Heidi posts a collection of links that track messianic expectation (of sorts) around Apple’s iPhone. See When Religion Meets New Media: IPhone = Jesus Phone?!?.
Reminds me of this from Kevin Kelly in his article, “The Third Culture.” (Science 279 (1998): 992-993.):
One would expect to see frenzied, messianic attempts to make stuff, to have creation race ahead of understanding, and this we see already. In the emerging nerd culture a question is framed so that the answer will usually be a new technology.
Also, on the cyberspace front a three books I’ve added to my “to read” list:
- Gaming Lives in the Twenty-First Century: Literate Connections by Cynthia L. Selfe and Gail E. Hawisher (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007). The chapters “Dungeons, Dragons, and Discretion: A Gateway to Gaming, Technology, and Literacy” and “Gaming and Spirituality”.
- Cyberspace Romance: The Psychology of Online Relationships by Monica T. Whitty and Adrian N. Carr (Palgrave Macmillan, 2006).
- Fans, Bloggers, and Gamers: Exploring Participatory Culture by Henry Jenkins (NYU Press, 2006).
Mark Nichols
Hi Stephen, add Andrew Keen’s “The cult of the amateur”. It’s about Web 2.0, about 200 pages and a quick read.
Stephen
Heard it reviewed on the radio in the last week.
http://podcast.radionz.co.nz/ntn/ntn-20070809-1035-Book_Review-064.mp3
http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/national/ntn/design_-_tommy_honey