Reimagining Internet Geographies: A User-Centric Ethnological Mapping of
  the World Wide Web

There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

Abstract

We propose a new user-centric imagery of the WWW that foregrounds local usage and its shaping forces, in contrast to existing imageries that prioritize Internet infrastructure. We construct ethnological maps of WWW usage through a network analysis of shared global traffic between 1000 most popular websites at three time points and develop granular measures for exploring global participation in online communication. Our results reveal the significant growth and thickening of online regional cultures associated with the global South. We draw attention to how local cultural identity, affirmative state intervention and economic contexts shape regional cultures on the global WWW.

Related collections

Author and article information

Journal

Publication date Created: 2015-10-15

Publication date Updated: 2015-11-15

Article

DOI: 10.1111/jcc4.12157

ArXiV ID: 1510.04411

SO-VID: 269ee5e5-a4fb-4f68-b423-6fa512ed7e7b

License:

http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/

History

Custom metadata

Comments Wu, Angela, Xiao & Taneja. H. (Forthcoming.) Reimagining Internet Geographies: A User-Centric Ethnological Mapping of the World Wide Web. Journal of Computer Mediated Communication. Both Authors Contributed Equally to the Manuscript

Categories cs.SI

ScienceOpen disciplines: Social & Information networks

Data availability:

ScienceOpen disciplines: Social & Information networks