Customer Reviews:
very informative.......2006-05-16
This book has a massive amount of information. It covers a lot of different areas of Information Technology.
The content is mostly up to date, though has some obsolete info. A few times it gets too technical for an average user and even an IT professional; also the book has some minor inaccuracies. Besides technical data, the book also provides interesting quotes from some very smart individuals.
I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn the basics or broaden his knowledge in the area of computers.
very good, i received my book on time.......2006-03-09
good. i got my book on time.
Book Description
With the radical changes in information production that the Internet has introduced, we stand at an important moment of transition, says Yochai Benkler in this thought-provoking book. The phenomenon he describes as social production is reshaping markets, while at the same time offering new opportunities to enhance individual freedom, cultural diversity, political discourse, and justice. But these results are by no means inevitable: a systematic campaign to protect the entrenched industrial information economy of the last century threatens the promise of today’s emerging networked information environment.
In this comprehensive social theory of the Internet and the networked information economy, Benkler describes how patterns of information, knowledge, and cultural production are changing—and shows that the way information and knowledge are made available can either limit or enlarge the ways people can create and express themselves. He describes the range of legal and policy choices that confront us and maintains that there is much to be gained—or lost—by the decisions we make today.
Customer Reviews:
This Book Proves the Adage that You See What You Look For.......2007-07-08
I have been hearing about Yochai Benkler's book, "The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedoms," for some time and his exposition around what he (and many others) have called the "networked information economy." Benkler, a Yale law professor, also offers his 527 page (473 in text) book as a free PDF from his web site under a Creative Commons share alike license.
First, let me say, there are a couple of worthwhile insights in the book, which I'll get to in a moment. But mostly, I found the book overly long, often off-subject, and too political for my tastes. In fairness, some of this might be due to the fact it was written in 2005 (published in 2006) and the social and participatory aspects of the Web are now widely appreciated. Yet I fear the broader problem with this polemic is that it proves the adage that you see what you look for.
Benkler's argument is that cheap processors and the Internet have removed the physical constraints on effective information production. This is in keeping with the non-proprietary nature of information as a "nonrival" good, and is also leading to the democratization of information production and the emergence of large-scale peer-produced content. Benkler generally allies himself with the camp of technology optimists. His observations about trends and new developments from Ebay to Wikipedia to SETI@home and open source software are now commonly appreciated.
With the costs of information duplication and dissemination trending to zero, the limiting factor of production becomes human creativity and effort itself. But here, too, with hundreds of millions of Internet users, just a few hours of contributed content from each can easily swamp the ability of even the largest firms to compete. These trends to Benkler presage a "radical decentralization" of information production, and many other changes to the political economy and culture.
That radical changes in the nature of information production and authorship and even the role of traditional publishers or the media are underway is without question. Purposeful collaborations like Wikipedia are now clearly successful and were not forecasted by many.
The lens, however, in which Benkler looks at all of these trends is through the "modern" history of the mass media. Citing Paul Starr's "Creation of the Media," he notes how in 15 years from 1835 to 1850 the cost of setting up a mass-circulation paper increased from $10,000 to over $2 million (in 2005 dollars). In Benkler's view, these cost increases shifted the ability to publish away from the common citizen into the "problem" hands of the mass media. Fortunately, now with the Internet and cheap processors, this evil can be reversed. Though Benkler specifically disclaims that he is not describing "an exercise in pastoral utopianism," the fact is that is exactly what he is describing.
There can be no doubt that the role of mass media and traditional publishers is under severe challenge from the emergence of the Internet. It is also the case that we are witnessing citizen publishers and authors emerge by the millions. These changes are momentous, but they do not involve everyone -- only comparatively small percentages of Internet users blog and still smaller percentages contribute to Wikipedia (about 80,000 at present based on a user base of hundreds of millions). And, as the traditional gatekeepers of printers, publishers and editors lose prominence, new institutions and mechanisms for establishing the authoritativeness and trustworthiness of content will surely need to evolve.
These real trends deserve thoughtful exploration.
However, there is a reason that publishing costs increased so rapidly in that era of the 1800s. Mass publishing and pulp paper were emerging that acted to bring an increasing storehouse of content and information to the public at levels never before seen.
The explosion of information content that occurred at this very same time correlates well with the fundamental historical changes in human wealth and economic growth. Though mass media may prove to be an historical artifact, I would argue that its role in bringing literacy and information to the "masses" was generally an unalloyed good and the basis for an improvement in economic well being the likes of which had never been seen.
By taking a narrow historical horizon and then viewing it through the lens of the vilified "mass media," Benkler is both looking in the wrong direction and missing the point.
The information by which the means to produce and disseminate information itself is changing and growing. These changes in information infrastructure support an inexorable trend to more adaptability, more wealth and more participation. What we are seeing now with the Internet is but a natural continuation of that trend. The "mass media" and the costs of information production of the 1800s was a natural phase within this longer, historical trend. The multiplier effect of information itself will continue to empower and strengthen the individual, not in spite of mass media or any other ideologically based viewpoint but due to the freeing and adaptive benefits of information itself. Information is the natural antidote to entropy and, longer term, to the concentrations of wealth and power.
By trying to push the trends of the Internet through the false needle's eye of political economics, an effort that Benkler also erroneously makes with his earlier analysis of the growth of radio, what are in essence historical forces of almost informational or technological determinism are falsely presented as matters of political choice. Hogwash.
Benkler, however, does observe two useful dimensions for measuring social collaboration efforts: modularity and granularity. By modularity, Benkler means "a property of a project that describes the extent to which it can be broken down into smaller components, or modules, that can be independently produced before they are assembled into a whole." By granularity, Benkler means "the size of the modules, in terms of the time and effort that an individual must invest in producing them."
Benkler's insight is that "the number of people who can, in principle, participate in a project is therefore inversely related to the size of the smallest scale contribution necessary to produce a usable module. The granularity of the modules therefore sets the smallest possible individual investment necessary to participate in a project. If this investment is sufficiently low, then incentives" for producing that component of a modular project can be of trivial magnitude. Most importantly for our purposes of understanding the rising role of nonmarket production, the time can be drawn from the excess time we normally dedicate to having fun and participating in social interactions."
