Critical Perspectives Diagnostic Essay Dead or Alive: A Web of Speculations

A Critique of Om Malik's conception of the 'Alive Web'.

By Daniel Lgre

Word count: 3903 Quoted word count: 120 Article included as Appendix. 1

Abstract The present study constitutes a critique of an article by Om Malik entitled Say hello to the alive web! According to Malik, the 'Alive web' is a future web; one of seamless and immediate interconnectivity. Technology has allowed, in his words, (2011) Utilising a critical perspective informed by Bergson's method of Intuition, along with theories from the field of New Media studies, the viability of Malik's claims are assessedparticularly in terms of whether this supposed 'Alive Web' qualifies for a legitimate distinction from what the study formulates as the pre-existing 'dead Web'. Though this essay would be better regarded as a working paper, a number of conclusions are proposed. Namely, that Malik is one of many individuals whom have attempted to commodify future potentialities by dressing hypotheses with catchphrases which, once parroted and thus reinforced by the industries to which they are directed, become marketable assets, or USPs for associated services and products. The new developments cited by Malik: ever expanding Wi-Fi and broadband infrastructures, coupled with internet enabled devices, are potentially increasing the scope and ability of individuals to participate with, and interact on the internet. However, it is argued that the affordances and ways in which the internet is used, en-masse, remain largely unchanged. Malik's distinction between an 'Alive Web' and the pre-existing web, is thus considered untenable. Ultimately, Malik's article highlights how journalism benefits the neoliberal paradigm by promoting ideals of progress: the betterment of society through iterative improvements to technology. for 'persistent' connectivity via new wireless infrastructures and smart (i.e. internet enabled) devices.

Introduction: Om Malik- a regular contributor to online blog 'Gigaom', authored a post on the 15th June 2011 hypothesising the emergence of the 'Alive Web'; a new kind of web, that has been enabled from a supposedly unprecedented state of seamless interconnectivity. A web that encourages a 'new' kind of participation; one that is 'immersive' and 'interactive'. (Malik, 2011) This study constitutes a review of Malik's article; a critical analysis of his claim, in respect of theoretical concepts within the field of New Media studies. These include a consideration of the role of pop journalism in the development of discourses on technology and media, Bergson's Method of Intuition, and a consideration of journalism as a means of propagating neoliberal tendencies via the commodification of concepts. The article will be problematised according to a number of key issues, which include: 1. Whether the iterative improvements seen in communication technologies have manifested a qualitatively different internet i.e. the 'Alive Web', and to consider if there is a real difference in kind between this 'Alive Web' and that which supposedly preceded it. 2. If the proposed 'Alive web' necessitates a kind of stratification, and ultimately a segregation or break between the 'Alive Web' and what the study (in consideration of Malik's terminology) denotes as a pre-existing 'Dead Web'. 3. To highlight issues of digital divide, and whether Malik's assertions are biased toward highly technologised centres of geographic power. (A question which ultimately lies without the remit of the current study, but which nevertheless must be brought to attention). 4. Exploring whether the behaviours Malik associates with the 'Alive web' are fundamentally new in any way, or simply old behaviours which are better enabled, or bolstered by the recent upgrades to internet enabling infrastructures and devices. Whilst the study will address each issue in turn, further analysis will be required to come to any kind of thorough conclusion. Such analysis would necessitate ethnographic research into internet usage habits, and a thorough investigation of Malik's historical claims to the 'Alive Web'. This study should be considered as a working paper, to such an end. 3

