Communications Major

"In her first book, “Lurking,” Joanne McNeil charts the history of the internet through the experiences of the users. These are not necessarily the same as people. Conflating the two, McNeil explains, “hides the ‘existence of two classes of people — developers and users,’” as the artist Olia Lialina has put it.

The difference: Developers build and shape the online experiences that users run around in like rats in a maze. Users make their way through the vast web trying to fulfill certain essential desires. McNeil separates these behaviors — searching, activism at the expense of safety, privacy, identity, community, anonymity and visibility — into chapters, each discussing the platforms and websites that serve them.

McNeil maps out the history of the web, from the first bulletin boards, to the early days of blogging, to the emergence of social platforms like Friendster and eventually to the online world we live in today, dominated by tech giants like Google, Facebook and Amazon.

If "fake news" sites tipped the 2016 U.S. presidential election in the wrong direction, we need to be vigilant to make sure that the next four years (and beyond) are not further manipulated.

After a break up, intimate images possessed by a vindictive ex can end up online. Facebook is trying to address a uniquely modern and pernicious form of harassment, which is often but not exclusively aimed at women.

The London 2012 Olympics bid a British song-and-dance farewell Sunday night, but the memes spawned at the Games will live forever. Or at least until something else catches the Internet’s attention.