Revolution at our fingertips
This fortnight’s column for openDemocracy centres on a book I discovered while researching a paper I am currently writing for the Ford Foundation on freedom of expression in the networked information age. The book is written by Ithiel De Sola Pool, a prolific scholar of political science and sociology. Although it was written in 1983, it is eerily prescient, and thus rather humbling. I believe it is out of print - a great shame:
Read the rest here.
“When we are caught in the centre of an emerging phenomenon, in the eye of the networked information age’s storm, only the clearest thinkers can lead us to safe harbour. Historians have the benefit of hindsight, while those writers who have predicted everything from the demise of the English language through SMS messaging to the disappearance of musical innovation thanks to peer-to-peer filesharing will no doubt be silenced in the passing of time.
“A half dozen books have informed my thinking about the effects of the internet…”
Read the rest here.
September 6th, 2006 at 3:52 pm Giovanni Navarria, a good friend and an oD writer whom I admire, has left a comment in the forums attached to my piece which is worth a read.