Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
New Media & Society
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Shah, R. C.
Right arrow Articles by Kesan, J. P.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Recipes for cookies: how institutions shape communication technologies

Rajiv C. Shah

University of Illinois at Chicago, USA, rajiv.shah{at}alumni.illinois.edu

Jay P. Kesan

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA

The ability of communication technologies to favor certain societal concerns, such as privacy, is widely recognized. This article argues that an institutional analysis is central to understanding how a technology affects a societal concern. This is demonstrated with a case study of cookie technology, which has been shaped in differing ways by universities, firms and consortia. A comparative institutional analysis finds that each of these institutions act according to their own norms and processes in influencing the recipe for cookies. It is these institutional tendencies that shape cookie technology. By understanding these tendencies, policymakers can better assess, predict and proactively influence the development of communication technologies to improve societal welfare.

Key Words: communication technologies • institutions • law and policy • privacy

New Media & Society, Vol. 11, No. 3, 315-336 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1461444808101614
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?