Dear colleagues, I would like to draw your attention to a book I published recently under Emerald Publishing. I think that its final chapters, namely the fifth chapter "Tenuous Assumptions in Digital Divide Research", is relevant to the whole field of the Internet studies. The Introduction is freely available at https://bit.ly/2OWkc89 Beyond the Digital Divide: Contextualizing the Information Society <https://books.emeraldinsight.com/page/detail/Beyond-the-Digital-Divide/?k=9781787565487> Emerald Publishing Petr Lupač <https://ksoc.ff.cuni.cz/en/staff/petr-lupac-ph-d/> Book webpage: https://books.emeraldinsight.com/page/detail/Beyond-the-Digital-Divide/?k=97... Sample chapter (Introduction): https://bit.ly/2OWkc89 This book critically reviews existing digital divide research and challenges its core thesis, which posits unequal Internet access as a newly formed source of social disadvantage. The author begins by introducing the building blocks of the information society theory. The book goes on to present a systematic overview of digital divide research - its development, arguments attesting to the social gravity of the digital divide, and current findings on the uneven diffusion and use of the Internet. It evaluates the validity of the theories and concepts associated with digital divide research. The author offers an overview and re-examination of six presumptions and biases found in the prevailing approach to the digital divide. Given that Internet use has, in certain contexts, become an absolute necessity, an alternative approach is proposed, recognizing the indispensability of Internet use as context dependent. The book concludes with a consideration of the implications that this new perspective has for the information society theory and policies as well as for the role of social science in the informatization process. -- Petr Lupac, Ph.D. Charles University, Faculty of Arts, Department of Sociology e-mail:petr.lupac-at-gmail.com e-mail (work): petr.lupac@ff.cuni.cz Web: http://ksoc.ff.cuni.cz/katedra/vyucujici/lupac/ Twitter: @PetrLupac Skype: lupac_ffuk Tel.: +42022161968 4 (Office hours only) +42022161968 0 (Department of Sociology)