TY - JOUR
T1 - Contextualing cyberspace
T2 - a photographic study of landscapes of Internet access
AU - Holligan, C.
PY - 2003/1
Y1 - 2003/1
N2 - The paper examines contemporary issues surrounding the internet as a tool for promoting social inclusion. By means of case studies based on a photographic method we seek to unravel relationships between the social meanings associated with the sites of internet access and how the status of those viewing those sites influences how they are understood. Our approach is informed by the ideas of the Marxist intellectual Louis Althusser. For him dominant images circulate within society and these images impact upon how persons construct their identities and affiliations. For example, commercial advertisers seek to “recruit” us into the consumption of particular life-styles. The paper concludes with a discussion of how inclusivist policies should acknowledge the powerful effects of images in an individual’s decision-making. Images, it is suggested, inform how individuals regard the “landscapes” within which cyberspace is positioned for consumption.
AB - The paper examines contemporary issues surrounding the internet as a tool for promoting social inclusion. By means of case studies based on a photographic method we seek to unravel relationships between the social meanings associated with the sites of internet access and how the status of those viewing those sites influences how they are understood. Our approach is informed by the ideas of the Marxist intellectual Louis Althusser. For him dominant images circulate within society and these images impact upon how persons construct their identities and affiliations. For example, commercial advertisers seek to “recruit” us into the consumption of particular life-styles. The paper concludes with a discussion of how inclusivist policies should acknowledge the powerful effects of images in an individual’s decision-making. Images, it is suggested, inform how individuals regard the “landscapes” within which cyberspace is positioned for consumption.
KW - Photographs
U2 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0160-791X(02)00059-3
DO - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0160-791X(02)00059-3
M3 - Article
VL - 25
SP - 117
EP - 130
JO - Technology in Society
JF - Technology in Society
SN - 0160-791X
IS - 1
ER -