The book entitled Living in a Networked World was authored, compiled and edited by Geisberger and Broy in 2015. The book is a compilation of studies from various resources, which makes it reliable. Both Geisberger and Broy are great authors whose contribution in the research of communication and the internet has been immense. They have written books and publications that help people to understand the relationship between communication and internet technology. By using their in-depth knowledge in computer science, they have added a substantial value to the internet community. The book’s content revolves around the discovery of the internet back in the 1960s and its evolution. After years of research and development aimed at improving this means of communication, innovation led to the creation of the World-Wide Web (Geisberger & Broy, 2015). On the flip side, the internet has presented many challenges such as privacy concerns, freedom of speech, piracy, and hacking among others. Therefore, Geisberger and Broy have excellently explored how the internet has impacted communication and human life in general because they have outlined the origin of the World Wide Web and its influence on the online community.
You can ask us “write my book report” on this or any other topic at Essay-Online-Shop.com. Don’t waste your time, order now!
The Book Summary
The book has predominately explained how the internet has changed the way people communicate. In this work, the authors intend to inform their readers about the history of the internet, how it has revolutionized communication, along with its detriments and benefits. Their audience encompasses all the internet community members. The researchers start by detailing the discovery of the internet, as well as commitment, research and development plans that were devised to revolutionize the web. As they reckon, the invention of electronic gadgets such as the computer gave room for further progress. Computers became even more useful when the internet was created. Thus, the public needed to find others ways of data dissemination and new means of collaboration. Ideally, this great innovation ensured fast distribution of information irrespective of the location of an individual. A lot of research and commitment were emphasized to advance the information infrastructure. Once this goal was achieved, it started influencing commercialization, operation, and management along with the social aspect of human life. With time, the concept of computer networking became entirely ingrained in the lives of many people. However, the general internet concept appeared at the time when a text was the only mode of communication. At the initial stages, there were only a few developments, and information dissemination was slow due to low bandwidth. Nevertheless, the developers found ways to increase the bandwidth that in turn induced the creation of the World-Wide Web, which provided more avenues for communication. After this discovery, one could use video chatting, images, and audios to pass information from one person to another. All these improvements of the internet were a significant boost to the users.
On the other hand, Geisberger and Broy (2015) acknowledge that the internet has its drawbacks as well. At first, it was difficult to realize that the internet was going to cause some harm to the community. As the internet got more advanced, individuals started to understand how to abuse it. However, this does not mean that these challenges cannot be properly addressed. Hence, Geisberger and Broy (2015) assert that people should entirely manage the process of evolution and change. Moreover, privacy concerns have risen incredibly in this digital era. The authors explain how the internet has altered the way of sharing information. In this regard, the problem is that when personal information provided via the internet is publicly shared, this might prompt hackers to misuse such data. Thus, hackers might engage in identity theft and commit serious crimes through the internet. Because of these unfortunate occasions, the internet technology offers anonymity and privacy. Geisberger and Broy (2015) reveal that internet community members use encryption for privacy while Tor is a tool utilized for anonymity. Another challenge is the freedom of speech. The internet is structured in a way that every person is given equal opportunities to express his/her opinion. Sometimes, the public abuse this freedom of expression offered by the internet to engage in unfair scorns. Additionally, others are involved in piracy activities since the internet allows individuals to collaborate. Therefore, intellectual property rights are breached. Besides, it has become hard for software innovators to benefit from their innovations. In this respect, Geisberger and Broy (2015) admit that all these problems are possible to be solved if proper regulations and prototypes are introduced.
Analysis and Evaluation
Geisberger and Broy’s book is of great use to the modern society. In particular, the internet community members find a significant advantage when reading this work. The authors intend to inform their target audience about how to turn the internet to their own advantage and how to conduct themselves when they resort to this technology. Their detailed study starts by elaborating the history of the internet. The researchers did an excellent job to explain how the internet appeared back in the 1960s (Wilsdon, 2014). The sole purpose of research and development in this area was to discover new means of communication, which would easily connect the entire world. For instance, people can now use different online media platforms to transfer data from different parts of the world. Nonetheless, this was not the case before the invention of this critical information infrastructure. Furthermore, Geisberger and Broy (2015) admit that the history of the internet is extensive and uncover that it should be explored from the perspective of community, organization, and technology, the point with which I heartily agree. Notwithstanding, it is not possible to outline the history of the internet without examining the key aspects that were instrumental in its advancement.
