Literature review

Habermas: The public sphere

Jurgen Habermas a pre-eminent social and political theorist whose ideas around the “Public Sphere” have influenced much  of the contemporary thinking around the information or network society.  Habermas describes the public sphere as a shared public conversation which encapsulates political, social and cultural debate.  He argues that this public sphere is essential to the functioning

Digital Divide: Pippa Norris

Another day, another book review…..I picked up the Pippa Norris book as there seemed to be some interesting parallels between what she was talking about in terms of Internet take up from third world countries as a way of looking at the problems of getting first world users to adopt technology for a specific purpose. 


Howard Rheingold: The Virtual Community

I have been re-reading Howard Rheingold’s book on the virtual communities and wanted to save my observations while they are still fresh in my mind. Its brilliant book where his enthusiasm for the the ‘electronic frontier’ that the internet provides is palpable on every page. He is also eminently readable which is a welcome relief