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  • The Internet Myth

    From the Internet Imaginary to Network Ideologies

    Paolo Bory

    Part of the Critical, Digital and Social Media Studies series.
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    ‘The Internet is broken and Paolo Bory knows how we got here. In a powerful book based on original research, Bory carefully documents the myths, imaginaries, and ideologies that shaped the material and cultural history of the Internet. As important as this book is to understand our shattered digital world, it is essential for those who would fix it.’ — Vincent Mosco, author of The Smart City in a Digital World

    The Internet Myth retraces and challenges the myth laying at the foundations of the network ideologies – the idea that networks, by themselves, are the main agents of social, economic, political and cultural change. By comparing and integrating different sources related to network histories, this book emphasizes how a dominant narrative has extensively contributed to the construction of the Internet myth while other visions of the networked society have been erased from the collective imaginary. The book decodes, analyzes and challenges the foundations of the network ideologies looking at how networks have been imagined, designed and promoted during the crucial phase of the 1990s.

    Three case studies are scrutinized so as to reveal the complexity of network imaginaries in this decade: the birth of the Web and the mythopoesis of its inventor; and the histories of two Italian networking projects, the infrastructural plan Socrate and the civic network Iperbole, the first to give free Internet access to citizens.

    The Internet Myth thereby provides a compelling and hidden sociohistorical narrative in order to challenge one of the most powerful myths of our time.

    This title has been published with the financial assistance of the Fondazione Hilda e Felice Vitali, Lugano, Switzerland.

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    Book Reviews (2):

      Review from 26 May 2021: Information, Communication & Society
      The Internet Myth. From the Internet imaginary to network ideologies

      Daniel Staemmler

      With ‘The Internet Myth’ the media scholar Paolo Bory focusses not so much on the technical properties and functions of digital technologies but rather on the narratives, symbols, and meanings which are assigned to media and networking technologies.

      The full review cannot be displayed due to copyright restrictions. You can read the full review at Information, Communication & Society

      Review from 24 Nov 2020: HAL Open Science
      Book Review. Paolo Bory, 2020, The Internet Myth: From the Internet Imaginary to Network Ideologies

      Francesca Musiani

      Notions such as imaginary, myth, ideology, utopia… have been mobilized with notable success in the social sciences throughout the past years and decades, as they are useful to incorporate in an anthropological perspective the forms of doing-together…

      The full review cannot be displayed due to copyright restrictions. You can read the full review at HAL Open Science



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    How to cite this book
    Bory, P. 2020. The Internet Myth: From the Internet Imaginary to Network Ideologies. London: University of Westminster Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.16997/book48
    Bory, P., 2020. The Internet Myth: From the Internet Imaginary to Network Ideologies. London: University of Westminster Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.16997/book48
    Bory, P. The Internet Myth: From the Internet Imaginary to Network Ideologies. University of Westminster Press, 2020. DOI: https://doi.org/10.16997/book48
    Bory, P. (2020). The Internet Myth: From the Internet Imaginary to Network Ideologies. London: University of Westminster Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.16997/book48
    Bory, Paolo. 2020. The Internet Myth: From the Internet Imaginary to Network Ideologies. London: University of Westminster Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.16997/book48




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    This book is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution + Noncommercial + NoDerivatives 4.0 license. Copyright is retained by the author(s)

    Peer Review Information

    This book has been peer reviewed. See our Peer Review Policies for more information.

    Additional Information

    Published on April 29, 2020

    Language

    English

    Pages:

    169

    ISBN
    EPUB 978-1-912656-77-6
    Mobi 978-1-912656-78-3
    Paperback 978-1-912656-75-2
    PDF 978-1-912656-76-9

    DOI
    https://doi.org/10.16997/book48