Dr. Cynthia K. West examines the intersection of information technologies, power, people, and bodies. Informed by more than ten years as a digerati in Silicon Valley and a political theorist, she offers a unique perspective on the direction in which information technologies are leading North American and global societies and cultures. Not only are information technologies bringing positive changes, technologies are embedded in what Michel Foucault calls power networks. Information technologies inherit influences from prior historical, cultural, and social events. West's research examines how information technologies are on a path of creating efficiency, productivity, profitability, surveillance, and control.

Human-machine interface technologies are merging more and more with physical bodies. Surveillance technologies are supervising human activities in an increasingly panoptic fashion. Biometric technologies record data from the body's parts--hands, retinas, irises, and even body odor. But as West points out, we need to ask ourselves just how digital do we want to become? West calls for an ethics dialogue not only among digerati within the industry but also a dialogue which allows for public participation. Where do we want to lead the technology? Instead of continuing to embrace the goals of the technocratic paradigm, how can we use the technologies toward more humanistic goals? West concludes by offering six levels of active participation for positive change. This book will be of particular interest to scholars and students of contemporary science and technology as well as participants in information technology.

West says, "Poems form a path, with places to rest from the grief that rides the shoulders with the claws of a hawk. It takes strong legs to carry the sorrow of all who ask. It takes a clear mind to bear the voices. It takes the balance of a tightrope walker not to trip on the pain. The flowers, upholding petals and seeds, understand the burden a yoke can be.

Cynthia West says, "Kneeling, I retrieve shattered shards, glue them together. If I can stick even one piece to another, I have a poem. It is bread. . . . To write poetry, I memorize suffering's names, visit the wounds no stitches can hide, gather stories in my pain bag until it bursts. Love aches if it isn't told. . . . My words are small, round circles, elm seeds, designed to inhabit cracks. They sprout, growing leaves that call water, roots that hold earth, shade that shelters fruit. . . . I lean over the stream, holding a tin for panning gold, allow water to wash away the mud until the sun flashes on wet metal. . . . Kneeling, I retrieve shattered shards, glue them together. If I can stick even one piece to another, I have a poem. It is bread." Known for her visionary realist paintings, Cynthia is also a poet, a photographer, a digital compositor, a book artist, and a potter. Her home and garden of thirty-five years is a healing center as well as her studio and gallery. In addition, West is the author of "Rainbringer," also from Sunstone Press.

"My poems are rituals. By ritual I mean precise machines, airplanes, which convey the traveler from one place to another. "Rainbringer" is a road map for seekers, a trail marker for the emptied ones. Field notes, advice and anecdotes entertain along the way. The lilies I offer you have been gathered climbing the mountains, swimming the sea and bringing the rain." Well known for her visionary realist paintings, Cynthia West is also skilled in poetry, photography, digital imaging, book arts and pottery. Her home, where she has lived for thirty years with her husband and family, is a renowned healing center, as well as her studio and gallery. Many who travel great distances to receive treatments find refuge in her remarkable art and gardens. West painted for nineteen years in a studio on the plaza in Santa Fe. Her works exhibit widely and in collections all over the world. She is the author of two previous books of poetry: "For Beauty Way" and "1000 Stone Buddhas."