The Internet Edge. Social, Technical, and Legal Challenges for a Networked World

Stefik, Mark

ISBN 10: 026219418X / ISBN 13: 9780262194181

Published by MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1999

About this Item

xviii + 320 pp. Rubber-stamped on front free endpaper.

Seller Inventory # 11409

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Internet Edge. Social, Technical, and Legal Challenges for a Networked World
• Publisher: MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass.
• Publication Date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 026219418X
• ISBN 13: 9780262194181
• Binding: Hardback
• Condition: Very Good
• Book Type: book
• Seller catalogs:
  • Sociology

About this title

Synopsis

The "Internet edge" is our collective struggle to change as the world becomes more connected. Turmoil at the Internet edge occurs around interacting social, legal and technological realms. Examples include issues of on-line privacy, censorship, digital copyright and untaxed business competition over the Net. Such issues reflect conflicts between values - local and global, individual and corporate, democratic and non-democratic. The book is an eagle's eye view of the Internet edge. It is about the experiences of those who encountered similar issues as they built precursors to the Net such as videotext, teletext and the Source. It is about the trends in technology that will make the Net of the next few years a very differenct experience from the desk-top surfing of today. It is also about how old myths of magic, power and control can help us to understand our fascination with and fear of new technologies.

Review

It's hard enough keeping up with today's advances in technology without worrying about tomorrow's--but that is always where the action is. Xerox PARC scientist Mark Stefik gets paid to think about and act on future technology, and his fascinating, enjoyable report, The Internet Edge, shows us what we're becoming as our information technology becomes more ubiquitous and transparent.

Suits and nerds alike will love his pragmatic brainstorming style that reaches back into our technological history to make sense of the road ahead. Chapters cover portability, digital commerce, publishing, privacy and more, examining changes in the breadth of our social experience as well as our work lives. What will libraries look like in 10 years? What will "trust" mean in a world of instant information access? Will we ever stop watching television?

Stefik addresses these questions and goes beyond them to ask about the meaning of rapid change in our lives: how will we cope? He presents a convincing picture of a culture struggling with inevitable transformation, with thousands of small changes absorbed but not fully understood. Change is always stressful, even the many new net-derived benefits he describes. Our best hope to survive the transition is deeper analysis of what is happening to us and why, as found in The Internet Edge. --Rob Lightner, Amazon.com