Why the privatization of British Telecom signaled a pivotal moment in the rise of neoliberalism, and how it was shaped by the longer development and digitalization of Britain’s telecommunications infrastructure. When Margaret Thatcher sold British Telecom for £3.6 billion in 1984, it became not only, at the time, the largest stock flotation in history, but also a watershed moment in the rise of neoliberalism and deregulation. In Visions of a Digital Nation, Jacob Ward offers an incisive interdisciplinary perspective on how technology prefigured this pivot. Giving due consideration to the politicians, engineers, and managers who paved the way for this historic moment, Ward illustrates how the decision validated the privatization of public utilities and tied digital technology to free market rationales. In this examination of the national and, at times, global history of technology, Ward’s approach is sweeping. Utilizing infrastructure studies, environmental history, and urban and local history, Ward explores Britain’s nationalist and welfarist plans for a digital information utility and shows how these projects contested and adapted to the “market turn” under Margaret Thatcher. Ultimately, Visions of a Digital Nation compellingly argues that politicians did not impose neoliberalism top-down, but that technology, engineers, and managers shaped these politics from the bottom up.

"Explores how the British telecom system shaped late social democracy and early neoliberalism"--

The long-term social benefits of building an inclusive information society: a national action plan. As our social institutions migrate into cyberspace, the digitally disenfranchised face increasing hardships. What happens when—in search of quick and cheap fixes—a government office shuts down and is replaced by a public Web site? What happens when a company accepts only online job applications? Inevitably, those most in need of the services and opportunities offered are further marginalized. In Digital Nation, Tony Wilhelm shows us how to build a more inclusive information society, offering a plan that reaps the benefits offered by the new technology while avoiding the pitfalls of social exclusion. Technology, he tells us, isn't the problem—it's the use of technology that can empower or control, unite or divide; we need to recover the ideas of social justice and fairness that have been lost in the rush to make things faster and cheaper. In Wilhelm's vision of an inclusive digital nation, everyone can take advantage of the new technology. With everyone part of the information society, we can revolutionize the way we educate our citizens, deliver healthcare, and engage in productive work. The result will be increased efficiency and productivity that will lead to long-term savings of billions of dollars and an enhanced quality of life as technology expands choice and opportunity. We can begin to bring this about by expanding access to computers and making it easier to acquire digital literacy skills. To do nothing—to turn a blind eye to the promise of an inclusive technology—would cost us socially and economically. Digital Nation's call for action sets the terms for a new debate on bridging the digital divide.

The long-term social benefits of building an inclusive information society: a national action plan.

For as long as people have developed new technologies, there has been debate over the purposes, shape, and potential for their use. In this exciting collection, a range of contributors, including Sherry Turkle, Lynn Spigel, John Perry Barlow, Langdon Winner, David Nye, and Lord Asa Briggs, discuss the visions that have shaped "new" technologies and the cultural implications of technological adaptation. Focusing on issues such as the nature of prediction, community, citizenship, consumption, and the nation, as well as the metaphors that have shaped public debates about technology, the authors examine innovations past and present, from the telegraph and the portable television to the Internet, to better understand how our visions and imagination have shaped the meaning and use of technology. Author note: Marita Sturken is Associate Professor in the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California and the author of Tangled Memories: The Vietnam War, the AIDS Epidemic, and the Politics of Remembering and Practices of Looking: An Introduction to Visual Culture (with Lisa Cartwright). Douglas Thomas is Associate Professor in the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California. He is author of three books, most recently Hacker Culture. Sandra Ball-Rokeach is a Professor and Director of the Communication Technology and Community Program in the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California. She is author of several books, including Theories of Mass Communication (with M. L. De Fleur).