Authors: Andrew Keen.
Paperback, 256 pages
Publisher: Doubleday Business
Publication Date: 2008-08-12
Edition: Reprint

Reviews :

    Amateur hour has arrived, and the audience is running the show

In a hard-hitting and provocative polemic, Silicon Valley insider and pundit Andrew Keen exposes the grave consequences of today’s new participatory Web 2.0 and reveals how it threatens our values, economy, and ultimately the very innovation and creativity that forms the fabric of American achievement.

Our most valued cultural institutions, Keen warns—our professional newspapers, magazines, music, and movies—are being overtaken by an avalanche of amateur, user-generated free content. Advertising revenue is being siphoned off by free classified ads on sites like Craigslist; television networks are under attack from free user-generated programming on YouTube and the like; file-sharing and digital piracy have devastated the multibillion-dollar music business and threaten to undermine our movie industry. Worse, Keen claims, our “cut-and-paste” online culture—in which intellectual property is freely swapped, downloaded, remashed, and aggregated—threatens over 200 years of copyright protection and intellectual property rights, robbing artists, authors, journalists, musicians, editors, and producers of the fruits of their creative labors.

In today’s self-broadcasting culture, where amateurism is celebrated and anyone with an opinion, however ill-informed, can publish a blog, post a video on YouTube, or change an entry on Wikipedia, the distinction between trained expert and uninformed amateur becomes dangerously blurred. When anonymous bloggers and videographers, unconstrained by professional standards or editorial filters, can alter the public debate and manipulate public opinion, truth becomes a commodity to be bought, sold, packaged, and reinvented.

The very anonymity that the Web 2.0 offers calls into question the reliability of the information we receive and creates an environment in which sexual predators and identity thieves can roam free. While no Luddite—Keen pioneered several Internet startups himself—he urges us to consider the consequences of blindly supporting a culture that endorses plagiarism and piracy and that fundamentally weakens traditional media and creative institutions.

Offering concrete solutions on how we can rein in the free-wheeling, narcissistic atmosphere that pervades the Web, THE CULT OF THE AMATEUR is a wake-up call to each and every one of us.


From the Hardcover edition....

Authors: Manuel Castells.
Paperback, 594 pages
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
Publication Date: 2000-01-15
Edition: 2

Reviews :

    This book, the first in Castells' ground-breaking trilogy, is an account of the economic and social dynamics of the new age of information. Based on research in the USA, Asia, Latin America, and Europe, it aims to formulate a systematic theory of the information society which takes account of the fundamental effects of information technology on the contemporary world....

    The Rise of the Network Society, the first volume in a trilogy collectively known as the Information Age, has earned Manuel Castells comparisons to such illustrious social critics as Max Weber and Karl Marx. Just as they worked to make sense of industrial capitalism, so does Castells put forth a systemic analysis of the global informational capitalism that emerged in the last half of the 20th century. While many books have considered the development of increasingly sophisticated information technology, the shifting conditions of employment and responsibility within corporations, or the rise of corporations whose domains are spread out over several nation-states, Castells unites these topics in a comprehensive thesis, negotiating the tightrope between academic sociology and mainstream business analysis. ...

Authors: Alvin Toffler.
Mass Market Paperback, 576 pages
Publisher: Bantam
Publication Date: 1984-06-01


Reviews :

    Examines the effects of rapid industrial and technological changes upon the individual, the family, and society....

Authors: Wolfgang Schivelbusch.
Paperback, 227 pages
Publisher: University of California Press
Publication Date: 1995-12-20


Reviews :

    The story of the development of artificial light in the 19th century is not only a history of its technology but a revelation of how that technology helped forge modern consciousness. The range of subjects includes the political symbolism of streetlamps, the rise of nightlife and the shop window, and the importance of the salon in the bourgeois culture. Very Highly Recommended....

Authors: Marshall McLuhan. Bruce R. Powers.
Paperback, 240 pages
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Publication Date: 1992-09-17


Reviews :

    Extending the visionary early work of the late Marshall McLuhan, The Global Village, one of his last collaborative efforts, applies that vision to today's worldwide, integrated electronic network.
When McLuhan's groundbreaking Understanding Media was published in 1964, the media as we know it today did not exist. But McLuhan's argument, that the technological extensions of human consciousness were racing ahead of our ability to understand their consequences, has never been more compelling. And if the medium is the message, as McLuhan maintained, then the message is becoming almost impossible to decipher.
In The Global Village, McLuhan and co-author Bruce R. Powers propose a detailed conceptual framework in terms of which the technological advances of the past two decades may be understood. At the heart of their theory is the argument that today's users of technology are caught between two very different ways of perceiving the world. On the one hand there is what they refer to as Visual Space--the linear, quantitative mode of perception that is characteristic of the Western world; on the other hand there is Acoustic Space--the holistic, qualitative reasoning of the East. The medium of print, the authors argue, fosters and preserves the perception of Visual Space; but, like television, the technologies of the data base, the communications satellite, and the global media network are pushing their users towards the more dynamic, "many-centered" orientation of Acoustic Space.
The authors warn, however, that this movement towards Acoustic Space may not go smoothly. Indeed, McLuhan and Powers argue that with the advent of the global village--the result of worldwide communications--these two worldviews "are slamming into each other at the speed of light," asserting that "the key to peace is to understand both these systems simultaneously."
Employing McLuhan's concept of the Tetrad--a device for predicting the changes wrought by new technologies--the authors analyze this collision of viewpoints. Taking no sides, they seek to do today what McLuhan did so successfully twenty-five years ago--to look around the corner of the coming world, and to help us all be prepared for what we will find there....