To illustrate this effect of granularity, he contrasts Wikipedia with its simple entries and editing and bounded topics with the far-less successful Wikibooks, which has much larger granularity.
Creators of social collaboration sites are advised to keep granularity small to encourage broader contributions, and if the nature of the site is complex, to increase the number of its modules. Of course, none of this guarantees the magic or timing that also lie behind the most successful sites!
I think that Benkler's arguments could have been more effectively distilled into a 30-page article, with much of the political economy claptrap thrown out. The book is definitely worth a skim.
Phenomenal Book on Information Science and Peer Production.......2007-05-12
I first became familiar with Benkler after reading his paper, "Coase's Penguin" in undergraduate study. I was delighted to hear of the publication of this book. Benkler continues beautifully where he left off in his previous papers and synthesizes an excellent theory of social production in his book.
Benkler begins by describing the economic shape of information - it's non-rival and builds upon itself. He explains the challenges that face information, particularly the Babel Objection. Benkler also covers some legal background on aspects of a "liberal society", such as the role of commons versus private property.
From there, he makes his way into peer production. He touches different aspects of this type of production, from open source to distributed content production & filtering (click workers) to the results of the FCC's shift towards commons-based wireless policy. I found chapter 4, where he connects social production to the economic concepts discussed earlier, to be the most interesting chapter of the book.
He moves on to a lengthy discussion of the political effects of network distribution and social production, including a summary of the history of mass media and predictions about the future. From there, he lays down his argument that we ought to continue to encourage open networks and information sharing. He presents a discussion on current legislation and legal challenges to information and provides some examples of solutions.
I read this book coming out of an undergraduate program in Information Science and wished I had read this book perhaps my sophomore or junior year. Benkler essentially lays out, in linear form, the precise message that my professors were teaching. Because of networks, information science in the 21st century will not follow the traditional industrial-style of distribution but rather a distributed and non-proprietary model. Its impact is phenomenal, not only in the realm of economics and science but politics, culture, and interpersonal communication.
This book ought to be required reading for every undergraduate student studying Telecommunications, Media, or Information Science.
Good argumentation.......2007-04-28
I agree when some people say the book is not well edited (even not being english my first language I found some errors within it) but I think the greatest think about it is the attempt to explain something that it is easy to see that is happening today but nobody know why is happening. You know people write in Wikipedia and that most of them do that at their free time, you know that some people participate in great collaborative efforts to develop free software in the Internet, you know people keep blogs to express their point of view. But can you explain why that happens, why do they do that expecting no financial return or acknowledgment? What do they want? Perhaps you may know what you want when you do or don't some of that things but what about the rest of the world, if you care about it? What has changed or is changing or still must be changed in the societies so that happens?
The author doesn't explain it too but he tries to do it, it is an initial attempt to get some answers. His argumentation through the book covers many aspects of our lives, economic, political, social, antropological, legal and I think that at least at the end you will have some new insights on what is all that about.
Connectivization.......2007-04-20
Be forewarned that this brilliantly conceived book is not so brilliantly written, and the reading can be a real slog at times. Yochai Benkler is a perceptive social theorist but his thoughts are bogged down in academic writing that could really use some editing. Expect excessive introducing, foreshadowing, recapping, and summarizing, giving you the often tiresome impression that you will read Benkler's prose again or have read it before. This book also suffers from what business strategists and military tacticians would call "scope creep," as Benkler's broad theories on society and knowledge become so all-inclusive as to border on diffuseness and ineffectiveness - a problem that really slows down the middle section of the book. This is a common difficulty for vast unified theories about information and humanity, so prepare for some difficulty in following the main points that Benkler is trying to make.
But now that those warnings are out of the way, beneath Benkler's ponderous prose are insightful theories about the rise of networked culture, inspired by the digital revolution, in the face of lockdowns from entrenched power players. The initial uses of open networks inspired a megalomaniacal reaction from the industrial and political sectors, which have partially succeeded in forcing technological design changes, and persecution of new cultural behaviors, that threatened their economic and political dominance. For instance, intellectual property laws (patents, trademarks, and copyrights), which were originally meant to encourage cultural production, have been transformed by power players into tools to enforce corporate profitability. And if you think concerns over those trends are merely alarmism, Benkler provides profound evidence that damage really is being done to culture, freedom, and democracy - in ways that are far deeper and more troubling than the (corporate-inspired) popular rhetoric around piracy, rolyalties, and hackers.
Benkler informatively differentiates the types of freedom that are at stake - personal, cultural, social, and political - and ably demonstrates how each are affected by trends in infrastructure development, media behavior, corporate profiteering, and political gamesmanship. One especially winning chapter deals with how the rising network society can promote justice and development in third world areas that are not currently connected and may never be. The corporate and political insistence on regulating the information infrastructure and criminalizing user behaviors may represent a losing battle against the basic human drive to network and create, as can be seen in trends like open source software and community wi-fi. Benkler's main point here (when you're finally able to uncover it) is that humanity may be on the brink of a major change in the way we process culture and information, thanks to the growth in open worldwide networks. The old school power players won't go without a fight, adding unnecessary strife to the process, but Benkler has faith in humanity's ability to transform and rise above [~doomsdayer520~]
Excellent and Insightful Articulation.......2007-01-11
I highly recommend reading Yochai Benkler's book.
It is a balanced articulation of what the Internet and Web 2.0 are enabling in the development of new forms of social collaboration that are not adequately recognized as such by both private/regulated market advocates and welfare advocates. One of the things that struck me most is Benkler's capacity to create a perspective in which he can show that these new forms of collectives are rooted in old practices that have existed forever.
He also shows that these practices can gain major significance if:
1. The neutrality of the web, access to the web, Open Source initiatives, and the General Public Licensing type of legislation are improved,
2. The aggressive move toward Intellectual Property laws and regulations, and control by corporations, is counter-balanced.
Excellent read!
