A concise however extensive-ranging non-public historical past of the web from―for the primary time―the standpoint of the user
In a surprisingly quick period of time, the web has sure other folks around the globe in combination and torn us aside and altered no longer simply the way in which we keep in touch however who we’re and who we will be. It has created a brand new, extraordinary cultural house that we’re all part of―although we don’t take part, that may be how we take part―however wherein we’re regularly stunned, betrayed, enriched, befuddled. We’ve got churned thru structures and applied sciences and in flip been churned by way of them. And but, the web is us and at all times has been.
In Lurking, Joanne McNeil digs deep and identifies the principle (if every now and then contradictory) issues of other folks on-line: looking out, protection, privateness, id, neighborhood, anonymity, and visibility. She charts what it’s that introduced other folks on-line and what helps to keep us right here whilst the social equations of virtual existence―what we’re made to business, knowingly or another way, for the advantages of the web―have shifted greatly underneath us. This is a tale we’re conversant in listening to as tales of marketers and visionaries and dynamic and robust companies, however there’s a extra profound, intimate tale that hasn’t but been instructed.
Long some of the incisive, ferociously clever, and broadly revered cultural critics on-line, McNeil right here establishes a unique imaginative and prescient of who we at the moment are, tells the tales of the way we was us, and is helping us get started to determine what we do now.