Geisberger and Broy (2015) claim that the internet has already revolutionized communication. At the initial stages, people could only use text to communicate over the internet as the authors documented. However, further developments were done until the World-Wide Web was established. The discovery enabled video chatting, audio communication, and image sharing. The main contributing factor was the augmented bandwidth, which allowed faster transmission of data from one location to another. For example, the period before the creation of increased bandwidth presented a condition whereby it would take a lot of time to download a video. Moreover, there was a need to improve the efficiency of systems and connection that resulted in more in-depth research. The latter would then lead to the invention of the World-Wide Web (Borgman, 2015). As a consequence, the developers found new ways of communication, which boosted commercialization and socialization. I agree with the authors’ claim and justification of how the internet has revolutionized communication. It is worth mentioning that they use an objective language that is clear to their readers. Their ideas are coherent, comprehensive and have valid evidence to convince the target audience, as the researchers explain the transition in detail.
Despite only praising the effects of the internet on the society, Geisberger and Broy (2015) also see drawbacks in this innovation. Their concerns revolve around data gathering, anonymity, and privacy. In this regard, the internet influences the way of sharing personal information. Whenever one shares their data with particular individuals or organizations via the internet, they want their privacy to be protected. Many people are aware that hackers can get the information that are supposed to be private and share them publicly. Additionally, Geisberger and Broy (2015) reveal that the United States legal framework allows personal information to be shared publicly only when the actual owner gives his/her consent. Therefore, the internet technology is designed to offer anonymity and privacy. I agree with their statement in this case. For example, if someone is signing up on different websites, he/she is required to think about strong encryption since the latter is supposed to guarantee privacy (Borgman, 2015). Besides, Tor is a tool that is used to offer anonymity. If these tools are employed as explained in the book, it will prevent hackers from accessing private information. Nowadays, hackers are becoming smarter than ever, and internet developers will need to introduce new effective measures of privacy protection.
Finally, their book covers the concepts of freedom of speech, sharing and collaboration. The internet provides equal opportunities for all people to exercise their freedom of speech. They are free to share materials through the internet. Nevertheless, some individuals abuse these freedoms. For example, one may start insulting and trolling others or even engage in cyber-crimes. Governments in different countries face lots of challenges in their attempts to censor this freedom. As Geisberger and Broy (2015) recommend, the utilization of different intermediaries such as internet service providers and search engines can help to control the way in which the public enjoy the freedom of speech. The government can work in collaboration with these intermediaries to discourage unethical and illegal behaviors. In this case, the authors did well to offer the only practical solution to the wrong use of the internet. Therefore, the society have to understand that they should show respect to others even on the social media platforms. Regarding sharing and collaboration of people from various parts of the world, there is a need to provide a mechanism that will allow the protection of ownership rights by fighting piracy (Wilsdon, 2014). For instance, modern internet users share software, files and ideas that are supposed to be protected by patent rights. I agree with the authors that there are no proper regulations and algorithms to combat the vice. Given such a condition, more research and development of the internet are crucial factors to sanitize the media.
Conclusion
To conclude, Geisberger and Broy (2015) present an excellent explanation regarding the invention of the internet and its influence on online users. They have outlined both pros and cons of the World Wide Web to the modern generation. According to the researchers, people should be happy that the internet has ensured global networking. With the power of computer networking, it is possible to disseminate information to different parts of the globe. They acknowledge that commitment, research and development were essential to achieving this tremendous universal milestone. Due to the innovation of the internet, humans have changed their modes of operation and management, especially in many companies. Commercial activities have been enhanced worldwide due to a quick method of communication. Furthermore, the public can socialize using different social media groups, which are found all over the internet. However, the society have to learn how to manage change. The World Wide Web is an excellent invention, but certain individuals have substantially abused it. Some people steal the private information that does not belong to them to commit cyber-crimes. Others access online platforms to express their freedom of speech in the wrong way. In reality, many ethical and legal concerns surround the issue of the internet. Therefore, Geisberger and Broy (2015) want their target audience to understand the scope of the World Wide Web and use it productively.
