| 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 askedyourself this question, The Internet Edge is a must read foryou. The Internet Edge by Mark Stefik is a book that carefullydictates the past, present, and future of the Internet.
Anyone who is fascinated by technological change and discoverywill find this book very entertaining and joyful. At the beginning ofeach of the ten chapters of this book, Mr. Stefik starts off with aninspiring quote or phrase, from Al Gore to Kenny Loggins, that givesyou an inspirational jolt for what you should be thinking as you readon. Mr. Stefik introduces The Internet Edge by comparing thecreation of the Internet to the opening of the Erie Canal, where newand unexpected changes and challenges were to be shared andexpected.
Many controversial Internet issues are examined in the book. MP3s,on-line privacy, censorship, digital copyright, and untaxed businesstransactions over the Internet just to name a few. Will we ever beable to control these controversial Internet issues of today, or justhope to contain them in the future? Will the Internet ever make oursociety lose control and bring on chaos, or will it bring us evengreater interconnectedness? Are we headed for a digital doom or arewe amongst the information golden age? Time will surely tell. Thisbook helps you contemplate these issues and more.
I personally found the sections on Internet politics, the cultureof the Internet, the legal aspects of the Internet, the positives andnegatives of the Internet, and the business of the Internet to bemost interesting. It is interesting to read how the Internet hassaved a lot of people money, made people a lot of money, and at thesame time made people lose a lot of money.
It was very intriguing for me to read the author's ideas for whathe thinks technology will bring us in the future. Video cell phonesconnected by the Internet, Internet suits, Internet watches, andcomputerized pens to name a few. The author spends a considerableamount of time in this book explaining PDRs (Portable DocumentReaders). Will PDRs replace libraries and books, as we know them?
The most difficult section of this book to read dealt with theidea of digital money and wallets, Internet security, Internetattacks, digital publishing, digital copyrights, and digitalcontracts. Some of the highly technological terminology may confusethe reader. The last few sections of this book explain how we as asociety should try to organize the Internet and stop it from becominga giant source of information overload. The author brings up the ideaof networks as a solution to this challenge of informationoverload.
I particularly liked how the author ended each chapter of thisbook with a reflection section that helped the reader sum up what themain thoughts and ideas were in each chapter. This book gave me a lotof 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 mywebsite. I would encourage anyone who maintains an educationalwebsite to read this book. And finally, I highly recommend this bookto anyone who wants to know the history of the Internet, where theInternet has gone or will be going in the future.