This collection brings together the most interesting and outstanding papers from the Internet Research Conference held in Toronto in 2003. Taken individually, each paper makes an important contribution to the emerging field of Internet research, but the collection as a whole presents key perspectives on the most significant directions in the field. In particular, the papers discuss how we must now consider the relationship of Internet-based activities to those «offline», rather than concentrating exclusively on the virtual. Papers advance important ideas and present research findings in relation to information theory, the Internet at home, theorizing time and the Internet, online activism, the digital divide, and more. This annual, the second in the series, demonstrates the vibrant and diverse nature of Internet scholarship fostered by the Association of Internet Researchers.

This peer-reviewed collection represents some of the finest research presented at the 2004 Association of Internet Researchers Conference held in Sussex in 2004. Responding to the theme of ubiquity, papers collected here represent a diverse range of inquiries into the development, as well as perceived development, of the Internet. Offering new and important work about blogs, online games, users, norms and access, to name just a few topics, this collection is a must-read for Internet scholars intent on keeping pace with a rapidly expanding field.

Whether or not one believes the hyperbolic claims about the Internet being the biggest thing since the invention of the wheel, the Internet is a medium with great consequences for social and economic life. Doing Internet Research is written to help people discern in what ways it has commanded the public imagination, and the methodological issues that arise when one tries to study and understand the social processes occurring within the Internet. Each contributor to the volume offers original responses in the search for, and critique of, methods with which to study the Internet and the social, political, economic, artistic, communicative phenomena occurring within and around it. This book provides encouragement for readers getting started with Internet research and also provides perspective on this new and ubiquitous communication medium.

Internet Research Annual offers a selection of the best work presented at the first three conferences of the Association of Internet Researchers, and provides a useful overview of the cutting-edge in Internet studies. Established scholars and new researchers address issues such as communities on/off line, the Internet as a methodological tool and space for research, and the places, politics, and policies of the Internet, creating a volume that comprehensively covers the field of Internet research. Also included are a brief history of the organization, a list of previously published papers from the conferences, and works by several of the keynote speakers including Phil Agre, Barbara Warnick, Bill Dutton, Sheizaf Rafaeli, Susan Herring, Robin Mansell, and much more.

An explanation of the digital practices of the black Internet From BlackPlanet to #BlackGirlMagic, Distributed Blackness places blackness at the very center of internet culture. André Brock Jr. claims issues of race and ethnicity as inextricable from and formative of contemporary digital culture in the United States. Distributed Blackness analyzes a host of platforms and practices (from Black Twitter to Instagram, YouTube, and app development) to trace how digital media have reconfigured the meanings and performances of African American identity. Brock moves beyond widely circulated deficit models of respectability, bringing together discourse analysis with a close reading of technological interfaces to develop nuanced arguments about how “blackness” gets worked out in various technological domains. As Brock demonstrates, there’s nothing niche or subcultural about expressions of blackness on social media: internet use and practice now set the terms for what constitutes normative participation. Drawing on critical race theory, linguistics, rhetoric, information studies, and science and technology studies, Brock tabs between black-dominated technologies, websites, and social media to build a set of black beliefs about technology. In explaining black relationships with and alongside technology, Brock centers the unique joy and sense of community in being black online now.