Transcending recent attempts to pigeonhole 'the information revolution', this book shows how the paradoxical aspects of new media and the Internet (is it masculine or feminine? Does it mean peace or war?) are the peculiarly intense expression of the contradictions underlying our whole society. Andrew Calcutt is an enthusiastic champion of the potential for new communications technology, and a trenchant critic of the culture of fear which prevents its realisation.

Going beyond recent attempts to pigeonhole the information revolution as either the information highway to utopia or the devil's own dystopia, this book cuts through the furor surrounding the Internet and shows how the paradoxical aspects of new media are an expression of the inherent contradictions underlying society as a whole. Andrew Calcutt is an enthusiastic champion of the potential for new communications technology and a trenchant critic of the culture of fear and self-limitation which prevents its realization. At a time when events and social processes are often assumed to be beyond our control, he seeks to accentuate the positive capabilities of human beings and the technologies which we have created.

Transcending recent attempts to pigeonhole 'the information revolution', this book shows how the paradoxical aspects of new media and the Internet (is it masculine or feminine? Does it mean peace or war?) are the peculiarly intense expression of the contradictions underlying our whole society. Andrew Calcutt is an enthusiastic champion of the potential for new communications technology, and a trenchant critic of the culture of fear which prevents its realisation.