The Future Of Community And Personal Identity In The Coming Electronic Culture

The 1994 Aspen Institute Roundtable on Information Technology began as a look at the changing nature of the home. In building scenarios of the "new home," the participants expressed many significant insights into issues of personal identity, community-building, and setting boundaries in our lives and environments. This report captures many of those insights and observations. It is intended to be a catalyst for readers to understand the consequences of the trends in communications and information technologies, to think more about these issues, and to consider appropriate new actions to take as individuals, as workers, and as citizens to have better lives and communities. The report first concentrates on the impact that electronic networks might have on the future of communities, geographical and virtual. A second major theme explored is that of changes in personal identity occasioned by electronic networking in both the physical spaces of home and geographical community, on the one hand, and the virtual communities called MUDs ("Multi-User Domain") and MOOs (MUDs using Object-Oriented computer code), on the other. A third area of focus is that of the changing nature of intermediaries in democratic societies. The areas of public policy that are ripe for review are described in the last section of the report. A paper entitled, "The New Intermediaries" (Charles M. Firestone), and a list of conference participants are appended. (MAS)

Praise for the First Edition: `A landmark volume that provides a foundation stone for a new subject - the study of new media. It is stunningly well-edited, offering a very high standard of original contributions in a skilfully orchestrated and organised textbook' - James Curran, Goldsmiths College, University of London `This is the first major review of interactive technologies and their cultural and social context. This is more than a welcome addition to one's library; it is the authoritative overview of international research perspectives on interactive media technologies by leading scholars around the world' - Ellen Wartella, University of Texas, Austin `The Handbook of New Media is a landmark for the study of information and communication technologies within the field of communication. Its international team of editors and authors has brought together insights gained from over two decades of scholarly research. This indispensable reference demonstrates an increased maturity and stature for "new media" research within the field' - William H Dutton, University of Southern California `A truly comprehensive and authoritative volume. This Handbook will be an absolutely essential text for anyone concerned with social aspects of the new media' - Kevin Robins, Goldsmiths College, University of London Thoroughly revised and updated, this Student Edition of the successful Handbook of New Media has been abridged to showcase the best of the hardback edition. It stakes out the boundaries of new media research and scholarship and provides a definitive statement of the current state of the field. New to the Student Edition: - Improved organization of material to make it more accessible for students and easier to incorporate into course design - An introduction by the editors, which clearly lays out the main themes in new media studies as well as providing instructors with a guide to how to get the most out of the Handbook in the classroom - All chapters are updated to combine classic studies and background material with latest developments in the field The first edition of the Handbook immediately established itself as the central reference work in the field. This new revised edition offers students the most comprehensive and up-to-date introduction to the area.

The Community Networking Handbook surveys the complete process of community networking: planning, developing partnerships, funding, marketing, content, public access, and evaluation. Under the guidance of author Stephen Bajjaly, founder and project director of South Carolina's MidNet, you will learn how the community network works, and how you can play your part.

Howard Rheingold tours the "virtual community" of online networking. Howard Rheingold has been called the First Citizen of the Internet. In this book he tours the "virtual community" of online networking. He describes a community that is as real and as much a mixed bag as any physical community—one where people talk, argue, seek information, organize politically, fall in love, and dupe others. At the same time that he tells moving stories about people who have received online emotional support during devastating illnesses, he acknowledges a darker side to people's behavior in cyberspace. Indeed, contends Rheingold, people relate to each other online much the same as they do in physical communities. Originally published in 1993, The Virtual Community is more timely than ever. This edition contains a new chapter, in which the author revisits his ideas about online social communication now that so much more of the world's population is wired. It also contains an extended bibliography.

The Communication Yearbook annuals originally published between 1977 and 2009 publish diverse, state-of-the-discipline literature reviews that advance knowledge and understanding of communication systems, processes, and impacts across the discipline. Topics dealt with include Communication as Process, Research Methodology in Communication, Communication Effects, Taxonomy of Communication and European Communication Theory, Information Systems Division, Mass Communication Research, Mapping the Domain of Intercultural Communication, Public Relations, Feminist Scholarship, Communication Law and Policy, Visual Communication, Communication and Cross-Sex Friendships Across the Life Cycle, Television Programming and Sex Stereotyping, InterCultural Communication Training, Leadership and Relationships, Media Performance Assessment, Cognitive Approaches to Communication.

This distinctive volume combines synthetic theoretical essays and reports of original research to address the interrelations of communication and community in a wide variety of settings. Chapters address interpersonal conversation and communal relationships; journalism organizations and political reporting; media use and community participation; communication styles and alternative organizations; and computer networks and community building; among other topics. The contents offer synthetic literature reviews, philosophical essays, reports of original research, theory development, and criticism. While varying in theoretical perspective and research focus, each of the chapters also provides its own approach to the practice of communication and community. In this way, the book provides a recurrent thematic emphasis on the pragmatic consequences of theory and research for the activities of communication and living together in communities. Taken as a whole, this collection illustrates that communication and community cannot be adequately analyzed in any context without considering other contexts, other levels of analysis, and other media and modes of communication. As such, it provides important insights for scholars, students, educators, and researchers concerned with communication across the full range of contexts, media, and modes.

Teletechnologies, or technologies of distance, cannot be ignored. Indeed, the present electronic age is said to have wrought profound changes to how we think about and experience who we are, where we are, and how we relate with one another. Place and community have traditionally formed key concepts for thinking about these issues, but what relevance do these concepts now hold for us? In this wide-ranging study, Wilken re-evaluates how ideas of place and community intersect with and help us make sense of a world transformed by information and communication technologies. This interdisciplinary investigation ranges across diverse textual and contextual terrain, exploring approaches from media and communications, architectural history and theory, philosophy, sociology, geography, literature, and urban design. The rich analysis of these myriad texts reveals the complex and at times contradictory ways in which notions of place and community circulate in relation to these technologies of distance. Wilken’s examination underscores both the enduring importance of ideas of place and community in the present age, and the urgent need to continue to engage with, think about and reconfigure these twin ideas.

Communities are composed of connected individuals. The communication that exists within, about, and between these communities is at the heart of Communication Yearbook 28. This book draws from the broad range encompassed by the communication discipline to review literature that has something to say about community and what the communication discipline has to contribute to understanding this human connection. Offering state-of-the-art research, Communication Yearbook 28 presents: *an influence model addressing the most basic level of community--the personal relationship; *the literature on romantic and parent-child relationships at a distance; *community in terms of those working at home and telecommuting, running home-based businesses, and participating in online communities; *the communicative venue for community building and fragmentation; *social capital and tolerance; *the literature on collaboration, examining this communicative performance in community groups; *community as a foundation for the study of public relations theory and practice; *the visual images of community and what they suggest about these communities to those looking in from the outside; *the role new technology plays in maintaining community; and *community contexts. This book is an important reference on current research for scholars and students in the social sciences.