Because Internet by Gretchen McCulloch

BECAUSE INTERNET by Gretchen McCulloch is a unique text that deals with fluidity of language and changes in meaning, especially as we continue to produce more informal, internet-based writing. I am looking forward to sending more time with this text, reflecting, for example, on McCulloch’s comments about differences in users: “your experience of the internet and the language therein is shaped by who you were and who else was around at the time that you joined.” After a discussion of the founding population (often more “techy” and users of topic-based tools like Bulletin Board Systems, forums, or listservs), she describes the next wave as split between “Full Internet People” and “Semi Internet People,” differentiated by what they were doing on the internet (daily instant messaging and eventual Facebook users vs. forwarding funny emails). She describes a third wave, calling some “Post Internet People” who are “socially influenced by the internet regardless of their own level of use.” Much more to think about here; subsequent chapters cover emojis and memes. With roughly twenty percent of this text devoted to notes and index, McCulloch also references many researchers like dana boyd (speaker and author of It’s Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens) and states that the purpose of this new book is “to provide a snapshot of a particular era and a lens that we can use to look at future changes.” 

As a linguist and pattern-seeker, McCulloch would undoubtedly be interested in the graphic detail shown about “Ageing on Facebook” and “Teenage Wasteland” recently in The Economist. Taking that a step further, she (and our students) might want to look at the NPR video on how moods spread and other non-verbal clues.  BECAUSE INTERNET was just named a Wired magazine "must read" and also reviewed in The Economist and by in Jennifer Szalai in the New York Times.  

Deviced! and How the Internet Happened

 DEVICED! is written by Doreen Dodgen-Magee who does an excellent job of discussing “Balancing Life and Technology in a Digital World.”  Dodgen-Magee is a psychologist with over twenty-five years of experience and although she is definitely not anti-technology, she does encourage reflection on reducing our dependence and interaction with devices. Dodgen-Magee strongly discourages binary thinking (i.e., tech is all good or all bad) and notes that “The digital world, when explored in its complexity, opens a door for us to experience and learn more about the world of ideas, people and ultimately, ourselves.” In Part 1 she cites numerous studies and discusses “How Devices Are Impacting Us.” Subsequent sections of DEVICED! deal with establishing a “Grounded Self” and “Finding a New Balance.” I especially liked the activities which she suggests such as the “Ten (RICH) Minutes a Day” exercise because they are simple and do-able.  I was fortunate to receive an advance reader copy of this text in digital form and am looking forward to spending more time with the print version so as to better interact with the Appendix which includes additional questions for exploration (e.g., How might I create and celebrate opportunities for boredom?), the Technology Pyramid Worksheet, and an extensive list of other recommended activities (including board games grouped by readers’ interest in the arts, logic, etc.) and resources; a bibliography and index are also provided. For example, I am curious to read more about how she suggests grouping technologies that connect, educate, entertain or hurt – I wonder if our students would agree with those categorizations? DEVICED! is a great starting point for observation and assessment as we continue our district-wide strategic planning, particularly with respect to emotional well-being and technology evaluation.   

If you are at all interested in the history of the internet, be sure to have a look at HOW THE INTERNET HAPPENED by Brian McCullough, host of the Internet History Podcast.  He subtitles his text “From Netscape to the iPhone” and details events (e.g., dot.com bubble) that occurred between the late 1990s and 2008. In his entertaining and informative recap, McCullough provides plenty of background on key players and influencers (e.g., Bill Gates and Steve Jobs) and companies (e.g., Yahoo, AOL, Amazon), many of whom will be familiar names for most readers. Also, he tends to divide his chapters into discussions of evolving services (e.g., eBay, iTunes) in response to changing consumer expectations (trust in others, mixing music). Hopefully, McCullough will pick up the story again after the birth of the iPhone and the rising popularity of blogs in 2008 as another decade of innovation is waiting to be chronicled.

HOW THE INTERNET HAPPENED received starred reviews from both Kirkus and Library Journal and I believe it will appeal particularly to readers who can recall the early internet days and marvel over the progress from dial-up connections to high speed wireless.  

Update: Contrast this with the Dec. 26th New York Magazine article on “How Much of the Internet is Fake” where Max Read contends “What’s gone from the internet, after all, isn’t “truth,” but trust: the sense that the people and things we encounter are what they represent themselves to be.”

A World without "Whom" by Emmy Favilla

A WORLD WITHOUT "WHOM" by Emmy J. Favilla is subtitled “The Essential Guide to Language in the BuzzFeed Age.” Favilla, who is BuzzFeed’s Copy Chief, should know and she certainly provides an entertaining look at rules and etiquette with respect to language.  Her text describes the evolution of the guide and reasons behind many of the choices. Plus, there are plenty of tweets, emojis, and lists, including, for example, almost 4 pages filled with definitions of British swearwords. The international perspective adds a welcome note and reinforces the idea that language is ever evolving.  There is even a whole chapter on How Not to Be a Jerk (when writing about sensitive topics). Or how about the “old-timey words you need to start using again” like horsefeathers, flapdoodle and bafflegab?

 

Upbeat and relaxed, A WORLD WITHOUT "WHOM" will make you laugh and teach you quite a bit.  It has four appendices (includes BuzzFeed Style Guide Word Lists for the US and the UK), extensive notes, additional quizzes and an index to improve use-ability (see several pages on proper use of hyphens… and ellipses). Enjoy!