In 1985 The WELL, a dial-up discussion board based on the utilization of desktop computer technology, invited popular participation in one of the first examples of what would eventually evolve into the "blog"- an interactive website allowing reaction comments to initial statements, and now providing the primary Internet means for dialogue. The WELL began with the phrase: "You own your own words." Though almost everything else about online discussion has changed in the two decades since, those words still describe its central premise, and this basic idea underlies both the power and the popularity of blogging today. Appropriately enough, it also describes American journalism as it existed a century and a half before The WELL was organized, before the concept of popular involvement in the press was nearly swept away on the rising tide of commercial and professional journalism. In this book, which is the first to provide readers with a cultural/historical account of the blog, as well as the first to analyze the different aspects of this growing phenomenon in terms of its past, Aaron Barlow provides lay readers with a thorough history and analysis of a truly democratic technology that is becoming more important to our lives every day. The current popularity of political blogs can be traced back to currents in American culture apparent even at the time of the Revolution. At that time there was no distinct commercial and professional press; the newspapers, then, provided a much more direct outlet for the voices of the people. In the nineteenth century, as the press became more commercial, it moved away from its direct involvement with politics, taking on an "observer" stance--removing itselffrom the people, as well as from politics. In the twentieth century, the press became increasingly professional, removing itself once more from the general populace. Americans, however, still longed to voice their opinions with the freedom that the press had once provided. Today, blogs are providing the means for doing just that.

Discussing the extraordinary importance of Internet technologies, this volume is a single source for information on the worlds greatest network. It provides a wealth of information for the average Internet consumer, as well as an expert in the field of networking and Internet technologies.

Millions of users have taken up residence in virtual worlds, and in those worlds they find opportunities to revisit and rewrite their religious lives. Robert Geraci argues that virtual worlds and video games have become a locus for the satisfaction of religious needs, providing many users with communities, a meaningful experience of history and human activity, and a sense of transcendence. Using interviews, surveys, and his own first-hand experience within the games, Geraci shows how World of Warcraft and Second Life provide participants with the opportunity to rethink what it means to be religious in the contemporary world. Not all participants use virtual worlds for religious purposes, but many online residents use them to rearrange or replace religious practice as designers and users collaborate in the production of a new spiritual marketplace. Using World of Warcraft and Second Life as case studies, this book shows that many residents now use virtual worlds to re-imagine their traditions and work to restore them to authentic sanctity, or else replace religious institutions with virtual communities that provide meaning and purpose to human life. For some online residents, virtual worlds are even keys to a post-human future where technology can help us transcend mortal life. Geraci argues that World of Warcraft and Second Life are virtually sacred because they do religious work. They often do such work without regard for and frequently in conflict with traditional religious institutions and practices; ultimately they participate in our sacred landscape as outsiders, competitors, and collaborators.

Medical internet of things (IoT)-based applications are being utilized in several industries and have been shown to provide significant advantages to users in critical health applications. Artificial intelligence (AI) plays a key role in the growth and success of medical IoT applications and IoT devices in the medical sector. To enhance revenue, improve competitive advantage, and increase consumer engagement, the use of AI with medical IoT should be encouraged in the healthcare and medical arena. Revolutionizing Healthcare Through Artificial Intelligence and Internet of Things Applications provides greater knowledge of how AI affects healthcare and medical efficacy in order to improve outputs. It focuses on a thorough and comprehensive introduction to machine learning. Covering topics such as patient treatment, cyber-physical systems, and telemedicine, this premier reference source is a dynamic resource for hospital administrators, medical professionals, government officials, students and faculty of higher education, librarians, researchers, and academicians.

The previous edition provided the first resource for examining how the Internet affects our definition of who we are and our communication and work patterns. It examined how normal behavior differs from the pathological with respect to Internet use. Coverage includes how the internet is used in our social patterns: work, dating, meeting people of similar interests, how we use it to conduct business, how the Internet is used for learning, children and the Internet, what our internet use says about ourselves, and the philosophical ramifications of internet use on our definitions of reality and consciousness. Since its publication in 1998, a slew of other books on the topic have emerged, many speaking solely to internet addiction, learning on the web, or telehealth. There are few competitors that discuss the breadth of impact the internet has had on intrpersonal, interpersonal, and transpersonal psychology.
Key Features
* Provides the first resource for looking at how the Internet affects our definition of who we are
* Examines the philosophical ramifications of Internet use and our definitions of self, reality, and work
* Explores how the Internet is used to meet new friends and love interests, as well as to conduct business
* Discusses what represents normal behavior with respect to Internet use

