies Center

http://www.isc.umn.edu/index.html

["The Internet Studies Center at the University of Minnesota addresses compelling questions surrounding the social, ethical, legal, and rhetorical aspects of the Internet. The Center is based in the Rhetoric Department but is an interdisciplinary effort drawing on faculty from around the University and industry partners. By providing access to current theories, critiques, and explanations of the Internet, the Internet Studies Center is a hub for innovative Internet research and discussion. Specific goals for the Center include: encourage cutting-edge, interdisciplinary research; provide structured opportunities for graduate students to take active roles in the Center's research; and offer students, scholars, and citizens access to current theories, critiques, and explanations of the Internet." (6/03)]

Oxford Internet Institute

http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/
[ The Oxford Internet Institute (OII) aims to become the world's leading multi-disciplinary academic centre focused on furthering understanding of the economic, political, institutional, scientific, legal and other social factors shaping the Internet and its implications for society. The OII intends to achieve its mission of 'shaping research, policy, and practice' through four interdependent strategies: high-quality research, collaboration, teaching, and use of the Internet as a strategic resource ('net-working'). Excellence in research underpins the Institute's collaborative and teaching activities, so an emphasis is being placed in its early years on recruiting for professorships and research posts, including Visiting Fellows... The array of research topics that could be pursued within the OII's remit is vast. Its strategy has therefore targeted key areas critical to the public interest where social practice and institutional arrangements are co-evolving with the Internet. The five initial research focal points examine the role of the Internet and other ICTs in: governance, such as developments in e-Government and e-Democracy; learning and education, for example online initiatives across all levels; research net-working, including e-Science and social research initiatives; everyday life in the household, workplace and other areas of an e-Society; and policy issues that cut across all these social settings, for instance standards and intellectual property rights (IPR). "(6/03)]

 

Resource Center for Cyberculture Studies
http://www.com.washington.edu/rccs/about.asp
 
["The Resource Center for Cyberculture Studies is an online, not-for-profit organization whose purpose is to research, teach, support, and create diverse and dynamic elements of cyberculture. While primarily virtual, RCCS's institutional framework and technological facilities reside at the University of Washington where it is hosted by the Department of Communication. RCCS was originally founded by David Silver in 1996 at the University of Maryland, where it received generous support from the Department of American Studies. "(6/03)]

 

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Online Journals
Astrolabe

http://www.accad.ohio-state.edu/Astrolabe/journal/index.html

["The interdisciplinary environment of Astrolabe: Online Journal hopes to foster an environment in which practitioners and theorists involved in the research and development of these technologies, both in academia, industry, and government will be offered a peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary outlet for accessing and/or publishing research concerning issues around ethics and virtual technologies."]
 

CMC. Computer-Mediated Communication Magazine

http://www.december.com/cmc/mag/

 
CTHEORY

http://www.ctheory.net/default.asp

[CTHEORY is an international journal of theory, technology, and culture, publishing articles,interviews, event-scenes and reviews of key books.]

 

Culture Machine

http://culturemachine.tees.ac.uk/frm_f1.htm

 

Cyberculture, Identity and Gender Resources

http://www.fragment.nl/resources/

[Major resource site with links to online articles.]

 

Cybersociology Magazine
http://www.cybersociology.com/
["Cybersociology Magazine is a forum for the discussion of the social scientific study of cyberspace. Every few months, this e-zine will strive to publish at least three original articles dealing with cyberspace, the Internet, and online communities. Each issue will also contain book and site reviews." (6/03) ]
 
 
EJC/REC: The Electronic Journal of Communication / La Revue Electronique de Communication

http://www.cios.org/www/ejcmain.htm

[Abstracts only online.]

 

Electronic Journal of Organizational Virtualness

http://www.virtual-organization.net/

 
Frame. Journal of Culture and Technology

http://trace.ntu.ac.uk/frame/

 

Game Studies

http://www.gamestudies.org/

["Game Studies is a crossdisciplinary journal dedicated to games research, web-published several times a year at www.gamestudies.org. Our primary focus is aesthetic, cultural and communicative aspects of computer games. Our mission - To explore the rich cultural genre of games; to give scholars a peer-reviewed forum for their ideas and theories; to provide an academic channel for the ongoing discussions on games and gaming."]

