Martin Hand
Department of Sociology
Assistant Professor

My interest in Internet related matters began with an MA in Cultural Studies, where I explored affinities between then emerging discourses of `cyberspace' and the work of Jameson, Lyotard and Baudrillard. I pursued this further in a PhD thesis concerning relations between technology, government, and subjectivity in the context of Internet/Governance. I remain interested in a number of issues related to this. Firstly, the relations between accounts of Internet technologies (their form, content and `effects') and current ideals of societal governance (interactivity, empowerment, direct-ness). Secondly, how traditional social and cultural institutions (libraries, museums, financial organizations) are appropriating Internet technologies, and the reciprocal transformations involved in such processes. Thirdly, the relationships between Internet technologies and other artefacts, such as paper, forms of writing, telephones, and so on, as elements of material culture.

Email: Martin Hand

Martin Hand - Department of Sociology