Magazine

SPECIAL FOCUS: DIGITAL JOURNALISM

What's Ahead in the Digital World

Data Smog: Surviving the Information Glut by David Shenk New York: HarperEdge, 1997 213 pages, indexed ISBN 0-06-018701-8

Summary: David Shenk argues that there is too much information beating upon us from every corner of the information superhighway that we can't cope, and there must be a survival guide to protect humanity from the onslaught. Unfortunately, readers of his book are in no danger of suffering from information overload because Shenk provides evidence that is mostly anecdotal and without significant scientific and analytical basis to support his claim. As a result, Data Smog might better describe the smoke and mirrors assessment the author provides...full review

What Will Be: How the New World of Information Will Change Our Lives by Michael Dertouzos New York: HarperCollins, 1997 328 pages, index ISBN 0-06-251479-2

Summary: The other information age heavyweight at MIT, computer analyst Michael Dertouzo, provides an economic assessment of what the digital age will be based on his theory of the international marketplace and how that will affect humankind. Unfortunately, Dertouzos' prowness as a computer scientist is not equaled by his understanding of economic tenets, and his analysis fails to convince us of What Will Be...full review

The Highwaymen: Warriors of the Information Superhighway by Ken Auletta New York: Random House, 1997 332 pages, indexed ISBN 0-679-45738-0

Summary: New Yorker media critic Ken Auletta provides an anthology of his columns that discuss corporate battles about traditional media or how these companies may adapt to new media. Unfortunately, while the corporate boardrooms of the traditional media are important places to hang out, the new media have been happening outside of the traditional realm of the media. Yet the book includes only one article that has to do with the new media of the Internet and the World Wide Web. As a result, the book is disappointing in its focus on old rather than new media...full review

White House to Your House: Media and Politics in Virtual America by Edwin Diamond and Robert A. Silverman Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1997 168 pages, indexed ISBN 0-262-54086-X

Summary: Authors Edwin Diamond and Robert Silverman trace the national campaigns of 1992 and 1994 and how candidates stepped outside of the traditional media to use the morning talk shows and Larry King Live. In this revised edition, the authors provide an update on the 1996 campaign, the first online election. Although they discover that digital journalism is not quite ready for prime time, they see candidates in the year 2000 turning more and more to the Internet and the World Wide Web to reach individual voters. In their analysis, Diamond and Silverman serve up some well-posed questions about the choices candidates and the political culture as a whole will have to make when using the new media.full review

You can read the four-book review in its entirety .

Christopher Harper (harperc@is.nyu.edu) is special guest editor for this issue of CMC Magazine. He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Journalism at New York University in New York City. He has been a producer for the ABC News program "20/20," a Rome and Cairo Bureau Chief for ABC News, and reporter for Newsweek and the Associated Press.

Copyright © 1997 by Christopher Harper. All Rights Reserved.

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Data Smog: Surviving the Information Glut by David Shenk

What Will Be: How the New World of Information Will Change Our Lives by Michael Dertouzos

The Highwaymen: Warriors of the Information Superhighway by Ken Auletta

White House to Your House: Media and Politics in Virtual America by Edwin Diamond and Robert A. Silverman