Reviews below have been taken from a variety of sources, including from students who took the class in the Spring of 2000. Many of the reviews were taken from Amazon.com. More information about some of the books can be found at their site and books can also be ordered. Some other sources are identified. All sources should have been identified. Amazon allows individuals to post their lists of favorites. Be warned, not all books appearing on their list would be appropriate for this course. Amazon.com Books > Subjects > Computers & Internet > Digital Business & Culture > Manager's Guides to Computing [http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/3700/ref=br_bx_c_2_2/104-6073626-4793502]** Books > Subjects > Computers & Internet > Digital Business & Culture > Future of Computing [http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/3571/ref=br_bx_c_1_6/104-6073626-4793502]** Books > Subjects > Computers & Internet > Digital Business & Culture > Culture [http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/3639/ref=br_bx_c_1_3/104-6073626-4793502]**

Alternative book list can be found at the Resource Center for Cyberculture Studies (RCCS). RCCS is an online, not-for-profit organization whose purpose is to research, study, teach, support, and create diverse and dynamic elements of cyberculture. Their site contains a collection of scholarly resources, including university-level courses in cyberculture, events and conferences, an extensive annotated bibliography, and two full-length book reviews each month. The SCCS home page [http://www.com.washington.edu/rccs/]. The SCCS book list [http://www.com.washington.edu/rccs/]. 09-13-01

Books about Women and Information Technology The Center for Women and Information Technology [http://www.umbc.edu/cwit/cwitbooks.html]

Blustain, Harvey and James J. Duderstadt, Gregory C. Farrington, Philip Goldstein, William H. Graves, Richard N. Katz, Gregory Lozier. 1999. Dancing with the Devil: Information Technology and the New Competition in Higher Education . San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Good challenge to traditional thinking about higher ed and info tech

Bossomaier and Green Patterns in the Sand Insightful look on the human impact of advanced technologies in science, medicined, etc. In this fresh look at the science of complexity, a biologist and a computer scientist discuss this profound new field of knowledge, using examples from starfish to traveling salesmen, from car crashes to the workings of the brain.

Bronowski, J. Science and Human Values According to Bronowski, the practice of science compels the practioner to form for himself a fundamental set of universal values; understanding that values are not rules.

Brook, James and Boal, Iain A. (Ed.) Resisting the Virtual Life: The Culture and Politics of Information An anthology of semi-scholarly essays on technological strategies and advancements and their effects on the human psyche, writers address many of the hard questions concerning technology and our rush to automation.

Burrus, Daniel and Gittines, Roger (Contributor) 1993 Technotrends:  How to Use Technology to Go Beyond Your Competition Harper Business, New York. Burrus concentrates on two-dozen specific technological innovations, such as electronic notepads, neural networks, diamond thin-films, and recombinant DNA engineering.  He demonstrates how best to use these tools in business, government, education, and everyday life.

Celente, Gerald 1997 Trends 2000, Warner, New York .As the millennium approaches, so do many new business opportunities. This practical and fascinating survival guide for the future throws a spotlight on today's hidden trends and reveals how they will shape the events of tomorrow Print ads.

Clarke, Arthur C. 1992. How the World Was One. Bantam, New York. A master of the science fiction genre chronicles the history of telecommunications, discussing submarine cables and the development of fiber optics and communication satellites, and projecting into the future of neutrino, gravitational, and tachyon communications.

Cairncross, Frances The Death of Distance: How the Communications Revolution Will Change Our Lives This book suggests that everything will change within the next century, from our relationships with people to our home and work lives to our government.  Written for a general rather than technical audience, Caircross makes many predictions that will affect our futures.

Dertouzos, Michael L. and Bill Gates What Will Be: How the New World of Information Will Change Our Lives As director of the MIT Laboratory for Computer Science, Dertouzos presents a realistic view of where current technology is headed, but without all of the distracting hype.  The book provides a brief history of the field of information technology and explains the most current advances in technology.

Drozdek, Adam Moral Dimension of Man in the Age of Computers A brief gem of a book philosophically addressing the issues of artificial intelligence, animal rights , and man as a moral being.

Drucker Foundation The Organization of the Future This sencond title in the Drucker Foundation Future series imagines tomorrow's workplace.  In 28 new essays, leading authors, CEOs and management scholars expound on the challenges people face in building the organization of tomorrow.

Ferkiss, Victor Technological Man: Myth and Reality The technological revolution, still in its infancy, staggers the mind.  Some see it as the threshold of a new Golden Age.  Others, as the edge of doom.

Galpin, Timothy J.Making Strategy Work A book for managers charged with implementing their company's strategies.  In this hands-on book, the author outlines the steps managers need to take so they can confidently implement corporate strategy within their departments, divisions, and throughout the organizations.

