Book Description
Authors Rena Palloff and Keith Pratt have written a comprehensive reference for faculty to use to hone their skills as online instructors and for students to use to become more effective online learners. Filled with numerous examples from actual online courses and insights from teachers and students, Lessons from the Cyberspace Classroom covers the entire online teaching process. This essential guide offers helpful suggestions for dealing with such critical issues as evaluating effective courseware, working with online classroom dynamics, addressing the needs of the online student, making the transition to online teaching, and promoting the development of the learning community.
Download Description
Authors Rena Palloff and Keith Pratt have written a comprehensive reference for faculty to use to hone their skills as online instructors and for students to use to become more effective online learners. Filled with numerous examples from actual online courses and insights from teachers and students, Lessons from the Cyberspace Classroom covers the entire online teaching process. This essential guide offers helpful suggestions for dealing with such critical issues as evaluating effective courseware, working with online classroom dynamics, addressing the needs of the online student, making the transition to online teaching, and promoting the development of the learning community.
Customer Reviews:
Lessons from the Cyberspace Classroom.......2005-03-17
"Lessons from the Cyberspace Classroom: The realities of Online teaching" is a great book for someone who is interested in the possibilities of online education and teaching. Palloff and Pratt offer a lot of great tips and ideas that are very concise and easy to understand. They provide commonsense guidelines in conducting online teaching in a way that is simple to digest, entertaining, and useful to teachers, administrators, or whoever else is interested in the realm of online teaching and education.
I personally liked the way the authors really tried the simplify their views on how to make a successful online teaching experience. Their "Keys to Success" seemed to be very helpful and realistic for many institutions to implement with careful planning.
Another especially helpful idea throughout the book was their tips at the end of some sections. By providing these simple tips it helps readers summarize the section and allows readers to easily review the material after they have read though the book once or twice.
I feel that this book is a "must-have" for people who have some interest in this relatively new and every changing field of online teaching.
Fosters Community Among Educators And Their Students!.......2002-02-11
Growing numbers of K-12 schools, colleges, universities, and businesses have begun offering online instruction, taking advantage of computer and Internet technologies to deliver instruction once confined to the realm of physical classrooms. Indeed, the Internet, so-to-speak, has become a virtual classroom and community where all kinds of instruction can take place - anytime day or night, anywhere around the world.
Lessons from the Cyberspace Classroom offers readers a broad treatment of the issues involved in planning, creating, and carrying out distance education via the Internet. In a concise manner the book introduces the issues, raises many serious questions, and provides many solutions to help meet the educational goals of instructors, their learning institutions, and their students.
The real beauty of the book lies in its effort to motivate instructors and learning institutions to think through the issues for themselves - to evaluate the unique circumstances they face and to encourage them to seek more effective ways of accomplishing their goals. Because each virtual learning experience will be unique, a number of important considerations should be weighed to determine course structure, content, and delivery, such as:
What technologies should be used?
Who will create the course?
Who will own the course material(s)?
How will the course be delivered?
How will assignments, projects, and exams be administered?
How will instructors and students be prepared?
How will student participation be controlled?
How will student behavior be controlled?
Lessons from the Cyberspace Classroom does a superb job of fostering community among educators and their students. The authors express the importance of creating learning communities were serious dialogue takes place - dialogue that enhances the learning process and leads to achieving specific educational goals. This book is must reading for online educational course development.
A Reality Check for Distance Learning.......2001-06-21
If "the devil is in the details" of online learning, Paloff and Pratt have done an excellent job exploring the promise and pitfalls of distance learning programs. Anyone in the process of designing online courses or programs in higher education should read both this book and their earlier book before they launch a new course or program. Personally, this book helped me avoid several mistakes I otherwise would have made in my first distance learning adventure.
The book looks at both teacher and administrator perpsectives, and understands that both insitutional support and instructor skill are key elements for success. While the authors are genuine advocates for the medium, they understand that interactivity does not equal mouse clicks, and that building learning communities takes skill, practice, and structures. The book is full of very helpful examples, learning constructs, and realistic assessments of distance learning successes and failures.
Book Description
1999 Winner of the Philip E. Frandson Award for Literature in Continuing Higher Education, from the University Continuing Education Association
"A must read for anyone involved in or considering involvement in online, networked learning."
--Donald J. MacIntyre, president, The Fielding Institute
"A thorough overview of the online course process, including course selection, design, and evaluation, and many of the technical issues that affect the entire process."
--Kathleen M. Rose, distance education specialist, University of California Extension Online
Written for faculty, instructors, and trainers in any distance learning environment, Building Learning Communities in Cyberspace shows how to create a virtual classroom environment that helps students excel academically, while fostering a sense of community. This practical, hands-on guide is filled with illustrative case studies, vignettes, and examples from a wide variety of successful online courses. The authors offer proven strategies for handling challenges that include:
- Engaging students with subject matter
- Accounting for attendance and participation
- Working with students who do not participate
- Understanding the signs of when a student is in trouble
- Building online communities that accommodate personal interaction
Based on many years of work in information systems and over five years of experience in online distance education, Rena Palloff and Keith Pratt share insights designed to guide readers through the steps of computer-mediated course design and implementation.
Customer Reviews:
Interested in VCoPs? Buy this book!.......2006-05-29
This book is methodologically sound AND useful. Suggestions and advices are backed up by literature, it's not just the usual collection of "expert opinions". By the same token, suggestions and advices are sound and practical, not just impractical "erudite hypotheses". Perfect for pracademics!
It applies to virtual communities of practice.......2003-08-28
The material in this book can be applied to increase the productivity of virtual communities of practice. It is a book I recommend to those who make a living in the world of knowledge management.
Everything you need to consider for asynchronous learning.......2001-07-22
I have found this book to be very helpful if you are REALLY interested in doing asynchronous work online. The authors are leading edge thinkers about this subject who have earned themselves a place in the world consulting to people who want to do this. The problem is that many, many people only THINK they know what asynchronous learning is and until you actually experience it you won't know. Can't know something until you learn it. Rena and Keith have done a very good job of showing you EVERYTHING you need to know to get the job done. You can use it like a menu, take what you want and leave the rest alone. They spend a good deal of time trying to get people to understand the TRUE nature of an asynchronous world. They are sincerely at the leading edge. I think I know what leading edge is, I think I'm there experiencing true asynchronous learning now at the renowned Fielding Institute. Good book for your reference. You may not need all of it NOW but you will soon!
Big Mac of a book: high calories--low nutrition.......2001-07-13
This book is indeed 'pedagogically sound'; the trouble is: it likes the sound of its own voice, far too much, and plods on around the houses for far too long. It is a Big Mac of a book: high calories--low nutrition. I wasted money buying it, don't you make the same mistake. Buy something shorter, less cack-handed, and trendy.
Learning Communities and Cyberspace.......2001-05-17
The advice given in this books should not be limited to cyberspace. The examples, experiences, and education this book provides are applicable to both the classroom and cyberspace. Learning should not be a one way avenue from master to student, but a dialogue. This book is a stepping stone for learning in the information age.
