The book is a collection of 25 essays by the author on various aspects of Internet culture, written between 1996 and 2001. The term Dark Fiber in the title of the book refers to unused fiber-optic cable laid in anticipation of future growth and commonly le

142SOCIAL SCIENCE COMPUTER REVIEW

REFERENCE

Gozzi, R., Jr. (2001). A brief history of Internet time.ETC: A Review of General Semantics,58, 470.

Nathalia RogersDowling College,rogersn@dowling.edu

DarkFiber:TrackingCriticalInternetCulture,byGeertLovink.Cambridge,MA:MITPress, 2002. ISBN 0-262-12249-9 cloth, 7×9, 394 pp., Electronic Culture Series.

Thebookisacollectionof25essaysbytheauthoronvariousaspectsofInternetculture,writtenbetween1996and2001.ThetermDarkFiberinthetitleofthebookreferstounusedfiber-opticcablelaidinanticipationoffuturegrowthandcommonlyleasedtoindividualsorcompanieswhomustprovidetheirownsystemstomakeuseofit.Howthisrelatestothecon-tentofthebookisleftuptothereadertointerpret.Thereviewer’sinterpretationisthatcul-ture,art,andpoliticalactivismrideonthedarkfiberoftheInternet,whereasitsbackboneisdominatedbymainstreammediaandthecorporateagendas.GeertLovinkisaprominentfig-ureincybercultureandnewmediaart,withthestreetwisdomofaformersquatterandaradi-calpostmodernintellectwhohasbeenactiveoveradecadeasfounderofmagazines,onlinecommunitynetworks,temporarymedialabsandintellectualforums,organizerofconfer-ences on media art, and book author.ThecorethemeofthebookistheimpactoftheInternetonsocialandpoliticalactivism,alternativemedia,andtheinterplayamongthecorporate,technical,andsocialagendas.Forexample,in“Travelogues,”essaysfocusonmediaartsandcultureincountriessuchasAlba-nia(afterthecollapseof1998),Taiwan(aftertheearthquakein1999),andDelhi,India(attheopeningoftheNewMediaCenterSarai,2001,ontheadvisoryboardofwhichtheauthorserves).In“TowardsaPoliticalEconomy,”thefocusisoninterpretationsofthedotcomhys-teriaofthelate1990sanditsoutcomes.In“RealityCheck,”thediscussionisaboutmediaarts,andthedynamicsoftheassociatedsocialnetworks,bothincyberspaceandinphysicalspace.SocialandpoliticalactivistshavemadeuseoftheInternetasameanstodisseminatenewsandideologiesassociatedwithexistingmovements.Thisisthefirstlevelof“netactivism.”Campaigningandconnectingpeoplefromdifferentcontextsisthesecondlevel.ThethirdlevelinvolvespurelyvirtualprotestsmountedovertheInternet,causingvirtuallossestocor-porationssuchascounterbranding.Lovinkis,however,disappointedthatthefullpotentialofthenewmediumhasnotbeenrealized,inpartbecausetheeconomicandlegalboundariesofthe net are determined by nation states and telecom giants.ItisinterestingtonotehowduringtheIraqwar,asthisreviewwasbeingwritten,informa-tionaboutthewarfrommultiplepointsofview,bothinnationalmedia(suchastheBBC)andinalternativesources(suchasZNet),wasreadilyaccessibleovertheInternet,dealingadeci-siveblowtotheCNNmonopolyonthenewsandthearmy’scontrolofinformationflowviathenewconceptofembeddedjournalism.WhytherewasanabrupthalttotheEnglish-lan-guagewebsiteofAl-Jazeeraduringthewarisanyone’sguess.Thebook’sessayonthewarin Kosovo was indeed prophetic of what was to happen in the Iraq war.ThankstotheNet,thereisnolimittotheavailabilityofthecounterinformationrequiredforbeinginformedinawell-roundedfashion.Suchinformationisuseful,however,onlytothosewhohavethetimetolookforanddigestit.Tacticalnetworks,theonlinenetworksfor