Table Of ContentWEB 2.0
Web 2.0 is a highly accessible introductory text examining all the crucial
discussions and issues that surround the changing nature of the World
Wide Web. It not only contextualizes Web 2.0 within the history of the
Web, but also goes on to explore its position within the broader dispositif
of emerging media technologies.
The book uncovers the connections between diverse media tech-
nologies including mobile smartphones, hand-held multimedia players,
“netbooks” and electronic book readers such as the Amazon Kindle, all of
which are made possible only by Web 2.0. In addition, Web 2.0 makes a
valuable contribution towards understanding the new developments in
mobile computing as it integrates various aspects of social networking,
while also tackling head-on the recent controversial debates that have
arisen in a backlash to Web 2.0.
Providing valuable insight into this emerging area of the World Wide
Web, Web 2.0 is a key supplementary text for undergraduate students
of media studies, sociology, philosophy and other related disciplines, as
well as being an informative read for anyone with an interest in this key
contemporary issue.
Sam Han is an Instructional Technology Fellow of the Macaulay Honors
College at the City University of New York. He studies and writes in the
fi elds of social and cultural theory, media studies, religion and race. He is
the author of Navigating Technomedia: Caught in the Web (2007) and co-editor
of The Race of Time: A Charles Lemert Reader (2009).
SHORTCUTS – “Little Books on Big Issues”
Shortcuts is a major new series of concise, accessible introductions to
some of the major issues of our times. The series is developed as an A to
Z coverage of emergent or new social, cultural and political phenomena.
Issues and topics covered range from Google to global fi nance, from
climate change to the new capitalism, from Blogs to the future of books.
While the principal focus of Shortcuts is the relevance of current issues,
topics, debates and thinkers to the social sciences and humanities, the
books should also appeal to a wider audience seeking guidance on how to
engage with today’s leading social, political and philosophical debates.
Series Editor: Anthony Elliott is a social theorist, writer and Chair in
the Department of Sociology at Flinders University, Australia. He is also
Visiting Research Professor in the Department of Sociology at the Open
University, UK, and Visiting Professor in the Department of Sociology
at University College Dublin, Ireland. His writings have been published in
16 languages and he has written widely on, among other topics, identity,
globalisation, society, celebrity and mobilities.
Titles in the series:
Confronting Climate Change
Constance Lever-Tracy
Feelings
Stephen Frosh
Suicide Bombings
Riaz Hassan
Web 2.0
Sam Han
Global Finance
Robert Holton
Freedom
Nick Stevenson
–
SHORTCUTS “Little Books on Big Issues”
Series Editor’s FOREWORD
New information technologies are undeniably transforming the globe as
we know it and perhaps nowhere more so than with the advent of Internet-
based virtuality. In Web 2.0 , Sam Han provides a brilliant guide to the
social impetuses and consequences of Web applications facilitative of
information sharing and virtual communities. In this self-consciously
interdisciplinary treatment of the topic, Han mixes technology and trans-
nationalism, computing and commodifi cation, hardware and software, to
uncover the thrills and spills of virtuality in the era of Web 2.0. Focusing
on everything from social networking sites to wikis to blogs, Han’s guide
to social media practices is remarkably insightful. A perfect shortcut indeed
to the new informational politics.
Anthony Elliott
WEB 2.0
Sam Han
First published 2011
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2011 Sam Han
The right of Sam Han to be identifi ed as author of this work
has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the
publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identifi cation and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Han, Sam, 1984-
Web 2.0 / by Sam Han
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical refrences
1. Web 2.0. 2 Social media. I. Title.
TK5105.88817.H35 2011
302.23'1–dc22
2010048559
ISBN: 978–0–415–78039–1 hbk
ISBN: 978–0–415–78040–7 pbk
ISBN: 978–0–203–85522–5 ebook
Typeset in Garamond
by Refi neCatch Limited, Bungay, Suffolk
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements ix
Introduction: Remediation or convergence? Media and
technology in the information age 1
1 What is the “Web” in “Web 2.0”? A short history of
the Web 18
2 What is the “2.0” in “Web 2.0”? 34
3 New formations: the social ambiance of Web 2.0 53
4 The experience of Web 2.0: a techno-phenomenology
of multi-tasking and mobility 73
5 Critics of Web 2.0: reading the informational politics
of backlash 89
Weblography 110
Bibliography 112
Index 121
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
There have been numerous individuals and institutions that have
supported me throughout the writing of this book. First, I want to thank
Anthony Elliott, the series editor, for not only soliciting the writing of this
book for Shortcuts, of which I am honored to be part, but also for the
generosity and support he has shown me ever since I’ve known him. At
Routledge, I’d like to thank Gerhard Boomgaarden, Lindsey Hall and
Jennifer Dodd, who have been superb and have made the process of
working on this book a breeze.
During the writing of this book, I have benefi tted from an Instructional
Technology Fellowship at the Macaulay Honors College of the City
University of New York, where I dealt directly with many of the technol-
ogies I discuss here. At Macaulay, Joe Ugoretz deserves special mention.
At Lehman College, where I did my fellowship work, I wish to acknowl-
edge Gary Schwartz and Florence Aliberti.
At the Graduate Center, City University of New York, I would like to
mention Patricia Ticineto Clough, whose work continues to inspire and
infl uence me, especially in matters technological, and Jerry Watts, for the
countless conversations and for allowing me to use offi ce space and
resources at the Institute for Research on the African Diaspora in the
Americas and the Caribbean (IRADAC), of which he is director, although
x Acknowledgements
my work conceivably had almost nothing to do with the institute’s stated
intellectual aims and goals.
I’d also like to thank others who have been instrumental in my thinking
about issues of this kind and others. Charles Lemert deserves particular
mention, as do other members of the New York–New Haven reading
group, especially Josh Scannell, Niki Achitoff-Gray and Will Runge.
Thanks for letting me into the group, gang!
There has not been a shortage of friends who have emailed me articles,
blog posts and the like on hearing that I was working on this book. I have
no way of remembering who sent me what but there is no doubt in my
mind that I have benefi tted from their support. Also, albeit unorthodox,
I’d like to thank the people with whom I’m “friends” on a variety of social
media platforms, including those whom I’ve never met in person, who
have also shared links.
Lastly, I’d like to acknowledge Khalia Frazier, who is with me every day
in spite of the seemingly never-ending time I spend on the computer or
watching TV during baseball season.
Though there are many to thank, all the shortcomings and inadequacies
of this work are mine and mine alone.
Sam Han
East Harlem
New York, USA
