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The Internet and Society

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Abstract

Rapid, continuing advances in computer technology, and the related convergence of computing and telecommunications, has enabled the development of an array of information and communication technologies (ICTs), from the cell phone to the Internet. The significance of these innovations, and their application across all sectors of society, made ICTs like the Internet key defining technologies of the late twentieth century. Widespread fascination with their technical ingenuity and growing capabilities has been a consistent focus of attention: from the emergence of the “computer age” in the 1950s and 60s, through the “microchip revolution” in the 1970s, to the Internet-based “superhighway” and “information society” of the 1980s and 90s, on to twenty-first century Internet-enabled “e-everything” digitized globalization.

This chapter is an up-dated and revised version of Dutton (forthcoming). My thanks to Malcolm Peltu for his comments on this chapter.

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© 2003 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Dutton, W.H. (2003). The Internet and Society. In: Barfield, C.E., Heiduk, G., Welfens, P.J.J. (eds) Internet, Economic Growth and Globalization. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-24761-6_20

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-24761-6_20

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-05552-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-24761-6

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