I first started teaching a course called Internet Culture back in the late 2000s. When we said ‘Internet Culture,’ I imagined a subculture of the larger society--a community of people interested and obsessed with all things Internet.  It has become clear now that our entire civilization has become the ‘Internet Culture.’

If you were born before the year 2000, you might remember a time before you had a personal computer or a smartphone. In one human generation, these digital networks and technologies have soaked into and changed the nature of our existence: our institutions, how we communicate, learn, work, play, shop, travel, exercise, and access health care. This rapid shift in technology is unprecedented in human history, creating a highly fluid and evolving system in which we can find exciting opportunities for progress; some of the most joyful, hilarious, shocking, and vile expressions of humanity; and serious questions about how to navigate human and machine relationships. This is Internet Culture.

This is not a traditional textbook—think of it more like an interactive, electronic, workbook. Because of the subject matter, many places in the text will ask you to click out of the “book” itself and look at some of these artifacts (articles, videos, songs) on the live Internet. The book has four units, each containing a pair of chapters. Each chapter has a glossary of important terms and concepts and a quiz that is meant to reinforce learning and retention of those important concepts. Throughout each chapter you’ll find some places where you will be prompted to consider, reflect, and write about the material. When you submit those notes and reflections, they’ll be saved in an electronic document for you to access later. This writing will be particularly useful for organizing your thought for class discussions or if your teacher asks you to write essays on a related set of issues.

We start in Unit 1 by considering views of technology and related value systems, and looking at some philosophies and theories that help us to understand how new ideas spread. Unit 2 lays down some theories about how media and technology systems evolve over time with some concrete history of the Internet, and connects to the notion that language is a technology, which also makes humans dependent on certain technologies to preserve cultural memory. Unit 3 breaks down the features and aspects of Computer Mediated Communication with some practical rules and advice for how to use proper etiquette, both on the network and in real life. Unit 4 examines the nature of digital media, how we use it, its creative and democratic potentials, and the legal and ethical challenges that we face as our network evolves.

We move from theoretical to practical, individual acts to group dynamics, and back again—all with the intent of getting you to see how we are connected, to understand where we came from, to imagine where we could go, and to express what part you intend to play in cultivating the next Internet Culture!