Being Digital

Negroponte, Nicholas

ISBN 10: 0679439196 / ISBN 13: 9780679439196

Published by Knopf, 1995

Seller Inventory # 0679439196-3-705787

Synopsis:

One of the founding fathers of the information age discusses the impact of digital technology on the modern world, discussing such topics as multimedia, the effects of digital transmission on copyright, and virtual reality. 100,000 first printing. $100,000 ad/promo. Tour.

Review: As the founder of MIT's Media Lab and a popular columnist for Wired, Nicholas Negroponte has amassed a following of dedicated readers. Negroponte's fans will want to get a copy of Being Digital, which is an edited version of the 18 articles he wrote for Wired about "being digital."

Negroponte's text is mostly a history of media technology rather than a set of predictions for future technologies. In the beginning, he describes the evolution of CD-ROMs, multimedia, hypermedia, HDTV (high-definition television), and more. The section on interfaces is informative, offering an up-to-date history on visual interfaces, graphics, virtual reality (VR), holograms, teleconferencing hardware, the mouse and touch-sensitive interfaces, and speech recognition.

In the last chapter and the epilogue, Negroponte offers visionary insight on what "being digital" means for our future. Negroponte praises computers for their educational value but recognizes certain dangers of technological advances, such as increased software and data piracy and huge shifts in our job market that will require workers to transfer their skills to the digital medium. Overall, Being Digital provides an informative history of the rise of technology and some interesting predictions for its future.

Bibliographic Details

Title: Being Digital
Publisher: Knopf
Publication Date: 1995
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: Good