Table Of Content“This excepti onal book brings the internet back into focus—through richly illustrated 122
histories, artworks, and refl ecti ons. Annett e and Katrin have given us a profoundly
inspirati onal glimpse of what truly creati ve scholarship looks like.”
Metaphors of Internet:
—Mark Deuze, author of Media Life M
e
“An extraordinary book, which zooms from the early days of cyberspace to the
t
present moment to ask what the internet is, feels and means. Metaphors of Ways of Being in the Age of Ubiquity
a
Internet is essenti al, fascinati ng and accessible reading.”
p
—Sarah Pink, author of Doing Sensory Ethnography
h
o
What happens when the internet is absorbed into everyday life? How do we make
r Edited by
sense of something that is invisible but sti ll so central? A group of digital culture
experts address these questi ons in Metaphors of Internet: Ways of Being in the s
Age of Ubiquity. Annette N. Markham & Katrin Tiidenberg
o
Twenty years ago, the internet was imagined as standing apart from humans.
f
Metaphorically it was a fronti er to explore, a virtual world to experiment in, an
ultra-high-speed informati on superhighway. Many popular metaphors have fallen
out of use, while new ones arise all the ti me. Today we speak of data lakes, clouds I
and AI. The essays and artwork in this book evoke the mundane, the visceral, and n
the transformati ve potenti al of the internet by exploring the currently dominant t
metaphors. Together they tell a story of kaleidoscopic diversity of how we
e
experience the internet, off ering a richly textured glimpse of how the internet has
r
both disappeared and at the same ti me, has fundamentally transformed everyday
n
social customs, work, and life, death, politi cs, and embodiment.
e
t
Annett e N. Markham (Professor of Media & Communicati on at RMIT University) is
a pioneering researcher of digital culture. Her foundati onal ethnographic studies of
mediated identi ti es and lived experience through the Internet is well represented
M
in her fi rst book, Life Online: Researching Real Experience in Virtual Space. She
A
is a globally recognized expert on rethinking frameworks for research practi ce in
R Son Vivienne Theresa M. Senft Kevin Driscoll
digitally saturated contexts, as well as her work around ethics of care and impact K
H
needed for building bett er futures in algorithmic societi es. Markham is founder and
A Crystal Abidin Whitney Phillips Jeff Thompson
director of Future Making Research Consorti um and STEEM: Center for the Study of M
Technological, Ethical, and Emerging Methods. & Ryan Milner Andee Baker Jessa Lingel
xtine burrough
Katrin Tiidenberg (Professor of Visual Culture & Social Media at Tallinn University) T
II Daisy Pignetti Tobias Raun
is a digital sociologist and author of Sex and Social Media (with Emily van der Nagel), D
Nadia Hakim Fernández
E
Selfi es: Why We Love (and Hate) Them, and Body and Soul on the Internet: Making
N
Sarah Schorr Cristina Nuñez
Sense of Social Media (in Estonian). She is currently writi ng and publishing on the B
E Patricia Prieto-Blanco
deplatf orming of sex on social media, visual social media practi ces, and digital R
research ethics. Tiidenberg is on the Executi ve Board of the Associati on of Internet G Priya C. Kumar Polina Kolozaridi
Anette Grønning
Researchers and the Estonian Young Academy of Sciences.
P Craig Hamilton Sarah Raine Carmel Vaisman
E
T
E
R
L Maria Schreiber Tijana Hirsch Winnie Soon
A
Cover design by Annett e N. Markham N
G
Cathy Fowley Katie Warfield
www.peterlang.com Anna Shchetvina
9781433174506_cvr_eu.indd 1,3 28-Aug-20 18:10:23
“This excepti onal book brings the internet back into focus—through richly illustrated 122
histories, artworks, and refl ecti ons. Annett e and Katrin have given us a profoundly
inspirati onal glimpse of what truly creati ve scholarship looks like.”
