Computers and information technology have over the past 50 years moved from being a social and engineering form which ‘impacted’ society to being core to our social fabric – much as we cannot study an ecosystem without considering water supply, so we cannot study any part of society without considering the flow of bits and bytes. The richly textured fabric of this fundamental social change has been studied at various levels, without there being as yet a single integrating vision. This article identifies some key levels and points to possibilities for an integrated understanding.