Moving from web to field, from Victorian parlor to 21st-century mall, the 15 essays gathered here yield new insights regarding the intersection of local culture, musical creativity and technological possibilities. Inspired by the concept of "technoculture," the authors locate technology squarely in the middle of expressive culture: they are concerned with how technology culturally informs and infuses aspects of everyday life and musical experience, and they argue that this merger does not necessarily result in a "cultural grayout," but instead often produces exciting new possibilities. In...

In the wake of the highly fractious Culture Wars, conservatives in science have launched a backlash against feminist, multiculturalist, and social critics in science studies. Paul Gross and Norman Levitt s book Higher Superstition, presented as a wake-up call to scientists unaware of the dangers posed by the science-bashers, set the shrill tone of this reaction and led to the appearance of a growing number of scare stories about an antiscience movement in the op-ed sections of newspapers across the country. Unwilling to be political scapegoats for the decline in the public funding of...