The End of the Virtual

Digital methods may be contrasted with what has come to be known as virtual methods, a currently dominant approach to the study of the Internet. Virtual methods, rooted in the U.K. Virtual Society? program (1997-2002), sought to ground cyberspace by demonstrating how it was hardly a realm apart. Whereas virtual methods have made great strides, they rely on methods imported from the humanities and the social sciences. Do the methods have to change, owing to the specificity of the medium and its o