This volume, one of the first titles in the Reference Shelf 2006 series, brings together 31 articles from newspapers, magazines, news services, and websites from 2003-2005 including The Chronicle of Higher Education, Slate, The New York Times, The Nation, and USA Today, discussing new types of media, their influences on the world, use as an educational tool, impact on the entertainment industry, and risks. Several articles emphasize blogging and the news media, and others examine e-literature, podcasts, mobile TV, gaming, net predators, and Wikipedia. The book has an annotated list of further articles that incorporates websites. The appendix contains the 1984 essay ʺIs It Okay to Be a Luddite?ʺ by novelist Thomas Pynchon. Also includes information on blogosphere, cell phones, e-books, education, Internet, journalism, Library of Congress, literature, mainstream media, MySpace.com, newspaper industry, political campaigns, politics, youth, etc.

Internet revolution is gaining momentum /Larry Williams -- The blog revolution and how it changed the world / Ed Power -- The rise of open-source politics / Micah L. Sifry -- Standing corrected / Sean Dodson -- Diffusion, use, and effect of the Internet in China / Jonathan J.H. Zhu and Enhai Wang -- Growing up online / Ana Veciana-Suarez -- It's got a hold on you / Douglas Rushkoff -- The ethical dilemma of blogging in the media / Patrick Beeson -- Bad news / Richard A. Posner -- Bloggers : the light at the end of the newspaper's tunnel / Phil Boas -- The benefits of blogs / Michael J. Korzi -- Are bloggers journalists? / Ted Landphair -- Plugged-in Proust : has e-lit come of age? / Julia Keller -- Who will have the last word on digital frontier? / Mandy Garner -- Years after giant flop, online media take hold / Chris Gaither -- Podcasts provide a sound salvation for early radio / Robert P. Laurence -- Mixed signals over mobile TV / Alex Benady -- Downloading for dollars / Edward Jay Epstein -- The gamer as artiste / John Leland -- And now a word from our sponsor. Our only sponsor / Stuart Elliott -- Remaking liberal education / T. Mills Kelly -- College lectures go digital / Kimberly Marselas -- Bringing blogs into the classroom : "new media" platform gaining steam at universities / Patrick Beeson -- Digital archives are a gift of wisdom to be used wisely Roy Rosenzweig -- Classic lit goes txt msging / Shelley Emling -- Weaving the Web / Patrick Verel -- Utopia goes digital / Marco R. della Cava -- The wonderful world of wikis / Ellen Lee -- To Internet stores, it's all about the personal touch / Bob Tedeschi -- Authorities look to net predators / Jill King Greenwood -- Caught in a spiral of gaming / Victor Gonzales. -- Is it O.K. to be a Luddite? / Thomas Pynchon.