1- The Role of Journalism in New Media and Technology discourses -Journalism as the Tool of the Neoliberalist? Since the early 1990s, journalism has played a fundamental role in the formation of cyberculture discourses. (Silver, 2000) Classic rhetorics of the 'information superhighway' or 'information society' (Lyon, 1988) gained traction amongst mass audiences thanks to their popularisation in such notable publications as Wired (Wired, 2011) and Time Magazine. For example, Time's 1993 edition front page featured 'The Info Highway' emblazoned over a hypermediated illustration, recalling the aesthetics of a multifaceted Albertian window. (Bolter & Grusin 2000) Beneath, was prominently printed 'Bringing a Revolution in entertainment, news and communication'. (Time, 1993) Such profound statements exemplify the hype which surrounded the nascent technological developments accompanying the shift to a post-industrial, information saturated society. (Lyon, 1988; Bell 1973) Within what Silver (2000) regarded as the phase of' 'Popular Cyberculture' (the more descriptive phase of cybercultural theory) along with discourses on the effects of computerization (Nora & Minc, 1980), one can identify celebrations of progress, calls for revolution, and 'epochal' shifts. (Kling, 1996) The betterment of society is seen to be through progressive developments in technology. (Shields, 2003) progress have become entrenched as part of a Western epistemology. Whilst Braun & MacDonald (1978) trace this back to the years immediately following the second world war, Lyon regresses even further to Frances Bacon, who proposed:
that science and technology be viewed as a means of overcoming the malign effects of the human 'fall' from God's grace. (1988, P.144)

These rhetorics of

Technological progress as a remedifying agent to societal ills has a long history, one which continues today under the guise of a neoliberal rationality. Beyond simply remedying problems, technology is viewed by the neoliberal rational as a means of realising the goal of subsuming all human action within the market; of extending market values throughout the social and institutional domains. The maximisation of profits and minimisation of costs thus becomes the driving force behind decision making processes. (Brown, 2005; Harvey, 2005) 4

Though the fundamental values of neoliberalism appear virtuous; namely the upholding of an individual's freedom of action, expression, and choice, (Harvey, 2005) the presumption that the individual subject is operating within an equal playing field collides with the reality that societal influence is distributed irregularly. Stratification between a privileged few- to whom the neoliberal ideals best serve, and the masses, inevitably manifests. (Harvey, 2005; 2006) Finally, the marketisation of 'new' products and services sits as an idealogical artefact of neoliberalism, which suggests new equates to better. Lister et. al. label this as 'upgrade culture'. ( 2003) To what extent does pop journalism, along with its biases and tendency to hype new developments, help to propagate and buttress the agendas of the neoliberal paradigm? Namely, to subsume and regulate all human activity within the market, to bias servitude towards the wants and needs of centres of power (in terms of privileged individuals, businesses, and geographical centres of power), and to cast iterative technological improvements in the light of rhetorics of progress: the betterment of society through technology? The present study will explore this question in regards to Om Malik's article on the 'Alive Web'. 2- Om Malik, and the 'Alive Web' Malik's article can be divided into three distinct parts: it opens with a case study, namely the digital music service 'Turntable.fm', (Turntable.fm, 2011) citing this as a service which captures the essence of the 'Alive Web'. (2011) The majority of the article is then dedicated to expounding his theory of a new kind of web, an 'Alive' web, using nostalgic recollections to contrast the self-perceived lack of socialisation within platforms such as Facebook (Facebook, 2011), with the 'immediacy' of newer services such as Twitter (Twitter, 2011) and Turntable.fm. Finally, Malik briefly questions the possibilities for monetisation this 'new world' presents. According to Malik, the 'Alive web' is a future web. One of seamless and immediate interconnectivity. Technology has allowed, in his words, for 'persistent' connectivity via new wireless infrastructures and smart (i.e. internet enabled) devices. Thus individuals are empowered to become immersed in a perpetual flow of social activity, free, as Malik emphasises, from the need to be conscious of the flow of content itself. 5

Malik goes on to say how seamless connectivity allows participants to mimic offline behaviours online. This means that rather than simply 'sharing' online, the emphasis is shifting toward realising the importance of the discussion and interaction which takes place around the content being traded, much as it does offline, when individuals meet in person to share. Malik states:
In the real world music and television have been communal experiences where the interactions are actually more important than the content itself. The web is no different. (2011)

