Review by Choice Review
Among the lexical meanings of "culture" distinguished by The American Heritage Dictionary (3rd ed., 1992), one, focusing on the social transmission of behavior patterns, applies to Kiesler's book. Porter's, on the other hand, treats culture in terms of artistic expression. Each of these timely volumes (both collections of essays) offers a significantly different approach to Internet culture. Most of the contributors to Porter's book have advanced degrees in English, and many others are from related disciplines in the humanities and fine arts. Consequently, language and writing play a dominant role in these essays. By contrast, Kiesler's authors generally have advanced degrees in psychology, sociology, or related disciplines, hence concepts like "power," "influence," and "support groups" dominate in her volume. Essays in Kiesler's volume, each preceded by an abstract, are laden with tables, charts, graphs, statistics, and extensive footnotes. Porter's book has none of these elements. Instead, the essays are filled with references to literary works, classical and modern, with the literature of contemporary science fiction figuring heavily in many. In her preface, Kiesler states that the book is intended primarily for researchers. Porter only says that the essays are intended to examine the "characteristic ways of being and interacting" in the Internet's public spaces. Each editor took a different approach in gathering the essays as well. In an effort to define a common framework for the volume, Porter gave his contributors a list of questions to address. Kiesler collected the essays, then organized them according to their common threads. In line with its research approach, Kiesler's book has a subject index, while Porter's does not. Finally, while Porter's book lends itself to casual reading, Kiesler's is more likely to be used by readers extracting data. Both books are recommended for all academic libraries, because each brings something significant to the important topic of Internet culture. M. M. Bohn University of Nebraska at Omaha
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