 

iNtergraph. Journal of Dialogic Anthropology

http://www.intergraphjournal.com/enhanced/home.htm

["iNtergraph is an experimental journal dedicated to exploring the use of new communication technologies (NCTs) in fostering a more open-ended and critically engaged anthropology which transcends disciplinary boundaries, the boundaries between the academy and the interested public, and the boundaries between researcher and researched. The title, iNtergraph, calls attention both to the 'in-between' space of ethnographic encounters and to the emergent and processual quality of anthropological knowledge, defining features of the internet itself." (6/-3)].

 

 
IT&Society

http://www.stanford.edu/group/siqss/itandsociety/index.html

["IT&Society is a web-based scholarly journal devoted to the scientific analysis of the social impact of information technology on society, with special emphasis on quantitative survey analysis. The intended audience for this research quarterly includes the community of scholars interested in the social impact of new technologies, as well as policy makers, media analysts, computer professionals and interested members of the general public. Based at Stanford. (6/03)].
 

The Journal of Electronic Publishing

http://www.press.umich.edu/jep/08-01/index.html

 
Journal of Online Behavior

http://www.behavior.net/JOB/

 
The Journal of Techné: Journal of the Society for Philosophy and Technology

http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/SPT/spt.html

 
The Journal of Virtual Environments

http://www.brandeis.edu/pubs/jove/

 

Media, Culture & Society [Sage Publishers]

http://www.sagepub.co.uk/frame.html?http://www.sagepub.co.uk/journals/details/j0088.html

 
PMC

http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/pmc/

[" Founded in 1990 as an experiment in scholarly publishing on the Internet, Postmodern Culture has become the leading electronic journal of interdisciplinary thought on contemporary cultures, publishing the work of such noted authors and critics as Kathy Acker, Charles Bernstein, Bruce Robbins, bell hooks, and Susan Howe. PMC combines high scholarly standards with broad appeal for non-academic readers. As an entirely web-based journal, PMC can publish still images, sound, animation, and full-motion video as well as text."]

 

TEXTOS de la CiberSociedad

http://cibersociedad.rediris.es/textos/

[""TEXTOS de la Cibersociedad" funcionará, inicialmente, de la siguiente manera: en cada número se incluirán entre cinco y seis artículos relativos a la temática de esta página y consecuentes con los objetivos del observatorio. La fecha de cada número será, en principio, la que corresponde al año del primer artículo que sea presentado y aceptado para cada número, de modo que pueda ser inmediatamente publicado. Una vez cerrado el número, se efectuará la modificación pertinente para que el año de la publicación sea el correcto, de acuerdo con el cierre del número. "]
 

TIS. The Information Society Journal

http://www.slis.indiana.edu/TIS/index.html

["The Information Society (TIS) journal, published since 1981, is a key critical forum for leading edge analysis of the impacts, policies, system concepts, and methodologies related to information technologies and changes in society and culture. Some of the key information technologies include computers and telecommunications; the sites of social change include homelife, workplaces, schools, communities and diverse organizations, as well as new social forms in cyberspace." (6/03)]

 

Wired Magazine

http://www.wired.com/wired/current.html

 
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Social Analysis of Cyberspace
Archives of CYBER-SOCIETY-LIVE@JISCMAIL.AC.UK

http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/cyber-society-live.html

 
Bechar-Israeli, Haya (1995) FROM <Bonehead> TO <cLoNehEAd>: NICKNAMES, PLAY, AND IDENTITY ON INTERNET RELAY CHAT ." The Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, Vol. 1, nr. 2.

http://www.ascusc.org/jcmc/vol1/issue2/bechar.html

 

Cyberculture (Voice of the Shuttle)

http://vos.ucsb.edu/browse.asp?id=2710

[Major UCSB humanities links site.]

Cybersoc

http://www.cybersoc.com/home.html
["Cybersoc is an online resource for social scientists interested in the study of the internet, cyberspace, computer mediated communication, and online communities." Robin Hamman. (6/03) ]

 

Cybersociology

http://www.angelfire.com/ma/Socialworld/Cyberspace.html

 
Cyberstudies

http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/%7Ereymers/cyberstudies.html

["Cyberstudies is a page devoted primarily to understanding the relationship between computers and culture. Cyberstudies is maintained by Kurt Reymers, a sociologist of cyberspace and technology. Kurt is web page designer and a doctoral candidate at the University at Buffalo." (6/03)].
 