Metaphors of Internet:
—Mark Deuze, author of Media Life M
e
“An extraordinary book, which zooms from the early days of cyberspace to the
t
present moment to ask what the internet is, feels and means. Metaphors of Ways of Being in the Age of Ubiquity
a
Internet is essenti al, fascinati ng and accessible reading.”
p
—Sarah Pink, author of Doing Sensory Ethnography
h
o
What happens when the internet is absorbed into everyday life? How do we make
r collection curated by:
sense of something that is invisible but sti ll so central? A group of digital culture
experts address these questi ons in Metaphors of Internet: Ways of Being in the s
Age of Ubiquity. Annette N. Markham & Katrin Tiidenberg
o
Twenty years ago, the internet was imagined as standing apart from humans.
f
Metaphorically it was a fronti er to explore, a virtual world to experiment in, an
ultra-high-speed informati on superhighway. Many popular metaphors have fallen
out of use, while new ones arise all the ti me. Today we speak of data lakes, clouds I
and AI. The essays and artwork in this book evoke the mundane, the visceral, and n
the transformati ve potenti al of the internet by exploring the currently dominant t
metaphors. Together they tell a story of kaleidoscopic diversity of how we
e
experience the internet, off ering a richly textured glimpse of how the internet has
r
both disappeared and at the same ti me, has fundamentally transformed everyday
n
social customs, work, and life, death, politi cs, and embodiment.
e
t
Annett e N. Markham (Professor of Media & Communicati on at RMIT University) is
a pioneering researcher of digital culture. Her foundati onal ethnographic studies of
mediated identi ti es and lived experience through the Internet is well represented
M
in her fi rst book, Life Online: Researching Real Experience in Virtual Space. She
A
is a globally recognized expert on rethinking frameworks for research practi ce in
R Son Vivienne Theresa M. Senft Kevin Driscoll
digitally saturated contexts, as well as her work around ethics of care and impact K
H
needed for building bett er futures in algorithmic societi es. Markham is founder and
A Crystal Abidin Whitney Phillips Jeff Thompson
director of Future Making Research Consorti um and STEEM: Center for the Study of M
Technological, Ethical, and Emerging Methods. & Ryan Milner Andee Baker Jessa Lingel
xtine burrough
Katrin Tiidenberg (Professor of Visual Culture & Social Media at Tallinn University) T
II Daisy Pignetti Tobias Raun
is a digital sociologist and author of Sex and Social Media (with Emily van der Nagel), D
Nadia Hakim Fernández
E
Selfi es: Why We Love (and Hate) Them, and Body and Soul on the Internet: Making
N
Sarah Schorr Cristina Nuñez
Sense of Social Media (in Estonian). She is currently writi ng and publishing on the B
E Patricia Prieto-Blanco
deplatf orming of sex on social media, visual social media practi ces, and digital R
research ethics. Tiidenberg is on the Executi ve Board of the Associati on of Internet G Priya C. Kumar Polina Kolozaridi
Anette Grønning
Researchers and the Estonian Young Academy of Sciences.
P Craig Hamilton Sarah Raine Carmel Vaisman
E
T
E
R
L Maria Schreiber Tijana Hirsch Winnie Soon
A
Cover design by Annett e N. Markham N
G
Cathy Fowley Katie Warfield
www.peterlang.com Anna Shchetvina
24-Aug-20 18:13:35
Early praise for Metaphors of Internet
“The Internet has disappeared. This exceptional book brings it back into focus—through richly
illustrated histories, artworks, and reflections. It is both a historical document and an exploration
of possible futures. On top of that, Annette and Katrin have given us a profoundly inspirational
glimpse of what truly creative scholarship looks like.”
Mark Deuze,
Professor of Journalism and Media Culture,
University of Amsterdam, author of Media Life
“Metaphors of the Internet is an extraordinary book, which zooms from the early days of cyber-
space to the present moment to ask how we might conceptualise what the internet is, feels and
means. Curated by the fabulous duo of Annette Markham and Katrin Tiidenberg this book
presents a new vision and mode of encountering the internet in everyday lives and biographies.
It presents an at once collective and carefully crafted, but also deeply personalised and reflexive,
series of metaphors and stories through which the internet and life can be conceptualised as
part of the same world. It invites us to acknowledge and contemplate anew how our own and
others’ lives are entangled in the creativity and politics of everyday environments, that are never
not digital. Metaphors of the Internet is essential, fascinating and accessible reading for anyone
from any academic or practice-based discipline who is interested in understanding the internet.”
Sarah Pink,
Professor of Design and Emerging Technologies,
Monash University,
author of Situating Everyday Life: Practices and Places and
Doing Sensory Ethnography
“What language will internet research speak in the years to come? Read this innovative collec-
tion and find out what you will be thinking about, researching, and dreaming about, when you
talk technology. A fun and forward thinking patchwork of ideas weaved together by scholars
known for being ahead of their time.”