Average customer rating:
- There's no future in Murray's dreaming...
- playing with Story in cyberspace
- Take a spin into the midst of the future
- Superb look at the structures of digital storytelling
- The history of the video game meets narratology
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Hamlet on the Holodeck: The Future of Narrative in Cyberspace
Janet H. Murray
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ASIN: 0262631873 |
Amazon.com
Technology changes storytelling--movies don't tell stories in the same manner as wandering bards. Janet H. Murray, director of the Laboratory for Advanced Technology in the Humanities at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is fascinated with the changes emerging technologies may bring. Interactive tales, more versatile structures, stories as games, and games as stories are among the topics she explores in her very personable and entertaining style. And what about fears that interactive escapism could be the coming addiction? She makes an unblinking examination of this question with insight into both the technological possibilities and the strengths of the human psyche. Strongly recommended for anyone who loves the art of storytelling in any medium.
Book Description
Stories define how we think, play, and understand our lives. In this comprehensive and readable book -- already a classic statement of the aesthetics of digital media, acclaimed by practitioners and theorists alike -- Janet Murray shows how the computer is reshaping the stories we live by.
Murray discusses the unique properties and pleasures of digital environments and connects them with the traditional satisfactions of narrative. She analyzes the dramatic satisfaction of participatory stories and considers what would be necessary to move interactive fiction from the formats of childish games and confusing labyrinths into a mature and compelling art form. Through a blend of imagination and techno-wizardry, Murray provides both readers and writers with a guide to the storytelling of the future.
(cloth published by Free Press, 1997)
Customer Reviews:
There's no future in Murray's dreaming..........2005-02-14
This book came highly recommended to me. With all the hype surrounding its apparent genius I expected to be blown away. Sadly though, this book comes across as someone who has just played a video game for the first time (MYST) and decided that the kids might be on to something. Murray proclaims that one day in the distant future, they'll make a 'holodeck' and we'll finally have true immersion. In the mean time, we can gloss over all the interactive components that make such an experience compelling in the first place. The future of gaming/narratology/ludology whatever-you-want-to-call-it is already here. You don't need a "VR Suit" or some imaginary technology to have a truly immersive experience. Her woefully uninformed look at the games of her day are completely inexcusable:
"...interactors will be lured into worlds where they float, tumble, and arc through thrillingly coloured spaces, fly through imaginary clouds and swim lazily across welcoming mountain ponds. The nightmare landscape of the fighting maze, in which we feel imperiled may give way to enchanting worlds of increasingly refined visual dealight that are populated by evocative fairy-tale creatures."
At the time of this book's publishing (1997) games such as Jumping Flash, Mario 64, and Tomb Raider had already taken the world by storm. By reducing contemporary gaming to mindless, juvenile violence (while championing those themes in 'War & Peace', 'Hamlet' and 'Star Trek') Murray shows a complete lack of interest and imagination.
The heavy hand of narrative is not the only way to tell a story. We don't need a "cyberdramatist" the likes of a Dickens or a Shakespeare to show us the way. She could have explored the work of Miyamoto, Wright or Kojima and the stories that arise out those gaming experiences. Instead she focuses on the Miller Brothers because they offered up the most conventional form of storytelling. Eight years on, their impact is almost forgotten. Above all, people want to act - not in the theatrical sense, but in the name of imaginative 'play'. Maybe someday she'll prove us all wrong and the "Dr. Quinn Holodeck" will sweep us up in the rapturous joy of existing in a town populated by:
"...blacksmiths, barbers, general store owners, saloon keepers, scouts, and, of course, female doctors and who could be given their own homesteads or boardinghouse rooms in particular physical locations within the fictional world."
Sounds like fun.
Criticism aside, I did enjoy the chapter "Eliza's Daughters". Murray's look at procedural characters and believable agents proved informative and intriguing. If only the rest of the book were as objective and plausible then I might actually believe the hype surrounding, "Hamlet on the Holodeck".
playing with Story in cyberspace.......2001-08-19
janet murray's book is a seminal work for anyone interested in what story-entertainment is going to look like in cyberspace.
imagine if you were alive in 1889 when the movie camera was invented. it was not immediately obvious that this new invention would play a role in the world of story. There wasn't until the teens of the 20th century that dw griffith developed a language of story on film... and not until the early teens until the movie theatre with pop corn came upon the scene.
we are at a similar place with the new technologies of digitalness, cbyberspace, interactivity, ..... as humans were with the movie technology over 100 years ago.
janet murray's book gives us the thinking of the best minds at the MIT Media lab as to what might be going on here.
a great book...
Take a spin into the midst of the future.......2001-02-05
Some may find this terse, warmly witty, and tidy treatise about "whither literature in the world of CyberSpace" as just too esoteric to read. Stop. This is not a book grieving over the lost art of words and writing that nurtures the lives of all readers. This wise book is a guide to the possibilites that elude pessimists wary of the ultimate effects of the computer on this century. Relax, discover the possibilites about which you've never dreamed, and let Murray tell you some stories in the mode of the future. For writers, for teachers....but also for the committed readers. Enjoy!
Superb look at the structures of digital storytelling.......1999-04-20
Great book that gives an thorough account of the structures that are given by the format of the digital media. You not only learn to analyse how digital storytelling works but also how it could and should migrate from the status quo to elevate itself onto the next literary level. To anybody who is interested in digital storytelling I recommend this book with all my heart.
The history of the video game meets narratology.......1999-02-09
I'm writing a dissertation on postmodern literature and thus had the pleasure of considering this book as research. The truth of the matter is, that in the dull, dry world of books on narrative theory, this one was FUN! This is exactly the point- video games and Star Trek have EVERYTHING to do with the way narrative works today, (which Murray compares with the way it worked in Shakespeare's time,) and will work once the average American can no longer remember a time when video games had no graphics.
It's fun AND it shows how things are changing and how quickly.
Book Description
Cybercrime isn’t some new phenomenon. Just ask Howard A. Schmidt, who’s led the war against high-tech crooks for more than three decades. In this fascinating and eminently readable book, he recounts his storied career, from the earliest days of hacking through the formative years of computer forensics up to today’s fight for homeland security. Patrolling Cyberspace is laced with case studies, amusing anecdotes, and cutting-edge security methods worthy of emulation, making it both an engaging memoir and a how-to guide packed with practical advice.
Average customer rating:
- Filled with hot air
- Stands the test of (Internet) time
- Excellent cyberspace primer to making money on-line.
- Anyone Can Derive An Income From It!
