Information Ecologies Using Technology with Heart

by Nardi, Bonnie A.; O'Day, Vicki

• ISBN13: 9780262640428
• ISBN10: 0262640422
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-02-28
• Publisher: The MIT Press
• More Book Details

Summary

The common rhetoric about technology falls into two extreme categories: uncritical acceptance or blanket rejection. Claiming a middle ground, Bonnie Nardi and Vicki O'Day call for responsible, informed engagement with technology in local settings, which they call information ecologies. An information ecology is a system of people, practices, technologies, and values in a local environment. Nardi and O'Day encourage the reader to become more aware of the ways people and technology are interrelated. They draw on their empirical research in offices, libraries, schools, and hospitals to show how people can engage their own values and commitments while using technology.

Author Biography

Bonnie A. Nardi is Professor of Informatics in the Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences at the University of California, Irvine, and Cofounder of Center for Research in Sustainability, Collapse-preparedness, and Information Technology there. She is the coauthor of Acting with Technology (MIT Press).

Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgments
Information Ecologies: Concepts and Reflections	p. 1
Rotwang the Inventor	p. 3
Framing Conversations about Technology	p. 13
A Matter of Metaphor: Technology as Tool, Text, System, Ecology	p. 25
Information Ecologies	p. 49
Values and Technology	p. 59
How to Evolve Information Ecologies	p. 65
Case Studies	p. 77
Librarians: A Keystone Species	p. 79
Wolf, Batgirl, and Starlight: Finding a Real Community in a Virtual World	p. 105
Cultivating Gardeners: The Importance of Homegrown Expertise	p. 139
Digital Photography at Lincoln High School	p. 153
A Dysfunctional Ecology: Privacy Issues at a Teaching Hospital	p. 169
Diversity on the Internet	p. 185
Conclusion	p. 209
Notes	p. 217
Index	p. 227
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