Sterne

In the chapter entitled "Thinking the Internet: Cultural Studies Versus the Millenium" in the book Doing Internet Research, Sterne expresses a need for a comprehensive texts on the internet that "re[think] their objects and the ways in which they [are] written about" as well as offering a "viable alternative" to the common discourses of the net. Sterne mentions that these texts should be comparable to a work such as William's Television: Technology and Cultural Form, which we read last week.

Sterne believes that not many worthwhile texts on the internet exist because many have succombed to the millenial thinking that focuses on the impacts and possibilities of the "new" medium and sees them in a "technophilic" or "technophobic" sense. He suggests the use of cultural studies.

Sterne describes his definition of cultural studies and explains how it can be used to create useful texts on the internet. He defines cultural studies as being:
"concerned with...culture and power...characterized by a set of shared intellectual strategies...includ[ing] attention to the political character of knowledge production, an orientation toward the analysis of context, a commitment to theory, and a theory of articulation."
Applying these characteristics of cultural studies to the study of the internet, Sterne simply states that it will help critics address "carefully considered questions that can be answered only through some kind of organized research."

I agree with Sterne's view that all there really is in internet studies are texts that promote millenial thinking. People still see the internet as a new technology and are intrigued by its impacts (usually thought of in a technological determinism sense) and the possibilities that specific features of the internet offer. And I see this as a natural thing too. History shows that this trend appears each time a new, revolutionary technology emerges. I also believe that another reason for the fact that texts on the internet are all over the map is because the internet itself is fairly unorganized/anarchic. However, I also agree with Sterne's opinion that we need to delve into deeper conversation about the internet as a whole for the reason that I believe we will have a better chance of making improvements to the internet if we can understand it better as a whole.