| Events Exhibitions Cosmology Theater Online Exhibitions Linda Hall Lecture Series Upcoming Events Bartlett Lecture Series | The Future of the Internet And How To Stop ItThe Future of the Internet And How to Stop It, by Jonathan L. ZittrainThis extraordinary book explains the engine that has catapulted the Internet from backwater to ubiquity - and reveals that it is sputtering precisely because of its runaway success. With the unwitting help of its users, the generative Internet is on a path to a lockdown, ending its cycle of innovation - and facilitating unsettling new kinds of control. IPods, iPhones, Xboxes, and TiVos represent the first wave of Internet-centered products that cannot be easily modified by anyone except their vendors or selected partners. These 'tethered appliances' have already been used in remarkable but little-known ways: car GPS systems have been reconfigured at the demand of law enforcement to eavesdrop on the occupants at all times, and digital video recorders have been ordered to self-destruct thanks to a lawsuit against the manufacturer thousands of miles away. New Web 2.0 platforms like Google mash-ups and Facebook are rightly touted - but their applications can be similarly monitored and eliminated from a central source. As tethered appliances and applications eclipse the PC, the very nature of the Internet - its generativity, or innovative character - is at risk. The Internet's current trajectory is one of lost opportunity. Its salvation, Zittrain argues, lies in the hands of its millions of users. Drawing on generative technologies like Wikipedia that have so far survived their own successes, this book shows how to develop new technologies and social structures that allow users to work creatively and collaboratively, participate in solutions, and become true "netizens". Jonathan L. Zittrain is the Professor of Internet Governance and Regulation at Oxford University and co-founder of Harvard Law School's Berkman Center for Internet & Society. He lives in Oxford, UK, and Cambridge, MA. Source: yalepress.yale.edu/book.
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DiscussionThis book will be the subject of a discussion at the Linda Hall Library of Science, Engineering & Technology on Monday, September 8, 2008 at 6:00 p.m. in the library auditorium. Leading the discussion will be Robert Smith, from Linda Hall Library and guest speaker, Michael Sauers, the "Travelin' Librarian" from the Nebraska Library Commission. This event is free and open to the public. Please join us for a lively conversation about where the Internet has been and where it might possibly go. This is the first in the fall series of Periodic Roundtable Book discussions. The library is located at 5109 Cherry, Kansas City, Missouri. For more information about this event, contact Robert Smith at 816-926-8716. The Travelin' Librarian - Michael SauersMichael Sauers is currently the Technology Innovation Librarian for the Nebraska Library Commission in Lincoln, NE. Prior to moving to Nebraska, Sauers was the Internet Trainer for the Bibliographical Center for Research in Aurora, CO, for nine years. He has been a public library trustee, a bookstore manager for a library friends group, a reference librarian, serials cataloger, consultant, bookseller, and has worked with the New York State Assembly. He is also the Webmaster for the Greece, NY Historical Society and for the fan site of the SF/Fantasy author L.E. Modesitt, Jr. Sauers earned his MLS from the University at Albany's School of Information Science and Policy in 1995, and has a BS in American Studies from SUNY Brockport. His ninth book, Searching 2.0 is a guide to searches that shows how to use the Web 2.0 environment - from improving basic search skills and evaluating search results to making the best use of search engines. He has also written dozens of articles for various journals and magazines.
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