Readings on Communication and Information Technology
This material is intended both to support several courses on information
technology and to collect material of general interest on the subject.Material In and About Hypertext/Hypermedia
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A Chronology
of Literary Hypertext by Stuart Moulthrop
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As We May Think
by Vannevar Bush. The original, frequently cited 1945 article on hypertext,
written by Bush many years before the term "hypertext" was coined. Bush's
ideas on associative linkage among ideas paved the way for modern applications
of hypermedia.
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A
Shadow of an Informand A particularly innovative hypertext essay about
the structure of hypertext, by Stuart Moulthrop (a hypertext guru).
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What
Matters Who Writes? What Matters Who Responds? by Andrea Lunsford,
Rebecca Rickly, Michael Salvo, and Susan West. A hypertext essay on the
history of the Romantic concept of "authorship" and the effects of the
new technologies on this concept.
- Eastgate Reading Room.
A small collection of hypertext fiction. (I think that Twelve
Blue is brilliant, though the form takes some getting used to.
Other Material on Information Technology
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Computerization
Movements and Tales of Electronic Utopianism by Rob Kling and Suzanne
Iacono. An article on the role of organized computerization movements in
the promotion of technological change. This article argues strongly that
technological revolutions are rhetorically constructed, not driven by technology
per se.
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Adapting to a Highly
Automated World by Brian Gaines. A paper originally presented to the
Canadian Engineering Centennial session on "Trust in Technology" in 1987.
This paper begins with a highly lucid overview of utopian and dystopian
attitudes toward technology. It then uses Maslow's hierachy of needs to
make sense of our attitudes to technology and to clarify the role of the
engineering profession in designing technlology.
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Supporting
Collaboration through Multimedia Digital Document Archives by Brian
Gaines. Discussion and examples of ways in which a wide variety of multimedia
technologies can be used to support scholarly collaboration.
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The Hacker Crackdown
by Bruce Sterling. A hypertext (full-text) version of Sterling's book on
hackers and official reactions to their activities.
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Tools for Thought
by Howard Rheingold. A full-text version of Rheingold's classic history
of computing.
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Informing
Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman. A typically cynical and counter-utopian
speech about the information age and why it might not be as wonderful as
it's cracked up to be.
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Writing Oneself in Cyberspace
by Daniel Chandler. How people build their identies through the genre
of the personal web page.
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What is
Social Informatics and Why Does It Matter? by Rob Kling. An overview
of the foeld of social informatics.
Feminist Approaches to Information Technology