THE INTERNET IN EVERYDAY LIFE

Edited by Barry Wellman and Caroline Haythornthwaite

Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, Fall 2002


 

       

        The Internet in Everyday Life brings together many pioneering studies that systematically investigate how being online fits into everyday lives. Until now, the Internet has been treated and discussed as separate from daily life, occupying some separate sphere of social endeavor. This collection of original articles from leading scholars in North America, Asia and Europe moves discussion of the Internet closer to home, showing how the Internet does not exist "out there" but is instead an integral part of daily work and home life.

        Contributors show who is on the Internet and what they are doing there. They debate whether the Internet adds to or detracts from the well-being of individuals, communities, and societies. They demonstrate how the Internet affects friendship, social capital, social support, civic involvement, school, work, and shopping. They show the extent to which the Internet is supporting new forms of human relationships, and describe what gets dropped and strained when Internet hours are added to already full schedules.

        The book goes beyond speculation to provide solid findings. Articles are informed by results from surveys, interviews, and ethnographic data about behavior on and with the Internet. Taken as a whole, this considered body of evidence should raise the level of debate about the impact of the Internet and raises serious questions about the popular myth that Internet use increases social alienation.


THE INTERNET IN EVERYDAY LIFE:
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Edited by Barry Wellman & Caroline Haythornthwaite


MOVING THE INTERNET OUT OF CYBERSPACE

Howard Rheingold, Foreword: The Virtual Community in the Real World

Manuel Castells, The Internet and the Network Society

Caroline Haythornthwaite and Barry Wellman, The Internet in Everyday Life

THE PLACE OF THE INTERNET IN EVERYDAY LIFE

Philip Howard, Lee Rainie, & Steve Jones, Days and Nights on the Internet

Wenhong Chen, Jeffrey Boase & Barry Wellman, The Global Villagers: Comparing Internet Users and Uses Around the World

James Katz & Ronald Rice, Syntopia: Access, Civic Involvement and Social Interaction on the Net

Ben Anderson & Karina Tracey, Digital Living: The Impact (or Otherwise) of the Internet in Everyday British Life

Gert Wagner, Rainer Pischner & John Haisken-DeNew, The Changing Digital Divide in Germany

Alan Neustadtl, John Robinson & Meyer Kestnbaum, Doing Social Science Research Online

FINDING TIME FOR THE INTERNET

Norman Nie, D. Sunshine Hillygus & Lutz Erbring, Internet Use, Interpersonal Relations and Sociability: A Time Diary Study.

John Robinson, Meyer Kestnbaum, Alan Neustadtl & Anthony Alvarez, The Internet and Other Uses of Time

Janell Copher, Alaina Kanfer & Mary Bea Walker, Everyday Communication Patterns of Heavy and Light Email Users

THE INTERNET IN THE COMMUNITY

Anabel Quan-Haase & Barry Wellman, Capitalizing on the Net: Social Contact, Civic Engagement and Sense of Community

Andrea Kavanaugh & Scott Patterson, The Impact of Computer Networks on Social Capital and Community Involvement in Blacksburg

Keith Hampton & Barry Wellman, The Not So Global Village of Netville

Bonka Boneva & Robert Kraut, Email, Gender and Personal Relationships

Sorin Matei & Sandra Ball-Rokeach, Belonging in Geographic, Ethnic and Internet Spaces

THE INTERNET AT SCHOOL, WORK AND HOME

Caroline Haythornthwaite & Michelle Kazmer, Bringing the Internet Home: Adult Distance Learners and Their Internet, Home and Work Worlds

Janet Salaff, Where Home is the Office: The New Form of Flexible Work

Teresa Davidson, R. Sooryamoorthy & Wesley Shrum, Kerala Connections: Will the Internet Affect Science in Developing Areas?

Kakuko Miyata, Social Support for Japanese Mothers Online and Offline

Robert Lunn & Michael Suman, Experience and Trust in Everyday Shopping