Authors: Manuel Castells.
Paperback, 448 pages
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
Publication Date: 2000-01-15
Edition: 2

Reviews :

    The final volume in Manuel Castells' trilogy is devoted to processes of global social change induced by interaction between networks and identity....

    Manuel Castells concludes the Information Age trilogy by considering the intersection of the global network society and factional project identities. As always, the scope of Castell's argument is far-ranging. Among the subjects addressed are the collapse of the Soviet Union; the potential emergence of the Asian Pacific as the next region of major world power; and the rapidly increasing growth of a "Fourth World"-- a series of "black holes of informational capitalism" (areas that have been cut off from the flow of wealth and information in the global economy) that refuses to confine itself to national borders--as likely to appear in the American inner city as it is in sub-Saharan Africa. He also raises the specter of a "global criminal economy," a dark counterpart to transnational corporations, and suggests that trends such as fascination with gangster movies "may well indicate the cultural breakdown of traditional moral order, and the implicit recognition of a new society, made up of communal identity and unruly competition." End of Millennium is perhaps the most accessible of Castell's three volumes, expertly reading the pulse of late-20th-century social trends. It's bound to provoke debate about any efforts to shape the trends of the 21st century. ...

Authors: Stephen A. Sweet. Peter F. Meiksins.
Paperback, 264 pages
Publisher: Pine Forge Press
Publication Date: 2007-11-28


Reviews :

    "This volume provides a solid, concise overview of the current state of work, mostly based on US patterns but with some comparative information."

"Changing Contours of Work, by Sweet and Meiksins, represents a truly excellent and synthetic sociological guide for understanding the historical and contemporary interplay of work, inequality, and human dignity. Moving beyond simplistic conceptions of “old” versus “new” economy, the authors demonstrate, through careful aggregate analyses and carefully selected anecdotes, the ways in which old and new work forms continue to intersect, how various status groups continue to be differentially impacted, and why so many workers in the current era face job insecurity, overwork, and maltreatment. The well-articulated position of the authors regarding sorely needed challenges to these trends, and where such challenges might arise, are equally important and deserving of attention from social scientists, students, and policymakers alike"
-Vincent J. Roscigno, Ohio State University and author of The Voice of Southern Labor and The Face of Discrimination: How Race and Gender Impact Work and Home Lives (Rowman & Littlefield).

"Changing Contours challenges the widespread notion of post-industrialism, offers a careful analysis of demographics as they intersect a changing labor market, and devotes an entire chapter to a broad discussion of working time. This is a book that students will find informative, and possibly unsettling, but in the end they'll find hope in the possibilities for agency and change"
-Cynthia Negrey, University of Louisville

A comparative review of the historical transformations in work

Opening with engaging vignettes of four workers, Jamal (a low-wage worker), Eileen (a high-powered professional), Dan (a displaced autoworker), and Chi-Ying (a young, Chinese, employee), Changing Contours of Work: Jobs and Opportunities in the New Economy frames the development of jobs and employment opportunities in an international comparative perspective, revealing the historical transformations of work and examining the often profound effects that these changes have had on employee satisfaction. This text provides a rich analysis of the overtime-laden American workplace in the larger context of an integrated global economy and offers strategic recommendations for making the new economy work for us all.

Key Features
· Provides international comparative perspectives on work and work prospects throughout the text, such as specific policies already in place in Europe that can lead to improved existences for workers and their families
· Considers the structure of today’s work environment and its implications for fulfillment on and off the job
· Highlights the impact of socialization, social networks, and structural forms of discrimination
· Addresses inequalities and divides, such as race, ethnicity, gender, and class, illuminating the forces that separate workers from opportunity
· Engages students with vignettes, bringing to life the problem of opportunity chasms addressed in each chapter

Intended Audience This text is intended for upper-level undergraduate courses such as Sociology of Work, Social Inequality, Work and Family, and Sociology of Organizations in departments of sociology, economics, and international relations. It will also be a useful tool for consumers, employers, and governmental organizations interested in maximizing the efficacy of the new economy. (20071029)...

