Authors: David Weinberger.
Paperback, 240 pages
Publisher: Basic Books
Publication Date: 2003-05


Reviews :

    ...

    David Weinberger's Small Pieces Loosely Joined does not merely celebrate the World Wide Web; it attempts to make a case that the institution has completely remodeled many of the world's self-perceptions. The book does so entertainingly, if not convincingly, and is a lively collection of epigrammatic phrases (the Web is "'place-ial' but not spatial"; "on the Web everyone will be famous to 15 people"), as well as illustrations of these changes. There are intriguing assertions: that the Web is "broken on purpose" and that its many pockets of erroneous information and its available forums for disputing, say, manufacturers' hyperbole, let people feel more comfortable with their own inherent imperfections. At other times the book seems stale: it declares that the Web has disrupted long-held axioms about time, space, and knowledge retrieval and that it has dramatically rearranged notions of community and individuality. Weinberger's analysis, though occasionally facile and too relentlessly optimistic and overstated, is surely destined to be the subject of furious debate in chat rooms the cyber-world over. --H. O'Billovich ...

Authors: James Faure Walker.
Hardcover, 352 pages
Publisher: Prentice Hall PTR
Publication Date: 2006-01-27
Edition: 1

Reviews :

    "This book is as much about painting as it is about the digital world. But beyond both it's really about visual intelligence. What makes it a joy to read is the lovely match between Faure Walker's subject and his style of writing: apparently artless, just making itself up as it goes along, but actually always with a witty spring, and never slack." -- MATTHEW COLLINGS, artist, critic, author, and television host "As a painter himself, James Faure Walker opens up a provocative dialogue between painting and digital computing that is essential reading for all painters interested in new technologies." -- IRVING SANDLER, author, critic, and art historian "Faure Walker has a distinguished background as both a painter and digital artist. He is an early adopter of digital technology in this regard, so has lived the history of the ever-accelerating embrace of the digital. On top of this, he is a good storyteller and a clear writer who avoids the pitfalls of pretentious art-world jargon." -- LANE HALL, digital artist and professor "Using a wide stream of fresh water as a metaphor, Faure Walker depicts a flow of ideas, concepts, and solutions that result in digital art. All the core elements of an art-style-in-making are here: ties with mainstream and traditional art, stages of technological progress, and reflections on the bright and varied personalities of digital artists. With a personal approach, Faure Walker presents vibrant, exciting, emotionally overpowering art works and describes them with empathy and imagination. This entertaining, sensitive, and observant book itself flows like a river." -- ANNA URSYN, digital artist and professor "Something like this book is overdue. I am not aware of any comparable work. Lots of 'how to do,' but nothing raising so many interesting and critical questions." -- HANS DEHLINGER, digital artist and professor "Here is the intimate narrative of a passionate yet skeptical explorer who unflinchingly records his artistic discoveries and personal reflections. Faure Walker's decades of experience as a practicing painter, art critic, and educator shine through on every page. The book is an essential resource for anyone interested in digital visual culture." -- ANNE MORGAN SPALTER, digital artist, author, and visual computing researcher This book is about art, written from an artist's point of view. It also is about computers, written from the perspective of a painter who uses them. Painting the Digital River is James Faure Walker's personal odyssey from the traditional art scene to fresh horizons, from hand to digital painting--and sometimes back again. It is a literate and witty attempt to make sense of the introduction of computer tools into the creation of art, to understand the issues and the fuss, to appreciate the people involved and the work they produce, to know the promise of the new media, as well as the risks. Following his own winding path, Faure Walker tells of learning to paint with the computer, of misunderstandings across the art and science divide, of software limitations, of conversations between the mainstream and digital art worlds, of emerging genres of digital painting, of the medieval digital, of a different role for drawing. As a painter and computer enthusiast, the author recognizes the marvels of digital paint as well as anyone. But he also challenges the assumption that digital somehow means different.The questions he raises matter to artists of every background, style, and disposition, and the answers should reward anyone seeking insight into contemporary art....

Authors: David Morley.
Paperback, 224 pages
Publisher: Routledge
Publication Date: 1995-08-16
Edition: 1

Reviews :

    We are living through a time when old identities--nation, culture and ethnicity--are melting down. Spaces of Identity examines the ways in which collective cultural identities are being reshaped under conditions of a postmodern geography in the communications environment of cable and satellite broadcasting. To address current problems of identity, the authors look at the contemporary politics of the relations between Europe and its most significant others--America, Islam and the Orient. They show that it is against these that Europe's own identity has been and is now being defined. Spaces of Identity is a stimulating account of the complex and contradictory nature of contemporary cultural identities....

