Imagining the internet
Subtitle: personalities, predictions, perspectives
By: Janna Quitney Anderson.
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield; Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Published: 2005
Place of publication: Lanham, Md
Language: eng
Number of pages: 256
Subjects: Internet -- Social aspects -- Forecasting; Internet -- Public opinion -- History; Information technology -- Social aspects -- Forecasting; Computer networks -- Social aspects -- Forecasting; Forecasting -- History -- 20th century
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction; title: The Internet at the forefront : 1990 through 1995 were revolutionary, with changes surpassing any previous stretch of communications history; title: From bonfires and bongos to the Web : people crave and benefit from connections, spurring communications networks to evolve; title: Web gems : social, political, and economic expectations inspired intriguing statements about the Internet; title: The 'highway' metaphor : finding a way to tell (and sell) how the Internet could be changing lives; title: Knocking the Net : some warn the Internet is naughty, anti-nature, and nefarious, even supporters see negatives; title: Saddam, O.J., and the Unabomber : Internet developments are tied to the news events and popular culture of the '90s; title: Nothing is certain but death and taxes (and some predictions - including the death of taxes - may have been premature, while many other 'deaths' may come to pass); title: Aristotle, Jefferson, Marx, and Mcluhan : predictors use historic perspective to make their points on issues; title: Supporters crow about "500 channels!" : everyone warns about "infoglut" : a breathless bromide about a video wonderland is bandied about, while information overload looms larger than ever; title: Voices of the Net : zooming in on ten of the many people who made a difference by voicing concerns; title: The threat to freedom, to the earth : as communications networks become all-seeing, thinkers/theorists expect Big Brother or a robot takeover; title: The future of networks : the global mind doesn't need humans, but they may be able to use it if they'd like; title: Nobody knows you're a dog, or do they?; title: Hmmm ... will it happen? : these predictions did not come true, nor do they seem likely to come to pass.