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Book Review
Digital Mythologies: The Hidden
Complexities of the Internet
written by Thomas Valovic
reviewed by Jowel
C. Laguerre, Ph.D.
Vice President of Academic and Student Services
Montgomery
College-Montgomery County, Maryland
Thomas Valovic (2000), Digital Mythologies: The Hidden
Complexities of the Internet. Rutgers University Press:
New Brunswick.
The Internet has occupied an important place in the lives
of many people. These lives, may they be business,
education, or the family, have been changed forever. The
speed of the development of the Internet has not allowed
individuals, and perhaps government officials enough time to
act proactively. By the time pornography hit the Internet,
society was wondering what to do about it. In Digital
Mythologies, Valovic tried to provoke the reader to
action and to not react to the technological developments
nonchalantly.
Valovic has his career in the media. He is an authority in
the writing about technologies, as an author of several
articles, and as former editor in chief of
Telecommunications magazine. He has been involved in
the critique and reporting about the Internet since 1991
when it was decided that the Internet would be used for
business.
In reading Digital Mythologies, one may think that
Mr. Valovic is anti-Internet or anti-technology. However,
his main goal seems to challenge the wisdom that the
Internet and technology are the answers to our ills. He
criticized the media for perpetuating this belief without
challenging the truth and exposing what may be harmful about
the Internet.
The Chronicle of Higher Education decried the lack
of scholarship about the Internet. Valovic has made a
contribution toward the development of scholarship regarding
technology and the Internet. His contribution tries to
demystify the Internet. The reader will find herself/himself
arguing with the author regarding certain practices he
questioned. By arguing with him, he has raised the level of
consciousness of the reader.
The reader will find Valovic's literature review an
invaluable asset in pursuing these issues further. The
content seems to be repetitive at times. Overall, he
presents good evidence for his arguments.
Valovic gets you to think and engages you in a reflection
and defense of your own beliefs regarding technology. If you
did not have a feeling, his arguments evokes one. While the
work is not empirical, it addresses issues that all citizens
should consider. As he says, technology has penetrated the
most intimate parts of our lives.
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