This book is the second installment of a two-volume series on IPv6 and the KAME implementation. This book discusses those protocols that are found in more capable IPv6 devices, are commonly deployed in more complex IPv6 network environments, or are not specific to IPv6 but are extended to support IPv6. Specifically, this book engages the readers in advanced topics such as routing, multicasting, DNS, DHCPv6, mobility, and security.
This two-volume series covers a wide spectrum of the IPv6 technology, help the readers establish solid and empirical understanding on IPv6 and the KAME reference implementation paralleled by none.
Key Features:
* Extensive code listings with meticulous line-by-line explanation of rationale and use for KAME snapshot implementations on advanced IPv6 related protocols, including:
-Unicast and multicast routing and DNS client based on KAME snapshot dated April 2003, which are a base of more recent versions of BSD variants
-Mobile IPv6 based on KAME snapshot dated July 2004, a predecessor version of the "SHISA" implementation
-DHCPv6 based on KAME snapshot dated May 2005, a base of the WIDE-DHCPv6 implementation available at SourceForge today
* Numerous diagrams and illustrations help in visualizing the implementation
* In-depth discussion of the standards provides intrinsic understanding of the specifications
* An introduction to the IP security protocols along with the use of the racoon key exchange daemon
* Two CD-ROMs filled with the complete KAME IPv6 protocol stack and FreeBSD software

* The only authoritative reference "cookbook" for anyone interested in advanced IPv6 topics and protocols.
* Line-by-line walk through of real code helps the reader master IPv6 implementation
* Comprehensive in scope, based on a working standard, and thoroughly illustrated to bring the protocols alive.

Too often the suggestion of using games and virtual environments in an educational setting is met with skepticism and objections. Many traditionally-oriented educators are simply not aware of the benefits that come from implementing digital games into an instructional environment. Serious Games and Virtual Worlds in Education, Professional Development, and Healthcare seeks to counter these doubts by explaining how digital environments can easily become familiar and beneficial for educational and professional development. Highlighting techniques beyond the traditional practice, this reference source is useful for researchers, academics, professionals, and students interested in the benefits to implementing these games into various aspects of our environment.

The Semantic Web combines the descriptive languages RDF (Resource Description Framework) and OWL (Web Ontology Language), with the data-centric, customizable XML (eXtensible Mark-up Language) to provide descriptions of the content of Web documents. These machine-interpretable descriptions allow more intelligent software systems to be written, automating the analysis and exploitation of web-based information.

Software agents will be able to create "automatically" new services from already published services, with potentially huge implications for models of e-Business.

"Semantic Web Technologies" provides a comprehensive overview of key semantic knowledge technologies and research. The authors explain (semi-)automatic ontology generation and metadata extraction in depth, along with ontology management and mediation. Further chapters examine how Semantic Web technology is being applied in knowledge management ("Semantic Information Access") and in the next generation of Web services.

"Semantic Web Technologies: " Provides a comprehensive exposition of the state-of-the art in Semantic Web research and key technologies. Explains the use of ontologies and metadata to achieve machine-interpretability. Describes methods for ontology learning and metadata generation. Discusses ontology management and evolution, covering ontology change detection and propagation, ontology dependency and mediation. Illustrates the theoretical concepts with three case studies on industrial applications in digital libraries, the legal sector and the telecommunication industry.

Graduate and advanced undergraduate students, academic and industrial researchers in the field will all find "Semantic WebTechnologies" an essential guide to the technologies of the Semantic Web.

To develop and sustain competitive advantage in the marketplace, organizations depend critically on competence and resources, knowledge and information exchanged both within and across partner organizations, and on process integration and management. ""Semantic Web Technologies and E-Business: Toward the Integrated Virtual Organization and Business Process Automation"" presents research related to the application of semantic Web technologies, including semantic service-oriented architecture, semantic content management, and semantic knowledge sharing in e-business processes. ""Semantic Web Technologies and E-Business: Toward the Integrated Virtual Organization and Business Process Automation"" compiles research from experts around the globe, bringing business, managerial, technological, and implementation issues surrounding the application of semantic Web technologies in e-business to the forefront.

During the past two decades, telecommunication technologies combined with Web-enabled technologies have created a new technology-based focus-Web-based learning and teaching. This new area has changed the concept of education around the world, creating new challenges and opportunities offered by this new technology-based concept. Web-Based Learning and Teaching Technologies: Opportunities and Challenges addresses many issues, trends, opportunities and problems facing colleges and universities in the effective utilization and management of Web-based learning and teaching technologies.

Over one million people write political blogs, yet a select few wield enormous power within the political blogosphere and over politics in general. Known as the "political blogging A-list", these bloggers command the majority of blogging traffic; set the agenda for the rest of the political blogosphere; and have a strong influence on politics, whether it is directly through blogging, or indirectly through influencing mainstream news media. In Making it in the Political Blogosphere, Tanni Haas profiles and interviews twenty of the world's top political bloggers, who share the secrets of their success. Despite the partisan nature of blogging, in which Liberals, Conservatives and Libertarians share the same space, the twenty bloggers are in surprising agreement about what makes a successful blogger. In securing access to the political blogging A-list, Haas has provided us with an entertaining sequence of interviews, which are invaluable to any aspiring political blogger.

