This is a study of how policy ideas, first raised as definitions of specific problems and as solutions for those problems, get translated into formal public policy. Specifically, the work tracks the making of energy and telecommunications policy, taking the reader inside the legislative policy debate involving elected officials, administrators, industry representatives, lobbyists, and citizen representatives. The author analyzes the many legislative proposals representing the preferences of the various participants which, over the course of the seven-year policy cycle seen here, illustrate the process of synthesis and analysis which underlies congressional policy making today.

The current popularity of such phrases as "information age" and 'information society" suggests thatlinks between information,communication, and: behavior have become closer and more complex in a technology-dominated culture. Social scientists have adopted an integrated approach to these concepts, opening up new theoretical perspectives on the media, social psychology, personal relationships, group process, international diplomacy, and consumer behavior. Between Communication and Information maps out a richly interdisciplinary approach to this development, offering innovative research and advancing our understanding of integrative frameworks.This fourth volume in the series reflects recently established lines of research as well as the continuing interest in basic areas of communications theory and practice. In Part I contributors explore the junction between communication and information from various theoretical perspectives, delving into the multilayered relationship between the two phenomena. Cross-disciplinary approaches in the fields of etymology and library science are presented in the second section. Part III. brings together case studies that examine the interaction of information and communication at individual and group levels; information exchanges between doctors and patients, children and computers, journalists and electronic news sources are analyzed in depth. The concluding segment focuses on large social contexts in which the interaction of communication and information affects the evolution of institutions and culture.Between Information and Communication both extends and challenges current thinking on the mutually supporting interplay of information and human behavior. It will be of interest to sociologists, media analysts, and communication specialists.

The internet opens up new opportunities for citizens to organize and mobilize for action but it also provides new channels that established political, social and economic interests can use to extend their powers. Will the internet revolutionize politics? The Prospect of Internet Democracy is a rich and detailed exploration of the theoretical implications of the internet and related information and communication technologies (ICTs) for democratic theory. Focusing in particular on how political uses of the internet have affected or seem likely to affect patterns of influence among citizens, interest groups and political institutions, the authors examine whether the internet's impact on democratic politics is destined to repeat the history of other innovative ICTs. The volume explores the likely long-term effects of such uses on the conduct of politics in the USA and other nations that declare themselves modern democracies and assesses the extent to which they help or hinder viable democratic governance.