Authors: Rick Szostak.
Hardcover, 384 pages
Publisher: Westview Pr (Short Disc)
Publication Date: 1995-06


Reviews :

    Combining a theoretical approach with industry-level analysis, this work provides an explanation of the causes of the Great Depression. The author describes how the paucity of new-produce innovation, coupled with the abundance of process technology, caused both consumption and investment to fall so precipitously from early in 1929. He also explores trends in income distribution and population, as well as other factors, and argues that the lack of new-product technology meant that there were too few opportunities for entrepreneurs profitably to employ the jobless at any wage above subsistence level....

Authors: Andrew Ross.
Paperback, 292 pages
Publisher: Verso
Publication Date: 1991-10-01

Authors: Claudio Ciborra.
Hardcover, 152 pages
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Publication Date: 2002-08-22


Reviews :

    A reflective discussion of information in the contemporary organization. Current descriptions of the design, implementation, management, and use of information technology in organizations are largely founded on notions of rationality, science, and method. In this volume the author focuses on an alternative centre of gravity: human existence in everyday life. While still informed by the author's own research and consultancy work, the volume eschews the overly technical character of much writing about IT in favour of an exploration of the subject through various conceptual prisms....

Authors: Bruce Damer.
Paperback, 552 pages
Publisher: Peachpit Press
Publication Date: 1997-10-31


Reviews :

    Avatars! is the only book of its kind. Avatars! focuses on what people do inside these virtual worlds, such as building three-dimensional structures, navigating through the worlds, and learning digital etiquette and social interaction skills. A CD-ROM provides readers with ready-to-run worlds that connect them with thousands of other people on the Internet and which are referenced in a companion web site that serves to keep virtual explorers abreast of the latest happenings in the various worlds....

    This book provides a guided tour of avatars--graphical representations (a smiley face, cartoon character, or even a photograph of yourself) of online chat participants that are set in a virtual space against landscapes ranging from the real to the surreal. The CD-ROM that is included with Avatars! is an integral part of the experience. As the book tells you about avatars and shows you the virtual worlds where your avatar can play on your behalf, the CD contains software that enables you to design your avatar and go to the virtual world of your choice. The book leads you to some virtual worlds where you can drop in and chat and takes you to others where you can join other participants in actually building the world and creating an ever-changing environment. The book and CD-ROM take you to eight virtual world systems: Worlds Chat Space Station, The Palace, AlphaWorld, WorldsAway, OnLine! Traveler, Virtual Places, Comic Chat, and Oz Virtual. Damer describes both the technical features and culture of each virtual world. He also shows you how to interact and describes the types of interactions you can expect to take place. The recurring segment "Digi's Diary" puts general thoughts about online interaction in the virtual mouth of Damer's own avatar, DigiGardener. He covers such topics as "avaddiction," dealing with avatars that some might find offensive, and the sort of amusing and not-so-amusing things that can happen when virtual and real worlds collide. After the tour, Damer discusses possible futures for virtual worlds and guides you toward creating a virtual world of your own....

Authors: Panel on Technology and Employment. Engineering, and Public Policy Committee on Science.
Paperback, 244 pages
Publisher: National Academies Press
Publication Date: 1987-01-01


Reviews :

    Will the adoption of new technologies by U.S. industry lead to widespread unemployment? Or will the resulting use of new processes and techniques, as well as the introduction of new products, open new opportunities for American workers? This volume studies the relationship of technology to employment and the effects of technological change on the workplace. The authors discuss the role of new technologies in strengthening U.S. international competitiveness, recommend initiatives for assisting displaced workers, and make recommendations to aid industry in developing and adopting the new technology it needs to compete successfully in the world economy....