Authors: Ian Angell.
Paperback, 288 pages
Publisher: Kogan Page
Publication Date: 2001-09-01


Reviews :

    Ian Angell, dubbed "the Angell of Doom" by The (London) Times, lays out his manifesto for the New Barbarians who will lead the economic elite into a Brave New World over the next two decades. He rejects the long-held view of information technology as our benign liberator from mundane work. Instead, he regards it as the seed for a new society, in which the winners in the knowledge economy will construct their own "smart regions" founded on libertarian principles and enlightened self-interest....

Authors: Howard Rheingold.
Paperback, 360 pages
Publisher: The MIT Press
Publication Date: 2000-04-18
Edition: 2 Rev Sub

Reviews :

    The digital revolution did not begin with the teenage millionaires of Silicon Valley, claims Howard Rheingold, but with such early intellectual giants as Charles Babbage, George Boole, and John von Neumann. In a highly engaging style, Rheingold tells the story of what he calls the patriarchs, pioneers, and infonauts of the computer, focusing in particular on such pioneers as J. C. R. Licklider, Doug Engelbart, Bob Taylor, and Alan Kay. Taking the reader step by step from nineteenth-century mathematics to contemporary computing, he introduces a fascinating collection of eccentrics, mavericks, geniuses, and visionaries.

The book was originally published in 1985, and Rheingold's attempt to envision computing in the 1990s turns out to have been remarkably prescient. This edition contains an afterword, in which Rheingold interviews some of the pioneers discussed in the book. As an exercise in what he calls "retrospective futurism," Rheingold also looks back at how he looked forward....

    Where will our new machines take us? Back in 1985, forward-thinking Howard Rheingold asked research pioneers to describe the nascent personal-computer revolution and its trajectory, then examined their predecessors' work, in Tools for Thought: The History and Future of Mind-Expanding Technology.

Republished 15 years later with a new afterword by the author, the book is an excellent slice of "retrospective futurism"--showing how we got to our largely wired world and where we might find ourselves in the future, as well as exploring some might-have-been scenarios that still seemed likely in the '80s. Starting with engaging portraits of such important thinkers as Ada Lovelace, Alan Turing, and Jon von Neumann, Rheingold swiftly and seamlessly moves into more current affairs, checking out the men and women behind Xerox PARC, ARPANET, Apple, Microsoft, and other cornerstones of today's environment.

Some of the interviewees are less well known than they should be--the immensely popular World Wide Web often overshadows Doug Englebart's ideas, for example--but all have made important contributions to personal computing and networking. Some of the ideas in the book, like expert systems, have floundered somewhat from their creators' original intentions, but the creativity and determination to follow through regardless is inspiring.

Rheingold is adept at showing us how technology can help us shape a better human destiny. Tools for Thought reminds us that today's wild ideas are what bring tomorrow's radical change. --Rob Lightner ...

Authors: Julie L. Mohr.
CD-ROM, 30 pages
Publisher: BlueprintAudits.com
Publication Date: 2003-08-15
Edition: CD-ROM

Reviews :

    In workshops conducted for The Help Desk Audit: Blueprint for Success, we have often heard many requests for the samples in the book in an electronic form. In an effort to help you get started with implementing change in your support environment, we have assembled all the templates and a whole lot more into one CD. Below is a description of what is included on The Help Desk Audit Toolkit: Companion CD. We hope it helps you to successfully change your support organization into a mature, customer-focused environment. Project Plan Template(Project)-An overview of all the elements of a successful enhancement project. Business Case Template(Word)-A template to create a business case to demonstrate the overall benefits and costs of an enhancement project. Help Desk Audit Overview(PowerPoint)-A PowerPoint presentation used in the workshop. Vision Mission Worksheet(Word)-A worksheet to help you create a vision/mission statement. Organization Chart(Visio)-An organization chart that you can modify to meet your needs. List of Products & Services Provided(Excel)-An outline to help you get started in creating a list of products and services provided. Site Audit(Excel)-This is a document that you can send out to your support partners and solicit information about their environment to add to your list of products & services. Level-1 Analyst Position Description(Word)-A sample position description for a level-1 analyst. Level-2 Analyst Position Description(Word)-A sample position description for a level-2 analyst. Help Desk Manager Position Description(Word)-A sample position description for a help desk manager. Staffing Model(Excel)A sample staffing model for determining the number of staff to support your customers based upon basic information about your support environment. Note: This is not a full-staffing model and does not use Erlang-C formulas. Performance Measurement Matrix(Excel)-A list of performance measurements for the help desk. Skills Assessment(Word)-A form to give...

