slimick@unix.cis.pitt.edu (John C Slimick) (12/13/90)
Having just finished my first attempt at a social implications of computers course, I would like to share the student reaction to the reading list. I had 12 books placed on reserve at the library here, and each student was to read and write a review of three of the 12. Please keep in mind that we have a small library, and that this course seems to have caught our library unprepared. Some of these book are probably questionable, but they were what was available. -Long- Brown, Geoffrey, _The Information Game_ was read by three of the twelve students. All complained about the reading level (seems to be about first year grad school), but all thought that it was valuable. Burnham, David, _The Rise of the Computer State_ was read by three of the 12. Generally liked, and will probably be required reading next year. One student was really frightened by what he read in the book. Forester, Tom, _High-Tech Society_ was read by 2 of the twelve. No memorable comments. Hayes, Dennis, _Beyond the Silicon Curtain_ was read by 4 of the twelve. Some were impressed by the description of the workaholics in Silicon Valley; otherwise nothing notable. Naisbitt, John, _Megatrends_ was read by six of the twelve. A great favorite, because it is easy to read. The significant comment was that it was a good "quickly" outline of what we were talking about in the course. Noble, John, _Forces of Production_ was read by none. What a shame! I really liked it. Perrole, Judith, _Computers and Social Change_ was read by one of the twelve. Apparently textbooks turn off potential readers in this context. Perrow, Charles, _Normal Accidents_ was read by three of the twelve. One response was that this really had little to do with computers (true). Another was impressed with the arguments for the causes of accidents. All liked the horror stories, one, in particular, enjoying the "kitchen" sequence. Roszak, Theodore, _The Cult of Information_, was read by two of the twelve. The feeling was that it was not all that well written, especially the chapter on Descartes. Stoll, Clifford, _The Cuckoo's Egg_ was read by seven of the twelve, and was the favorite. Everyone who read this loved it, and all wanted it to be required reading. I am not quite as impressed, since Stoll could have put more perspective in it. For example, all the students picked up on the FBI's lack of interest, and I had to explain that what Stoll was asking for was the FBI to do domestic surveillance, most likely withou a warrant, over a $0.75 accounting error. I suspect that some of those FBI that Stoll was trying to convince had had their careers hurt by the public exposure of the FBI's domestic surveillance during Vietnam, and here was Stoll asking them to do it again... Toffler, Alvin, _The Third Wave_ was read by no one. Weiner, Norbert, _The Human Use of Human Beings_ was read by two of the twelve. I added this late. The two who read it felt that it really showed it's age, one student commenting that "Weiner's future was now in the past." john slimick university of pittsburgh at bradford slimick@unix.cis.pitt.edu