Christian Sandvig recently pointed me to an interesting edited volume on this topic: Preferred Placement by R. Rogers Preferred placement turns the tables on web analysis to date. Instead of celebrating the web and all its prospects for creative artistry, democracy and e-commerce, the volume authors calmly go backstage. How are search engines, portals, default settings and collaborative filtering formatting the surfer and offering passage to the media? A colourful spectrum of thinkers queries the medium's preferencing and recommendation mechanisms with an eye towards articulating, and learning from, the new politics of knowledge on the web. Contributions, among others, by: Matthew Chalmers, Martin Dodge, Greg Elmer, Lucas Introna and Helen Nissenbaum, Noortje Marres, Ian Morris, Korinna Patelis, Richard Rogers, Gerald Wagner, Steve Woolgar (from http://www.janvaneyck.nl/publications/pubinf/rogers.html ) Nicole, I'll keep you posted re the results from an empirical follow-up of what I discuss in the conceptual piece you referred to. Eszter --- Eszter's List: http://www.eszter.com/elist My new Weblog: http://www.esztersblog.com How to win the Nobel Prize: http://www.roadtostockholm.com __________________________________________________________________ Your favorite stores, helpful shopping tools and great gift ideas. Experience the convenience of buying online with Shop@Netscape! http://shopnow.netscape.com/ Get your own FREE, personal Netscape Mail account today at http://webmail.netscape.com/