The World Wide Web and Contemporary Cultural Theory

Engaging the thematic issues of the Web as a space where magic, metaphor, and power converge, the chapters cover such subjects as The Web and Corporate Media Systems, Conspiracy Theories and the Web; The Economy of Cyberpromotion, The Bias of the Web, The Web and Issues of Gender, and so on.

Andrew Herman is Associate Professor of Sociology and Cultural Studies at Drake University. He is the author of The "Better Angels" Of Capitalism: Rhetoric, Narrativeand Moral Identity Among Men Of The American Upper Class (Westview, 1998) and the forthcoming book, The "Goods"Life: Consumer Culture and Moral Identity inContemporary America (Blackwell). Thomas Swiss is Center for the Humanities Professor of English and Director of the Web-Assisted Curriculum at Drake University. He is the author of two collections of poems, including Rough Cut (Illinois UP, 1997). He is editor or co-editor of a number of books, including KeyTerms for Popular Music and Culture (Blackwell, 1999). Herman and Swiss, with John H. Sloop, previously co-edited Mapping The Beat: Contemporary Theory AndPopular Music (Blackwell, 1998).

Acknowledgments, Introduction: The World Wide Web as Magic, Metaphor, and Power, 1 So Much for the Magic of Technology and the Free Market: The World Wide Web and the Corporate Media System, 2 Webs of Myth and Power: Connectivity and the New Computer Technopolis, 3 Webs of Conspiracy, 4 Red Alert!: Rhetorics of the World Wide Web and Friction Free Capitalism, 5 Yo-Ho-Ho and a Server of Warez: Internet Software Piracy and the New Global Information Economy, 6 Shit Happens: Numerology, Destiny, and Control on the Web, 7 Hypertext Links: The Ethic of the Index and Its Space-Time Effects, 8 The Economy of Cyberpromotion: Awards on the World Wide Web, 9 The Bias of the Web, 10 Baud Girls and Cargo Cults: A Story about Celebrity, Community, and Profane Illumination on the Web, 11 Literacy Beyond Books: Reading When All the World's a Web, 12 Cultural Technologies and the Evolution of Technological Cultures, 13 Error 404: Doubting the Web, Bibliography, Contributors, Index