The Cultures of Computing

Computers are rapidly diffusing through every organizational, creative and domestic setting, creating cultural changes in all of them. Scholars are using the tools of anthropology, sociology and organizational theory to understand these processes. Some of them are associated with making, and some with using, computers and information technology. Because computers are simultaneously intimate and formal, they offer a good opportunity to study a variety of processes: the development of material culture, the formation of practice–based networks, the fallibility of language, the relationship between power and infrastructure.
This book is one of the first collections which explores the range of cultural practices associated with the design and use of computing. Each of the contributors examines specific kinds of work that people do together with and around computers. Each essay examines the ways in which people are brought together in computing practices as learners, artists, gatekeepers and scientists – sometimes as insiders, sometimes as outsiders. The contributors cover a range of topics, from the military to gender in cyberspace, from education to multinational corporate IT use.

Spis treści:
1. From Practice to Culture on Usenet: Nancy K. Baym (University of Illinois).
2. Changing Documents/Documenting Changes: Using Computers for Collaborative Writing over Distance: Eevi E. Beck (University of Sussex).
3. Cyberpunks in Cyberspace: The Politics of Subjectivity in the Computer Age: Paul N. Edwards (Stanford University).
4. Information Systems Strategy, a Cultural Borderland, Some monstrous Behaviour: Mike Hales (University of Brighton).
5. Making Space: A Comparison of Mathematical Work in School and Professional Design Practices: Rogers Hall and Reed Stevens (University of California, Berkeley and Institute for Research in Learning).
6. Contextualization, Cognitive Flexibility, and Hypertext: The Convergence of Int erpretative Theory, Cognitive Psychology, and Advanced Information Technologies: Robert Alun Jones and Rand J. Spiro (University of Illinois).
7. Constructing Easiness – Historical Perspectives on Work, Computerization, and Women: Randi Markussen (Arhus University).
8. Creating Cybertrust from the Margins: H. Jeanie Taylor and Cheris Kramarae (University of Illinois).
9.′Pulling Down′ Books vs ′Pulling Up′ Files: Textual Databanks and the Changing Culture of Classical Scholarship: Karen Ruhleder (Worcester Polytechnic Institute).
10. The Visual Culture of Engineers: Kathryn Henderson (Texas A & M University).
11. Cross–Classroom Collaboration in Global Learning Circles: Margaret Riel (AT & T Learning Circles).
12. Connecting Cultures: Balinese Character and the Computer: Dianne DiPaola Hagaman.
13. Sex and Death Among the Disembodied: VR, Cyberspace, and the Nature of Academic Discourse: Allucquere Rosanne Stone (University of Texas).

Nota biograficzna:
Susan Leigh Star is Associate Professor at the Department of Sociology, University of Illinois and Affiliate Research Scientist at the Institute for Research on Learning in the USA.

Okładka tylna:
Computers are rapidly diffusing through every organizational, creative and domestic setting, creating cultural changes in all of them. Scholars are using the tools of anthropology, sociology and organizational theory to understand these processes. Some of them are associated with making, and some with using, computers and information technology. Because computers are simultaneously intimate and formal, they offer a good opportunity to study a variety of processes: the development of material culture, the formation of practice–based networks, the fallibility of language, the relationship between power and infrastructure.
This book is one of the first collections which explores the range of cultural pra ctices associated with the design and use of computing. Each of the contributors examines specific kinds of work that people do together with and around computers. Each essay examines the ways in which people are brought together in computing practices as learners, artists, gatekeepers and scientists – sometimes as insiders, sometimes as outsiders. The contributors cover a range of topics, from the military to gender in cyberspace, from education to multinational corporate IT use.