- A must read for all netrepreneurs and web designers
|
Making Money in Cyberspace
Paul Edwards
Manufacturer: Tarcher
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ASIN: 0874778840 |
Amazon.com
Paul and Sarah Edwards have kept abreast of changing directions in small business through a series of eight bestselling books that began with their pioneering Working from Home, first published in 1985. Now, teaming up with computer industry journalist Linda Rohrbough, they've set their sights on the Internet and how to profitably incorporate it into an entrepreneurial operation. The book delivers on exactly what the title offers, Making Money in Cyberspace: The Inside Information You Need to Start or Take Your Own Business On-Line, and aims to flatten the learning curve for novice but interested small businesses. The nuts and bolts of working both within the medium (designing Web sites and providing associated services to others, for instance) and with it (selling various unrelated goods and services online) are thoroughly discussed from the small-business perspective, as are technical matters (such as choosing an entrepreneur-friendly ISP and setting up a credit-card account). Periodic profiles of those who successfully use cyberspace in their business--complete with relevant URLs--are also interesting and instructive. --Howard Rothman
Book Description
There's no question that the Internet is an increasingly effective place to sell goods or services; yet small and home-based businesspeople are without consulting giants to navigate the frontier of cyberspace for them. With Making Money in Cyberspace, the authors of The Best Home Businesses for the 90s now offer a comprehensive guide that tells you all you need to know about starting and maintaining a successful on-line business from scratch--or taking your current business into cyberspace. This complete guide to cyber-business includes such features as: *the four types of goods that really sell on-line; *what you need to know to design and promote web sites; *selling services in cyberspace; *how to take your existing business on-line--and whether you should; *revealing "case studies" of successful cyber-entrepreneurs; *the biggest mistakes businesses make in cyberspace; and *the best ways to get paid on-line. Packed with stimulating step-by-step instructions, Making Money in Cyberspace is a vital resource for any small business-
person who is considering starting or taking a business on-line.
Customer Reviews:
Filled with hot air.......2002-06-24
I thought this book would actually talk about ways you can make money in cyberspace. What a let down. It seems all the book talks about is how great the internet is and its advantages. I already knew the benefits of the internet before I read this book. Stay away from this one.
Stands the test of (Internet) time.......2001-08-11
When this book came across the desk, we thought "oh gosh, another out of date, get rich quick, internet how-to primer". Wrong, wrong, wrong.
Paul and Sarah Edwards seem to have a keyboard that turns whatever is typed into gold. The duo are noted for creating inspiring, hands-on, how-to books for the small time operator with big dreams, and this one is no different. In cyberspace, where one offline line year is the equivalent of ten online years, it is very difficult to write a book about the Internet that is not completely out of date by 3 p.m. the next day. This book though is one the few that can stand the test of time (or at least still be relevant next week).
The Edwards do the usual explaining, defining and exampling, but we were most impressed with their profiles. We visited several websites that were mentioned in the book and found all of them to still be in business! In the lightning fast "up and at `em" today "down and out" tomorrow atmosphere of the Internet this was truly a surprise. It just goes to show-if those entrepreneurs read this book and are still profiting, than maybe you will too.
Chock full of inspiring real life success stories, you'd do well to give this read your full attention.
--LiteratePlanet.com
Excellent cyberspace primer to making money on-line........2001-06-18
Don't let the title fool you... this book is not about the quick, get rich internet scams that proliferate around the web. This book is for the lay person who has a bricks and mortar business or who wants to start from scratch. The internet is not going away and it is possible, with hard work and this book as a guide, to make money using the internet as a tool. Buy this book and get out your highlighter... you'll find a great deal of information that you can put to use starting today!
Anyone Can Derive An Income From It!.......2000-08-02
Work-at-home experts Paul and Sarah Edwards, the authoring team of a series of leading working-from-home books, have teamed up with Linda Rohrbough to write Making Money In Cyberspace to encourage business people to take their existing businesses online and to invite others to test the waters of starting an online business from scratch themselves. This book will open up the exciting world of online business opportunities.
Making Money In Cyberspace was written to demonstrate that a number of traditional occupations including domestic, technical, and corporate level work can be conducted online from the comfort of a home or office. The authors cite a number of occupations that just about anyone can make a living from online. Check out the helpful checklist at the back of the book!
The book focuses a considerable amount of attention to the details of designing creative Websites that will effectively market an online business operation. Building and promoting effective Websites, developing content, advertising options, payment considerations, and selecting an Internet service provider are covered. A number of actual cases studies are provided to reinforce these important issues.
Readers will appreciate the fact that the authors have expressed themselves in a non-technical manner. Anyone can pick up this book and put it to use! It will make a great companion to other books written by these authors. This is sure to be a favorite among those who love what the Internet has to offer and desire to derive an income from it! This book would also make a nice gift!
A must read for all netrepreneurs and web designers.......1999-11-04
This book is great. Though the main focus is to show how people have become successful online, there's no hype about making billions overnite. Examples range from people who have made a few thousand dollars a year online, to people have made millions. The book reviews how some business ideas didn't work on the web at first, how how they had to change and adjust to get better results. Gets into some technical aspects too. Also a must read for web designers.
Average customer rating:
- Lessig's Code - Foundations for Tomorrow
- Important ideas on the future in a wired world
- Regardless of its style and structure, this is a IMPORTANT book.
- Good overview for outsiders - common sense for many
- Great book on Cyberspace and a must read for people in the t
|
Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace
Lawrence Lessig
Manufacturer: Basic Books
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Code: Version 2.0
ASIN: 0465039138 |
Amazon.com
"We, the Net People, in order to form a more perfect Transfer Protocol..." might be recited in future fifth-grade history classes, says attorney Lawrence Lessig. He turns the now-traditional view of the Internet as an uncontrollable, organic entity on its head, and explores the architecture and social systems that are changing every day and taming the frontier. Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace is his well-reasoned, undeniably cogent series of arguments for guiding the still-evolving regulatory processes, to ensure that we don't find ourselves stuck with a system that we find objectionable. As the former Communist-bloc countries found, a constitution is still one of our best guarantees against the dark side of chaos; and Lessig promotes a kind of document that accepts the inevitable regulatory authority of both government and commerce, while constraining them within values that we hold by consensus.
Lessig holds that those who shriek the loudest at the thought of interference in cyberdoings, especially at the hands of the government, are blind to the ever-increasing regulation of the Net (admittedly, without badges or guns) by businesses that find little opposition to their schemes from consumers, competitors, or cops. The Internet will be regulated, he says, and our window of opportunity to influence the design of those regulations narrows each day. How will we make the decisions that the Framers of our paper-and-ink Constitution couldn't foresee, much less resolve? Lessig proclaims that many of us will have to wake up fast and get to work before we lose the chance to draft a networked Bill of Rights. --Rob Lightner
Customer Reviews:
Lessig's Code - Foundations for Tomorrow.......2007-09-09
Although Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace was a laborious read to me several years ago, it still deserves your attention today. It is basically a legal treatise that feels like a college course. It even has small print! Lessig's thoughts go far beyond scholarly; it is a magnificent work. And even though its content is extremely important, you may not be very enthusiastic about picking it up at first. In it he has posed several questions of constitutional law and its relevance in cyberspace, vividly described the dark blending of government regulation and control with our growing world of electronic commerce.
But Lessig's words are much more poetic:
"We build liberty...by setting society upon a certain constitution...an architecture...that structures and constrains social and legal power, to the end of protecting fundamental values - principles and ideals that reach beyond the compromises of ordinary politics.... There is no reason to believe that the grounding for liberty in cyberspace will simply emerge."