"ETHICAL AND LEGAL ASPECTS OF HUMAN SUBJECTS RESEARCH IN CYBERSPACE" [AAAS]

http://www.aaas.org/spp/sfrl/projects/intres/main.htm

["As cyberspace rapidly becomes a rich medium for communication and the number of users increases, it is becoming an attractive target for social and behavioral research. The ease with which the cyberspace medium allows for these types of studies also raises issues about the ethical and legal dimensions of such research. The ability of a researcher to anonymously or pseudonymously record interactions on a site without the knowledge of the participants, the complexities of obtaining informed consent, the over-rated expectation, if not the illusion of privacy in cyberspace, and the blurred distinction between public and private domains fuel questions about the interpretation and applicability of current policies for governing the conduct of social and behavioral research involving human subjects. To promote discussion of these issues, the AAAS Program on Scientific Freedom, Responsibility and Law, in collaboration with the NIH Office for Protection from Research Risks, convened a workshop on conducting Internet research involving human subjects. A report of the workshop was prepared by AAAS staff." (6/03) ]

 

"The Ethics of Fair Practices for Collecting Social Sciences Data in Cyberspace"

http://www.slis.indiana.edu/TIS/tables_of_contents/toc_12.html#12-2

[Special issue of The Information Society (TIS) Journal, 12 (1996):#2. (6/03)]

 

Haraway, Donna (1991). "A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century," in Simians, Cyborgs and Women: The Reinvention of Nature (New York; Routledge), pp.149-181.

http://www.stanford.edu/dept/HPS/Haraway/CyborgManifesto.html

 
Internet and American Life (Pew)

http://www.pewinternet.org/index.asp

["The Pew Internet & American Life Project will create and fund original, academic-quality research that explores the impact of the Internet on children, families, communities, the work place, schools, health care and civic/political life. The Project aims to be an authoritative source for timely information on the Internet's growth and societal impact, through research that is scrupulously impartial." (6/03).]
 
A Model for Collecting and Interpreting World Trade Center Disaster Jokes (Bill Ellis)

http://www.temple.edu/isllc/newfolk/wtchumor.html

 
NMIT Working Papers

http://nmit.georgetown.edu/

 

The Psychology of Virtual Communities

http://webpages.charter.net/stormking/

 
Sarah Zupko's Cultural Studies Center

http://www.popcultures.com/

 
Social Issues of Computing

http://www.cecs.csulb.edu/%7Ejewett/social/

 
A Sociological Tour through Cyberspace

http://www.trinity.edu/~mkearl/

 

Sociology of Cyberspace Links

http://www.usyd.edu.au/su/social/cyber.html

 
THE WEBMUSEUM CYBERCULTURE RESEARCH LIBRARY

http://www.lastplace.com/page208.htm

 
Web Sociology and Social Informatics

http://folk.uio.no/iroggen/WEBsociology.html

[WWW Virtual Library: Sociology of the Web page.]

 

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Syllabi (Anthropology)
ANTHROPOLOGY, CYBERSPACE, AND THE INTERNET: Dr. Charles F. Urbanowicz, California State University, Chico, 1996.

http://www.csuchico.edu/~curban/syllabi/SYL_198A-F96.html

 
The Anthropology of Cyberspace : (Selected Topics in Cultural Anthropogy): B. E. Schwimmer, St. Paul's College, University of Manitoba

http://www.umanitoba.ca/faculties/arts/anthropology/courses/478/

["Objectives: Over the past five years, the Internet has been transformed from a arcane communication system for the military and scientific elite to a massively popular medium. Its phenomenally rapid growth will shortly make it as common as the telephone or TV set as a household appliance. While the spread of these older media have had many important consequences for contemporary life, the Internet has introduced a much more powerful and versatile communication and information infrastructure that some social theorists believe will have a revolutionary impact on societies across the globe. In this course we will consider current and emerging trends in the development of "cyberspace" from an anthropological perspective and chart the social and cultural dimensions of its growth and influences. We will be especially interested in the looking and the contexts of the international order, the workplace, the community, and the political arena. "]

MEDIA ANTHROPOLOGY: Wesley Shumar, Drexel.
http://www.geocities.com/shumarw/an499304.html
 
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