Supercomputers Government Plans Policies Background Paper

This book, first published in 1990, analyses how to train end-users to search with both natural language and controlled vocabularies in the sciences, describes a planning assessment for implementing end-user searching in a sci-tech organization, examines how the scientists at a major industrial research organization have begun to do more online searching with the encouragement of the information center, and explores the proactive role that medical libraries have taken in training health care professionals to search MEDLINE.

This is a book about the politics and history of the Internet. The Internet has been in existence for over fifty years. The way we live our lives has changed considerably because of this new medium. As the Internet has become increasingly popular, it has been drawn into age-old struggles over censorship and freedom of expression. It has played an increasing role in commerce, and controversies have erupted over privacy, security, consumer rights, intellectual property rights, taxation, and other matters. With the rise of Internet-connected smartphones, the Internet has become part of daily life for billions of people. One major theme explored in this book is the contrast between the dream and the reality of the Internet. Many of the creators of the Internet shared a vision of building a system that would empower individuals anywhere in the world to share their knowledge and creativity. This profoundly democratic dream came out of an age in which many pre-existing power structures were being questioned. This book argues that the Internet has actually resulted in the creation of new centers of power and influence, many of which are anti-democratic.