The Internet: An Ethnographic Approach

Description

An examination of Internet culture and consumption. The Internet is increasingly shaping, and being shaped by, users' lives. From cybercafes to businesses, from middle class houses to squatters settlements, the authors have gathered material on subjects as varied as personal relations, commerce, sex and religion. Websites are also analyzed as new cultural formations acting as aesthetic traps. At every point, email chat and surfing are found to be exploited in ways that bring out both unforeseen attributes of the Internet and the contradictions of modern life. The material, taken from ethnographic work in Trinidad, adds depth to earlier discussions about the Internet as an expansion of space, the changes it effects to time and personhood, and the new political economy of the information age. A tie-in with the book's own website provides further illustrations.

Daniel Miller is Professor of Anthropology, University College London. Recent books include 'A Theory of Shopping', 'The Internet: An Ethnographic Approach' (with Don Slater) and Ed. 'Car Cultures'. Don Slater is Reader in Sociology, London School of Economics.

'Essentially thrilling ... this is the best piece of research on social uses of the internet that I have come across.' The Independent 'Now a remarkable new book has raised the discussion to a new level.' The Observer 'The book is impressive, well argued and written ... Indeed, this book is innovative and I would suggest that it is essential reading for all students and researchers examining the relationship between new internet technologies and society.' Sociology 'Represents not only an important contribution to the proliferation of writings about the Internet, but also a timely lesson in the practice of ethnography ... To use ethnography to such effect in studying this phenomenon provides a forceful argument for the role of anthropologists in understanding contemporary processes ... In imagining the Internet in this way, and Slater not only make an ethnographic study of the Internet possible, but also suggest a new avenue for theorizing it.' Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute ' I found The Internet:An Ethnographic Approach to be a valuable contribution ... a well-considered examination of the complex nature of the Internet'. Environment and Planning B:Planning and Design,2001 'A true gem, which I recommend to anyone who has ever spent any time on the information superhighway.' THES 'This valuable study is probably the first of many that will show how the internet is actually used in various cultures.' Future Survey 'This work provides a comprehensive analysis of the way Trinidadians engage with the Internet.' Education, Communication and Information 'Slater and Miller have been able to obtain and master very rich materials on a subject of great importance and interpret them in a pertinent way. ... This work, which shows the [internet's] impact on a given region, will help each of us to familiarise ourselves with the rudiments of it.' L'Homme 'This is easily one of the best ethnographic studies of Internet usage...This book can be recommended with enthusiasm.' The Australian Journal of Anthropology