> News archive		> Neural Magazine				> Neural Station
> emusic		> new media art				> hacktivism
Italian version . book Robert Hassan Media, Politics and the Network Society <book> Open University Press ISBN 0335213154 'Network society', the society founded on the interconnected communication between its members, is one of the holy grails of digital activists, who have always believed that the unlimited possibility of communication automatically implies a more direct democracy. It's true that, among the most beneficial antibodies for the civil society, there are those who have chosen mass media and the Net as their main instrument of resistance against global libertarianism. This book describes detailedly an interconnected society through its necessary sociopolitical contextualization which leads to an analysis of the changes in the participation to the public life after the rise of the digital culture. The need to preserve the differences in our society and the huge wealth derived must pass through a strong critique of the 'monoculture' produced by the information industry, always ready to scream at emergencies instead of making an effort to find appropriate tools of analysis. The strength of debate and of the tactical and active use of media confirms the intuitive need to reinforce the fragile civil society by means of free communication infrastructures, in a space having at its center the necessary personal and physical participation to reach the wanted goals.