Virtual Nation: the Internet in Australia

The first comprehensive book that digs beneath the surface of the Internet in Australia. Moving beyond the 'how to' books, Virtual Nation offers a surprising, thought-provoking, and rigorous introduction to a technology that we now can't do without. Featuring leading experts on topics spanning history, use, culture, policy, and future, Virtual Nation is indispensable for students, researchers, teachers, policymakers, technologists, and anyone interested in how digital technologies are transforming our lives.

The Internet is used by millions of Australians every day, but what do we really know about this extraordinary phenomenon? How did the Internet develop in Australia? What have been the distinctive Australian contexts shaping the Internet? And what have been its implications for Australian culture and society?

The first comprehensive book on the Australian Internet, Virtual Nation offers a surprising, thought-provoking, and rigorous introduction to a technology that we now can’t do without. Featuring leading experts on topics spanning history, use, culture, policy, and future, Virtual Nation is indispensable for students, researchers, teachers, policymakers, technologists, and anyone interested in how digital technologies are transforming our lives.

The final chapter of the book invites readers to join the conversation – putting their views through an online blog, and literally putting the theory into practice.

Part one Introduction

• Antipodean Internet: Studying the Internet in Australia Gerard Goggin
• An Internet Primer: What the Internet is, and what it isn’t Roger Clarke

Part two History

• Where it began: Origins of the Internet in Australia Roger Clarke
• The Pegasus story: Getting Australia online Ian Peter
• Net acceleration: The rise and rise of the Internet in Australia Gerard Goggin

Part three Use

• Networks of influence: Internet activism in Australia and beyond Graham Meikle
• @ home with the Internet: How families use the Internet Lelia Green, Donell Holloway & Robyn Quin
• Sex on the Net: Pornography and Internet censorship in Australia Alan McKee
• The Australian Misinformation Economy: The truth about electronic commerce Richard Joseph

Part four Culture

• Make new friends and kill them: Online multiplayer computer game culture Sue Morris
• Cyphers of the virtual: Australian Net art and the metaphysics of telepresence Darren Tofts
• Digital Dreaming: Indigenous intellectual property and new communication technologies Christine Morris & Michael Meadows
• Reconfiguring journalism: Syndication, gatewatching, and multiperspectival news in Australian online journalism Axel Bruns
• Net worth: The unlikely rise of ABC Online Fiona Martin

Part five Policy

• The Net and the law: Legal issues and legal responses Jock Given
• Domesticating the Internet: Content regulation, virtual nation-building and the family Matthew Allen & Jane Long
• Park life: The commons and communications policy Elinor Rennie & Sherman Young
• Imaginary trajectories of electronic government: The future of networked government Julian Thomas

Part six Vision

• Histories, trends, futures: Online roundtable on the future of the Australian internet Roger Clarke, Andrew Garton, Jock Given, Gerard Goggin, Lelia Green, Geert Lovink, & Fiona Martin