Halal, William E. with Raymond Smith. 1998. The Infinite Resource: creating and managing the knowledge enterprise.  San Francisco: Jossey Bass Publishers. Enjoyable and informative collection of thoughtful writings.

Hawkins, Brian L. and Patricia Battin (editors). 1998. The Mirage of Continuity: Reconfiguring Academic Information Resources for the 21^st Century. Washington: Council on Library and Information Resources and Association of American Universities.

Jarratt, Jennifer, & Coates, Joseph F. 1989. What Futurists Believe.  World Future Society, Bethesda, Maryland.

Johnson, Steven Interface Culture: How New Technology Transforms the Way We Create and Communicate Johnson examines the machine, software, and network interfaces of the past half century in light of more archaic developments to show how computer interfaces have transformed our lives.

Jones, Steve (Ed.) 1998 Cybersociety 2.0 : Revisiting Computer-Mediated Communication and Community .New Media Cultures. Assists readers in becoming aware of the hype and hopes pinned on computer-mediated communication technologies and of the cultures that are emerging among Internet users. Highlights specific cyber societies and how computer-mediated communication affects the notion of self and its relation to community, and examines issues of community, conduct, fixing identity, and the exercise of power in social relations. Book News, Inc.®, Portland, OR

Jones, Steve (Ed.) and Steven G. Jones (Ed.) Virtual Culture: Identity and Communication in Cybersociety These essays explore cybersociety, online cultures, and their relationship not only to one another but also to traditional societies.  The experiences of typically marginalized cultures, and Third World representation are also explored.

Kennedy, Paul. 1993. Preparing for the Twenty-first Century.  Random House, New York. Kennedy's groundbreaking book The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers helped to reorder the current priorities of the United States. Now, he synthesizes extensive research on fields ranging from demography to robotics to draw a detailed, persuasive, and often sobering map of the very near future--a bold work that bridges the gap between history, prophecy, and policy. "Penetrating...the book's impact is crushing."--The New York Times "Required reading for anyone who wants to take measure of the 21st-century realities." --The New York Times Book Review.

Knights, Jaclyn 1996 Virtual Leadership : Secrets from the Round Table for the Multi-Site Manager A guide for managers whose team is dispersed over multiple business locations explains how to overcome geographical limitations, establish positive relationships between dispersed employees, and use technology effectively. "There's a nugget on every page that will make you a more effective leader across distance. Have a highlighter in your hand when you read this fast-moving adventure."

Kotter, John. 1996. Leading Change. Boston: Harvard Business School Press. One of the world's foremost experts on business leadership distills 25 years of experience and wisdom in this visionary guide to what it will take to lead the organization of the 21st century. "Every business leader can profit from Kotters thinking on change."--Larry Bossidy, Chairman and CEO, AlliedSignal, Inc. Available August 1996. Identifies an eight-step process that every company must go through to achieve its goal, and shows where and how people, good people, often derail.

Lipnack, Jessica and Jeffrey Stamps 2000. Virtual Teams : People Working Across Boundaries With Technology Virtual Teams, Second Edition emphasizes the importance of focusing first on people rather than technology when trying to make a virtual workplace happen. Successful virtual companies observe the "The 90/10 Rule. " It's 90% people and 10% technology. Along with focusing on the 90/10 theme, the authors have updated all examples and cases.

Lovitt, William (Ed.) Martin Heidegger: The Question Concerning Technology and Other Essays To read Heidegger is to set out on an adventure.  The essays in this volume - intriguing, challenging, and often baffeling to the reader - call him always to abandon all superficial scanning and enter whole heartedly into the serious pursuit of thinking...

Meadows, Donella H., Meadows, Dennis L., Randers, Jorgen & Behrens III, William W. The Limits to Growth, Pan Books, London (1972). The first report to the Club of Rome.

 

Meyrowitz, Joshua No Sense of Place: The Impact of Electronic Media on Social Behavior Meyrowitz challenges the reader to consider the formulative role of media, irrespective of it's content, and details the impact of electronic media on one's perception of place, and the unrecognized rearrangement of social forums.

McRae, Hamish. 1994. The World in 2020.  Harvard Business School Press, Cambridge, MA. Identifying the forces for economic change--among them demography, the environment, the role of government, technology and natural resources--McRae argues that the best predictor of success will be how a nation strikes a proper balance between creativity and intellect on the one hand, and social responsibility on the other. Thus the leading world economic powers of the next generation are just as likely to include China and Australia as the US and Japan.

