books

Topic:	books (1 of 9), Read 113 times
Conf:	Writing Workshop
From:	Bernard Cohen (bernard.cohen@ntu.ac.uk)
Date:	05 July 1999 10:10 AM

This topic is for posting reviews and discussions of non-fiction and fiction books concerning online culture. In general, please keep reviews to about 200 words. If you'd like to post longer articles, post summaries here and a link to the full article on your site.
Bernard Cohen
writer in residence
trAce online writing community
http://trace.ntu.ac.uk/writers/cohen
http://www.hermes.net.au/bernard

Topic:	books (2 of 9), Read 82 times
Conf:	Writing Workshop
From:	Margaret Penfold (margaret@webleicester.co.uk)
Date:	10 July 1999 07:25 PM

This is more a message than a review. The first edition of
"Wired Style -Principles of English Usage in the Digital Age from the Editors of Wired"
has been remaindered.
I bought my copy in Leicester, UK for £2, a reduction of £10. I am sure if you looked in your local bargain bookshop you would find a similarly reduced copy.

What is the book about?
It starts off by citing examples of the subjective style the authors approve of, then intersperses handy hints on writing style with IT glossaries, advice on dealing with acronyms in a multilingual world, descriptions of institutions, legal advice and conventional courtesies, in fact a whole mish-mash of useful tips for the on-line journalist.
The authors are careful to say that on-line style is continually evolving, especially at www.wiredstyle.com

Regards,Margaret

Topic:	books (3 of 9), Read 84 times
Conf:	Writing Workshop
From:	Alan Sondheim (sondheim@panix.com)
Date:	12 July 1999 07:05 AM

One of the greatest disservices to online culture, by virtue of its influence - Digerati, Encounters with the Cyber Elite - with all its implications of conoisseurship, aristocracy, labeling ("The Coyote: John Perry Barlow," "The Genius: W. Daniel Hillis") - I've known John Brockman (ed.) well at times - his hatred for the problematic, abject, continental (read any any any) critique... This opens the lid, like Net.Gain and others, for corporate ravishing through the back door. & All these people are quoted in relation to each other, cross-talking, Mike Davis' walled communities all over again, online...

http://www.anu.edu.au/english/internet_txt

Topic:	books (4 of 9), Read 82 times
Conf:	Writing Workshop
From:	Bernard Cohen (bernard.cohen@ntu.ac.uk)
Date:	12 July 1999 11:02 AM

Thanks very much, Margaret and Alan, for the information and critique.
re Digerati, I think the ability of the corporations (old and new) to fence off large parts of cyberspace -- or to herd new users into small, corporatised online spaces and declare "this is cyberspace!" -- is one of the real issues in the copyright/left debate, too.
Wired Style was published by Hardwired, and is probably still in print in Australia (Gleeboooks have it at $A39.95).
Digerati is published by Orion Books.
Bernard Cohen
writer in residence
trAce online writing community
http://trace.ntu.ac.uk/writers/cohen
http://www.hermes.net.au/bernard

Topic:	Bots by Andrew Leonard (5 of 9), Read 68 times
Conf:	Writing Workshop
From:	Bernard Cohen (bernard.cohen@ntu.ac.uk)
Date:	21 July 1999 11:36 AM

Andrew Leonard, Bots: The Origin of New Species , Hardwired, San Francisco 1997 ISBN 1888869054 h/c $21.95 (US), £14.99 (UK)

"In every neighborhood of the Net," writes Andrew Leonard, "bots either lurk behind the scenes or demand attention, front and center... Bots are the first indigenous species of cyberspace, a class of creatures dazzling in its infinite variety."

Bots is a pop history of the uses of cyberspatial robots. It's a journalist's book, with the well-crafted earmarks of interwoven hook and content, and I read and enjoyed the book as I would (say) an extended feature article from Vanity Fair or Harpers.

The hooks are tales of robotic bumblings or sabotage, potential corporate espionage or (search engine) AltaVista’s lean, hungry, smart, fast and robust webspider, "the little robot [which] arguably did more to transform how the corporate world perceived the web than any other entity had... Scooter showed how bots could mint money."

Leonard intersperses these gripping (and sometimes anticlimactic) intros with a kind of quasi-history of internet uses of bots (or, as Leonard admits, programs with an element of botlike behaviour — no doubt it was easy to decide that "bot" was a more likely crowd-puller than, say, "Learning Information Retrieval Agent").

The main body of the book comprises easily digestible technical information; interviews with well-handled hackers, serious AI researchers and many in between; and slightly cutesy personal interludes.

I say quasi-history because the book is part-organised by chronology, part by environment (MOOs, MUDs, IRCs, WWW), and reads as much like a series of articles as a coherent single book. This is not a fatal criticism, but neither is Bots a reference volume.

That said, Bots' eight-page bibliography reflects the book’s ambition: Darwin, Stephen Jay Gould, Balabanovic and Shoham’s "Learning Information Retrieval Agents: Experiments with Automated Browsing" and many interesting URLs. Also, a possibly useful glossary.

Bernard Cohen
writer in residence
trAce online writing community
http://trace.ntu.ac.uk/writers/cohen
http://www.hermes.net.au/bernard

Topic:	Writing for Multimedia by Timothy Garrand (6 of 9), Read 74 times
Conf:	Writing Workshop
From:	Bernard Cohen (bernard.cohen@ntu.ac.uk)
Date:	29 July 1999 11:23 AM

Timothy Garrand, Writing for Multimedia, Focal Press, Newton MA, 1997

Banal and, I'm pretty sure, useless. if you've thought about multimedia you probably would have got this far:

Unlike a print writer who can focus on honing skills with the written word, or the screenwriter who can specialize in communicating with images, the writer of multimedia must be expert in a variety of techniques: writing to be read (journalism, poetry, copywriting), writing to be heard (radio, narration) and writing to be seen (presentations, film/video). This is because multimedia can easily incorporate many types of media in a single production or even a single screen, and multimedia can manipulate these media in ways not before possible.

Garrand suggests flowcharts. CD-ROM included, with some software demos.

Bernard Cohen
writer in residence
trAce online writing community
http://trace.ntu.ac.uk/writers/cohen
http://www.hermes.net.au/bernard

Topic:	Writing for Multimedia by Timothy Garrand (7 of 9), Read 76 times
Conf:	Writing Workshop
From:	Sue Thomas (sue.thomas@dial.pipex.com)
Date:	30 July 1999 10:32 AM

Well Bernard, as the person who chose this as the set text for a course I taught last year, I feel I must defend it!

The fact is that although it is very simplistic, it is at the right level for those just entering the subject. It's certainly not operating on the same intellectual level as Bots, but neither does it intend to. It's just a basic teaching text and as such I found it pretty useful and I hope my students did too!

Sue

http://trace.ntu.ac.uk/suethomas/

Topic:	Writing for Multimedia by Timothy Garrand (8 of 9), Read 81 times
Conf:	Writing Workshop
From:	Bernard Cohen (bernard.cohen@ntu.ac.uk)
Date:	30 July 1999 10:37 AM

Sue,
I stand rebuked! I'd be interested to know how you used it, or which parts you found informative.

Bernard Cohen
writer in residence
trAce online writing community
http://trace.ntu.ac.uk/writers/cohen
http://www.hermes.net.au/bernard

Topic:	Writing for Multimedia by Timothy Garrand (9 of 9), Read 80 times
Conf:	Writing Workshop
From:	Sue Thomas (sue.thomas@dial.pipex.com)
Date:	30 July 1999 11:22 AM

Bernard
I will certainly let you know when I have a moment :)
sue

http://trace.ntu.ac.uk/suethomas/