@article{1387243,
      recid = {1387243},
      author = {Rogers, Richard,},
      title = {Information politics on the Web /},
      publisher = {MIT Press,},
      address = {Cambridge, Mass. :},
      pages = {1 online resource (xi, 200 pages) :},
      year = {2004},
      abstract = {Does the information on the Web offer many alternative  accounts of reality, or does it subtly align with an  official version? In Information Politics on the Web,  Richard Rogers identifies the cultures, techniques, and  devices that rank and recommend information on the Web,  analyzing not only the political content of Web sites but  the politics built into the Web's infrastructure.  Addressing the larger question of what the Web is for,  Rogers argues that the Web is still the best arena for  unsettling the official and challenging the familiar.Rogers  describes the politics at work on the Web as either  back-end--the politics of search engine technology--or  front-end--the diversity, inclusivity, and relative  prominence of sites publicly accessible on the Web. To  analyze this, he developed four "political instruments," or  software tools that gather information about the Web by  capturing dynamic linking practices, attention cycles for  issues, and changing political party commitments. On the  basis of his findings on how information politics works,  Rogers argues that the Web should be, and can be, a  "collision space" for official and unofficial accounts of  reality. (One chapter, "The Viagra Files" offers an  entertaining analysis of official and unofficial claims for  the health benefits of Viagra.) The distinctiveness of the  Web as a medium lies partly in the peculiar practices that  grant different statuses to information sources. The tools  developed by Rogers capture these practices and contribute  to the development of a new information politics that takes  into account and draws from the competition between the  official, the non-governmental, and the underground.},
      url = {http://library.usi.edu/record/1387243},
}