ABSTRACT
New technologies have become both a means and an end. They are a means of communication linking individuals and organizations throughout the world. Serving as a medium through which electronic messages are sent, they allow rapid diffusion with few barriers to entry save the cost of hardware and an Internet connection. The Internet in particular has permeated the way companies do business and display their wares, the way consumers shop online, and even the way romances are struck through chat rooms. It has penetrated our daily lives and in only a single generation has become a taken-for-granted element in daily living. Teenagers operate the Internet as though they are the center of a great octopus of live connections reaching out to the information they want, the community of people with whom they develop links, and a great many resources that parents would rather they not access. The Internet is also an end: websites are carefully crafted to draw the eye, open the pocketbook, foster loyalty, and be bookmarked as favorite sites. New technologies have insinuated themselves into our lives at an astonishing pace, but industrial relations academics and professionals have not had many years to reflect on the impact of this movement on important processes within our field. We asked scholars, practitioners, union officials, and lawyers to join us in assembling a book that addresses the intersection of technology and employment.