Authors: William F. Ruddiman.
Hardcover, 224 pages
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Publication Date: 2005-08-01


Reviews :

   

The impact on climate from 200 years of industrial development is an everyday fact of life, but did humankind's active involvement in climate change really begin with the industrial revolution, as commonly believed? William Ruddiman's provocative new book argues that humans have actually been changing the climate for some 8,000 years--as a result of the earlier discovery of agriculture.

The "Ruddiman Hypothesis" will spark intense debate. We learn that the impact of farming on greenhouse-gas levels, thousands of years before the industrial revolution, kept our planet notably warmer than if natural climate cycles had prevailed--quite possibly forestalling a new ice age.

Plows, Plagues, and Petroleum is the first book to trace the full historical sweep of human interaction with Earth's climate. Ruddiman takes us through three broad stages of human history: when nature was in control; when humans began to take control, discovering agriculture and affecting climate through carbon dioxide and methane emissions; and, finally, the more recent human impact on climate change. Along the way he raises the fascinating possibility that plagues, by depleting human populations, also affected reforestation and thus climate--as suggested by dips in greenhouse gases when major pandemics have occurred. The book concludes by looking to the future and critiquing the impact of special interest money on the global warming debate.

Eminently readable and far-reaching in argument, Plows, Plagues, and Petroleum shows us that even as civilization developed, we were already changing the climate in which we lived.

...

Authors: Richard R. Beard. Walt Disney.
Hardcover, 240 pages
Publisher: Harry N Abrams
Publication Date: 1982-09

Authors: Michael Lewis.
Hardcover, 192 pages
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Publication Date: 2001-07-31
Edition: 1st

Reviews :

    A mordantly funny exploration of the brave new world spawned by the Internet.

In Liar's Poker the barbarians seized control of the bond markets. In The New New Thing some guys from Silicon Valley redefined the American economy. Now, with his knowing eye and wicked pen, Michael Lewis reveals how the Internet boom has encouraged great changes in the way we live, work, and think. He finds that we are in the midst of one of the greatest status revolutions in the history of the world, and the Internet is a weapon in the hands of revolutionaries. The old priesthoods—lawyers, investment gurus, professionals in general—have been toppled. The amateur, or individual, is king: fourteen-year-old children manipulate the stock market; nineteen-year-olds take down the music industry; and wrestlers get elected to public office. Deep, unseen forces seek to undermine all forms of collectivism, from the mass market to the family. Where does it all lead? And will we like where we end up?...

    If you've ever had the sneaking (and perhaps depressing) suspicion that the Internet is radically changing the world as you know it, buck up. No wait, buckle up--it is. While some people celebrate this and others bemoan it, Michael Lewis has been busy investigating the reasons for this rapid change. Employing the sarcastic wit and keen recognition of social shifts that readers of Liar's Poker and The New New Thing will recognize, Lewis takes us on a quick spin through today and speculates on what it might mean for tomorrow.

Central to Lewis's observations is the idea that the Internet hasn't really caused anything; rather it fills a type of social hole, the most obvious of which is a need to alter relations between "insiders" and "outsiders." In Next, Lewis shows how the Internet is the ideal model for sociologists who believe that our "selves are merely the masks we wear in response to the social situations in which we find ourselves." It is the place where a New Jersey boy barely into his teens flouts the investment system, making big enough bucks to get the SEC breathing down his neck for stock market fraud. Where Markus, a bored adolescent stuck in a dusty desert town and too young to even drive, becomes the most-requested legal expert on Askme.com, doling out advice on everything from how to plead to murder charges to how much an Illinois resident can profit from illegal gains before being charged with fraud ($5,001 was the figure Markus supplied to this particular cost-benefit query). Where a left-leaning kid of 14 in a depressed town outside Manchester is too poor to take up a partial scholarship to a school for gifted children, but who spends all hours (all cheap call-time hours, at least) engaged in "digital socialism," trying to develop a successor to Gnutella, the notorious file-sharing program that had spawned the new field of peer-to-peer computing. Lewis burrows deeply into each of these stories and others, examining social phenomena that the Internet has contributed to: the redistribution of prestige and authority and the reversal of the social order; the erosive effect on the money culture (both in the democratization of capital and in the effect of gambling losing its "status as a sin"); the decreased value we place on formal training (or as he puts it "casual thought went well with casual dress"); and the increased need for knowledge exchange.

Lewis's observations are piercingly sharp. He can be very funny in portraying ordinary people's behavior, but remains thorough and insightful in his examination of the social consequences. He notes that Jonathan Lebed, the teenage online investor, had "glimpsed the essential truth of the market--that even people who called themselves professionals were often incapable of independent thought and that most people, though obsessed with money, had little ability to make decisions about it." While Lewis's commentary gets a little more dense and theoretical toward the end, Next is an entertaining, thought-provoking look at life in an Internet-driven world. --S. Ketchum...