Authors: Ursula Huws. Colin Leys.
Paperback, 208 pages
Publisher: Monthly Review Press
Publication Date: 2003-07-01


Reviews :

   

The workplace has been changed in recent decades by the rise of digital technologies. Parts of a single labor process can be moved around the world, with implications not only for individual workplaces, but for the working class as a whole.

Within advanced capitalist countries, the workplace has been made more flexible through cell phones, e-mail, freelancing, and outsourcing. The process often makes the situation of the workers more precarious, as they are forced to pay for the tools of their trade, are expected to be constantly accessible to workplace demands, and are isolated from their fellow workers.

Huws' The Making of a Cybertariat examines this process from a number of perspectives, including those of women in the workplace and at home. It explores changing categories of employment and modes of organization, and how new divisions of race and gender are created in the process. It questions how the virtual workforce can identify their common interests and stand together to struggle for them.

The Making of a Cybertariat is both a testament to the author's remarkable record in the politics of technology over several decades and a vital resource for grasping ongoing debates and controversies in this field.

...

Authors:
Hardcover, 288 pages
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Publication Date: 2007-10-02
Edition: 1

Reviews :

    ...

Authors: Clifford Stoll.
Hardcover, 240 pages
Publisher: Doubleday
Publication Date: 1999-10-19


Reviews :

    A thorough detonation of the hype surrounding computers in our lives, by the bestselling author of The Cuckoo's Egg and Silicon Snake Oil.

In a book that should spark debate across the country, Clifford Stoll, one of the pioneers of the Internet and a renowned gadfly of the computer industry, takes an insightful, provocative--and entertaining--look at how computers have encroached on our lives. High Tech Heretic punctures the exaggerated benefits of everything from foisting computers on preschoolers to "free" software to computer "help desks" that help no one at all. Why, Stoll asks, is there a relentless drumbeat for "computer literacy" by educators and the high-tech industry when the computer's most common uses are for word processing and games? Is diverting scarce education resources from teachers and equipment in favor of computers in the classroom the best use of school money? Are supermarket checkout clerks computer literate because they operate a laser scanner? Has no one noticed that the closest equivalent to today's hot new multimedia and Internet Web sites are--(drumroll)--Classics Illustrated, the comic books based on literature?

In these fascinating contrarian commentaries, Stoll focuses his droll wit and penetrating gaze on everything from why computers have to be so darned "ugly" to the cultural aftershocks of our high-tech society, to how to turn an outdated 386 computer into something useful, like a fish tank or a cat litter box.

As one who loves computers as much as he disdains the inflated promises made on their behalf, Cliff Stoll is nothing less than a P. J. O'Rourke of the computer age--barbed, opinionated, and essential....

    Clifford Stoll loves computers. He loves them so much he even converted his old outdated Macintosh into an aquarium rather than put it out with the trash. What this veteran programmer and self-made social critic doesn't love, however, is "the cult of computing"--the "blind faith that technology will deliver a cornucopia of futuristic goodies without extracting payment in kind."

In particular, Stoll hates the way computer cultists have infiltrated America's schools, and in High Tech Heretic--a straight-talking, fast-moving broadside of a book--he aims every argument in his arsenal at the widespread belief that computers are the greatest educational invention since chalk. While he's at it, he also takes some potshots at the hype about virtual community, the Internet economy, and the death of the book, as well as the scourges of buggy software, ugly hardware, and PowerPoint.

Stoll's contrarianism is so wide-ranging he sometimes flails as he rushes to keep up with himself. But for the most part he hits his targets dead on. Stoll's chatty style and cracker-barrel wit (both of which occasionally grate) seem tailored to convince you he's just talking home-spun common sense, yet he's obviously done his research. Whether he's quoting Thomas Edison's predictions for that great educational tool, "the motion picture" ("in a few years it will supplant largely, if not entirely, the use of textbooks") or breaking down the grim budgetary implications of the high-tech school system (more computers means fewer teachers, music rooms, and books), Stoll's choice factual details--and spirited indignation--blow holes in the pretensions of the digital age. --Julian Dibbell...