He examines how the relationships of the technology, which he also refers to as 'architecture' or 'code', along with social norms, markets and laws regulate people's behavior and explains how each of these limit individuals' actions. These forces work directly or in combinations where improvements in technology can dramatically alter the constraints on people's conduct. The competition for control continues today under the banner of 'network neutrality' where Congress is being asked by business to decide about who will control the Internet. Network neutrality would return to communications law and regulation the concept of non-discrimination that was always, until recently, part of communications law since the original 1934 Communications Act [and was partially repealed for high speed services]. Not only does big business wants to control the Internet, with recent interpretations of net neutrality they are trying to improve their grip on copyright issues and control who is allowed to innovate in this country. In some cases they have already hijacked the legal system and are misusing our enforcement systems to control dissent.
Historically, AT&T was the telecommunications industry of this country and the 'Big Three' networks controlled the airways until new technologies and innovative regulatory policies broke the hold that these corporations had held onto for so long. Markets, services and competition grew exponentially and the new giants have struggled fiercely since to regain that power that the Bell System once held. With SBC's purchase of what used to be AT&T Longlines, the cycle has come full circle. As Lessig pointed out, the obvious point that many might miss is that when government steps aside, it's not as if private entities have no interests or have no agendas that they pursue. We can't leave the market to regulate the Internet of the future. Our constitutional values check and limit what the markets do also. If you think that no government involvement is the more appropriate path to take, consider Lessig's warning:
"Unless we interrogate the architecture of cyberspace as we interrogate the code of Congress, the relevance of our constitutional tradition will fade and the importance of our commitment to our fundamental values ... will also fade."
Lessig's seminal work will continue to provide the foundation for the evolution of cyberspace law for years to come. My original summary of this book can be found on his website.
Bob Magnant is the author of The Last Transition... - the ultimate Internet adventure, a fact-based novel.
Important ideas on the future in a wired world.......2005-11-17
As it is, I spend a lot of time thinking about systems and issues like architectures, law, policy, and even individual expectations. My 2001 book Developing Trust looked at how we can deal with the policy and technology issues that make our infrastructure trustworthy. Though I dealt with the Internet and Web specifically and showed specific examples of actual failures, some readers have suggested that the discussion was somewhat theoretical, or at the very least, blazing the way for practice instead of reflecting it. My recently-published Brute Force is very different, dealing specifically with the issue of Internet cryptography.
Looking at the fall of the data encryption standard through the lens offered by Lessig's Code is instructive. Consider the state of the world in 1997, when RSA launched its DES Challenge.
As a matter of policy, the U.S. Government promoted a cryptographic standard that would be secure against exhaustive key-search attacks for a relatively short period of time. As a matter of law (in the form of regulation), the Government also limited the strength of the systems that could be exported outside of the United States. As a matter of architecture, the Internet is open and easy to access, in many cases using topologies that will allow anyone in the middle to observe traffic being routed from one system to another. As a matter of expectation, individual Internet users considered their online purchases secured, such that attackers would not be able to intercept and illicitly to use their credit card numbers. As another matter of expectation, many in Congress imagined that even the limited strength of the systems allowed by Government policy were "secure enough."
The DESCHALL Project (and RSA's 1997 DES Challenge that it answered) used architecture to change expectations of both lawmakers and citizens. When it succeeded, law (in this case, the regulation) changed to allow a much freer use and export of cryptographic products. Policy followed, with the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) being adopted.
After talking recently with Peter Swire, Esther Dyson, and John Gilmore in Seattle earlier this year at CFP 2005 (with "Panopticon" as its theme), I was reminded of Lessig's Code, in which he argued that it is wrong to imagine as some have that the Internet is inherently impossible to regulate, that it can never be restricted the way that the real world has been.
When I returned from Seattle, I re-read some critical parts of Lessig's book. One part that struck me was its central theme, that four primary forces regulate: law, market, norms, and code.
Limited scope helped to made DESCHALL successful. We didn't seek (directly) to change the law or government policy. The project didn't overreach, attempting to use traditional mechanisms of marketing to affect the expectations (or, in Lessig's words, norms) of individual users. Nor did it preach to the proverbial choir, either in the form of those interested in public policy (law) or those trying to bring their products to international customers who demanded them (market). We were attempting to address an area of architecture (code) that created a vulnerability in the form of an attacker's ability to intercept traffic. While many expected that the issue was addressed through "good enough" cryptography, we used the one tool of our focus (code) to demonstrate that it was out of sync with the demands of the market and the needs to enforce the norms of society.
In the six years since Lessig's book was released, things have changed. Some of the less dramatic changes have come in the form of architecture, the code that implements the global computation and communication infrastructure. Mobile phones and PDAs now have greater utility as gateways to the network and these devices have more tracking capability than in 1999, both in the form of a GPS device to determine the unit's position and in the form of wireless personal area networks such as Bluetooth that have side-effects that can be invasive of privacy.
Norms have not changed significantly; as these deal with the attitudes and expectations of people, norms are always slow to evolve. The market has not changed dramatically for the most part. While a whole dot-com boom and bust took place, the simple fact is that companies that offered good services enabled by the Internet succeeded (eBay and Amazon spring to mind), while those that were using the Internet for its own sake failed-the demand for online haircuts and shoeshines never materialized.
The law is one area where there has been more dramatic change, as local, state, and federal lawmakers strive to update their codes to reflect the world's heavy dependence upon Claude Shannon's binary units. Many laws designed to protect consumers and their digital identities have been passed and now organizations that handle personal information are subjected to civil and criminal penalties for failure to adhere to some norms for protecting information.
Further changes have been ushered in by lawmakers' attempts to show their constituents that they care about the citizenry of this country and are doing all they can to protect them from the threat of terrorist attack. Congress is now debating extension of the Patriot Act and adoption of its successor, Patriot II. In Code, Lessig worries about the impact of law on cyberspace, in particular how regulation will cause infrastructures to be built with new provisions that allow the Government to achive its objective to control its citizenry without being accountable as in a transparent legal system. Given the reaction to the Patriot Act-in particular its provision to search library and bookstore records without a warrant-it would seem that Lessig's concerns have been understood and adopted by a significant number of people working in the area of public policy.
Much of the public debate over digital rights has been in the form of negative reaction to proposed restrictions on personal liberty, privacy, and other rights. Someone proposes that the Patriot Act stay on the books rather then expire (as the Act itself called for as passed in 2001) and people react in the negative. Someone proposes national identification cards for each U.S. citizen and people react in the negative. A cartel proposes a combination of technical and legal standards to limit how consumers can use their products and people react in the negative.
In Code, Lessig argues that society must decide what rights it wants to guarantee, what sort of a society cyberspace is to be, from which implementation in code will follow, shaping both the architecture of the markets and the norms of cyberspace. Despite the passage of six years and the huge number of genuinely bad ideas that have been floated, we have very few good ideas proposed to stave off the flow or influence of the bad. There is very little guidance to show how the Bill of Rights applies in cyberspace. Worse, there is apparently no mechanism by which the government cannot hire private industry to do the work that it, by virtue of the U.S. Constitution, would be forbidden from undertaking. There has been a lot of talking, but remarkably little action, and I suspect that will remain true until there is a clear and concise assertion of what privileges and rights are to be built into cyberspace. As Lessig concludes, if our society fails to take advantage of the opportunity that is now present, liberty will find herself on the losing end of a revolution and it'll be over before any critical mass notices.