Having considered the key points of the article, several questions will now be raised. Perhaps the central question of this essay concerns whether the iterative improvements seen in communication technologies have manifested a qualitatively different internet, to the extent that it qualifies for a re-categorisation. If one takes Malik's 'Alive web' so, does this not create a kind of stratification? An 'Alive web' which sits on top of what may be deemed as a 'Dead Web'? This question also necessitates some consideration of theories of digital divide- Malik must surely acquiesce in the fact that smartphone-equipped individuals, and public wi-fi infrastructures maintain a highly focused presence within the urbanised centres of developed nations. (Warschauer, 2003) Whom are the insiders, and outsiders within this arrangement? (Marvin, 1990) This essay is also concerned with Malik's typically technophilic, deterministic view of this 'Alive web', and the way the associated services are perceived as building new experiences themselves, rather than offering affordances for new experiences. Little attention is brought to bare on whether people want, or desire these affordances (bar the author, of course). Finally attention will be directed towards Malik's bombastic references towards a 'new world', and the implicit suggestion that there is a distinct break between his 'Alive web' and the web which existed prior to this. Are the behaviours he associates with the 'Alive web' new in any way, or simply better enabled, or bolstered by the recent upgrades to the internet infrastructure (within the author's privileged domain)?

3- A New Kind Of Web? This essay will begin by contending with Malik's most provocative claim: that improvements in communication technologies, and the diffusion of smart devices such as internet-enabled phones and tablets, have led to the formation of a new kind of web- an 'Alive web'. Using Bergson's method of intuition as a foundation for this analysis, (Bergson, 1946) the essay proposes to question whether the 'Alive web' constitutes a difference in kind, or difference in degree, in relation to the pre-existing complex of technologies which made up the 'dead web'. Malik's opinion is explicitly clear:
This connectivity offers an opportunity to create a different kind of Internet experience thats more immersive and interactive. (2011) [Emphasis added]

The intuitive method of Bergsonism is concerned with offering philosophers (and theorists in general) a new kind of empiricism; an improved precision to enquiry which transcends the limitations of spatialised thought, and instead focuses on the object of concern in terms of its interconnectedness within dynamic, holistic systems. (Deleuze, 1988; Grosz, 2004) This accords with Bergson's belief that philosophy must be close to real life (Bergson 2002: p.107 quoted in Linstead & Mullarkey, 2003) Central to this method is to differentiate between differences in kind and differences in degree; between fundamental and superficial differences. Bergson offers an example of the differences between plant and animal life; though their origins are identical, there is a fundamental difference in the way each utilises natural resources, thus resulting in a qualitative difference in the manifest organisms. (Grosz, 2004) The method of intuition is one that overcomes the limitations of spatially dominated extrospection: the ..divisive impulses of intelligence. (Grosz, 2004 P.235) Bergson urges one to conceptualise problems in terms of time, rather than space. (Shields, 2003) Qualitative differences occur within the remit of temporality, as opposed to space, which is limited to homogenous changes in quantity. (Deleuze, 1988) Dynamic processes, such as evolutionary procession, or remediation (Bolter & Grusin, 2000) occur within time. 7

Within space, the intellect bifurcates dynamism into discrete entities, and splices these entities or objects together to form chains of observations. (Linstead & Mullarkey, 2003) Arguably then, it is impossible to truly appreciate the complexities of dynamic processes when they are converted to isolated events. Within the context of Bergson's method, this essay would argue that Malik's proposition of an 'Alive Web', is nothing more than the identification of a difference in degree, with the addition of a banal catchphrase. Malik states:
Today, we have nearly a billion wired broadband connections and over half-abillion fast wireless connections ... And those numbers are growing. (2011)

His (albeit unfounded) observations indicate that the 'Internet experience' is changing, but the changes described here are entirely quantitative in nature, and do not indicate that the influx of internet-enabled individuals is having a qualitative impact on the structure of the internet, or form of online behaviours. If anything, Malik suggests that innovative online platforms are the origin of 'new' behaviours, whose affordances offer more immediate forms of engagement. The platforms which Malik associates with the 'Alive Web' include Twitter, ChatRoulette and Turntable.fm. It is beyond the scope of this essay to fully explore the nuances of each service. Suffice it to say, each such service was derived from pre-existing technologies, platforms and behaviours. As an example, according to Jack Dorsey, one of Twitter's founders, the idea for Twitter emerged from pre-existing Instant Messaging applications, along with 'offline' communications services used by couriers. (Sarno, 2009) Whilst online sharing and interaction was initially limited by the necessity to interface with a static computer- as reportedly stated by Dorsey, (Sarno, 2009) the development of smart devices and public wi-fi infrastructures , whilst important incremental innovations, (Perez, 2009) have arguably not led to a fundamental evolution in the way the internet, the World Wide Web and other associated applications, are mobilised for sharing. This is especially so when considering the aggregate internet user base.

