Ferkiss (emeritus, government, Georgetown U.) delves thoughtfully into how various civilizations and cultures, including Western civilization, have historically looked at humanity, nature, and technology. He then looks at the conflicting attitudes of contemporary thinkers, seeking a balance, but maintaining a bias toward reverence for nature and an unwillingness to allow technology and its owners to set all the terms. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Information Technology Law is the ideal companion for a course of study on IT law and the ways in which it is evolving in response to rapid technological and social change. The third edition of this ground-breaking textbook develops its unique examination of the legal processes and their relationship to the modern 'information society'. Charting the development of the rapid digitization of society and its impact on established legal principles, Murray examines the challenges faced with enthusiasm and clarity. Following a clearly-defined part structure, the text begins by defining the infomation society and discussing how it may be regulated, before moving on to explore issues of internet governance, privacy and surveillance, intellectual property and rights, and commerce within the digital sphere. Comprehensive and engaging, Information Technology Law takes an original and thought-provoking approach to examining this fast-moving area of law in context. Online Resource Centre The third edition is supported by a range of online resources, including: - An additional chapter on Virtual Environments - Audio podcasts suitable for revision - Updates to the law post-publication - A flashcard glossary of key terms and concepts - Outline answers to end of chapter questions - A link to the author's blog, The IT Lawyer - Web links
Real and imagined undergrounds in the late nineteenth century viewed as offering a prophetic look at life in today's technology-dominated world. The underground has always played a prominent role in human imaginings, both as a place of refuge and as a source of fear. The late nineteenth century saw a new fascination with the underground as Western societies tried to cope with the pervasive changes of a new social and technological order. In Notes on the Underground, Rosalind Williams takes us inside that critical historical moment, giving equal coverage to actual and imaginary undergrounds. She looks at the real-life invasions of the underground that occurred as modern urban infrastructures of sewers and subways were laid, and at the simultaneous archaeological excavations that were unearthing both human history and the planet's deep past. She also examines the subterranean stories of Verne, Wells, Forster, Hugo, Bulwer-Lytton, and other writers who proposed alternative visions of the coming technological civilization. Williams argues that these imagined and real underground environments provide models of human life in a world dominated by human presence and offer a prophetic look at today's technology-dominated society. In a new essay written for this edition, Williams points out that her book traces the emergence in the nineteenth century of what we would now call an environmental consciousness—an awareness that there will be consequences when humans live in a sealed, finite environment. Today we are more aware than ever of our limited biosphere and how vulnerable it is. Notes on the Underground, now even more than when it first appeared, offers a guide to the human, cultural, and technical consequences of what Williams calls “the human empire on earth.”
This book provides a concise and inexpensive introduction for an undergraduate course in glass science and technology. The level of the book has deliberately been maintained at the introductory level to avoid confusion of the student by inclusion of more advanced material, and is unique in that its text is limited to the amount suitable for a one term course for students in materials science, ceramics or inorganic chemistry. The contents cover the fundamental topics of importance in glass science and technology, including glass formation, crystallization, phase separation and structure of glasses. Additional chapters discuss the most important properties of glasses, including discussion of physical, optical, electrical, chemical and mechanical properties. A final chapter provides an introduction to a number of methods used to form technical glasses, including glass sheet, bottles, insulation fibre, optical fibres and other common commercial products. In addition, the book contains discussion of the effects of phase separation and crystallization on the properties of glasses, which is neglected in other texts. Although intended primarily as a textbook, Introduction to Glass Science and Technology will also be invaluable to the engineer or scientist who desires more knowledge regarding the formation, properties and production of glass.
"This set of books represents a detailed compendium of authoritative, research-based entries that define the contemporary state of knowledge on technology"--Provided by publisher.
`This is a very clear and concise summary of media studies, present and future. There is no other book that can both be used as a teaching tool and can help scholars organize their thinking about new media as this book can' - Steve Jones, University of Chicago This book offers an introduction to communication theory that is appropriate to our post-broadcast, interactive, media environment. The author contrasts the `first media age' of broadcast with the `second media age' of interactivity. Communication Theory argues that the different kinds of communication dynamics found in cyberspace demand a reassessment of the methodologies used to explore media, as well as new understandings of the concepts of interaction and community (virtual communities and broadcast communities). The media are examined not simply in terms of content, but also in terms of medium and network forms. Holmes also explores the differences between analogue and digital cultures, and between cyberspace and virtual reality. The book serves both as an upper level textbook for New Media courses and a good general guide to understanding the sociological complexities of the modern communications environment.
We are 'going virtual' in more and more areas of our lives - from shopping to education, filing systems to love affairs. How can we assess the relationship between technology and culture when culture is so imbued with technology? This clear, concise and readable text aims to offer the student a one-stop guide through this complex and slippery terrain. Introducing a wealth of theoretical perspectives in a lucid and engaging style and covering a range of topical, challenging and intriguing examples - from cyborgs to digital art - it will be an essential text for everyone wanting to make sense of crucial forces of change on contemporary culture.
