Virtual ethnography / Christine Hine.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [163]-174) and index.

Acknowledgements -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Internet as culture and cultural artefact -- 3. The virtual objects of ethnography -- 4. The making of a virtual ethnography -- 5. Time, space and technology -- 6. Authenticity and identity in Internet contexts -- 7. Reflection -- Glossary of Internet terms -- References -- Index.

"Looking at how the Internet was used around a recent media event, the author demonstrates the net to be both a site for cultural formations and a cultural artefact which is shaped by people's understandings and expectations. She considers the shape of the new ethnography required by the Internet, guiding readers through its application in multiple settings." "Cutting through the exaggerated and fanciful notions about the new possibilities of 'net life', Hine offers a distinctive understanding of the significance and implications of the Internet. She shows that the net does not transcend traditional notions of space and time; rather, it produces multiple orderings of time and space which cross the online/offline boundary. The postmodernist reading of the net as inherently a site for playfulness and the end of authenticity is rejected."--BOOK JACKET.