Conversely, the form and quantity of content exchanges may be changing- there is little doubt that the mobilisation and liberation of the individual from a static computer terminal may have qualitative effects on an individual's input, as well as quantitative effects on the extent of one's submissions, e.g. such things as photos, video, and general on-the-go dialogue. In the context of Bergson's method of intuition, this study argues that questions relating to the differences between this 'Alive web' (if 'it' truly exists) and the 'dead web' constitute false problems. The assertion that the 'Alive web' is anything other than an iterative improvement on the pre-existing infrastructure of the Internet, and it's applications (including the World Wide Web) is arguably, nothing more than a technophilic speculation. Malik's vague suggestion that improved technology alone has transformed the Web experience, does not justify the assertion that we are facing the emergence of an entirely 'new' web, let alone a 'new world'. (Malik, 2000) This is especially so when considering the fact that the kinds of activities celebrated by Malik, are severely limited to affluent, technologically savvy individuals. 4- In The Name of Progress: Breaks and Dualisms So far this study has made a direct critique of Malik's proposed 'Alive Web', in terms of elucidating the fact, within the context of Bergson's Method of Intuition, that there isn't necessarily anything qualitatively different about this 'Alive web'. The only real difference posited, is that investment in new infrastructures, and portable smart devices, is making the internet experience more mobile. This doesn't necessarily have a bearing on the way the Internet and World Wide Web is used, though arguably, it does increase its range of affordances to those able to participate. (Lister et. al, 2003) Secondly, this essay will look to assess the author's mindset, and identify the assumptions leveraged in order to present the conception of an 'Alive Web'. Silver states that early pop cyberculture often suffered from a limited dualism; projections of, on the one hand, future utopias, and on the other, dystopias. (2000) This same dynamic can be identified in the multifarious works of both academic futurism; including most notably those of Marshall McLuhan (1989, 1997) and Alvin Toffler (1970), and science 9

fiction; including popular films such as The Matrix (The Matrix, 1999), Tron (Tron, 1982) and books such as William Gibson's (1995) Neuromancer. (Bell, 2007) Coincidentally, it was from Gibson's work that the term 'cyberculture' was adopted, highlighting the influence of fictions on discourse. (Lister, et.al, 2009) Another facet of this utopic/dystopic dualism concerns the dependence on temporal breaks; divisions in time, between the past, the 'now', and future potentialities. Likewise, present technologies are often juxtaposed with the 'old' and the 'new'. (Marvin, 1990) One can see these dualities and temporal breaks at play within Malik's article. The author positions the 'Alive Web', along with its hypothesised Apps (Applications) and services (exemplified by Turntable.fm) as something that sits in limited form within the present, and which may be realised fully in the not-too-distant future; the 'Alive web' is related to a 'new world', one which Malik has pre-empted:
As I start to look into the future, it is clear that services and apps need to optimize around attention. (2011)

The assertions made within Malik's article hark back to Media Studies debates concerning what 'New' media is, and whether there is such a thing as a truly 'New' medium or technology, aside from pragmatic applications of newness in respect of acquisitive materialism (e.g. one may purchase a 'new' computer). Once again one may return to Bergson's conception of 'Intellect', and its bias towards the spatialisation and segregation of dynamic processes (including time) into discreet parts. (Grosz, 2004) Accordingly it is only within a spatialised perspective that concepts of old vs new, or succession can take place. (Foucault, 2002; Gitelman & Pingree, 2003) As Bolter and Grusin argue, (2000) no medium or technology can truly cease to bear influence on consequent innovations, and thus cease to impact on wider societal and cultural formations. Rather, new technologies 'remediate' their predecessors. (Bolter & Grusin, 2000) This bearing of influence is not to be mistaken for technological determinism, (Williams, 1974) or the notion that technologies stem from, and autonomously affect change from the precipice of some vacuous causal space, (Lister et.al 2003) but rather, that technologies constitute systemically entrenched entities which play 10

