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Imagining the Internet: Personalities, Predictions, Perspectives
by Janna Quitney Anderson
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. (2005-07-28)
ISBN: 0742539377
EAN: 9780742539372
Dewey Decimal #: 303.48330112
Paperback: 256 pages
SKU: 080527227
Condition: Fine
Comments: 0742539377 New, never read, pages clean, binding is tight, may have wear or damage on cover. New, never read, may have minor wear on cover.
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
In the early 1990s, people predicted the death of privacy, an end to the current concept of property, a paperless society, 500 channels of high-definition interactive television, world peace, and the extinction of the human race after a takeover engineered by intelligent machines. Imagining the Internet zeroes in on predictions about the Internet's future and revisits past predictions--and how they turned out. It gives the history of communications in a nutshell, illustrating the serious impact of pervasive networks and how they will change our lives over the next century.
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Customer Reviews
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If the Internet is your career, this book is for you.
Rating  (5)
Date: 2005-09-28
2 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
Janna Quitney Anderson's new book, "Imagining the Internet: Personalities, Predictions, Perspectives," won't be the most interesting reading for the typical Internet user, but anyone who has a vested interest in the future of technology will find that it is a worthwhile resource. Anderson has collected some of the most interesting and insightful quotations from expert technologists, scientists and futurists. The book is serious reading that brings together insights from the experts about the Internet's past and puts them in context of other communications development.
The book's focus is the Internet, but Anderson discusses all types of communications networks that bring relevance to the topic. The Internet is still in its infancy. Comparing it to older communications technologies gives context to its growth. The book gives a great frame of reference for the adoption and integration of revolutionary communications technology like the telegraph or telephone. It's easy to see connections between predictions about Morse Code and early predictions about the Internet. We see the potential the Internet had during its early years, and also see that there's almost unlimited room for change - it can adapt as our needs and abilities grow.
As Anderson leads us through the development of the Internet - from the early ARPANET to the web we know today - she provides numerous predictive quotes from Internet luminaries and stakeholders from the early 90s. She shows us that the experts had the foresight to see both the enormous good that the Internet had the potential to bring as well as the chance for ethical quandaries. The experts saw opportunity for great social interaction and a development of an information economy even before the Internet penetrated mainstream culture. At the same time, the predictions Anderson selected, also show the controversy the Internet can stir-up, including issues of piracy, privacy and security.
Now, not all of the predictions made in the early years of the Internet have come true, but those are included too. The point, it seems, is to chronicle the hype about the Internet as it was being developed, perhaps in the hope of finding trends that might produce some insight into where the Internet could develop from where it is now. Computers haven't replaced TVs yet, as many experts predicted more than a decade ago, but there are signs that it could in the not-too-distant-future. Other similar predictions might still give readers clues as to what's to come in the future of the web.
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"Imagining the Internet" looks at past, present and future
Rating  (4)
Date: 2005-09-21
0 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
How far has technology come in past years? Where might it go in the future? These are questions that Janna Quitney Anderson considers in "Imagining the Internet". The book is filled with quotations of predictions made before the internet took off. They give good insight and often help to clarify how far the internet has come in ten and even fifteen years.
The book begins with a general history of early internet. Anderson takes the reader from Berners-Lee and his worldwide web all the way through its commercialism and networking expansion. She later looks at the internet as a highway, as it is often considered. This metaphor has grown and been used in various references to the internet, and Anderson uses it effectively to show how we are speeding on this "internet highway". Through reading this book, one can see firsthand just how far and fast we have come to where we are today. And the growth only gets faster from here.
Anderson also considers newer issues that have been brought to light by the development of the internet. She looks at the privacy factor, which has changed drastically in the few years since the internet has been created. Dangers introduced by the internet are also considered, as well as the many inefficiencies and negative aspects of the internet. Here, Anderson offers her own opinions as well as those of many well-respected and insightful, interesting individuals.
Some predictions that Anderson remarks upon can tend to seem far-out, involving the end of mankind as we know it and a completely computerized world. But as she explains through many different opinions and quotations in her book, these ideas might not be entirely inconceivable. Anderson effectively quotes the Unabomber, Theodore Kaczynski, as saying that it might be better to simply halt technological advances altogether. The numerous ideas she addresses, like this one, are thought-provoking on many levels.
This book is an excellent read for those interested in technology and the growth of the internet. Janna Quitney Anderson successfully describes the history of the internet and she thoroughly looks into its past, present and future. Anderson also sites many respected sources throughout "Imagining the Internet", notable Bill Gates and Nicholas Negroponte. The quotes may seem excessive to the casual reader. Still, academics will enjoy this book, as will those who are simply interested in gaining a greater knowledge of the topic and considering the future of technology and the internet.
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"Imagining the Internet" is a time capsule for the internet's future
Rating (5)
Date: 2005-09-21
2 out of 3 customers found this reveiw helpful
Imagining the internet is a thoughtful book about the internet that goes into detail describing communication resources in the past, present and future. Jana Anderson, the author, starts out describing the past forms of communication and the way they have evolved. From the telegraph, to the printing press, to the internet, all of these inventions have brought us a little closer; making the world a little smaller. Some of the communication devices that were created people did not believe would evolve as much as they have. However, in Anderson's book she explains how they grow, change people's lives, and change the world. The inventions slowly, but surely, begin to take part in politics and integrate themselves into our day to day lives.
