New Media History

Abstract

Many histories of information and communication could be written: the history of institutions and firms, the history of programmes and creative works, the history of techniques, and the history of practices and uses which, in turn, can be related to that of work and leisure but also to that of the public sphere. All these histories are related to very different fields of social science, and the information and communication sector is far too vast to present all these perspectives here. I have chosen to take as the main theme of this chapter the question of relations between ICTs and society. With this point of view we are at the heart of a number of debates: debate on the effects of communication, which for a long time mobilized sociologists of the media, extensive debate on determinism, among historians of techniques, and debate around the socio-technical perspective which has now been adopted by most sociologists of science and technology. We shall focus on three points in particular: the launching and development of ICTs, their uses in a professional context and, lastly, their uses in a leisure context.