Amazon.com
Chapter 1 of Information Rules begins with a description of the change brought on by technology at the close of the century--but the century described is not this one, it's the late 1800s. One hundred years ago, it was an emerging telephone and electrical network that was transforming business. Today it's the Internet. The point? While the circumstances of a particular era may be unique, the underlying principles that describe the exchange of goods in a free-market economy are the same. And the authors, Carl Shapiro and Hal Varian, should know. Shapiro is Professor of Business Strategy at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley and has also served as chief economist at the Antitrust Division of the Justice Department. Varian is the Dean of the School of Information Management and Systems at UC Berkeley. Together they offer a deep knowledge of how economic systems work coupled with first-hand experience of today's network economy. They write:
Sure, today's business world is different in a myriad of ways from that of a century ago. But many of today's managers are so focused on the trees of technological change that they fail to see the forest: the underlying economic forces that determine success and failure.
Shapiro and Varian go to great lengths to purge this book of the technobabble and forecasting of an electronic woo-woo land that's typical in books of this genre. Instead, with their feet on the ground, they consider how to market and distribute goods in the network economy, citing examples from industries as diverse as airlines, software, entertainment, and communications. The authors cover issues such as pricing, intellectual property, versioning, lock-in, compatibility, and standards. Clearly written and presented, Information Rules belongs on the bookshelf of anyone who has an interest in today's network economy--entrepreneurs, managers, investors, students. If there was ever a textbook written on how to do business in the information age, this book is it. Highly recommended. --Harry C. Edwards
Book Description
In a marketplace that depends so thoroughly on cutting-edge information technology, can classic economic principles still offer any real strategic value? Yes! say Carl Shapiro and Hal Varian. In Information Rules, they reveal that many long-standing economic concepts can provide the insight and understanding necessary to succeed in the information age. Shapiro and Varian argue that if managers seriously want to develop effective strategies for competing in the new economy, they must understand the fundamental economics of information technology. Whether information takes the form of software code or recorded music, is published in a book or magazine, or even posted on a web site, managers must know how to evaluate the consequences of pricing, protecting, and planning new versions of their information products, services, and systems. The first book to distill the economics of information and networks into practical business strategies, Information Rules is a guide to the winning moves that can help business leaders-from writers, lawyers, and finance professionals to executives in the entertainment, publishing, and hardware and software industries--navigate successfully through the information economy.
Download Description
In Information Rules, authors Shapiro and Varian reveal that many classic economic concepts can provide the insight and understanding necessary to succeed in the information age. They argue that if managers seriously want to develop effective strategies for competing in the new economy, they must understand the fundamental economics of information technology. Whether information takes the form of software code or recorded music, is published in a book or magazine, or even posted on a website, managers must know how to evaluate the consequences of pricing, protecting, and planning new versions of information products, services, and systems. The first book to distill the economics of information and networks into practical business strategies, Information Rules is a guide to the winning moves that can help business leaders navigate successfully through the tough decisions of the information economy.
Customer Reviews:
A must.......2006-08-25
If you're in the software business and you haven't read this book, chances are you don't know what's going on. This may sound a bit abrupt, but that is the way it is. Bsaic concepts like lock-in and the need to differentiate are discussed in a clear and useful way. If more people would read this, a lot fewer mistakes would be made.
An Corporate Information Seller's Handbook.......2006-03-11
Both authors are professors at the University of California at Berkeley. This book deals with how unchanging principles are being applied to the changing conditions and technologies of information marketing (software).
A unique condition to today's information economy is that it's products are costly to produce, cheap to reproduce and without fixed supply. Value must be created by 'versioning' and personalizing a product in a number of different ways. The other alternative is to become a cost-leader commodity seller.
How to lock-in your customers for the long-term is discussed, as well as how not to be locked-in by your suppliers.
The pros and cons of evolution strategies are explained. Should your product be backward compatible or cleanly break with old technology?
Best in this book is how different positive feedback approaches can put your company in the super-accelerated growth mode.
Five Bright Stars !
Very Practical .......2006-01-24
The arrival of the Internet and the information explosion it created has made it possible for inventors and entrepreneurs to build a business from scratch to worldwide marketing capability in a very few years. The authors of this book take the position that all too often we are deluded into thinking certain and tried and true economic principles have been abolished by this new Internet economy. They argue their position without jargon and with examples taken from the real world.
While old pricing ratios and old pricing strategies may not apply in the information age, new pricing ratios and new strategies have taken their place. Information goods can be costly to produce but cheap to reproduce. For example, a copy of a 100 million dollar movie on videotape costs a few cents to make. So pricing cannot follow, say, a 20% markup rule when the unit cost is essentially zero; "you must price your information goods according to customer value, not according to your production cost."
Several chapters cover pricing strategies and how to maintain control when some "view the Internet as one giant out-of-control copying machine." These strategies involve methods for differing your product from your competitors, avoiding sky-high initial pricing that encourages competition, and customizing. Interestingly, they note the "one-to-one marketing" strategy was "first described by economist A.C. Pigou in 1920."
Sometimes literally giving a product away works. The book describes how the former school teacher (Sheryl Leach) that created Barney gave free videos to day care centers and others located near the stores selling the Barney tapes. A note inside told parents where the stores were. It worked magnificently and Barney is now one of today¹s icons.
The development of digital watermarks has provided one tool for controlling piracy of your web presented material.
An important information age problem is recognizing and dealing with "lock-in." The writers compare cars with computers. You can switch from a Ford to a Chevy with no trouble, but changing computers may obsolete your present software. How do you convince customers to switch to your product or service when a switching cost is involved? The authors discuss several strategies.
Problems with "lock-in" and "switching costs" also often occur when you purchase durable equipment and service contracts. The authors advise you to carefully consider the costs of being locked-in to you supplier¹s parts and services. They especially caution regarding "evergreen contracts" which automatically renew.
Many interesting historical examples are used to drive home points. Edison, for example, with regard to establishing standards, invented the word "Hello" for answering the phone. He was hard of hearing and the English "Hallow" didn¹t grab attention as well. Incidentally, Alexander Graham Bell pushed for "Ahoy." The battles for standardizing railroad gauges and the classic standards battle that established AC power over DC power are detailed. (No mention of Tesla, a shame.)
