Marx @ 2000

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Paul Anderson

"Preface The Web is no longer the sole preserve of computer science. Web 2.0 services have imbued the Web as a technical infrastructure with the imprint of human behaviour, and this has consequently attracted attention from many new fields of study including business studies, economics, information science, law, media studies, philosophy, psychology, social informatics and sociology. In fact, to understand the implications of Web 2.0, an interdisciplinary approach is needed, and in writing this book I have been influenced by Web science--a new academic discipline that studies the Web as a large, complex, engineered environment and the impact it has on society. The structure of this book is based on the iceberg model that I initially developed in 2007 as a way of thinking about Web 2.0. I have since elaborated on this and included summaries of important research areas from many different disciplines, which have been brought together as themes. To finish off, I have included a chapter on the future that both draws on the ideas presented earlier in the book and challenges readers to apply them based on what they have learned. Readership The book is aimed at an international audience, interested in forming a deeper understanding of what Web 2.0 might be and how it could develop in the future. Although it is an academic textbook, it has been written in an accessible style and parts of it can be used at an introductory undergraduate level with readers from many different backgrounds who have little knowledge of computing. In addition, parts of the book will push beyond the levels of expertise of such readers to address both computer science undergraduates and post-graduate research students, who ought to find the literature reviews in Section II to be"--

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James Newman

Despite record sales and an ever-growing global industry, the simple fact is that videogames are disappearing. Most obviously, the physical deterioration of discs, cartridges, consoles and controllers means that the data and devices will crumble to dust and eventually will be lost forever. However, there is more to the disappearance of videogames than plastic corrosion and bit rot. Best Before examines how the videogames industry's retail, publishing, technology design, advertising and marketing practices actively produce obsolescence, wearing out and retiring old games to make way for the always new, just out of reach, 'coming soon' title and 'next generation' platform. Set against the context of material deterioration and the discursive production of obsolescence, Best Before examines the conceptual and practical challenges faced within the nascent field of game preservation. Understanding videogames as rich, complex and mutable texts and experiences that are supported and sustained by cultures of gameplay and fandom, Best Before considers how - and even whether - we might preserve and present games for future generations. -- From publisher.

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Tuomasi Fulideman zhu

When scholars write the history of the world twenty years from now, what will they say was the most crucial development at the dawn of the 21st century--the attacks of 9/11, or the convergence of technology and events that allowed India, China, and so many other countries to become part of the global supply chain for services and manufacturing, creating an explosion of wealth in the middle classes of the world's two biggest nations, and giving them a huge new stake in the success of globalization? And with this "flattening" of the globe, has the world gotten too small and too fast for human beings and their political systems to adjust in a stable manner? Friedman explains how the flattening of the world happened; what it means to countries, companies, communities, and individuals; and how governments and societies can, and must, adapt.

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Alan Ebenstein, William Ebenstein, Edwin Fogelman

Discusses the historical background, psychological roots, strengths, weaknesses, practices, evolution, and future of these political systems.