Regardless of its style and structure, this is a IMPORTANT book........2005-06-26
Lawrence Lessig is not a writer, he is a lawyer. Don't expect his book to be easy nor entertaining. However, it is the more insightful writing of its time on the subject of mass media communication and control. For me the strong points are:
1, the Internet has no nature and if you think that it is a place of total freedom, this book will should you how wrong you are.
2, as a counter effect of point 1, the Internet might well become (if not yet) the most powerful element of control on mass population, leaving television and radio their its poor alpha version.
3, Dr Lessig considers the code used to create the Internet as being the laws of cyberspace, showing us the important distinction between between them: code is not something you can oppose to. It is simply a power you are inclined to accept, or put it differently there are *invisible* rules you are *dictated* to follow. That is the theme of the book.
I recommend this book for my Digital Media and New Media students and anyone using the Internet regurlarly and interested in its politics.
Good overview for outsiders - common sense for many.......2004-11-20
The premise of Code is that the architecture of the internet and not any one country's laws controls what one can do on it. One clear evidence of architecture controlling our lives is our dependence on cars. Most American cities grew large after the car had become common. Hence they have limited transportation. Hence one is expected to own a car to live a normal life. Similarly the architecture of the internet will make certain activities much easier than others. The difference is the internet is currently being formed and we can choose what we want it to be if we act now (or in 1999 anyway).
Lessig identifies four factors that influence what any individual can and will do on or offline: law, architecture (physics in the real world), social norms, market forces (since corporations have so much control over what gets done). This way of looking at things combined with the cute little diagrams may clarify things you already know about the internet. There is also much discussion threaded through the book of legal issues in the past that may prove applicable to cyberspace now.
Basically I tried to read this, but found it a bit dumbed down. I skimmed it and it was good for me to look closer at some of the relationships in play on the development of the internet, or maybe to solidify things in my head. However it didn't tell me much and Lessig keeps repeating himself blah blah blah and then going into rapturous praise of open source code and newsgroups and other old hat thing on the internet. (I realize that this was published in 1999 but I don't feel that it would have been new info for me then either.)
If you are the sort of person who has read the Jargon File, then you are unlikely to get much out of Code (except if you are interested in legal history about privacy, IP etc - but then again the premise of the book is that architecture more than law influences what can and can't be done online). However, for an outsider interested in learning about the subcultures that exist online and more about the sociology type aspects of computing this would be a useful introduction.
Great book on Cyberspace and a must read for people in the t.......2004-06-07
This is another great book that discusses what is going on in cyberspace today (or 1999 when it was written) first by defining cyberspace as a place where we can create personalities and have the ability to speak like we would never do in the real world. The book then goes on to discuss how the internet is regulated or not regulated and what the internet can and should become.
The book starts out by discussing multiple forms of regulation and just because technology makes it easier to monitor or regulate does not mean that it is right or legal. The book also discusses what things should be regulated and how and who should regulate it. The next chapters go into Free Speech, Intellectual Property, Privacy and other freedoms we have and should fight to protect. The book talks about Open Source vrs Closed Source software and how regulation can and is added to each. One of the solutions of the book is to offer transparent regulation that allows user to know what is regulated. This is possible and is happening now in Open Source software but is not happening in closed source software. This is an excellent book that should help call us to action that will help provide the right kind of regulation while ensuring our freedoms or not reduced. This is a great book and I would recommend it..
Product Description
CyberEthics: Morality and Law in Cyberspace, Third Edition takes an in-depth look at the social costs and moral problems that have arisen by the expanded use of the internet, and offers up-to-date legal and philosophical perspectives. The text focuses heavily on content control and free speech, intellectual property, privacy and security, and has added NEW coverage on Blogging. Case studies featured throughout the text offer real-life scenarios and include coverage of numerous hot topics, including the latest decisions on digital music and movie downloads, the latest legal developments on the Children's Internet Protection Act, and other internet governance and regulation updates. In the process of examining these issues, the text identifies some of the legal disputes that will likely become paradigm cases for more complex situations yet to come.
Customer Reviews:
Didn't select this book for my course.......2004-08-20
I teach a computing ethics course at an area University. I did not select this book as my text when I reviewed texts for use in the Fall 2004 semester. I did choose Spinello and Tavani's new reader; but this book--like most of the predecessors Spinello has written--would drive my students nuts -- and they wouldn't know why. Bottom line: poorly written and not easy to read -- lots of tough sentence choices made. However, as with Spinello's other books, there are some points he makes that no other computing ethics texts' authors do make! So, I'll glean those points out of his text and present them to my students rather than force them to work their way through and around his prose.
Waste of time.......2003-10-22
This book was an incredible waste of time. I felt that the essays were a) far too dated (a rambling discourse on the dangers of cookies) or b) too out of touch (Rape in cyberspace was NOT a real rape in cyberspace, folks) The authors seem to be mainly scholars without a tech background than technical folks and I have to agree that the thesaurus was in heavy use during the writing of most of the these essays. Finally the book contains very little practical information on cyberethics. Not even a single case study.
CyberEthics = Mumbo Jumbo, not worth it.......2001-09-17
The content of this book is nothing short of a diaster! I had to read this book for my Ethics in the Information Age class here at the Rochester Institute of Technology and I must say that this is the worst textbook I ever had to read. It felt more like a highschool essay thats 155 pages long. The book is plagued with wordy sentences that can confused and bemuddle anyone who isn't an english major. Practically every sentence is littered with words that a bare few of us remember from the SATs (perhaps to lengthen the book?). The book's content doesn't provide a sense of contraversy about ethics in cyberspace. I beleive that he tried to stay neutral in the arguments but it only seemed to confuse me. The auther included a lot of references to other sources suggesting that he too doesn't even know a thing about Cyber Ethics, resorting to other people's works. The writng is too abstract and at most times I ended up rereading the book several times just to make sense of it. If I didn't need this for class, I recommend not buying this book. I am sure there are plenty of other well written Cyber Ethics books than this.
An intriguing exploration into cutting-edge ethical issues.......2000-12-21
After starting this book, I found it difficult to put down or avoid engaging others with the questions the book raised both explicitly and implicitly. The murky waters of online ethics are aptly navigated by Spinello in this brief work. The presentational format of providing background and then analyzing each side of an issue enhances the understanding of the material while provoking further thought for the reader. Case studies are also interlaced into the material, providing ample ground for discussion. This would serve well as a college supplemental reading for any truly in-depth analysis of morality and cyberspace. It also remains enjoyable and understandable for the pleasure reader who has little background in this field. A must-read for anyone hoping to understand where government and society stands on difficult ethical and legal dilemmas created by cyberspace.
Book Description
What the international phenomenon of The Rules did for conventional dating, The Rules for Online Dating does for the search for love on the Internet. You'll never hit the "reply" button the same way again.