Authors:
Paperback, 464 pages
Publisher: Edward Elgar Pub
Publication Date: 2005-07-30


Reviews :

    Manuel Castells - one of the world’s pre-eminent social scientists - has drawn together a stellar group of contributors to explore the patterns and dynamics of the network society in its cultural and institutional diversity. The book analyzes the technological, cultural and institutional transformation of societies around the world in terms of the critical role of electronic communication networks in business, everyday life, public services, social interaction and politics. The contributors demonstrate that the network society is the new form of social organization in the Information age, replacing the Industrial society. The book analyzes processes of technological transformation in interaction with social culture in different cultural and institutional contexts: the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Finland, Russia, China, India, Canada, and Catalonia. The topics examined include business productivity, global financial markets, cultural identity, the uses of the Internet in education and health, the anti-globalization movement, political processes, media and identity, and public policies to guide technological development. Taken together these studies show that the network society adopts very different forms, depending on the cultural and institutional environments in which it evolves. The Network Society, now available in paperback, is an outstanding and original volume of direct interest in academia - particularly in the fields of social sciences, communication studies, and business schools - as well as for policymakers engaged in technological policy and economic development. Business and management experts will also discover much of value to them within this book....

Authors: Paul A. Longley. Michael F. Goodchild. David J. Maguire. David W. Rhind.
Paperback, 472 pages
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Publication Date: 2001-08-01


Reviews :

    This landmark text captures and redefines the richness and diversity of GIS, in an accessible form. It presents a clearly-defined path to a world of learning about GIS, using the Internet and closely-couples reference sources. It is richly produced and illustrated unlike any other in the field, with over 300 full colour illustrations.

Unique in several ways, it presents comprehensive treatments of:

• Geographic Information Science - the scientific context to GIS, technical content and geographic implications
• The real value of GIS - illustrated using real world applications. Treatments emphasize operational, tactical and strategic issues
• The impact of Internet GIS on interdisciplinary science and society
• The pivotal role of GIS as a business driver in the information age - including the role of GIS as a business asset and the operational dynamics of its use in practice 
  
  Learning resources include:

• Links to ESRI's Virtual Campus which includes modules specially written to accompany the book (http://campus.esri.com)
• Instructor's Manual to assist in the planning and use of this text in a variety of academic environments (http://www.wiley.co.uk/gis)
• Free on-line access to relevant chapters of the first edition of the two-volume 'Big Book 1' (http://www.wiley.co.uk/gis)
• Questions for further study at the end of each chapter (http://www.wiley.co.uk/gis)
• Powerpoint slides to assist teaching

...

Authors: Eric G. Swedin. David L. Ferro.
Paperback, 192 pages
Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication Date: 2007-10-24
Edition: 1

Reviews :

   

A great technological and scientific innovation of the last half of the twentieth century, the computer has revolutionized how we organize information, how we communicate with each other, and even the way we think about the human mind. Computers have eased the drudgery of such tasks as calculating sums and clerical work, making them both more bearable and more efficient, whatever the occasional frustration they carry with them. The computer has become a standard fixture in our culture, a necessity for many aspects of business, recreation, and everyday life. In this book, Eric G. Swedin and David L. Ferro offer an accessible short history of this dynamic technology, covering its central themes from ancient times to the present day.

...

Authors: Allan Kelly.
Paperback, 258 pages
Publisher: Wiley
Publication Date: 2008-03-07


Reviews :

    Changing Software Development explains why software development is an exercise in change management and organizational intelligence.  An underlying belief is that change is learning and learning creates knowledge.  By blending the theory of knowledge management, developers and managers will gain the tools to enhance learning and change to accommodate new innovative approaches such as agile and lean computing.

Changing Software Development is peppered with practical advice and case studies to explain how and why knowledge, learning and change are important in the development process.  Today, managers are pre-occupied with knowledge management, organization learning and change management; while software developers are often ignorant of the bigger issues embedded in their work.  This innovative book bridges this divide by linking the software world of technology and processes to the business world of knowledge, learning and change....