Updated for 1997 with coverage of new technologies like Java, ActiveX, teleconferencing, 3D chat, Internet Explorer 3 and Netscape Navigator 3, this guide contains everything that the reader needs to learn to completely master the Internet. The CD includes all the software the user needs to get connected and on the Internet, regardless of the computing platform, and the entire book in HTML format for easy browsing and links to online resources.

"This compelling book focuses on the global formation of the Internet system. It contests the common belief that the Internet's adoption was inevitable and instead examines the social and economic processes that allowed it to prevail over competing standards and methods for achieving a global information infrastructure." "Researchers and academics involved with science and technology policy, industrial and corporate change, and the information society will welcome this insightful, original and highly pertinent book. It will also be of value for anyone with an interest in how the backbone of the digital economy was formed."--BOOK JACKET.

The European media landscape is changing profoundly. In this wide-ranging and timely text, members of the Euromedia Research Group examine the ways in which national and supranational policy is reacting to these changes. The contributors consider: the consequences for broadcasting systems of satellite and cable delivery; the fate of public broadcasting under deregulation; the changes currently affecting print media and newspapers; the impact of media changes for political and social cultural life; and the significance of the Internet, the first true fruit of the telematic revolution in communication. The main themes of media policy analysis today are convergence, concentration and commercialization, and abundance through digitalization. Although media policy has changed drastically in its concerns and forms, the authors here argue that the need for an effective public communication policy in our `information society′ is as pressing now as it ever was.

This book explores the impact of the Internet on scholarly research across and beyond the social sciences. The contributors - leading figures in a broad spectrum of disciplines - explain how their fields of inquiry are being redefined, and what issues of social change are salient as new information technologies increasingly become the subject of scholarly analysis. They have rendered a conceptual photograph of how their disciplines are coping with the impact of information technology by covering policy approaches, empirical research, and theoretical questions. Academy & the Internet highlights significant zones of inquiry and provides a critical perspective on the direction each discipline is traveling.

New models for distributing, sharing, linking, and marketing information are appearing.