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An anthology of essays reflecting the latest advances in technology.
Synopsis
Addresses the collective fascination with digital technologies. This title collects the essays that remind us that some of the most disruptive technologies come from beyond the digital world.
Book Details
Publisher:
YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Publication Date:
01-Oct-2010
ISBN:
9780300165586
Guardian review
The Best Technology Writing 2010, edited by Julian Dibbell review
the guardian Sat 20 November 2010
The impact of digital technology dominates this excellent collection of essays. As Dibbell points out, we now rely so much on digital devices, from BlackBerrys to iPads, that "we're all cyborgs now". Steven Johnson says the micro-blogging site Twitter has opened up a whole new world of "social creativity" and that in the future "every major channel of information will be Twitterfied". Twitter is also an unparalleled source of distraction and in his fascinating piece, Sam Anderson explores the pros and cons of this surfeit of information and the resulting epidemic of "elective ADHD". Clay Shirky argues here that the traditional print media are doomed: "Society doesn't need newspapers. What we need is journalism." But ironically these essays were all from the old media and even Shirky admits he doesn't know what the new model will be. But new media does get the last word a tweet from astronaut Michael James Massimino on the International Space Station: "From orbit: Listening to Sting on my ipod watching the world go by literally."