Miller, Steven E. Civilizing Cyberspace: Policy, Power and the Information Superhighway. Addison-Wesley. Prominent computer writer, community organizer, and teacher Steven E. Miller addresses such questions as how telecommunications can be used to strengthen democracy and community rather than simply manipulate people; how to avoid information "haves and have-nots"; and what is necessary to protect privacy and prevent the erosion of free speech and civil liberties on the information superhighway. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.

Moore, Dinty W. The Emperor's Virtual Clothes: The Naked Truth About Internet Culture. Algonquin Books. Midwest Book Review Is the Internet the future, or is it all an illusion? Moore provides a critical examination of the Internet's culture and issues, interviewing individuals operating at all levels of Internet interactions, from pleasure to business, to reveal facts and fallacies of Internet potentials. From sex to spirituality, this creates a fascinating interplay of ideas. From the author 'if you do read my book, please e-mail me at dwm7@psu.edu and let me know your thoughts."

Naisbitt, John, Patricia Aburdene, Pat Aburdene. Megatrends 2000. Warner, New York. An invaluable guide to a rapidly changing world Nearly two decades have passed since thepublication of the groundbreaking national bestsellerMegatrends--and a remarkable number of itscontroversial prophecies have come to pass. Nowthe forecasters who accurately predicted the shape ofthe '80s turn their sights on the coming new century.And what they see will astound, excite, and profoundlytouch the lives of each and every one of us.

Negroponte, Nicholas Being Digital Negroponte's text is mostly a history of media technology rather than a set of predictions for future technologies, and the role of bits and their applications to electronic data retrieval.  The last chapter offers visionary insight on what "being digital" means for our future.

Stoll, Clifford Silicon Snake Oil: Second Thoughts on the Information Highway Stoll asks the questions, "Is being on line really useful?," and "How, we as users, want the future of electronic communications to unfold?"  A cautionary tale about today's media darling, its merits and foibles.

Stoll, Clifford 1999 High Tech Heretic His latest, High-Tech Heretic, is a further critique of the idea that computers, networked or otherwise, represent a panacea in the complex business of living human lives. Stoll's book is written in what I call Net prose, a chipper, informal style that (perhaps unwittingly) owes much to modern advertising copy. It's inoffensive, somewhat flavorless and poses no problems to the vocabulary-challenged. Fortunately, Stoll is a very smart guy who brings his skeptical intelligence to bear on some critical questions. This is a man who cares passionately about learning and its transmission.

Slouka, Mark War of the Worlds: Cyberspace and the High-Tech Assault on Reality These essays offer a critique of how cyberspace effects and changes the rest of reality, and gives a brave new vision of the avant-garde and some of the personalities behind it.

Stone, Allucquere Rosanne The War of Desire and Technology at the Close of the Mechanical Age An engrossing and complex exploration of the effects of telecommunications technologies on gender relations and identity.  Not a traditional text, but rather an original, witty, and far-reaching series of intellectual provocations.

Talbott, Stephen L. The Future Does Not Compute - Transcending the Machines in Our Midst. O'Reilly & Associates. Amazon.com Amid the world-wide ballyhoo about the wonders of the Internet, Stephen Talbot stops to ask some serious questions. Principally, what will embracing the Internet culture mean for our humanity? Is the Net a way of extending who we are, or surrendering? Are we opening the way to a more humane world, or are we mechanizing our communities? Several of the questions are unsettling and good for many heated discussions at your favorite online debate arena. I can see some people hurling this book across the room. But I also see them picking it up again.

Tapscott, Don Growing Up Digital: The Rise of the Net Generation Tapscott profiles this net generation and how its use of digital technology are reshaping the way society and individuals interact.  Growing Up Digital highlights how young people empowered by digital media learn, work, play, communicate, and shop differently than their boomer parents.

Tapscott, Don and Caston, Art Paradigm Shift: The New Promise of Information Technology This easy-to-read, non-technical book examines and synthesizes the lessons of leading edge companies grappling with seven revolutionary IT changes, which have created an entirely new paradigm for competitive information processing.

Templeton, John M. 1994.  Looking Forward.  K. S. Giniger (Harper Business), New York. In Looking Forward, ten experts take a look at the most rapidly evolving aspects of the modern world, each giving their assessment of what we can expect over the next forty years. Covering topics ranging from the economy and politics to religion and education, this collection of informative essays--by surgeon Denton Cooley and Ruth Stafford Peale, among others--offers an optimistic assessment of the future of the human race.

Whittle, David B. Cyberspace: The Human Dimension Whittle explores the problems and potential of cyberspace, and offers an overview of what cyberspace is and how its norms and customs have developed.  A look at how participation in cyberspace affects the individual, community, business, and government in all of society.