This volume is number 67 in the series Advances in Computers that began back in 1960. This is the longest continuously published series of books that chronicles the evolution of the computer industry. Each year three volumes are produced presenting approximately 20 chapters that describe the latest technology in the use of computers today. Volume 67, subtitled "Web technology," presents 6 chapters that show the impact that the World Wide Web is having on our society today. The general theme running throughout the volume is the ubiquity of web services. Topics such as wireless access and its problems and reliability of web communications are emphasized.

Key features:

- In-depth surveys and tutorials on software development approaches.
- Well-known authors and researchers in the field.
- Extensive bibliographies with most chapters.
- All chapters focus on Internet and web technology issues.
- Discussion of wireless communication and forensic issues, currently important research areas.
- In-depth surveys and tutorials on software development approaches.
- Well-known authors and researchers in the field.
- Extensive bibliographies with most chapters.
- All chapters focus on Internet and web technology issues.
- Discussion of wireless communication and forensic issues, currently important research areas.

Social media platforms have emerged as an influential and popular tool in the digital era. No longer limited to just personal use, the applications of social media have expanded in recent years into the business realm. Analyzing the Strategic Role of Social Networking in Firm Growth and Productivity examines the role of social media technology in organizational settings to promote business development and growth. Highlighting a range of relevant discussions from the public and private sectors, this book is a pivotal reference source for professionals, researchers, upper-level students, and academicians.

Access to government information faces many roadblocks in developing and emerging economies due to lack of appropriate legal frameworks and other requisite information laws. However, there is hope that many countries are now recognizing the importance of providing access to public information resources. Digital Access and E-Government: Perspectives from Developing and Emerging Countries explores the relationships that exist between access to information laws and e-government. It shares the strategies used in encouraging access to information in a variety of jurisdictions and environments, to be of use to e-government designers and practitioners, policymakers, and university professors.

As the Internet has grown, so have the challenges associated with delivering static, streaming, and dynamic content to end-users. This book is unique in that it addresses the topic of content networking exclusively and comprehensively, tracing the evolution from traditional web caching to today's open and vastly more flexible architecture. With this evolutionary approach, the authors emphasize the field's most persistent concepts, principles, and mechanisms--the core information that will help you understand why and how content delivery works today, and apply that knowledge in the future.
+ Focuses on the principles that will give you a deep and timely understanding of content networking.
+ Offers dozens of protocol-specific examples showing how real-life Content Networks are currently designed and implemented.
+ Provides extensive consideration of Content Services, including both the Internet Content Adaptation Protocol (ICAP) and Open Pluggable Edge Services (OPES).
+ Examines methods for supporting time-constrained media such as streaming audio and video and real-time media such as instant messages.
+ Combines the vision and rigor of a prominent researcher with the practical experience of a seasoned development engineer to provide a unique combination of theoretical depth and practical application.

Tired of writing all your user IDs and passwords on sticky notes and pieces of scrap paper? This convenient address book stores them all in one place. This is not your typical address book There are also special sections for online banking info and one for storing e-mail addresses.

At a time when there are still a number of voices calling for the Internet to remain a law-free zone, a whole bundle of conflicts have already emerged, many of which have found their way to lawyers and the courts in a substantial number of different jurisdictions. It surely now cannot be doubted that the Internet, like any other place in the world where people come together and follow their own interests, needs rules to be developed for the handling of such conflicts. Lawyers have already reacted and have created a new area of law, commonly called "law of the Internet" or "cyberlaw". This area, however, is far from being strictly defined. It touches on many existing areas of law, but at the same time it deals with a wholly new medium - cyberspace - which itself is subject to constant change and development. Under these circumstances, it is not surprising that in a number of cases the predictions as to how this law will look at some selected moment in the future are vague and uncertain. This is particularly true for the commercial side of the Internet, for which the term "e-commerce" has been coined. So rapid have been the developments of e-commerce, that it is now frequently said that this is the future of any commerce and that it carries the potential for enormous growth - at least for the business to business ("B2B") sector. This text covers some important legal issues arising in e-commerce.

Social media and new social facilities have made it necessary to develop new media design processes with different communication strategies in order to promote sustainable communication. Visual communication emphasizes messages that are transmitted through visual materials in order to effectively communicate emotions, thoughts, and concepts using symbols instead of words. Social networks present an ideal environment for utilizing this communication technique. New Media and Visual Communication in Social Networks is a pivotal scholarly publication that examines communication strategies in the context of social media and new digital media platforms and explores the effects of visual communication on social networks, visual identity, television, magazines, newspapers, and more. Highlighting a range of topics such as consumer behavior, visual identity, and digital pollution, this book is essential for researchers, practitioners, entrepreneurs, policymakers, and educators.