a performative role in the systems within which they are entangled, thereby commanding some influence as non-human actors. (Hayles, 2001; Latour, 2005) There is therefore, no discontinuity or 'supercession', (Gitelman & Pingree, 2003) as old mediums and technologies remain as reference points to which 'new' innovations are judged. In conclusion, it may be more appropriate to adopt a genealogical view of technological innovation, rather than a linear, spatially dominated teleology of progress. (Lister et. al, 2003) A view which accepts that pre-existing constructs will condition and determine the path for the institutionalisation of 'new' developments, (Dreyfus & Rabinow, 1982) much like a theory of evolution for technology. New technologies become destinations for the projection of old behaviours and habits of transacting from pre-existing social groups. (Marvin, 1990) The old and the new form a contrapuntal movement in which superficial, material divergences, are reconciled by an inherent interdependency. This view is empathetic with calls to view media as shifting practices rather than defined objects. (Park,
2011)

If one follows this trail of thought, any sense of an 'Alive web' overwriting the current model of the internet, is rendered untenable. The concept of the 'Alive web' as a 'future web' (Malik, 2011) depends on segregation between the present and future. the preexisting 'dead Web' and 'new' 'Alive Web'. As discussed, even if a 'new' kind of web emerges in the future, it will continue to be influenced by the 'Dead Web's' complex of infrastructures, technologies, behaviours, and wider systemic actors. Once again the study refers to neoliberal tendencies which posit technological developments in the light of progress, and ideals of the new as being remedifying of societal ills. Malik's view of the 'Alive Web' carries traces of technophilic speculation, along with a bias towards the neoliberal view of the new as being better. Is his claim to an 'Alive Web' truly justified by qualitative shifts in behaviours and practices, or simply a means of helping to marketise new services which offer the illusion of Aliveness? A self-perpetuated 'USP' (unique selling point) which compels consumers to part with their cash, in order to experience something which is better, but not all-together different in kind? The present study takes such a view. 11

Conclusion: At the beginning of this critical study of Om Malik's article Say hello to the alive web, a number of questions were posed. These included: 1. Whether the iterative improvements seen in communication technologies have manifested a qualitatively different internet i.e. the 'Alive Web', and to consider if there is a real difference in kind between this 'Alive Web' and that which supposedly preceded it. 2. If the proposed 'Alive web' necessitates a kind of stratification, and ultimately a segregation or break between the 'Alive Web' and what the study (in consideration of Malik's terminology) denotes as a pre-existing 'Dead Web'. 3. To highlight issues of digital divide, and whether Malik's assertions are biased toward highly technologised centres of geographic power. (A question which ultimately lies without the remit of the current study, but which nevertheless must be brought to attention). 4. Exploring whether the behaviours Malik associates with the 'Alive web' are fundamentally new in any way, or simply old behaviours which are better enabled, or bolstered by the recent upgrades to internet enabling infrastructures and devices. To answer these questions, the current study adopted a critical perspective based on the theories of Bergson and his method of Intuition. The study argues that Malik's proposition of an 'Alive Web', is nothing more than the identification of a difference in degree, with the addition of a banal catchphrase. As a consequence, questions relating to the differences between the 'Alive web' and the 'old web' constitute false problems. The present study concludes that the 'Alive Web' is nothing more than a technophilic speculation. The new developments cited: ever expanding Wi-Fi and broadband infrastructures, coupled with internet enabled devices, are potentially increasing the scope and ability of individuals to participate with, and interact on the internet. However, it is argued that the affordances and ways in which the internet is used, en-masse, remain largely unchanged; Malik's dubious quantitatively-based observations fail to qualify for an entirely new categorisation of the internet, but rather point out iterative improvements on pre-existing technologies which have increased the accessibility of certain affordances within a minority of web participators, i.e. those able to benefit from the luxury of 'persistent connection'. (Malik, 2011) 12

