The Information Society: Evolving Landscapes

Charles R. Crawford, a mathematics and computer-programming consultant,
was an associate professor of Computer Science at York University.

This collection consists of 27 essays, of 15 to 20 pages each, on a
range of topics associated with computers. The essays are clearly
written and do not require technical expertise, and the topics are
interesting and important. They include ethics, economics, and politics,
as well as the usual education and artificial intelligence.

The points of view are also wide-ranging. Rob Kling and Suzanne Iacono,
in “Computerization Movements and the Mobilization of Support for
Computing,” examine “ideological beliefs about the links between
computerization and a preferred social order,” while Sherry Turkle, in
“Style as Substance in Educational Computing,” convincingly
expresses her belief that “epistemological pluralism is a necessary
condition for a more inclusive computer culture.”

This “reader” (as the editors call the collection) grew out of an
interdisciplinary conference held in 1988, the organization of which the
preface describes. The papers were distributed in advance, and a
discussion followed their presentation; then, “each author’s paper
was subjected to critical and specific analysis . . . and each [author]
was asked to amend his or her paper according to the discussion.”

Author and topic indexes are included; the latter does not include
“risk,” but otherwise seems complete.