Millions of women around the world are meeting men on the Internet, or they've met in person and are corresponding by e-mail. But though e-mail and Net-based dating services have revolutionized the dating landscape, they've created their own pitfalls and challenges. Women need new strategies that will improve their chances of capturing Mr. Right.
Boasting the same time-tested formula and romantic spirit that made The Rules an international bestseller and launched thousands of women down the path to committed relationships, The Rules for Online Dating shows all women -- regardless of age, status, or computer savvy -- how to use electronic communication to relate to men in a way that maintains self-esteem and leads to a healthy relationship.
Here is a comprehensive list of dos and don'ts that will help every woman conduct an e-courtship safely and successfully; find and keep the interest of suitable mates; and save time, energy, and potential heartache by weeding out dead wood. The Rules for Online Dating takes women through the process -- step by step, Rule by Rule -- to the ultimate goal: a relationship based on mutual attraction, interest, and respect.
Download Description
What the international phenomenon of The Rules did for conventional dating, The Rules for Online Dating does for the search for love on the Internet. You'll never hit the "reply" button the same way again. Millions of women around the world are meeting men on the Internet, or they've met in person and are corresponding by e-mail. But though e-mail and Net-based dating services have revolutionized the dating landscape, they've created their own pitfalls and challenges. Women need new strategies that will improve their chances of capturing Mr. Right. Boasting the same time-tested formula and romantic spirit that made The Rules an international bestseller and launched thousands of women down the path to committed relationships, The Rules for Online Dating shows all women - regardless of age, status, or computer savvy - how to use electronic communication to relate to men in a way that maintains self-esteem and leads to a healthy relationship. Here is a comprehensive list of dos and don'ts that will help every woman conduct an e-courtship safely and successfully; find and keep the interest of suitable mates; and save time, energy, and potential heartache by weeding out dead wood. The Rules for Online Dating takes women through the process - step by step, Rule by Rule - to the ultimate goal: a relationship based on mutual attraction, interest, and respect.
Customer Reviews:
Capturing Their Heart?.......2006-09-27
After being out of the dating scene for ages, I've been trying to work my way back in, and find The Rules aren't necessarily about capturing the heart of "Mr. Right," as they are weeding out "Mr. Wrongs" and not kicking yourself over a failed relationship or a relationship that's not getting off the ground. If he hasn't asked you on a date after four emails, it's because he simply doesn't want to, at least not badly enough to ask. The Rules help you give a guy enough room to decide, and communicate, what he wants -- the opposite of manipulation.
excellent advice.......2006-07-17
I am a fan of the first book and subsequent "Rules" books by these authors. While these authors are criticized for being manipulative and non-feminist, one only has to try out their methods and look for results (or, conversely, violate the rules and see that doing so ends in disaster). Every time I have violated a rule of theirs, the man has immediately lost interest. What's great about this book is that it tells you exactly how to handle certain situations that arise when you are engaging in the online search for a significant other. This book is just what I needed to save myself time and heartache!
You will either hate or love this book.......2006-05-18
By reading other reviews you most likely have an opinion right now if this book is for you or not. Is it old-fashioned? Sexist? Stupid? Playing Games? Honestly, that's your call. There were several points I liked in this book, I think it has some valid content.
Profiles, the authors state that men basically look at the pretty pictures of the women, and glance at their profiles. Is this true? Men are visual. So pick a nice smiling photo. Don't write too much. I like this, not because it creates mystery, because your leaving out emotional baggage. Your selling yourself, not the fact your ex cheated on you with your neighbor, wouldn't commit, or he was mean.
I liked the after 4 emails, and he didn't give you his phone number, or ask for yours move on. Really, your on a dating website to date. If you are looking for chat buddies, go to a chat room. The author also asks you to wait 24 hours before you respond. There is a lot of pressure to respond right away, do you need to wait a full 24 hours?
There are a lot of tips like this that I think help weed out the real potential canidates. Online dating isn't for the faint-hearted. It is work finding the right person. I like that this book sets boundaries initially. I haven't read their other book, but I felt this book does a good job of helping you to sort through people. If you liked 'He's just not that into you', you will like this book as well.
Making Money Off Of Desperate Women: A Guide.......2006-03-16
As someone who has never seriously considered joining an online dating service (working with patrons in a public library computer center is enough to dissuade even more open-minded, shy, and luckless single people from doing this) it was just by chance I happened to stumble on The Rules for Online Dating, written by the cynical and cloying sexists Ellen Fein and Sherrie Schneider. I hear their Rules for Dating series is quite popular; if I really wanted to go after them, I suppose I should've read the original book. However, having read full portions of this one, I imagine I've gotten enough of an idea that reading any further would be act of senseless masochism. Fortunately, I do have an intrepid reporter updating me on the other books, saving me that displeasure.
The first thing that most readers who are not, as the authors put it, "Rules girls" (meaning those who do not slavishly accept the divine and unerring wisdom of Ms. Fein and Schneider) will notice is that the authors have an attitude towards gender that could be fairly described as bigoted; I'll get to that in a bit, as there's quite a lot to be said.
The second thing they might notice is a creepy implicit desire for control over their readers, not-so-subtly scolding those who disagree with their pronouncements as "Rules breakers". In this vein, it should be noted that the Rules books once contained a chapter entitled "Don't discuss the Rules books with your therapists," which, we should thank our lucky stars, has been removed in later editions of the book.
The third thing the reader might notice is that book is, put simply, annoying, written in a cloying and condescending tone of voice. Finally, the reader will be forced to conclude that the book, in addition to being unpleasant and sexist, simply doesn't achieve its goal. Or at least, I'm not familiar with the type of men the authors claim to be discussing (probably through self-selection of friends), and try to avoid the type of women they're targeting.
First, let's address the rather nauseating sexism. In the fourth chapter the authors have already used the classic sexist trope, encouraging Rules girls to "smile a lot and not speak too much." I hope most men today believe that being fun, exciting, and even (gasp!) intellectually stimulating might at times involve the act of speech. The sexism, of course cuts both ways. The Rules books are brimming over with implicit insults to men. Remember, ladies... Men, being shallow oxen, don't care for smarties. The book warns women that "men are not looking for Shakespeare or Hemingway when they search Matchmaker.com." And god forbid you ever mention to a man that you're having a bad day... The poor dears are simply not equipped for that level of emotional baggage.
The authors work hard to distill a sense of entitlement and self-satisfaction in the reader. They want ladies to think of themselves, in their sickly terminology, as "CUAO"s... "Creatures Unlike Any Other." Ladies ought to walk into a room "as if they just stepped out of a limo," as someone who would never dream of going Dutch. The thought that a woman may actually be making more than the man and doesn't need his beneficence does not occur to the writers... or at least they assume such a self-supportive woman is not in their target demographic. (Don't make an exception for students or guys on a tight budget, they explicitly caution in the first book.)
