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the technologies
This
page
offers pointers to some basic texts about digital technology: machines,
software and networks.
introductions
Two intelligent introductions to the global information
infrastructure (GII) are Christine Borgman's From Gutenberg
to the Global Information Infrastructure: Access To Information in the
Networked World (Cambridge, MIT Press 00) and Information Rules: A Strategic Guide
to the Network Economy (Boston, Harvard Business School Press 99) by
Hal Varian
& Carl Shapiro.
Borgman concentrates on
access to information rather than the performance characteristics of parts
of the networks, while Varian offers an outstanding exploration of the global information
economy.
The Social Life of Information (Boston, Harvard
Business School Press 00) by John Seely Brown & Paul Duguid is an
essential study of the interrelationship between people, devices,
networks and data in what Negroponte characterises as the "global
infospace".
David Alberts & Daniel Papp edited the wide ranging Information Age
Anthology (IAA),
recommended for its thoughtful exploration of technologies and their
social/economic consequences. The essays in The
Information Technology Revolution (Cambridge, MIT Press 86) edited
by Tom Forester and Welcome To The Wired World
(Harlow, FT Com 00) by Anne Leer are also of value.
devices
Computer: A History of the
Information Machine (New York, Basic Books 96) by William Aspray &
Martin Campbell-Kelly is an excellent historical introduction.
Paul Ceruzzi's A History of Modern Computing
(Cambridge, MIT Press 98) is another historical study. David
Harel's Computers Ltd: What They Really Can't Do (Oxford, Oxford
Uni Press 00) provides perspective.
Irv Englander's The Architecture of Computer Hardware
& Systems Software (New York, Wiley 00) is, as the
blurb says, a "gentle but thorough introduction to
computer architecture and systems software". It
explains processors (and peripherals such as printers),
software and networks.
Frank Koelsch's The Infomedia
Revolution (Toronto, McGraw-Hill Ryerson 95) is a breathless tour of
personal digital assistants, video phones and things that flash or sing.
The 2000 Invisible Computer conference discussed smart coffee cups, intelligent
toasters, web-connected refrigerators and wearable computers.
Neil Gershenfeld's The Physics of Information
Technology (Cambridge, Cambridge Uni Press 00) is a
demanding but very lucid discussion of chips, wires and
networks. Useful reading if you want to understand much of
the science described in Englander's Architecture
book.
Andrew Odlyzko's 1999 article
on The visible problems of the invisible computer: A skeptical look
at information appliances is one of the more incisive studies of
convergence. Donald Norman's The Invisible Computer
(Cambridge, MIT Press 98) is essential reading.
code
Daniel Hillis' The Pattern
On The Stone: The Simple Ideas That Make Computers Work
(New York, Basic Books 98) is a concise, elegant introduction
to software.
The Fifth Language: Learning A Living In The
Computer Age (Toronto, Stoddart 95) by Robert Logan
considers software as language that has to be understood
by the "meatware" (ie you and you).
Martin Davis' engaging The Universal Computer: The Road
From Leibniz To Turing (New York, Norton 00) describes
the philosophical and mathematical principles underlying
modern computing.
For understanding multimedia we
recommend Richard Wise's Multimedia: A Critical Introduction
(London, Routledge 00) and Remediation: Understanding New Media
(Cambridge, MIT Press 99) by Jay Bolter & Richard Grusin.
pipelines
Global Connections: International
Telecommunications Infrastructure & Policy (New York, Wiley 97)
by Heather Hudson is a lucid introduction to the global
pipelines - the cables, microwave, satellite and other
links.
The Last Mile: Broadband & The Next
Internet Revolution (New York, McGraw-Hill 00) by Jason
Wolf & Natalie Zee is a less authoritative but useful introduction
for non-technologists. Cary Lu's The Race For Bandwidth: Understanding
Data Transmission (Redmond, Microsoft Press 98) is a short guide;
more accessible than most of the publications from the Gates empire.
Robert Heldman's The Telecommunications Information Millennium
(New York, McGraw-Hill 95) offers a one volume description of
communication technologies, useful as an introduction to the Harvard
Information Infrastructure Project volumes noted below.
Douglas Comer's Computer Networks
& Internets (Upper Saddle River, Prentice Hall 97) is a more
detailed primer about hardware and software. Valuable, but not in the
reading-for-pleasure category.
For historical introductions to the
communications infrastructure we recommend Brian Winston's excellent Media Technology & Society: A History from
the Telegraph to the Internet (London, Routledge 99) and Peter Hughill's Global Communications Since 1844:
Geopolitics & Technology (Baltimore, Johns Hopkins Uni Press 99)
Frances Cairncross' The Death of Distance (London, Orion 97),
Saskia Sassen in Globalization & Its Discontents (New York,
New Press 98) and Ithiel de Sola Pool in his Technologies Without
Boundaries: On Telecommunications in a Global Age (Cambridge,
Harvard Uni Press 90) do an excellent job of placing the 'Internet Revolution' in context and
teasing out implications.
There's more detailed coverage in our networks
guide.
the GII, NII and you
Combining communication networks -
satellites, fibre optic cable, microwave, copper wire - and computers
that use standard protocols results in what's emerging as a seamless
global information infrastructure (GII) that is more than the sum of its
parts. The national equivalent is, of course, the NII - national
information infrastructure - that appears throughout many government
reports.
For a succinct online introduction to
the internet we recommend the December 99 paper
by Vinton Cerf & Robert Kahn on What Is The Internet (And What
Makes It Work), along with Weaving The Web (London, Orion 99)
by Tim Berners-Lee.
Rob Kitchin's Cyberspace: The World in the Wires
(New York, Wiley 98) is an exemplary discussion of
visualising the infosphere, more perceptive than Margaret
Wertheim's The Pearly Gates of Cyberspace.
Unspun: Key Concepts for Understanding
the World Wide Web (New York, New York Uni Press 01)
edited by Thomas Swiss is less impressive than Understanding
the Web: The Social, Political & Economic Dimensions
of the Internet (Ames, Iowa State Uni Press 00) edited by
Alan Albarran & David Goff.
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