Zizi Papacharissi
Professor and Head of Communication,
Professor of Political Science,
University of Illinois at Chicago
additional page early praise.indd 1 24-Aug-20 6:54:23 PM
additional page early praise.indd 2 24-Aug-20 6:54:23 PM
Metaphors of Internet
317450_Markham.indd 1 26-Aug-20 12:07:09 AM
Steve Jones
General Editor
Vol. 122
The Digital Formations series is part of the Peter Lang Media and Communication list.
Every volume is peer reviewed and meets the highest
quality standards for content and production.
PETER LANG
New York • Bern • Berlin
Brussels • Vienna • Oxford • Warsaw
317450_Markham.indd 2 26-Aug-20 12:07:09 AM
Metaphors of Internet
Ways of Being in the Age of Ubiquity
Edited by
Annette N. Markham and
Katrin Tiidenberg
PETER LANG
New York • Bern • Berlin
Brussels • Vienna • Oxford • Warsaw
317450_Markham.indd 3 26-Aug-20 12:07:09 AM
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Markham, Annette N., editor. | Tiidenberg, Katrin, editor.
Title: Metaphors of internet: ways of being in the age of ubiquity /
edited by Annette N. Markham and Katrin Tiidenberg.
Description: New York: Peter Lang, 2020.
Series: Digital formations, vol. 122 | ISSN 1526-3169
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019059859 | ISBN 978-1-4331-7449-0 (hardback: alk. paper)
ISBN 978-1-4331-7450-6 (paperback: alk. paper) | ISBN 978-1-4331-7451-3 (ebook pdf)
ISBN 978-1-4331-7452-0 (epub) | ISBN 978-1-4331-7453-7 (mobi)
Subjects: LCSH: Internet—Social aspects. | Internet—Terminology.
Classification: LCC HM851 .M466 2020 (print) | LCC HM851 (ebook) |
DDC 302.23/1—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019059859
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019059860
DOI 10.3726/b16196
Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.
Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the “Deutsche
Nationalbibliografie”; detailed bibliographic data are available
on the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de/.
© 2020 Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., New York
29 Broadway, 18th floor, New York, NY 10006
www.peterlang.com
All rights reserved.
Reprint or reproduction, even partially, in all forms such as microfilm,
xerography, microfiche, microcard, and offset strictly prohibited.
317450_Markham.indd 4 26-Aug-20 12:07:09 AM
Table of contents
List of Figures and Table � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � ix
Acknowledgments � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �xv
Section 1: Introducing the Metaphors of the Internet
Chapter One: Ways of Being in the Digital Age � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �3
Annette N� Markham
Chapter Two: A wormhole, a Home, an Unavoidable Place� Introduction to
“Metaphors of the Internet” � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 13
Katrin Tiidenberg
Chapter Three: Losing Your Internet: Narratives of Decline among Long-Time
Users � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 25
Kevin Driscoll
Section 2: Ways of Doing
Chapter Four: Workplace-Making among Mobile Freelancers � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 35
Nadia Hakim-Fernández
additional page early praise.indd 2 24-Aug-20 6:54:23 PM
vi | table of contents
Chapter Five: Turker Computers � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 47
Jeff Thompson
Chapter Six: Migration of Self � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 55
Tijana Hirsch
Chapter Seven: Pinball Machines, Cardboard Cutouts, and Private
Parties: Three Metaphors for Conceptualizing Memetic Spread � � � � � � � � � � � � � 59
Whitney Phillips
Chapter Eight: ‘Instagrammable’ as a Metaphor for Looking and Showing in
Visual Social Media � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 65
Katrin Tiidenberg
Section 3: Ways of Relating
Chapter Nine: Growing Up and Growing Old on the Internet: Influencer Life
Courses and the Internet as Home � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 75
Crystal Abidin
Chapter Ten: Remixing the Music Fan Experience: Rock Concerts in Person
and Online � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 85
Andee Baker
Chapter Eleven: Chronotope � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 91
Cathy Fowley
Chapter Twelve: Ecologies for Connecting across Generations � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 97
Anette Grønning
Chapter Thirteen: The Unavoidable Place: How Parents Manage the Socially
Mediated Visibility of Their Young Children� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 107
Priya C� Kumar
Section 4: Ways of Becoming
Chapter Fourteen: Trans-being � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 115
Son Vivienne
Chapter Fifteen: Popular Music Reception: Tools of Future-Making, Spaces,
and Possibilities of Being � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 125
Craig Hamilton and Sarah Raine
