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Author Anderson, Janna Quitney, 1955-

Title Imagining the internet : personalities, predictions, perspectives / Janna Quitney Anderson
Published Lanham, Md. : Rowman & Littlefield, ©2005

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Description 1 online resource (xi, 307 pages)
Contents Introduction -- The Internet at the forefront : 1990 through 1995 were revolutionary, with changes surpassing any previous stretch of communications history -- From bonfires and bongos to the Web : people crave and benefit from connections, spurring communications networks to evolve -- Web gems : social, political, and economic expectations inspired intriguing statements about the Internet -- The 'highway' metaphor : finding a way to tell (and sell) how the Internet could be changing lives -- Knocking the Net : some warn the Internet is naughty, anti-nature, and nefarious, even supporters see negatives -- Saddam, O.J., and the Unabomber : Internet developments are tied to the news events and popular culture of the 1990s -- 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) -- Aristotle, Jefferson, Marx, and Mcluhan : predictors use historic perspective to make their points on issues -- 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 -- Voices of the Net : zooming in on ten of the many people who made a difference by voicing concerns -- The threat to freedom, to the earth : as communications networks become all-seeing, some thinkers/theorists expect Big Brother or a robot takeover -- The future of networks : the global mind doesn't need humans, but they may be able to use it if they'd like -- Nobody knows you're a dog, or do they? Privacy issues on the Internet -- Hmmm ... will it happen? : these predictions did not come true, nor do they seem likely to come to pass; then again, you never know
Summary 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
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 269-290) and index
Notes Master and use copy. Digital master created according to Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials, Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002. http://purl.oclc.org/DLF/benchrepro0212 MiAaHDL
Print version record
digitized 2010 HathiTrust Digital Library committed to preserve pda MiAaHDL
Subject Internet -- Social aspects -- Forecasting
Internet -- Public opinion -- History
Information technology -- Social aspects -- Forecasting
Computer networks -- Social aspects -- Forecasting
Forecasting -- History -- 20th century
COMPUTERS -- Information Technology.
Forecasting
Information technology -- Social aspects -- Forecasting
Genre/Form History
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9780742568662
0742568660