Authors: Neil Spiller.
Paperback, 112 pages
Publisher: Academy Press
Publication Date: 1999-02-02


Reviews :

    Another cutting-edge issue of Architectural Design, featuring top cyberspace architects

Picking up where Architects in Cyberspace left off, this companion issue of Architectural Design tracks the progress of previously featured architects along with new players in the field. With exciting developments and projects under way all the time, this part-two installment offers a vital up-to-date report from the cyberfrontier of modern architecture, complete with a review of the 1997 Paris Cyberspace exhibition, dozens of color illustrations, and more....

Authors: Ken Dunham. Jim Melnick.
Hardcover, 168 pages
Publisher: Auerbach Publications
Publication Date: 2008-08-06
Edition: 1

Reviews :

    Originally designed to sabotage or annihilate websites, computerized “Bots” are increasingly used in mass spamming events, fraud, extortion, identity theft, and software theft. Focusing on the malicious use of bots and bot herder means and motivations, Malicious Bots provides a much needed a resource for understanding the scope, sophistication, and criminal uses of bots and how to more proactively protect against them. Accessibly written, but with sufficient technical detail, the book introduces botnet threats and how they function and examines the top bot attacks against financial and government networks over the last four years to reveal the who, how, and why behind them....

Authors: Lisa J. Servon.
Paperback, 320 pages
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
Publication Date: 2002-08-15
Edition: 1st

Reviews :

    Bridging the Digital Divide investigates problems of unequal access to information technology. The author redefines this problem, examines its severity, and lays out what the future implications might be if the digital divide continues to exist.

• Examines unequal access to information technology in the United States.
  
• Analyses the success or failure of policies designed to address the digital divide.
  
• Draws on extensive fieldwork in several US cities.
  
• Makes recommendations for future public policy.
  
• Series editor: Manuel Castells.

...

Authors: Larry Long. Nancy Long.
Paperback, 560 pages
Publisher: Prentice Hall
Publication Date: 2003-04-24
Edition: 11

Reviews :

   

Providing an overview coverage of computing/IT concepts and applications for beginners, this 11th edition has been updated to keep readers abreast of the thousands of changes in this rampaging technology; currency is the top priority. Over 150 new or updated images reflect the latest releases and innovations in software. Everything has been adjusted to reflect the state of the art. Beginning with a comprehensive section called “Getting Started,” this book covers such topics as the technology revolution, software, inside the computer, storing and retrieving information, networks and networking, going online, information technology ethics, personal computing, information systems, business information systems, and technology and society. This book provides useful and relevant information for anyone who uses a personal computer whether at home or in the office.

...

Authors: David J. Lineman.
Perfect Paperback, 96 pages
Publisher: Information Shield, Inc.
Publication Date: 2006-08-01
Edition: 1st

Reviews :

    Information Protection Made Easy, A Guide for Employees and Contractors takes a unique approach to educating employees on key information security principles by showing how they personally can be affected by information security and privacy breaches. By using real world examples and simple explanations, Information Protection Made Easy helps motivate employees to become part of the information security solution....

Authors: John Blossom.
Paperback, 368 pages
Publisher: Wiley
Publication Date: 2009-01-09
Edition: New

Reviews :

    Find out how social media communications is changing the content provider industry in Content Nation: Surviving and Thriving as Social Media Technology Changes Our Lives and Our Future.  Developed through a collaborative wiki, this book is a collection of information from social media experts and serves as an example of how social media impacts the way we provide and receive content.  You will learn how social media changes the way businesses market products and services, influences how people interact with the government, and dictates how we communicate with one another on a personal level....

Authors:
Paperback, 414 pages
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Publication Date: 2002-07-08
Edition: 1

Reviews :

    This study examines how learning and cognitive change are fostered by online communities. The chapters provide a basis for thinking about the dynamics of Internet community building. They consider the role of the self or individual as a participant in virtual community, and the design and refinement of technology as the conduit for extending and enhancing the possibilities of community building in cyberspace. The volume will interest educators, psychologists, sociologists, and researchers in human-computer interaction....