The book sometimes takes a break from sexism for simple incompetence. Their suggestions for screen names are dazzlingly banal, seemingly designed to demonstrate that a woman has no personality whatsoever. For example: BlondBeauty50, PetiteBrunette34, TrulyCute22, GorgeousGreenEyez44. They encourage self-conscious rudeness, which I can only imagine would be wildly counterproductive in many cases, for example never answering messages on weekends or in a timely manner... Don't ask why, I still don't understand it. They also assume that men, by and large, will only be truly interested in a woman if she makes a point of pretending to not be particularly interested in them. Obviously, this is going to scare off the shyer men, who are just going to assume the woman is not interested. And considering that, man-wise, online dating is the province of the shy and the creepy, that pretty much just leaves the creepy.
(Scratch that... I've just been informed by the original Rules screed that shy men do not exist. And in a puff of smoke I disappear.)
The fact that not all the advice included in this book is bad is not a sign of its usefulness so much as a demonstration that the authors are not afraid of the obvious. The fact that they have an entire chapter, not even an especially short chapter, on why you should avoid dating a married man ("even online"!) gives you an idea of what the authors really think of the intelligence and character of their readers.
There's a somewhat ugly aura of exploitation hanging over the whole enterprise. The writers assume pretty obviously that their readers are desperate. Instead of counseling them against this state, they encourage women to mask their desperation behind deliberate and rigorously maintained fakery. If they genuinely wanted to make women feel good about themselves, as they claim in the early chapters, they might wonder whether there might be more to doing so than finding a man and "closing the deal," (as they refer to marriage in an articulation of cynicism that truly takes the breath away.) Even more disturbing, the monomaniacal final chapter sternly warns readers "Don't Bend or Break The Rules Online-Even a Little Bit, accompanied by horrible accounts of what can happen when some foolhardy Rules-breaker steps out of line. In addition to this lockstep conformity being self-evidently bad advice, this is the type of language more befitting a cult than a self-help book. But of course we need a steady supply of Rules-girls to buy the next book. One wonders... is the bad advice I've mentioned really unintentional?
Rating: 0 out of 10. (Not merely bad, but evil.)
Excellent! .......2006-02-26
I am a fan of "The Rules" and have all of the books except for the one about marriage. I loved this book so much that I really wish I had this book a long time ago, particularly when I had started dating my ex-boyfriend online.
This book made me realize that my pursuing men via cyperspace has eventually led to my downfalls in my online relationships. Because I had broken all The Rules, I ended up with men who either just wanted sex, wanted something "on the side," or men who weren't into me as I was into them.
From my own personal experiences and from their other books, I am convinced that romantic relationships work best when a MAN pursues a woman and the woman stays "elusive."
This book has great practical advice, as well as encouraging success stories of women who've found love by following The Rules online.
If you are only looking for fun, sex, or a pen-pal through online dating sites, this book is not for you. This book is only for women who is serious about finding the love of their lives online.
Average customer rating:
- Zen and the Art of Bootstrapping
- The God of Process in the Process World of Cyberspace
- Read this book.
- A Bit Far-Fetched
- A modern version of Augustine's The City of God
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CyberGrace: The Search for God in the Digital World
Jennifer Cobb
Manufacturer: Crown
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ASIN: 0517706792
Release Date: 1998-05-05 |
Amazon.com
Is there something of the divine on the Internet? Conventional wisdom sees a division between the spiritual and the world of the machine. Yet the theological and philosophical theory called "emergence" suggests that the chasm between the two may be of our own creation. Using the writings of the eminent 20th-century theologian Teilhard de Chardin, Jennifer Cobb sees something more in how our technological complexity often produces something elegant and inspired. Rather than seeing creation as a one-time event, some theologians think that the creative power of God can be part of the evolutionary process. That creative power would then extend to the computer and cyberspace.
Cobb writes, "Nature has spawned us. We have spawned machines. Any line between these realms quickly becomes arbitrary." She encourages us to reject the sort of dualism between mind and body that has driven so much of Western thought, philosophy, and theology. "Real life," she states, "is never that tidy. As our days unfold, the contents of our boxes--mind, body, God--continually spill into one another, creating both personal confusion and a philosophical morass."
While investigating a wide range of questions that inform spirituality--such as "What is life?" and "Is there something other than us?"--Cobb writes with level-headed exuberance about her own experiences in finding the spiritual in computing. In her chapter on virtual ethics, she lays out a framework that can aid others in making that same connection. This is a unique and intelligent book for those who are concerned with the consequences of technology with regard to our humanity and our spirits. --Elizabeth Lewis
Book Description
Theologian and high-tech consultant Jennifer Cobb combines her expertise to create a new theory of the Divine in the Information Age.
As computers and artificial intelligence systems become more sophisticated, the question of whether we can find spiritual life in cyberspace is beginning to be asked. CyberGrace: The Search for God in the Digital World is a bold, thought-provoking, affirmative answer to one of the most intriguing inquiries of our time.
Until now, an unbridgeable schism has separated the world of the spirit and that of the machine. According to an increasingly compelling concept known as emergence, the gulf may be an imaginary one. Fifty years ago, Jesuit paleontologist Teilhard de Chardin combined his lifelong passions of God and science to predict the emergence of cyberspace, based on his studies of evolution. Using Teilhard's theories as a starting point, Jennifer Cobb asserts that as technical systems become more complex--with simple, predictable mechanisms coalescing into hierarchies of increasing organization--something elegant, inspired, and absolutely unpredictable simply and suddenly "emerges." Many observers today see this "hand of God" showing itself in disparate disciplines, from evolutionary theory to artificial intelligence--and especially in the furthest realms of cyberspace, where brute computation seems to give way to divine inspiration.
CyberGrace offers paradoxical evidence that our machines may be conduits to a deeper spirituality. With daily headlines announcing dizzying advances in science and information technology, many people wonder about their--and their children's--ability to lead lives imbued by a sense of the sacred. In the new world, where the search for spirituality may seem scattered and unfocused, Cobb brilliantly uses the most popular and prevalent phenomenon of our times--the computer--to find a world filled with meaning and love.
Customer Reviews:
Zen and the Art of Bootstrapping.......2001-12-21
Don't let the fact that she mis-spelled it
"Burners-Lee" detract from your enjoyment
of Cybergrace.
I'm a typical left-brained type, and bought
this book partly because I knew some of
the Deep Blue (chess machine) people when
they were at CMU. No theologian am I.
I discovered a well-written, concise, and
engrossing book, and have come to regard Cobb's
book as a little gem. In recent years I've
bought several copies for friends. The book
covered a wide range of topics which were
new to me, and really was a catalyst for
further exploration. The time was ripe for
me, when the book was first published.
Chapter 1 - Spiritual Evolution, creativity
in process
Chapter 2 - Emergence, Whitehead, John B. Cobb,
Process theology
Chapter 3 - Teilhard de Chardin, noosphere
Chapter 4 - Holons, Ken Wilber
Chapter 5 - Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research
(PEAR) laboratory, quantum consciousness
Chapter 6 - Complexity, emergent computation
Chapter 7 - Virtual Reality, Immersive technologies,
asceticism
Chapter 8 - Ethics, Spirit in Action
The God of Process in the Process World of Cyberspace.......2001-06-16
Jennifer Cobb explores a sense of encounter with the Divine in relation to cyberspace, which she concludes is essentially a world of processes -- and hence a perfect medium for finding the God of Process Theology.