The enormous role "blocking patents" can play when a formal standard-setting process is taking place within an industry is discussed. Most people think of industry standards as being dictated by the mighty corporations, but if the small guy is not invited to the table his firm "is not required to license its patents on fair and reasonable terms." The government may also monitor a standard-setting procedure with regard to monopoly considerations. When the steel electrical tubing people attempted to stack the deck, the plastic electrical tubing people cried foul and won.
Yet another interesting historical example is given in the discussion regarding how the concept of reasonable royalties and "just price" arose. It goes back to medieval times: "the just price of a horse was the price that would prevail at the open market at the annual fair, not the price that happens to emerge from a traveler in desperate need of a horse."
Like most growing fields the Internet has generated many unique and delightful terms. Vaporware is one such term. That is the promising of a new product and not delivering or delivering very late. This business tactic has been used by even the biggest (IBM, Microsoft), but as the authors note, it has often boomeranged.
While promising too much too soon is dangerous, the book makes the point that in this age of rapid technology progress "rigidity is death." the French became world leaders in the 1980s with their Minitel system, but today only 3 percent can access the Internet. A case where success also resulted in a high switching cost.
Each chapter of the book concludes with "Lessons" which are capsule summaries of the chapter¹s main points. Like the rest of the book, legalese and the jargon of academic economic courses are completely avoided.
This book is so readable and practical one can only hope other professors will use it as an example of how to write without arcane technobabble.
Cheap Text Book.......2005-09-20
I saved a lot of money buying this textbook on-line. It was in good quality.
A Must Read for Internet Entrepreneurs.......2005-06-16
Although this book was written in 1998, it is just as relevant if not more so today. The book discusses how Internet entrepreneurs should price their goods/services; how they can create lock-in effects to instill customer loyalty; and perhaps most importantly, how they can create network effects so as to exponentially increase their client base and barriers to entry. A brilliant book written by two leading authorities on economics.
Book Description
A new and empowering way of looking at and organizing social change! How can we move from serving soup until our elbows ache to solving chronic social ills like hunger or homelessness? How can we break the disastrous cycle of low expectations that leads to chronic social failures?
The answers to these questions lie within Momentum, a fresh, zestful way of thinking about and organizing social change work. Today's digital tools—including but not limited to e-mail, the Web, cell phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), even iPods—promote interactivity and connectedness. But as Momentum shows, these new social media tools are important not for their wizardry but because they connect us to one another in inexpensive, accessible, and massively scalable ways.
Customer Reviews:
Poorly edited.......2007-09-21
This book is OK, but doesn't have a sound outline and is disjointed. A good editor could have turned this into a much better book.
One of Two MUST READS For Any Social Activist.......2007-04-28
This book, and the much more detailed book by Chip Heath & Dan Heath, "Made to Stick" are perfect partners in putting really actiionble public intelligence in the hands of social activitists and transpartisan political reformers. I have added both books to my list of transpartisan books.
This book focuses on digital tools for social change, on creating connected activism, on addressing the listening and communicating deficits.
The author provides a checklist of 12 points for evaluating how connected your activist organization is, another checklist of 8 points on powering the edges, and a final 95-point summary of the "Cluetrain Manifesto," another book I have reviewed. All of these are useful.
The author points out that hyperlinks subvert hierarchy, and I could not agree more. Epoch B leadership is a form of swarm leadership, and the connected collective can easily bring the hierarchical authority down.
I especially liked the author's focus on all of us being content managers. Sharing information, as Vint Cerf has said recently, is how we get a Return on Information.
The book ends with some hard-earned "Do's and Don't's" and a chapter on the future of funding for social activism.
Over-all a quick read with plenty of substance, and an excellent complement to "Made to Stick."
Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
The Cluetrain Manifesto: The End of Business as Usual
Inspiring and Insightful....A Must Read!.......2006-10-23
Momentum is inspirational and the passion that is evoked is contagious! Reading this compelling book made me excited to understand the truth about opportunities for positive social change. Fine does an excellent job of describing the value of self-determination and how social media can help make it happen. I especially like that she goes beyond simply suggesting that people use social media, and impresses upon the reader the value of altering how we think about social change. Fine reveals the value of reducing the significance of institutional barriers and developing interpersonal relationships and networks. She encourages us to stretch how we think about participation and decision-making and to "push power to the edges". This is a must read for anyone interested in a more innovative activist community!
A Must-Read--This Book Will Start Your Wheels Turning.......2006-10-23
Wow! This book is relevant, not only for existing activist organizations (all of which should run out and buy a copy immediately), but also for any "Joe Citizen" like me who has pet issues on various local levels and who wants to effect change expeditiously.
Sprinkled with wry humor, this informative and well-written book was a pleasure to read. It is even more than a problem-solving roadmap embracing a new paradigm for the way activists can organize, communicate and define and reach goals; it is also an actual toolkit chock full of ideas on how to use what Ms. Fine terms "social media" (email, the web, wireless handhelds, etc.) to effect change. Even more concrete, Momentum includes websites that even a non-techie and would-be activist like me can use to start anything from an email petition campaign to a website where my kids' teachers can solicit funds for special projects.
While reading this book I had no less than 5 "aha" moments where I thought: "I could use that" in order to bring about change in various areas of my civic life. In fact, in a couple of cases, the information in the book spurred me to think about change in areas I had not thought of before.
I give Momentum my highest recommendation and kudos to Allison H. Fine for writing this timely book...
The "ah ha" moments.......2006-10-11
The social justice community is consumed with daily battles. Momentum allowed me to step back and fully absorb how technology is changing the way we wage them, with Allison Fine showing not only how we can do better, but revealing some victories that I've missed along the way. I welcomed the story telling, the "ah ha" moments, and the self-effacing humor.
Average customer rating:
- Was expecting more
- Great start on the subject
- A Serious Economic & Sociological Analysis of Game Playing
- n00bs read this!
