Web.Studies: Rewiring Media Studies for the Digital Age
 
Edited by David Gauntlett
Published by Arnold, 2000

Note that there is now a second edition of this book, published 2004.

From the back cover:
The World Wide Web has transformed the media landscape. This exciting, engaging and accessible book, written by scholars from the USA, Europe and Australia, explores the ways in which people, organisations and companies are using the Web to assert themselves in the world, and build communities of communication. This is the first book to offer students a comprehensive and coherent introduction to the new Web-based media culture.

Beginning with an introduction to the Web and how it works, followed by the theories and methods of cyberculture studies, Web.Studies moves on to consider everyday Web life, art and culture, Web business, and global Web communities, politics and protest. Topics covered range from personal and fan websites, cyber-sexualities, webcams and Web-based art and entertainment, to global capitalism and the fight for Web domination, cybercrime, and internet propaganda. Uniquely, the book combines studies of the Web's artistic and creative possibilities with political, economic and international perspectives. Each chapter includes suggestions for ways in which students can use the Web to further their own research; there are also illustrations, lists of useful websites, a glossary, and a bibliography.

REVIEWS:

"Web.Studies sets the agenda for a new period of media research, one that gets to grips with the significance of new communications technologies and the global spaces in which they are so rapidly developing. I believe that this book will help considerably to take media studies in new directions." - Prof. Kevin Robins, Goldsmiths College, University of London.

"Like the Web itself, Web.Studies is by turns stimulating, informative, and provocative. It provides a useful and diverse collection of resources that will help us to understand the Web as a social and cultural medium, not just as a form of "information technology"." - Prof. David Buckingham, Institute of Education, University of London.

"Web.Studies is another welcome addition to the growing collection of key texts for students of new media. It is a thoughtful and well-balanced general overview of the subject that will be required reading on many undergraduate courses... A highly effective collection of papers... Gauntlett certainly sets up an exciting vision of web studies as the most fruitful area for media theorists." - Peter Dean in Convergence, vol. 8, no. 1 (2002), pp. 119-22.

"The editor has done an excellent job of selecting essays that fit together logically and thematically... The result is a variety of fresh, interconnected perspectives that do not belabour any particular point or idea... Web.Studies is an excellent reference for researchers and graduate students and an ideal text for undergraduate classes that examine online media" - Kirk St. Amant in IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, vol. 44, no. 4 (2001), pp. 304-5.

"Gauntlett’s collection should convince even the most skeptical that almost all social phenomena will have seeped onto the web in some way, and may well have been transformed in the process. As I read Gauntlett’s book, I became even more convinced than previously of the need to look across, if not do away with altogether, the boundary between media studies and sociology... I certainly intend to use [Web.Studies] to introduce sociology and communications students to the wide range of research topics the internet offers... [The book] contains much to stimulate a sociological imagination." -- Christine Hine in Sociology, vol. 36, no. 3 (August 2002), pp. 776-778.

"In Web.Studies, Gauntlett and the chapter authors have successfully provided a resource of scholarly discussions about Web cultures that take into consideration the broad range of social, economic, and political interactions that take place on the Web. Each of the three major sections of Web.Studies offers a unique and inclusive approach to the study of cyberculture." - Ryan Burns, Department of Communication, University of Oklahoma.

"In his book Web Studies... editor David Gauntlett sets out an interesting review of media studies and the Web, from both a sociological and cultural studies perspective. ... Web studies is excellent for both humanities students who are interested in aspects of the Web but are unsure where to start and for those who wish to discover what the Web has to offer. David Gauntlett has given us a comprehensive look at several areas of the Web. He also offers us a unique insight of the experiences that he and the other contributors have had with online communities, Web site design, and other aspects of the Internet... Web Studies is, overall, a most enjoyable read." - Cesar Basanta, Bath Spa University College.

"This book is a 'killer site'. Overall, this book does a number of things very well and it does them at a time when there is a dearth of quality writing in this area. Web.Studies brings the best of the Web's tendency toward the succinct and informative and binds it in an affordable and useable format. It would make an excellent textbook for undergraduate media studies and could serve as an entry point for the digitally dubious members of the real world." - Patrick Finn, University of Victoria.

"There are many web studies / theory texts developed for graduate students and professionals, but this is the only one that is approachable for undergraduates." - Cindy Wambeam, Washington State University (2002).

"I have used Web.Studies in my teaching for four different semesters, and I really like the book and its topics." - Barbara Harbach, University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point (2002).

ISBN 0 340 76048 6 (hbk)
ISBN 0 340 76049 4 (pbk)