Values, Social Imaginaries and the Internet Control

This thesis aims to explore the role of values in shaping the evolution and control of the Internet and the Web, regarding social imaginaries. Whilst the question of values in the design, operation and governance of the Internet is well documented from the point of view of the social imaginary behind the screen, relatively little is known about the values that are important to the users of the Web who have been so central in driving forward its growth in the last 25 years. The thesis will: (i) draw on published histories and other secondary sources to trace the role of values in shaping the Internet, and the Web as controlled technical infrastructures; (ii) conduct original empirical research to explore the Web values for those in front of the screen, as well as the possible control exerted by them on the Internet. It will suggest (i) an alternative history of the Internet, (ii) that there is a disjunction between the values linked to social imaginaries, and (iii) that there are considerable variations between the values of the users, not least in different parts of the world.