- Eh...alright
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Synthetic Worlds: The Business and Culture of Online Games
Edward Castronova
Manufacturer: University Of Chicago Press
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ASIN: 0226096270 |
Book Description
From EverQuest to World of Warcraft, online games have evolved from the exclusive domain of computer geeks into an extraordinarily lucrative staple of the entertainment industry. People of all ages and from all walks of life now spend thousands of hours—and dollars—partaking in this popular new brand of escapism. But the line between fantasy and reality is starting to blur. Players have created virtual societies with governments and economies of their own whose currencies now trade against the dollar on eBay at rates higher than the yen. And the players who inhabit these synthetic worlds are starting to spend more time online than at their day jobs.
In Synthetic Worlds, Edward Castronova offers the first comprehensive look at the online game industry, exploring its implications for business and culture alike. He starts with the players, giving us a revealing look into the everyday lives of the gamers—outlining what they do in their synthetic worlds and why. He then describes the economies inside these worlds to show how they might dramatically affect real world financial systems, from potential disruptions of markets to new business horizons. Ultimately, he explores the long-term social consequences of online games: If players can inhabit worlds that are more alluring and gratifying than reality, then how can the real world ever compete? Will a day ever come when we spend more time in these synthetic worlds than in our own? Or even more startling, will a day ever come when such questions no longer sound alarmist but instead seem obsolete?
With more than ten million active players worldwide—and with Microsoft and Sony pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into video game development—online games have become too big to ignore. Synthetic Worlds spearheads our efforts to come to terms with this virtual reality and its concrete effects.
“Illuminating. . . . Castronova’s analysis of the economics of fun is intriguing. Virtual-world economies are designed to make the resulting game interesting and enjoyable for their inhabitants. Many games follow a rags-to-riches storyline, for example. But how can all the players end up in the top 10%? Simple: the upwardly mobile human players need only be a subset of the world's population. An underclass of computer-controlled 'bot' citizens, meanwhile, stays poor forever. Mr. Castronova explains all this with clarity, wit, and a merciful lack of academic jargon.”—The Economist
“Synthetic Worlds is a surprisingly profound book about the social, political, and economic issues arising from the emergence of vast multiplayer games on the Internet. What Castronova has realized is that these games, where players contribute considerable labor in exchange for things they value, are not merely like real economies, they are real economies, displaying inflation, fraud, Chinese sweatshops, and some surprising in-game innovations.”—Tim Harford, Chronicle of Higher Education
Customer Reviews:
Was expecting more.......2007-05-27
To be honest I was expecting more on this book.It didnt tell all the info I wanted to know and the author focus too much on 2D games like Everquest and not so much in 3D games like Second Life.In most of the book the author is a little superficial in his analysis,he could go deeper.However the book is good for people who wanna have a general idea about on line games,specially Everquest,World of Warcraft and Star Wars.
Great start on the subject.......2007-05-07
Best book discussing online worlds that I've read.
The author's background in economics makes for an interesting perspective. He goes to great lengths to point out where and how virtual worlds cross over into the "real" world.
He doesn't, however, take things quite as far as I expected. For instance, he doesn't suggest that any interaction, social or otherwise, if conducted online might well be considered as having occurred in a virtual world. And he doesn't spend any effort exploring online to offline gestural equivalence.
But I don't think he can be faulted. There's enough material in this area to fill several volumes. What he does cover, he makes accessible, interesting, and relevant.
[...]
A Serious Economic & Sociological Analysis of Game Playing.......2007-03-19
This book survey's the landscape of online game playing and its impact on business, law, politics, social behavior, etc. If you are looking for a comprehensive analysis, Synthetic Worlds provides a thoughtful and accessible option.
Oddly, for a 300 page book, my version had a very small font size. If you suffer from eye strain, you may want to make sure the type is suitable for you.
n00bs read this!.......2007-02-09
This is a great starting point for the investigation of synthetic economies. Wether you are an econ n00b or a gamer n00b, you'll be at leest semi uber by the end.
Eh...alright.......2006-11-10
it's good for what it is, though the author writes it as a term paper for college "This is what the chapter is about..." exactly like that. Lots of dryness there, lots of facts. It's also mostly focused on the Economy of and existing in MMO, not so much the culture people are thinking of (dating, avatars selection, gender bending, etc.) or how MMO's are ran as a buisness.
Book Description
According to virtually every business writer, we are in the midst of a new "information age," one that will revolutionize how workers work, how companies compete, perhaps even how thinkers think. And it is certainly true that Information Technology has become a giant industry. In America, more that 50% of all capital spending goes into IT, accounting for more than a third of the growth of the entire American economy in the last four years. Over the last decade, IT spending in the U.S. is estimated at 3 trillion dollars. And yet, by almost all accounts, IT hasn't worked all that well. Why is it that so many of the companies that have invested in these costly new technologies never saw the returns they had hoped for? And why do workers, even CEOs, find it so hard to adjust to new IT systems? In Information Ecology, Thomas Davenport proposes a revolutionary new way to look at information management, one that takes into account the total information environment within an organization. Arguing that the information that comes from computer systems may be considerably less valuable to managers than information that flows in from a variety of other sources, the author describes an approach that encompasses the company's entire information environment, the management of which he calls information ecology. Only when organizations are able to combine and integrate these diverse sources of information, and to take them to a higher level where information becomes knowledge, will they realize the full power of their information ecology. Thus, the author puts people, not technology, at the center of the information world. Information and knowledge are human creations, he points out, and we will never excel at managing them until we give people a primary role. Citing examples drawn from his own extensive research and consulting including such major firms as A.T. and T., American Express, Ford, General Electric, Hallmark, Hoffman La Roche, IBM, Polaroid, Pacific Bell, and Toshiba Davenport illuminates the critical components of information ecology, and at every step along the way, he provides a quick assessment survey for managers to see how their organization measures up. He discusses the importance of developing an overall strategy for information use; explores the infighting, jealousy over resources, and political battles that can frustrate information sharing; underscores the importance of looking at how people really use information (how they search for it, modify it, share it, hoard it, and even ignore it) and the kinds of information they want; describes the ideal information staff, who not only store and retrive information, but also prune, provide context, enhance style, and choose the right presentation medium (in an age of work overload, vital information must be presented compellingly so the appropriate people recognize and use it); examines how information management should be done on a day to day basis; and presents several alternatives to the machine engineering approach to structuring and modeling information. Davenport makes explicit what many managers already know in their gut: that useful information flow depends on people, not equipment. In Information Ecology he paves the way for all managers to build a more competitive, creative, practical information environment for their companies.
