A major contribution to the debate on the implications of new
information technologies and their value to and effect on society.
The book draws attention to social forces that are being ignored
and considers the way people really live, work and act in relation
to technology, society and the new economy. The author brings
issues of community and communication to bear on the conscious
design of society and technology. It will be invaluable to readers
concerned with knowledge and innovation practices at work and the
reorganisation of learning. (Kirkus UK)
To see the future we can build with information technology, we must
look beyond mere information to the social context that creates and
gives meaning to it. For years, pundits have predicted that
information technology will obliterate the need for almost
everything--from travel to supermarkets to business organizations
to social life itself. Individual users, however, tend to be more
sceptical. Beaten down by info-glut and exasperated by computer
systems fraught with software crashes, viruses, and unintelligible
error messages, they find it hard to get a fix on the true
potential of the digital revolution. John Seely Brown and Paul
Duguid help us to see through frenzied visions of the future to the
real forces for change in society. They argue that the gap between
digerati hype and end-user gloom is largely due to the 'tunnel
vision' that information-driven technologies breed. We've become so
focused on where we think we ought to be--a place where technology
empowers individuals and obliterates social organizations--that we
often fail to see where we're really going and what's helping us
get there. We need, they argue, to look beyond our obsession with
information and individuals to include the critical social networks
of which these are always a part. Drawing from rich learning
experiences at Xerox PARC, from examples such as IBM, Chiat/Day
Advertising, and California's 'Virtual University', and from
historical, social, and cultural research, the authors sharply
challenge the futurists' sweeping predictions.They explain how many
of the tools, jobs, and organizations seemingly targeted for future
extinction in fact provide useful social resources that people will
fight to keep. Rather than aiming technological bullets at these
'relics', we should instead look for ways that the new world of
bits can learn from and complement them. Arguing elegantly for the
important role that human sociability plays, even--perhaps
especially--in the world of bits, "The Social Life of Information"
gives us an optimistic look beyond the simplicities of information
and individuals. It shows how a better understanding of the
contribution that communities, organizations, and institutions make
to learning, working and innovating can lead to the richest
possible use of technology in our work and everyday lives.
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