Acknowledgments
Every book builds on an author’s previous research, and compiling acknowledgments becomes more dificult with every new project. For decades, many people have helped clarify my thinking about the subjects treated here. I cannot begin to name them all. I owe a general debt to the Society for Social Studies of Science (4S) for providing a stimulating climate for discussion, a wealth of excellent papers at its annual meetings, and the most generous international community of scholars one could hope for.
The London School of Economics and Political Science is the ideal intellectual milieu for a social scientist. I have enjoyed fruitful exchanges with my colleagues here and have learned from my bright graduate students. My only regret is that because of Dave Frisby’s untimely death, I could not enjoy more of his insights on Simmel. Several postgraduate students helped with bibliographic work, but I would especially like to acknowledge the fine editorial work of Des Fitzgerald. I am grateful to Louise Fisher for making Sociology a convivial department, and to Paul Gilroy for acquainting me with some aspects of digital culture.
While on sabbatical, I enjoyed the hospitality of several other universities. The Oxford Internet Institute has provided me with a warm home and various afiliations over the last decade. I ran a workshop on time and technology with Leslie Haddon early on in the conception of this book. Thanks to Bill Dutton for initially welcoming me there. Thanks also to Nufield College, Oxford, where I had the pleasure of being a visiting fellow for a term, and in particular to Duncan Gallie and Jonathan Gershuny. I spent another term at the Institute for Public Knowledge at New York University and thank Craig Calhoun for this opportunity.
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