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Offers a vivid description of the ongoing transformation of the web into something that is widely recognized and that will have an enormous impact on how people work and live their lives in the future. Presents concepts that will help readers understand why the web evolved as it did, what is going on right now, and what will happen next.

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List of Figures Preface Acknowledgements Introduction and History Social Web as a Transformer Social Web as an Innovation Accelerator Social Web as a Humanizer Final Remarks Notes/Endnotes References Primary sources Index

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HARRI OINAS-KUKKONEN is Professor of Information Systems at the University of Oulu, Finland. He has been listed among the hundred most influential ICT experts in the country, and a key person to whom companies should talk to when developing their strategies for web-based services. In 2005, he was awarded The Outstanding Young Person of Finland award by the Junior Chamber of Commerce for his achievements inhelping industrial companies to improve their Web usability. His current research interests include human-computer interaction, persuasive design and behavior change.

HENRY OINAS-KUKKONEN is a Senior Lecturer in History and an Adjunct Professor of History of International Relations and Information Networks at the University of Oulu, Finland. His current research interests include the history of computing, social web and innovation. He has also worked on the history of the Occupation of Japan, US- Finnish relations, and American plans to resettle Finnish World War II refugees into Alaska. He has many years of experience in carrying out original research in American, Scandinavian and Japanese archives.

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