As discussed within section 4, throughout the article it is apparent that Malik is prophesying the coming of a future, idealised web; one that sits partially in the present, but which is not yet entirely actualised, bar in the form of innovative services such as Turntable.fm and Chatroulette. It could be argued that there is an inherent determinism in Malik's views which suggests these innovative services are enabling new behaviours. Malik perhaps underplays the role of social agency, in likewise, determining a service's commercial viability. (Lyon, 1988) Malik's observation that 'seamless connectivity' allows users to mimic offline behaviours online assumes that users are not, and have not, already been doing this, albeit in limited ways. This flies in the face of those such as Marvin (1999) whom argue that new technologies and mediums constitute platforms for the projection and expression of old behaviours. Overall there is little sense of continuation, or even transition, from the current paradigm of internet uses and affordances, to those of the future 'Alive Web'. In a bid to justify the particularly harsh criticisms offered herein, the study begs readers return to the initial views elucidated in respect of the role of journalism in contributing to discourses on cyberspace, technology and media. Pop Journalism; (Silver, 2000) it's dualisms, determinisms and the 'futurean mirages' posed therein, (Carey, 1989) serve to generate hype around innovation. According to Carey, literature of the future (1989) as exemplified by Malik's article on the 'Alive Web', is a tool for mobilising people- as consumers, towards what are ultimately neoliberal imperatives, id est, tendencies toward the celebration of perpetual progress, and the commodification of all experiences, in the form of products and/or services. (Lister et.al, 2003) Malik, benign as his articles may be, is one of many individuals whom have attempted to commodify future potentialities by dressing hypotheses with catchphrases which- once parroted and thus reinforced by the industries to which they are directed, become marketable assets, or USPs for associated services and products. This critique hopes to have highlighted how ultimately, the innocence of technophilia- technological 'enchantment', (Tempi, 1999) plays right in to the very hands of those businesses which aim to perpetuate 'upgrade culture'; (Lister et. al, 2005) a culture of rabid materialists, each searching to quell those inner insecurities which are generated through the very marketing efforts of said businesses. 13

References: Books and Journals Bell, D. 1973. The coming of post-industrial society: a venture in social forecasting [ebook] New York: Basic Books. Available at: http://books.google.co.uk/books? id=q6_56x5tB7gC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_atb#v=onepage&q&f=false [Accessed 03.11.11] Bell, D. 2007. Cyberculture Theorists: Manuel Castells and Donna Haraway. 1st ed. Oxon: Routledge. Bergson, H. L. 1946. The Creative Mind. 1st ed. New York:Greenwood Press. Brown, W. 2005. Edgework : critical essays on knowledge and politics. 1st ed. Oxfordshire: Princeton University Press Bolter, J. D. & Grusin R. 2000. Remediation: Understanding New Media. 1st ed. USA: MIT Press. Braun, E. & MacDonald, S. 1978. Revolution in miniature: the history and impact of semiconductor electronics. [e-book] Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Available at: http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=03c4wldfk4C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_atb#v=onepage&q&f=false [Accessed 8.11.11] Carey, J.W. 1989. Communication as culture: essays on media and society. 1st ed. London: Routledge. Deleuze, G. 1988. Bergsonism. 1st ed. New York: Zone Books Dreyfus, H. L. & Rabinow, P. 1982. Michel Foucault: Beyond Structuralism and Hermeneutics. 2nd ed. USA: The University of Chicago Press. Foucault, M. 1970. The Order Of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences. 1st ed London: Routledge Classics Gibson, W. 1995. Neuromancer. 1st ed. London: Voyager Gitelman, L. & Pingree, G.B. 2003. Introduction: What's New About New Media? [in] Gitelman, L. & Pingree, G.B.. eds. 2003. New Media, 1740-1915. 1st ed. USA: The MIT Press Grosz, E. 2004. Intuition and the Virtual, The Nick of Time. Politics, Evolution, and the Untimely. 1st ed. Durham and London: Duke University Press. Harvey, D. 2006. The Limits To Capital. 2nd ed. London: Verso Harvey, D. 2005. A Brief History Of Neoliberalism. 1st ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press

