new publication
Imagining the Internet(s):
A Collaborative Glossary
Matter of Imagination & Institute of Network Cultures
Sponsored by the EASST Fund
The internet has never been just a piece of technology, unified in its material form. Rather, it is a story we have learned to tell ourselves, organized by metaphors, futuristic prefixes like ‘cyber’, and a suspension of disbelief about its own material limitations. The internet is the product of a collective process of imagination. But how does one study something so ephemeral as imagination?
Imagining the Internet(s): A Collaborative Glossary brings together 28 words to think about the internet as an imagined object: affordances and infrastructural ideologies, net scepticism and romanticism, vernacular metaphors and algorithmic folklore, and many others. Each entry is a keyword, be it a well-known or a new one, defined and interpreted by the scholar who uses it. The collection sits at the intersection of Media Studies, Internet History and STS, and is rooted in the “Matter of Imagination” working group. Written in an engaging and accessible manner, the glossary is designed for teaching, research, and artistic practice, aimed at anyone curious about the imaginative aspects of internet history.
320 copies of the Glossary have been published and distributed in print at no additional cost. Full PDF version is openly available.
Edited by: Nathalie Fridzema, Anya Shchetvina
Series Design: Alex Walker
Production: Tommaso Campagna
Published by the Institute of Network Cultures, Amsterdam 2026
ISBN: 9789083672168
>> Download the PDF here
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Outline:
Introduction
- p. 1-3: Introduction, by Nathalie Fridzema & Anya Shchetvina
Science & Regulation
- p. 4-5: Sociotechnical Imaginaries, by Abe Hendriks
- p. 6-7: Projects, by Steve Jankowski
- p. 8: Communications Siege, by P. Arun
- p. 9: Digital Constitutionalism, by Karolin Rippich
Design & Materiality
- p. 10-11: Infrastructural Ideologies, by Niels ten Oever & Maxigas
- p. 12: The Feed, by Anne Helmond
- p. 13-14: Network Ideologies, by Paolo Bory
- p. 15: Participation, by Joe Litobarski
- p. 16-17: Dispositif, by Susan Aasman
- p. 18-19: Affordance, by Phakin Nimmannorrawong
- p. 20-21: Standards, by Kieran Hegarty
- p. 22-23: Skeuomorphism, by Firuza Huseynova
Rhetoric & Representation
- p. 24-25: Visual Abstraction, by Dario Rodighiero
- p. 26-27: Rhetoric, by Caddie Alford
- p. 28-29: Prefix, by Sally Wyatt
- p. 30-31: Metaphor, by Femke van Bruggen
- p. 32-33: Vernacular Metaphors, by Arran Ridley
- p. 34-35: Algorithmic Folklore, by Gabriele de Seta, Marianne Gunderson, Hanna Lauvli, Debarun Sarkar & Yagmur Vik
- p. 36-37: Myths, by Rianne Riemens
Affects & Reception
- p. 38-39: Romanticism, by Rowan Melling
- p. 40-41: Affective Surplus, by Michael Stevenson
- p. 42-43: Suspension of Disbelief, by Lucy Maun
- p. 44-45: Hype Histories, by Claudio Celis Bueno & Steve Jankowski
- p. 46: Net Scepticism, by Jesper Verhoef
Temporality & Scale
- p. 47-48: Failure, by Dmitry Muravyov
- p. 49: Abandonment, by Dave Mee
- p. 50-51: Scale, by Magdalena Krysztoforska
- p. 52-53: Futuring, by Abe Hendriks, Rianne Riemens, Danny Steur & Jeroen Oomen
Recommended Readings
- p. 54-60: Recommended Readings
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Contact
Limited printed copies are availible on request at no additional cost. If you have any further questions about printed copies, implementing the Glossary in teaching, book reviews or presentations, please contact Anya Shchetvina (anya.shchetvina[at]posteo.net) and Nathalie Fridzema (n.fridzema[at]rug.nl).