An Internet for the people : the politics and promise of Craigslist /

An Internet for the people : the politics and promise of Craigslist /

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Bibliographic Details
Author / Creator:Lingel, Jessa (Jessica), 1983- author.
Imprint:Princeton : Princeton University Press, [2020]
Description:viii, 197 pages ; 25 cm.
Language:English
Series:Princeton studies in culture and technology
Princeton studies in culture and technology.
Subject:
Craigslist.com (Firm)
Craigslist.com (Firm)
Internet advertising -- Social aspects.
Internet marketing -- Social aspects.
Online social networks.
Internet -- Social aspects.
Internet -- Social aspects.
Online social networks.
Format: Print Book
URL for this record:http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/12041411
Hidden Bibliographic Details
ISBN:9780691188904
0691188904
9780691199887
Notes:Includes bibliographical references and index.
Summary:"This book argues that craigslist issues a quiet challenge to the corporate norms that have become dominant in the twenty-first century web. More than a window to the world's ephemera, craigslist is an increasingly lonely outpost in a hyper-corporate web. It is the internet un-gentrified, representing an older ideological orientation of online politics, one that stresses technological simplicity, collectivism, and locality. Flawed and ever on the brink of obsolescence, it provides a model of how democracy can work - most of the time for most people - online. The first part of the book provides historical context for understanding craigslist, describing craigslist's transformation from an email list to a massively popular online marketplace and examining the development of classified and personal ads through the arrival of the digital age. Lingel also examines craigslist's legal history, looking at the company's battles over issues of freedom of expression and data privacy, and exploring what the company's defenses in the courtroom reveal about the platform's politics. The second part of the book explores how people use craigslist in everyday life, and the publics and politics that emerge from their daily online interactions. One chapter draws on interviews with craigslist users to examine the relationships between people and things in craigslist's secondary marketplace. Another looks at how jobs are advertised and filled on craigslist, and the shifting norms and associated class biases that result from craigslist job-seeking practices. Lastly, Lingel examines the problems that are created and solved as people buy and sell, find jobs and gigs, connect to, exploit, and protect each other on craigslist, showing how the community negotiates, establishes, and polices rules and norms. By looking at the politics and promises of craigslist, Lingel concludes, we can also reflect on how the web has evolved, how it has stayed the same, what we might want to protect and what we should think about changing when it comes to everyday life online"--
Other form:Online version: Lingel, Jessa (Jessica), 1983- An Internet for the people Princeton : Princeton University Press, [2020] 9780691199887
Table of Contents:
  • Acknowledgments
  • Introduction: The Politics and Promise of craigslist
  • Part I.
  • 1. Becoming Craig's List: San Francisco Roots and Web 1.0 Ethics
  • 2. The Death and Life of Classified Ads: A Media History of craigslist
  • 3. From Sex Workers to Data Hacks: Craigslist's Courtroom Battles
  • Part II.
  • 4. Craigslist, the Secondary Market, and Politics of Value
  • 5. Craigslist Gigs, Class Politics, and a Gentrifying Internet
  • 6. People Seeking People: Craigslist, Online Dating, and Social Stigma
  • 7. Craigslist's People Problems: Politics and Failures of Trust
  • Conclusion: The Case for Keeping the Internet Weird
  • Methods Appendix
  • Notes
  • Bibliography
  • Index

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