Customer Reviews:
When a change is needed.......2004-06-17
This book offers great insight into creating an information envionment within the company. I think that the numerous examples for real life companies provide credibility to his claims. However this is for people who are building and IT strucutre for scratch or are looking for a paradigm shift in how they do IT? If your IT envionment is not producing results this is a great place to start. It provides the theory to apply to real life situations. Understanding the necessity of Information Technology is essential for implementing results oriented systems.
Useful and informative book with new insights.......1998-01-12
I found this to be a useful and informative book with new insights, especially in the area of developing a wholistic view of an information enterprise. Most previous books seem to be limited to just MIS departments and ignore the fact that managing information is not something that just happens in a vacumn. I also found the diagnosis section to be useful and grounded in real work versus the "blackboard" consulting suggestions that sometimes comes from academics whose ideas are not grounded in real world experiences.
Good theme but more buzzwords and bull than practical advice.......1997-09-05
I was disappointed by this book. While its central thesis (that MIS should include human and political considerations, not just technical ones) is valid and needs championing, I found the text repetitive, lacking in clear advice, and full of buzzwords used to restate the obvious. Mr. Davenport is clearly an expert on how to run MIS at large companies. Unfortunately, I found it difficult to glean applicable lessons from his book
Book Description
When Joe Trippi signed on to run Howard Dean's 2004 presidential campaign, the long–shot candidate had 432 known supporters and $100,000 in the bank. Within a year, Trippi and his team had transformed the most obscure candidate in the field into a Democratic front–runner with a groundswell of 640,000 supporters and more money than any Democrat in history –– mostly through donations of one hundred dollars or less. Trippi's revolutionary use of the Internet and an impassioned, contagious desire to overthrow politics as usual grew into a national grassroots movement and changed the face of politics forever.
As Trippi argues persuasively, the Internet is distributing power to the people right now. And the companies that understand the coming revolution will be the first movers in this new era, while those that wait will be left behind. From his behind–the–scenes look at Dean's shocking rise and fall to his "seven inviolable, irrefutable, ingenious things your business or institution or candidate can do in the age of the Internet that might keep you from getting your ass kicked, but then again might not," Joe Trippi offers an inspiring glimpse of the world we are becoming. And he shows how power, in the hands of all of us, changes everything.
Customer Reviews:
Glean Don't Read.......2007-07-26
I recommend this book to many people who are not experienced with online communities or who persist, even in 2007, in thinking that online relationships are less important than real world interaction.
Trippi is too enamored of the political process. He glamorizes the personalities. The middle of the book is more like a political memoir than an account of how to overthrow everything.
However, if the reader has tolerance for these short comings, there are many insights to be gleaned from what the Dean campaign experienced. I say what the campaign experienced rather than what they did because the biggest take away from the book is that communities happen. They are not manufactured.
The campaign found itself in the middle of a community of interest. They had the sense to know when to lead and when to follow. Our skeptical managers, CEOs, politicians, etc. who still don't understand the online environment should read this book.
Happening NOW.......2007-05-30
Great Read, and it gave me the insight to realize what is currently taking place despite the denial from the mainstream media. RON PAUL will be the next President of the USA.
Really informative.......2007-01-24
I had to buy this book for a college class, and it turned out to be surprisingly interesting and informative at the same time. I actually enjoyed reading this book, and learned a lot about the life of someone involved in a political campaign as well as more details about how the Dean campaign really did pioneer in the world of online politics.
Joe Trippi just doesn't get it.......2006-06-24
Trippi was one of the first to make use of the Internet in presidential campaign politics. Using Blogs, using MeetUp.com and the like, Trippi generated a grassroots movement for Howard Dean's campaign.
Young people jumped on the bandwagon quickly. The Internet made that possible, but the Internet did not and does not provide motivation. WHY did people start blogging for Dean, holding meetings for Dean? Trippi admits that he does not know why. Yet, this is the crux of the matter. Trippi also admits that to some extent, "the people" took the campaign out of their hands and ran with it. But why?
PC (Political Correctness) is a set of passionately held beliefs and policies that already existed before the campaign started. By signaling across the Internet that Dean's was to be a PC campaign (and without consulting Dean himself), Trippi already had a readymade constituency out there passionately committed. But Joe doesn't see this. He just doesn't get it. And to Joe, PC is as self-evident as the axioms of Euclid.
There was constant struggle between Dean and Trippi over positions and statements. Trippi wanted to run the campaign, even writing speeches for Dean, determining positions, stances and the rest. Dean resisted. At one point, Dean described himself as a "centrist". Can you believe that, knowing what you do about the Dean campaign?! Trippi describes himself as a "liberal". Ultimately, Dean fired Trippi; but it was too late.
Trippi in fact is not a liberal. He is a Political Correctist. Most people, including Trippi, don't know the difference between liberalism and PC, and the PC people do everything in their power to tell people that there is no difference. This is not the place to go into it. Interested readers should read The Rape of Alma Mater. But one instance from Trippi's book should give a clue. While a student at San Jose State College, Joe led a boycott against his father's small florist shop because his father kept his modest savings at the neighborhood bank, which happened to be Bank of America, which did business with South Africa, and it was politically incorrect to do business with South Africa. And to Joe, this boycott was the right thing to do. He still thinks so.
This book is a minute-by-minute account of the campaign. It is nothing if not repetitious. Every paragraph repeats the litany that "the people" were running the campaign. Toward the end, however, Trippi admits that one has to do business as usual and buy TV time, etc.
Joe Trippi is still running an Internet campaign, trying to insure that PC is triumphant at last. He may win. If that sounds like good news to you, you just don't get it. PC is the death of liberalism, and vice versa.