Hayles, K. 2001. 'Desiring Agency: Limiting Metaphors and Enabling Constraints in Dawkinsand Deleuze/Guattari'. Substance, [Online] 30 (1&2) P.144-159, Available at: http://thedigitalage.pbworks.com/f/Guattari.pdf [Accessed 06.11.11] Kling, R. 1996. Hopes and Horrors: Technological Utopianism and Anti-Utopianism in Narratives of Computerization [In] Kling. R. 1996. Computerization and Controversy. 2nd ed. London: Academic Press, Inc. Latour, B. 2005. Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor-Network-Theory. 1st ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Linstead, S. & Mullarkey, J. 2003. 'Time, Creativity and Culture: Introducing Bergson'. Culture and Organization. 9 (1) P. 3-13. Lister, M.; Dovey, Jon.; Giddings, S.; Grant, I. and Kelly, K. 2003. New Media: A Critical Introduction. 2nd ed. Oxon: Routledge. Lyon, D. 1988. The information society: issues and illusions. 1st ed. Cambridge: Polity Press. Malik, O. 2011. Say hello to the alive web. Gigaom, [Internet] 15th June. Available at: http://gigaom.com/2011/06/15/alive-web/ [Accessed 01.11.11] Marvin, C. 1990. When old technologies were new: thinking about electric communication in the late nineteenth century. 1st ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press McLuhan, M. & Powers, B.R. 1989. The Global Village: Transformations in World Life and Media in the 21st Century. 1st ed. New York: Oxford University Press. McLuhan, M. 1997. Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. 2nd ed. Cornwall: Routledge Nora, S. & Minc, A. 1980. The computerization of society: a report to the President of France. Cambridge: MIT Press
Park, . W., Jankowski, N. W., and Jones, S. 2011. The long history of new media : technology, historiography, and contextualizing newness. New York: Peter Lang Pub Inc

Perez, C., 2009, 'Technological revolutions and techno-economic paradigm'. Working Papers in Technology Governance and Economic Dynamics [Online] January, TOC/TUT Working Paper No. 20. Availableat:http://www.carlotaperez.org/papers/PerezTRsTEPsTUTWP20.pdf [Accessed: 05.11.11] Sarno, D. 2009. 'Twitter creator Jack Dorsey illuminates the site's founding document. Part I.' L.A. Times [Online] February. Available at: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2009/02/twitter-creator.html [Accessed: 07.11.11 ] Shields, R. 2003. The Virtual. 1st ed. London: Routledge

Silver, D. 2000. Looking Backwards, Looking Forward: Cyberculture Studies 19902000. [Online] Available at: 'http://rccs.usfca.edu/intro.asp' [Accessed 04.11.11] Tempi, 1999. 'Art and Technological Enchantment' McLuhan Studies [Online] No. 5 Available at: http://projects.chass.utoronto.ca/mcluhan-studies/v1_iss5/1_5art10.html [Accessed 08.11.11] Time. 1993. The Info Highway: Bringing a revolution in entertainment, news and communication. Time Magazine [Online] Apr 12th. Available at: http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19930412,00.html [Accessed 06.11.11] Toffler, A. 1970. Future Shock. 1st ed New York: Random House Inc Warschauer, M. 2003. Technology and Social Inclusion: Rethinking the Digital Divide. 1st ed. USA: The MIT Press Williams, R. 1974. Television: technology and cultural form. 3rd ed. London: Routledge Classics Media: The Matrix. 1999. [DVD] US: Warner Home Video Tron. 1982. [DVD] US: Walt Disney Studios Websites: ChatRoulette, 2011. 'www.chatroulette.com' [Online] Available at: http://chatroulette.com/ [Accessed 09.11.11] Turntable.fm, 2011. 'www.turntable.fm.' [Online] Available at: http://turntable.fm/ [Accessed 09.11.11] Twitter, 2011. 'Home' [Online] Available at: https://twitter.com/ [Accessed 09.11.11] Wired, 2011. 'www.Wired.com' [Online] Available at: http://www.wired.com/ [Accessed 06.11.11]

Appendix: Om Malik's Gigaom Article, entitled: Say hello to the alive web