The title of this work represents a hope: to arrive at a user’s view of the Internet, with the help of “stories” about people using the Internet. Almost half of the book is taken up by one chapter: a highly competent synthesis of research into the use of the Internet by specific groups. Before Bruce gets into the research “data”, however, he provides a brief history of the Internet and two theoretical chapters that pave the way for the data. One of these deals with the relationship between people and technology, and discusses issues such as personal innovativess and acceptance of innovation; the other focuses on the use people make of the Internet, positioning this focus in a “user‐centred revolution” that Bruce claims (contentiously) to have taken place over the past 25 years. Central to his approach is the concept that we understand the Internet through studying its smallest constituent parts: the “micromoments of human usings.” The final (fifth) chapter draws on both the theoretical reflections and the wide‐ranging research review to construct a user’s view that combines a generalised construct of the Internet with the unique constructs of the individual user. Bruce’s rationale is that such an “instrument” forms the first step in an attempt to provide the main stakeholders in Internet development with the ability to plan for any ongoing involvement.
There is a prodigious bibliography (29 pages), and the book is well referenced, as one might expect from someone who has written widely on the topic and indeed presented a doctoral thesis entitled “A user oriented view of the Internet as information infrastructure.” The review of Internet use studies (the “data” chapter) in particular serves as a useful literature review, with 454 references. The “users” covered in it are academics, librarians, university and college students, teachers, children and young adults, e‐government information providers and users, e‐commerce enterprises and consumers and “general public users of the Internet.” The decision to present research on “general public users” last is unfortunate, because it implies these are the users left over after the discussion of special groups, but this category includes some of the user groups discussed in earlier sections. Important issues, which could have opened the chapter, are covered in this final section: for example, reasons for Internet use and gender factors. The book is aimed at “stakeholders” in Internet development and assumes some technical knowledge – no glossary and no explanation of terms such as “portal” or “listserv”. The index, as with some other Scarecrow publications, is not entirely helpful: indexing, for example, “Paperwork reduction act”, which is merely mentioned, and omitting “cookies” and “Web bugs”, which are given a whole paragraph in the text. Bruce is up‐beat about the Internet (“Proof of concept and frequency of use will move the online shopping experience … into the using space of the individual”) and, as he himself admits, makes no attempt to address non‐use. Does he reach a user’s perspective? Doubtful, but it is an impressive attempt to analyse the anarchic.
