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Student Affairs Daniel Salter Penn State University Editor Stuart
Brown
Winter 2001 • Vol. 2, No. 1 |
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The Internet Edge: Social, Technical and Legal Challenges for a Networked World |
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Mark Stefik |
Brian C. Steinberg Residence Hall Director Keller College, Science and Engineering Living Learning Center SUNY- Stony Brook |
What will the Internet be like in the future? If you ever asked yourself this question, The Internet Edge is a must read for you. The Internet Edge by Mark Stefik is a book that carefully dictates the past, present, and future of the Internet.
Anyone who is fascinated by technological change and discovery will find this book very entertaining and joyful. At the beginning of each of the ten chapters of this book, Mr. Stefik starts off with an inspiring quote or phrase, from Al Gore to Kenny Loggins, that gives you an inspirational jolt for what you should be thinking as you read on. Mr. Stefik introduces The Internet Edge by comparing the creation of the Internet to the opening of the Erie Canal, where new and unexpected changes and challenges were to be shared and expected.
Many controversial Internet issues are examined in the book. MP3s, on-line privacy, censorship, digital copyright, and untaxed business transactions over the Internet just to name a few. Will we ever be able to control these controversial Internet issues of today, or just hope to contain them in the future? Will the Internet ever make our society lose control and bring on chaos, or will it bring us even greater interconnectedness? Are we headed for a digital doom or are we amongst the information golden age? Time will surely tell. This book helps you contemplate these issues and more.
I personally found the sections on Internet politics, the culture of the Internet, the legal aspects of the Internet, the positives and negatives of the Internet, and the business of the Internet to be most interesting. It is interesting to read how the Internet has saved a lot of people money, made people a lot of money, and at the same time made people lose a lot of money.
It was very intriguing for me to read the author's ideas for what he thinks technology will bring us in the future. Video cell phones connected by the Internet, Internet suits, Internet watches, and computerized pens to name a few. The author spends a considerable amount of time in this book explaining PDRs (Portable Document Readers). Will PDRs replace libraries and books, as we know them?
The most difficult section of this book to read dealt with the idea of digital money and wallets, Internet security, Internet attacks, digital publishing, digital copyrights, and digital contracts. Some of the highly technological terminology may confuse the reader. The last few sections of this book explain how we as a society should try to organize the Internet and stop it from becoming a giant source of information overload. The author brings up the idea of networks as a solution to this challenge of information overload.
I particularly liked how the author ended each chapter of this book with a reflection section that helped the reader sum up what the main thoughts and ideas were in each chapter. This book gave me a lot of ideas on how I can adopt to the ever-changing Internet society. This book also gave me some ideas for my partner (David Scarzella) and my my website. I would encourage anyone who maintains an educational website to read this book. And finally, I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to know the history of the Internet, where the Internet has gone or will be going in the future.
