Misbehavior in Cyber Places: The Regulation of Online Conduct in Virtual Communities on the Internet

Misbehavior in Cyber Places studies computer-mediated, interpersonal communication on the Internet up to the turn of the century, portraying a technological universe that existed before social media, smartphones, and commercialism began to dominate cyberspace in the new millennium. Here, with amateurs prevailing over professionals, digital immigrants explored online frontiers and founded virtual communities. Based on early stages of Internet research, this book examines misbehavior across a wide range of online environments. Sternberg distinguishes misbehavior and rule-breaking from crime and law-breaking, and discusses cybercrime, cyberlaw, and the differences between local and global regulation. This book lays out the theoretical framework and fundamental ideas of media ecology, a branch of communication scholarship. Sternberg highlights pioneering media ecology perspectives on space, place, situations, rules, and behavior in public. These subjects are highly relevant for understanding digital media, mediated interpersonal communication, and behavior in online environments.

Table of Contents:
Preface: The Internet at the Turn of the Century Acknowledgments Introduction: Athenians and Visigoths in Cyberspace 1 The Research Objective Rationale for the Study The Research Problem Definitions Delimitations Method Chapter Summary 2 The Context of the Study Media Ecology: The Study of Media Environments Media as Environments Environments as Media Space and Place Situations, Rules, and Rule-Breaking Mediated Interpersonal Communication Computer-Mediated Communication in Online Environments Virtual Communities 3 Trouble Brewing in Cyberspace An Infamous Triad of Troublesome Online Behavior Flaming: Digital Debates and Virtual Vitriol Spamming: Electronic Junk Mail and Other Cyber Debris Virtual Rape: Sexual Harassment in Online Gathering Places A Frontier Mentality: The Internet Besieged Two Approaches: External Laws Versus Internal Rules 4 Cybercrime: Law-Breaking on the Internet The 1994 Denning and Lin Report Cybercrime and Cyberlaw Online Security, Attacks, and Viruses Hackers and Other Denizens of the Cyberspace Underground First Amendment Follies: Dissent, Free Speech, and Censorship Online Definition Schizophrenia: Malevolent Criminal or Mischievous Prankster? The Jurisdiction Circus: No Ringmaster in Cyberspace 5 Misbehavior: Rule-Breaking in Virtual Communities The 1994 Bruckman Abstract Misbehavior and its Aliases: Negligent, Naughty, Nasty, and Beyond Rules and Norms in Virtual Gatherings Netiquette and Other Codes of Civilized Cyber Conduct Behavior Management and Social Control in Online Environments The Status Quo: Theories and Analyses in Search of a Paradigm 6 The Regulation of Online Conduct in Cyber Places Breaking, Making, and Enforcing Rules Online Breaking the Rules: Varieties of Virtual Misbehavior Rule-Breakers: Netiquette Newbies, Packet Pranksters, and Modem Miscreants Making the Rules: Behavioral Standards for Online Gatherings Rule-Makers: Netizens Against Digital Misconduct Enforcing the Rules: Strategies and Techniques for Handling Online Troublemakers Rule-Enforcers: Moderators, Sysops, Wizards, and Gods on Cyber Patrol 7 Conclusion: A New Sense of Place From Physical to Behavioral Boundaries Growing Interest in Local Regulatory Approaches Misbehavior Offline: Athenians and Visigoths in Everyday Life References About the Author

About the Author :
Janet Sternberg is a native New Yorker who grew up in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and earned her Ph.D. in media ecology with Neil Postman at New York University. A former Fulbright scholar, Sternberg is assistant professor of communication and media studies at Fordham University and is a member of their Latin American and Latino studies faculty. She also served as president of the Media Ecology Association. Sternberg has been online since acquiring her first computer, modem, and email account in 1984.

Review :
To be programmed or to program? That is the question. For media ecology scholars, it is time to examine digital media from a new perspective. Janet Sternberg gives her answer to the above question in the book Misbehavior in Cyber Places: The Regulation of Online Conduct in Virtual Communities on the Internet. In comparison with monographs on digital media or human behavior, the book is intriguing because it revisits media ecology both from social and human behavioral perspectives and acts as an important call for scholarship on studies involving situationist-based medium theory. [This book] is a foundational work on the new senses of place that are arising with digital media. Sternberg catalogues and analyzes the new genres of mischief and mayhem, nuisances and nastiness, and crimes and creative activism that have emerged in online communities. In so doing, Sternberg creatively reveals the social construction of new conceptions of normative behavior in virtual interactions and the development of the mechanisms to enforce the boundaries of what is seen as ‘acceptable.’ Sternberg is a lucid writer and clear thinker. Her book holds significant long-term theoretical value as a major advance in situationist-based medium theory. The next real generation of media theorists in the spirit of McLuhan, Ong, and Innis has finally arrived as Janet Sternberg. She revisits media ecology in the social and behavioral landscape of the net, upscaling the study of media onto an altogether new playing field: human misbehavior. From cheaters to spoilsports to shamans, this is not your mother’s media analysis. This study represents an important contribution to the research on computer communication. Sternberg makes it clear that we cannot fully comprehend behavior online unless we first examine misbehavior, that rules and roles are most visible when they are violated. The media ecology approach that Sternberg employs, especially when incorporating symbolic interactional, relational, and situational perspectives, is essential to a comprehensive understanding of our new electronic environments. Everyone who has ever used the Internet has experienced online misbehavior first hand. So why haven’t scholars written more about it? Janet Sternberg’s book Misbehavior in Cyber Places is one of the few comprehensive treatments of the issue. A useful inventory of types of social and criminal online misbehavior, understood within a media ecology framework. Flamers, spammers, pranksters, virtual rapists, hackers—Sternberg captures the running battles between the Athenians and Visigoths of virtual communities, and shows us how netizens can control and police their cyber places. She examines digital skirmishes filtered through media ecology’s understandings of environment, space, place, and situation, allowing her broad generalizations about the Internet as medium as well as concrete assessments of particular online misbehavior occurring in concrete contexts. The prerogatives and limitations of the Internet’s rule-makers, rule-enforcers, and community pressures are illustrated with clear examples and envisioned with sensitive, pragmatic, ethical guidelines. Her award-winning research on and visions of cyber relationships is now available to all netizens. Bravo!