The book has some superb reflections upon the nature of realities that can be found in a cyber dimension of the lives we live. This, in fact, is the great strength of this book. If the reader has a strong appreciation for Process thought, this is a book that will be of interest. Those who come to it with more of a traditional Incarnational theology (rooted in Christianity) may find some of her optimism about disembodied minds to be a bit disturbing -- a disembodied ANYTHING is a problem for Incarnational thinkers. Cobb heightens some of the problems inherent in Process thought and adds to them.
With all of the book's strengths and weaknesses, on balance I feel the book is very good and well worth the read. In fact, I recommend it.
Read this book........2001-04-06
This book is challenging in the good way. You may have more questions than answers by the time you've reached the last page, but these will be questions you'd never have thought to ask without having read Cobb's book. A great introduction to Tielhard de Chardin.
A Bit Far-Fetched.......1999-12-22
The first thing that we must note is that this book is no way intended to foster dialogue between Christianity and technology - it has very little to do with Christianity.
Combining emergent technologies and the spiritual evolution of both de Chardin and Cobb can be seen as only analogous, but Jennifer Cobb sets out to show how these evolutionary theories are not simply analogous, but point to the same metaphysical process in which we participate. Speculative at best, not very useful or enlightening in the end.
The chief problem is that of inserting both humanity and the technology we create into a radical panentheistic view which is also radically deterministic. If my actions are simply reflective of the divine unfolding of a metaphyisical creative energy, freedom of choice, the human will, is simply destroyed in the end. What she does is collapse the necessary divide that humanity has with its creations, its media, transporting human consciousness into a bizarre realm of ethical hierarchies that need caveats upon caveats to ensure the intelligibility of humankind. There is nothing here that requires moral obligation to the other for the sake of the other. If we were to look at ethics this way from her perspective the only way that I am able to serve the other for the sake of the other is if such an act forsters my own creative potential and richness of experience. Such an admittedly relativistic ethics that intentionally pulls us away from the categorical imperative leaves us with more ambiguity than calrity, more painful questions than answers. And let us not forget about the whole Christian expression of divine love in the revelation of God's own self in Christ on the cross - this act could not have happened at all. The point being is that in her ethics there is an extreme danger of relegating our ethics into an obscure situational relativism in which it is impossible for one to give of one's self for the sake of the other alone. So if you are out there trying to serve your fellow human being out of a free moral obligation, you ought to stop if you are not enhancing your richness of experience.
All of that aside, what in the world does it have to do with cyberspace? Divinizing a communications medium has nothing to do with enriching religious experience and fostering ethical obligation but divorces us from it. Talk to any pastor about his or her calling and how it would look without necessary physical contact with the parishoner in pain. You will no doubt get a very practical criticism as have I. Cyberspace promotes extreme individualism and ego-centrism if it is not looked at as a creation of human invention. Just as Whitehead thought, with his pal Bertrand Russell, that they had finally discovered the pure set of axiomatic truths in mathematics, so he envisioned a world of absolute and radical determinism. Godel exposed his flaw of a self-referential system that can in no way prove its own truth. Truth, while reflected in human experience, must come from outside of human experience to be Truth. Thus, Cobb's theo-technologism undermines itself in the end. She carelessly notes some of the dangers of computerization in the end, but fails to take them seriously and so, we ought not take this book very seriously either.
For a much better anaylsis of philosophy and technology let me suggest "The Metaphysics of Virtual Reality" by Michael Heim. For a far more comprehensive and honest look at cyberspace let me suggest "Cyberpower: The Culture and Politics of Cyberspace and the Internet" by Tim Jordan. To find out why I feel this book is so unfounded read "Technopoly" by Neil Postman.
A modern version of Augustine's The City of God.......1999-06-04
If you have always yearned to read The City of God by Augustine, but have not had the time or patience, then Cybergrace, by Jennifer Cobb may be your best substitute. Ms. Cobb is well versed in both philosophy and current technology. She draws on this extensive knowledge to create an understanding of "God" and spirit which rises high above the "Master of the Universe" image which resulted from modernism. Just as Augustine's City made his contemporaries feel at home, Cobb's place leaves us with a sense of purpose and wonder. If only for a moment, we are able to put aside our skepticism and distrust for the unseen world and enter into a place that is clearly our promised land. Although it would be helpful to read The Divine Mileau by Tielhard de Chardin as a prelude to Cybergrace, it is not necessary. Cobb delivers her message in a style that would have met with the approval of Thomas Acquinas. It is crisp, to the point, understandable and easily refutated if one so desires. Like Augustine, Cobb fails to deal with the question of evil. So when the glow begins to depleat, fear returns and we must return to the world of violence, death and who knows what on the other side.
Book Description
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.
Customer Reviews:
Interesting but to my mind very uneven.......2002-11-25
I found this to be a mildly interesting collection of papers but rather uneven in focus and range. Several papers tried to reach theoretical heights while others contented themselves by reporting on specific projects, e.g. Math Forum. The volume is quite 'a house divided' but there are cross currents.
The biggest problem with the book is that it has something for everyone. Hence each chapter has some points of interest but nothing of great insight or profundity is elaborated. For instance the theorising on communities is to my mind absolutely primitive. No mention of Hobbes or Locke here. The whole question of the political dynamic of a community is simply not addressed, i.e. power structures. This is serious flaw.
The book tends to reflect technocratic stance on community building. At all costs avoid value judgements and the moral dimension. Communities by numbers.
In fact, the communities described in various papers seem to really be fan clubs or hobby clubs which are using the internet to further their purposes. No big deal in many ways. Of course from the authors perspective that would be too simple a reading of the actual value of 'virtual comunities'. The danger is that some readers may simply perceive many of the efforts to elaborate on the digital components of a 'community' as mere psuedo-intellectual twaddle. For example no one speaks of a 'telephonic community' emerging post Alexander Bell. People were more grounded in those days it seems.
There is much emphasis on Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) throughout the book as a significant leap into a new state of togetherness. Much of this is hard to argue with if it was merely stating the obvious, i.e. kids talking about games in chat rooms, parents discussing their kids math progress, etc. However, one can't but feel that the thrust of the book in towards overkill. The internet is in many of these instances is simply a souped up penpal system.
It is easy to be critical of a book like this and see it akin to any other book telling us how much sand is in the Sahara. However, the authors clearly believe that the internet can inspire a new communal modality.
I am not sure I would share their enthusiasm having run several lists and online 'club's over the years. What strikes me as glaringly absent, is an analysis of how one motivates users to remain within a group and contribute. How do you motivate people? Crack that and the world will change. A recent issue of the Communications of the ACM published interesting research from Microsoft showing just how hard it is to get people to come forward socially on the net.
I wouldn't recommend passing over this book. It is worth skimming out of interest just to keep yourself abreast of emergent themes but I would put in the second rank and in preference first buy a good elearning book (by Alessi for instance).
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