Accepting transparency.......2006-06-08
This was a good book connecting communication facilitated by the internet to the concept of organizational health. In a nutshell the internet can hurt or help an organization depending on its attitude about transparency. You can't fool all of the people all of the time.
Amazon.com
Reimagining cities as nodes of an immense network of commercial and political transactions, sociologist Saskia Sassen has transformed Information Age geography. Global Networks, Linked Cities collects research, theory, and case studies examining cities in this context by Sassen and 19 other social scientists, focusing particularly on the recent explosive growth in areas formerly--now inaccurately--called the Third World.
The jargon in Global Networks, Linked Cities can be fairly dense and the style arid, but the essays reward patient readers with insight into the interlinked worlds of finance, geography, communications, and geopolitics. Most of the pieces look closely at individual urban regions: Shanghai, Buenos Aires, and, interestingly, Beirut. All have much to tell us about the organic urban development coevolving with globalized commerce and communications, says editor Sassen. As barriers to free information flow erode, we see mergers between political, business, and academic entities.Global Networks, Linked Cities shows us how this is happening and how to think about what's coming next. --Rob Lightner
Book Description
In her pioneering book The Global City, Saskia Sassen argued that certain cities in the postindustrial world have become central nodes in the new service economy, strategic sites for the acceleration of capital and information flows as well as spaces of increasing socio-economic polarization. One effect has been that such cities have gained in importance and power relative to nation-states.
In this new collection of essays, Sassen and a distinguished group of contributors expand on the author's earlier work in a number of important ways, focusing on two key issues. First, they look at how information flows have bound global cities together in networks, creating a global city web whose constituent cities become "global" through the networks they participate in. Second, they investigate emerging global cities in the developing world-Sao Paulo, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Mexico City, Beirut, the Dubai-Iran corridor, and Buenos Aires. They show how these globalizing zones are not only replicating many features of the top tier of global cities, but are also generating new socio-economic patterns as well. These new patterns of development promise to lead to significant changes in the structure of the global economy, as more and more cities worldwide are integrated into globalization's circuitry.
Includes contributions from:Linda Garcia, Patrice Riemens, Geert Lovink, Peter Taylor, David Smith, Michael Timberlake, Stephen Graham, Sueli Schiffer Ramos, Christoff Parnreiter, Felicity Gu, David Meyer, Pablo Ciccolella, Iliana Mignaqui, Eric Huybrechts, Ali Parsa
Customer Reviews:
Outsourcing, in a broader context.......2004-05-10
With the ever decreasing fall in the cost of communication, both digital and analog, this book speculates that a new global phenomenon may be emerging. A few years ago, during the height of the dot com boom, others suggested that the Web might give rise to the disaggregation of cities or cultural hubs, because cheap communications might let creative individuals work from virtually anywhere with a fast bandwidth connection to the Internet.
But as many major cities in developing countries achieve this thick connection, another possibility emerges, as suggested by this book. It is now possible for some of these cities to parlay this connection and a well educated workforce into a globally prominent role. In part by assuming some of the functionality hitherto almost exclusively taken by first world cities. Think for example on how Silicon Valley is outsourcing some of its work to Mumbai or Bangalore.
The book's suggestions of future global cities is intriguing. Though when they suggest this of Hong Kong, one might argue that it is already a global city by any reasonable measure of how plugged in it is into the global economy.
Average customer rating:
- The Art of Humanity
- Essential Reading
- Hits the nail on the head, but management won't be able to comprehend the implications!
- Good book to share with staff
- Fun read
|
The Art of Deception: Controlling the Human Element of Security
Kevin D. Mitnick , and
William L. Simon
Manufacturer: Wiley
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Hacking: The Art of Exploitation
ASIN: 0471237124 |
Amazon.co.uk
The Art of Deception is about gaining someone's trust by lying to them and then abusing that trust for fun and profit. Hackers use the euphemism "social engineering" and hacker-guru Kevin Mitnick examines many example scenarios.
After Mitnick's first dozen examples anyone responsible for organizational security is going to lose the will to live. It's been said before, but people and security are antithetical. Organizations exist to provide a good or service and want helpful, friendly employees to promote the good or service. People are social animals who want to be liked. Controlling the human aspects of security means denying someone something. This circle can't be squared.
Considering Mitnick's reputation as a hacker guru, it's ironic that the last point of attack for hackers using social engineering are computers. Most of the scenarios in The Art of Deception work just as well against computer-free organizations and were probably known to the Phoenicians; technology simply makes it all easier. Phones are faster than letters, after all, and having large organizations means dealing with lots of strangers.
Much of Mitnick's security advice sounds practical until you think about implementation, when you realize that more effective security means reducing organizational efficiency--an impossible trade in competitive business. And anyway, who wants to work in an organization where the rule is "Trust no one"? Mitnick shows how easily security is breached by trust, but without trust people can't live and work together. In the real world, effective organizations have to acknowledge that total security is a chimera--and carry more insurance. --Steve Patient, amazon.co.uk
Book Description
The world's most infamous hacker offers an insider's view of the low-tech threats to high-tech security
Kevin Mitnick's exploits as a cyber-desperado and fugitive form one of the most exhaustive FBI manhunts in history and have spawned dozens of articles, books, films, and documentaries. Since his release from federal prison, in 1998, Mitnick has turned his life around and established himself as one of the most sought-after computer security experts worldwide. Now, in The Art of Deception, the world's most notorious hacker gives new meaning to the old adage, "It takes a thief to catch a thief."
Focusing on the human factors involved with information security, Mitnick explains why all the firewalls and encryption protocols in the world will never be enough to stop a savvy grifter intent on rifling a corporate database or an irate employee determined to crash a system. With the help of many fascinating true stories of successful attacks on business and government, he illustrates just how susceptible even the most locked-down information systems are to a slick con artist impersonating an IRS agent. Narrating from the points of view of both the attacker and the victims, he explains why each attack was so successful and how it could have been prevented in an engaging and highly readable style reminiscent of a true-crime novel. And, perhaps most importantly, Mitnick offers advice for preventing these types of social engineering hacks through security protocols, training programs, and manuals that address the human element of security.
