I was attracted to this quote recently from Lawrence Lessig’s book Free Culture because it made me realise that theory that engages with the pace of change on the Internet, along with the practical nature of what is being explored requires a different approach from the traditional reference to philosophical texts.

My method is not the usual method of an academic. I don’t want to plunge you into a complex argument, buttressed with references to obscure French theorists - however natural that is for the weird sort we academics have become. Instead I begin in each part with a collection of stories that set the context within which these apparently simple ideas can be more fully understood.

Lawrence Lessig, Free Culture: The nature and future of creativity Penguin: New York, 2004, p. 13