The book is also an accessory to the internet website Elon University/Pew Internet and American Life project. The website serves as a time capsule for future generations so people can make predictions for the future of the internet. The internet according to Anderson's book could take over in ways that seem far stretched from our imagination. Within the book are predictions that people have made over the last few years. Some possibilities that the book mentions for the future are things like shopping online as a normal thing, or becoming more dependent on home schooling through the internet. Many department stores already have online stores, which might be the downfall of malls and stores you can walk into and shop. Already, there is some truth to the predictions that this book mentions.
Some changes that have already formed because of the internet are mentioned in this book. For example, the way books are no longer dependant on the old fashioned printing press because they can now be printed online for people to read. Having them on the internet also has another benefit that affects business; dealing with the money they save from having to actually pay to print. In this book, she illustrates, many times, the comparisons between the telegraph, television and telegram. All of these relate back to the internet because they progressed, just as the internet will continue to do.
Overall, Anderson's book takes the reader on a journey through the past, present, and future of communication with the internet. The internet has amazing potential ahead of it, and the book suggests many of the possibilities from credible people. The predictions that are included in the book are very possible for the future and are thought provoking for the reader. Various predictions are already on their way to becoming a reality, while others might still seem far stretched to a reader. The idea of robots might seem far away, but in reality, after reading the book, it is not that far away.
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The Internet is changing rapidly
Rating (4)
Date: 2005-09-21
0 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
"Imagining the Internet" by Janna Quitney Anderson provides the reader with an eye opening account of how fast the technological world has advanced in the last 200 years. This book is full of expert opinions from before the internet became what it is now and it represents the support and opposition for an internet based world of communication unknown to its developers at the time.
And to the reader's surprise, this book isn't an overload of scientific words and sentences of geniuses that go in one ear and out the other. Anderson does a great job of breaking down the scientific jargon so that the everyday person can grasp the concept that the internet is growing faster than we realize.
Beginning with a background of how we got to the internet, Anderson begins by reminding and informing the reader about the telegraph and Morse code. Showing the reader how far we have come since those means of communication. She then progresses into radio, telephone use and then television, providing lots of facts and statistics about the growing use of all of these gadgets over the years.
This background really helps the reader to understand that we often forget how different and less convenient things were just 50 years ago. Anderson even that it was until 1956 when President Eisenhower really advanced the U.S. interstate and highway system, something we use everyday and often forget that it was just 50 years ago that they were actually established. All of these reminders help the reader grasp the internet a little better when she begins to share the predictions of many of the developers and idea thinkers of the internet.
Using research and predictions that have been gathered as part of the Elon University/Pew Internet and American Life Project database, Anderson shares the thoughts and visions of the founders and creators of the internet. It is amazing to see how correct some of the predictions in this book were when they were made a decade ago. Another interesting part about the large number of quotes and predictions included in the book is that you can see the debate about the internet just by reading through the quotes.
Anderson acknowledges the debates that occurred about internet overload and whether or not to place restrictions on content and she includes that information and the thoughts of the internet creators in the book. All of these debates lead into what technology could be coming to with the further implementation of RFID's, artificial intelligence and more.
Anderson keeps the flow of this book well organized starting with the background of technology working all the way up to the present day and then she leaves us with false predictions which I think was a great way to wrap up the book. Starting with short one sentence predictions, Anderson includes some dead wrong predictions from 100 years ago that are somewhat laughable. She then adds more intense predictions that just didn't come true. Overall this is a great book to fill you in on how far we have come technologically in the last 200 years and can also give you an insight on where we go from here.
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Embrace the future of technology with "Imagining the Internet"
Rating (4)
Date: 2005-09-21
0 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
"Janna Anderson illuminates with great clarity the history, dreams, and challenges of the Internet, which allow the reader to see glimpses of the future. A wonderful and important contribution," said Tiffany Shlain, founder and chairperson of the Webby Awards.
This quote sums up "Imagining the Internet" as a whole. The book is futuristic. The book is thought provoking. Yet most of all, the book is our gateway from the past to the future through the Internet.
The book focuses on predictions made in the 1990s about how far the Internet will take us on the information highway. The future is put into perspective through many detailed quotes and thoughts coming from all kinds of people and publications, including Wired Magazine. Warning: These facts that are presented may make you change how you view the world and the years to come.
One of the things I like most about the book is the chapter titles. They are written creatively and make me excited to read on and see how the chapter content fits with the catchy titles. Much of the book is fact-based and informational, so the creative titles work to make it pop. One of the most creative titles is "Nobody knows you're a dog," playing off of a famous cartoon that deals with privacy issues. Another thing that makes the book stand out is the research. This book is so thoroughly researched and filled with extensive yet captivating quotes and a broad range of the most important and up-to-date subjects. "Imagining," the first word in the title, is true to its meaning for this book.
Let's start from the very beginning. After laying out the importance of how networks influence our lives, the book immediately dives into the history of communications. At once we are seeing the networking system at work to realize how far we've come. Brief, sectioned paragraphs inform us of our past so that we are better able to understand the future that's in front of us.
As we speed through the highway that the book lays out for us, we come across many important and relevant issues. These issues include the development of the Internet and how it began to shape lives, views of the communication and information highway, past and current skepticism of new technology, pop culture and the Internet, predictions on the death of existing tools and social structures, historic perspectives put into the views of today, top voices and their predictions, privacy and freedom issues, the future of intelligent machines and past predictions that did not come true with the present explanations for them.
As you can see, the book is quality packed with the predictions serving as the backbone. Intricately woven quotes guide us through the chapter introductions to open up our eyes to technology, the Internet and our future. This book is a good read for anyone who plans on sticking with the Internet as it begins to take a more dominant role in our lives. "Imagining the Internet's" personalities, predictions and perspectives will shape your vision. Read, and let it.
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