Customer Reviews:
The Art of Humanity.......2007-09-13
Probably one of the very best books I've ever read in my life. This book follows through some of the life of hacker Kevin Mitnick. A lot of good laughs and some surprising and eye opening admissions that are full of lessons for anyone who uses a computer.
Without being condescending or preachy, Kevin shows people the ways around the easiest element of security to break, the user themselves. For anyone who's been involved with computers from the beginning of the first pre-PC's it's like a page of reminiscences from your own brain 20 years ago.
To newer users it's bordering on the insanity that is hacking lol.
This book is worthy of any home user or even IT professionals attention. Mitnick reveals many of the flaws in the human personality that allow people to abuse them, be it verbally, socially or even physically. I can't recommend this book enough to anyone who's had a problem with a hacker or spyware. It will show you, your and everyone else's major character flaw that can be managed effectively to eliminate the naivety that is the Internet.
Essential Reading.......2007-07-06
This is a book everyone should read. It is not only fascinating, but is an essential lesson in self-protection against those who would prey on the trust and vulnerability of honest and kind people.
Hits the nail on the head, but management won't be able to comprehend the implications!.......2007-06-28
Although many of the examples detailed in this book are dated , the concepts are still as easy to leverage as ever.
Mr. Mitnick offers some possible solutions in this book, however he wasted his effort. As any security expert knows, getting upper management buy in to security is difficult at best. Management pays lip service to security, but they are typically more concerned about privacy issues than taking meaningful steps to address known security risks.
When my organization tasked my team to perform a social engineering assessment of their network, that's what they meant. Over and over, we tried to suggest processes that would be easy to manipulate for even the most amateur attacker, only to be immediately cut off and told no. If there is no technical attack to guard against, management can't begin to process the implications.
Good book to share with staff.......2007-01-31
This book served as a great reminder of why we need to be thoughtful about sharing information. I am buying extra copies to share with our staff. The offered advice was especially useful for large organizations with distributed sensitive information.
Fun read.......2007-01-28
If you are intreased in this, good book. Not a lot of detail, but good read.
Average customer rating:
- Of all things, a postmodern manifesto
- TED + BI = W
- Risk of getting a headache here
- One of my top 10 favorite business books
- Still Relevant
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Information Anxiety 2
Richard Saul Wurman ,
David Sume , and
Loring Leifer
Manufacturer: Que
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ASIN: 0789724103 |
Amazon.com
Information might want to be free; but, why should we free it? We've got enough trouble keeping track of all the petabits that already run around untethered, and risk a computer counterrevolution if we let the situation get much crazier. Information architect Richard Saul Wurman swept the field clear in 1989 with his groundbreaking book that foresaw the problems of data clutter and proposed a radical new means of organizing and presenting knowledge humanistically; for the new century, he has revised it substantially as Information Anxiety 2. This book is sparklingly clear and readable--it'd better be, after all--and offers insight not only to designers, educators, and content developers, but also to anyone who needs to communicate effectively through dense clouds of facts. If Wurman occasionally indulges in New Age-y pop psychology, his analysis is never muddy, and the more hardheaded reader will forgive him soon enough. The discussion alternates between describing the deeply stressful task of absorbing poorly organized data and exploring solutions that require a bit of rethinking, but that reward such an investment with improved understanding and, maybe, a state change from information to wisdom. We could do worse--if we don't pay attention to Wurman and his colleagues, we almost certainly will. --Rob Lightner
Book Description
A follow up to the first edition, Information Anxiety 2 teaches critical lessons for functioning in today's Information Age. In this new book, Wurman examines how the Internet, desktop computing, and advances in digital technology have not simply enhanced access to information, but in fact have changed the way we live and work. In examining the sources of information anxiety, Wurman takes an in-depth look at how technological advances can hinder understanding and influence how business is conducted.
Customer Reviews:
Of all things, a postmodern manifesto.......2006-12-12
Although this book is officially about design, communication, and business information--for which it probably is only a mediocre, quasi-random collection of personal musings--I unexpectedly found this text to be a fabulous introduction to the postmodern mindset. It is a post-modern manifesto, of sorts, calling us to plunge into the new information age with courage, creativity, and hope. It is "real-world" philosophy set in a business context.
Wurman demonstrates that not only have times in fact changed, but we can change with them and even flourish. Rather than a threat to our old, familiar "modern" way of thinking, the new "Information Age" can be an exciting opportunity for creativity, relationship, and learning.
This book is an example of how we CAN get over our anxieties or doubts about postmodernism and start engaging the world and people around us in a more meaningful way.
And one more thing,... as a person working in Information Technology, I wish more people in IT would read this book. It could save us some grief in our deliverables and methodologies.
TED + BI = W .......2006-11-08
Technology, Entertainment, Design + Business Information = Wisdom
Wurman is the founder of the acclaimed TED conference, where the most brilliant minds meet once in a while to discuss creativity applied to virtually all existent fields in the world. Only for this fact he already deserves 5 stars.
For the title of this book he deserves another 5. The book is written in a very interesting way, it really reminds an information explosion. It is organized and chaotic at the same time, presenting opinions from different authors in the sidebars and reminding an interactive dialog.
The subjects discussed are diverse and rich, including corporate behavior, information (organization, communications, usage, design, and importance), creativity, technology, and many more.
It is an insightful and interesting book; I think it is underrated with 4 stars.
Risk of getting a headache here.......2006-01-10
If you want a kind of phone book full of thoughts and grousing and preaching on information and how to handle it, "Information Anxiety" is for you. But don't expect something you can actually "read like a book." A mishmash indeed, and disappointing. Wurman seems to project his own information anxiety onto the reader, assuming the reader suffers from it, when that may or may not be the case. I personally have no trouble passing up reading newspapers, magazines, websites, etc. I read what I want or need to read. If I don't read everything that I could possibly read, so what. Life goes on, and has other sources of fulfillment. In fact, maybe people like me are just not in his intended audience. I can see how h
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