The dissertation addresses the internet as a topic for policy making, and as a tool for social change. Drawing on current policy examples as well as cross-disciplinary scholarship the author suggests a metaphorical framework where the internet is conceptualized as infrastructure, public sphere, media and culture respectively. The metaphors represent different dimensions of internet use and each frame specific policy themes and claims related to the internets potential to facilitate social change. In the second part of the dissertation two of the metaphors are applied to case studies. The public sphere metaphor is used to study how groups in Uganda utilize new and old media to strengthen the livelihood and public participation of local women, whereas the culture metaphor is used to study the social practices by which the German Wikipedia community seek to advance the public domain of information.
Concluding the work, the author points to some of the current challenges facing internet policy makers and scholars, not least the role and powers of private parties in the internet era.