Authors: Andrew L. Shapiro.
Hardcover, 186 pages
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Publication Date: 1999-06
Edition: 1st

Reviews :

    Andrew L. Shapiro, contributing editor at The Nation , cuts through the hype to explain how the Internet revolution has really affected our lives and identifies the pot holes in the road ahead.. Dissidents around the world use the Internet to evade censorship and get their message out. Cyber-gossips send dispatches to thousands via email. Musicians bypass record companies and put their songs on the world wide web for fans to download directly. Day traders roil the stock market, buying securities online with the click of a mouse and then selling minutes later when the price jumps. The Control Revolution argues that there is a common thread underlying such developments. It is not just a change in how we compute or communicate. Rather, it is a potentially radical shift in who is in controlof information, experience, and resources. Shapiro explains how new technology is allowing individual s to take power from large institutions such as government, corporations, and the media; shows how powerful entities are trying to limit our new digitally enabled autonomy; warns that individual control can be pushed too far; and describes how we can reap the benefits of the new control without succumbing either to resistance or to excess. Along the way, Shapiro explores cyberporn and censorship, customized news delivery, electronic commerce, online democracy, Microsofts market power, encryption and law enforcement, copyright in the digital age, virtual communities, Matt Drudge, privacy, and the role of interactive technology in struggles against political tyranny....

    Where do you want to go today? This slogan/mantra is the centerpiece of a Microsoft advertising campaign and the central dilemma of our times, says technorealist Andrew L. Shapiro in The Control Revolution, a warning of the potentially dismal consequences of the uninhibited personalization afforded by the Internet. By putting individuals in charge of their own information gathering, Shapiro suggests that we might find ourselves imprisoned within our increasingly narrow choices or "oversteering" into a corporate-controlled Net environment not unlike network television. His aim is to alert us to the problems and help us steer a middle course to fully realize the benefits of worldwide networking.

What will happen to encryption, copyright, and free speech in our brave new world? How can we seize the power of unrestricted choice without giving in to the temptation of ignoring diverse opinions? How will governmental and business authorities respond to these threats to their power? Shapiro addresses these questions and others forcefully and eloquently, offering prescriptions for thoughtful leaders such as limiting certain intellectual property rights to free the market for new operating systems and creating incentives for virtual "public squares" where everyone can have their 15 nanominutes of fame. Thoughtful, entertaining, and substantial, The Control Revolution is essential reading for those charged with creating the future. --Rob Lightner...

Authors: Rudolf Steiner.
Paperback, 241 pages
Publisher: Steiner Books
Publication Date: 1997-10


Reviews :

    These dazzling, radical lectures were given one month before the opening of the first Waldorf School—following two years of intense preoccupation with the social situation in Germany as World War I ended and society sought to rebuild itself.

Well aware of the dangerous tendencies present in modern culture that undermine a true social life—such as psychic torpor and boredom, universal mechanization, and a growing cynicism—Steiner recognized that any solution must address not only economic and legal issues but also that of a free spiritual life.

Steiner also saw the need to properly nurture in children the virtues of imitation, reverence, and love at the appropriate stages of development in order to create mature adults who are inwardly prepared to fulfill the demands of a truly healthy society—adults who are able to assume the responsibilities of freedom, equality, and brotherhood.

Relating these themes to an understanding of the human as a threefold being of thought, feeling, and volition, and against the background of historical forces at work in human consciousness, Steiner lays the ground for a profound revolution in the ways we think about education.

Also included here are three lectures on the social basis of education, a lecture to public school teachers, and a lecture to the workers of the Waldorf Astoria Cigarette Company, after which they asked him to form a school for their children....

Authors: Brian Winston.
Hardcover, 424 pages
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Publication Date: 1986-11-03

Authors: Jim Cummins. Dennis Sayers.
Paperback, 386 pages
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Publication Date: 1997-03-15


Reviews :

    ...

Authors:
Paperback, 242 pages
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Publication Date: 2008-01-14
Edition: 1

Reviews :

    This fascinating and accessible book examines the survival of the human race from a broad range of viewpoints. Through in-depth examinations of a number of very distinct aspects of human life, the book covers topics ranging from the preservation of Empires, to the challenges of maintaining cultural identity, the sufferings inflicted by famine, disease and natural disasters, the opportunities for increased longevity and the threats presented by climate change. The chapters draw from the expertise of those in the arts and humanities, as well as the social, physical and biological sciences. Following in the footsteps of Charles Darwin with his thoughts of the Survival of the Fittest, each chapter explores strategies which may be adopted to assist us in our individual struggle for existence and to preserve and indeed improve our collective lifestyles....