This annotated bibliography contains books which have been formative over the years or which have been particularly helpful in writing this report. Thus it is not intended as a general introductory guide to the literature available, but is instead more for those who want to follow up some particular aspect.
There is, of course, a difficulty over the dating of books written about technology. We have chosen books containing ideas that do not date, even though some of the illustrations might be old. {Note by the webmaster: unfortunately some of there books are out of print, but should be obtainable through libraries}
Perhaps the most substantive Christian thinking on technology can be found in Responsible Technology, edited by Stephen V. Monsma (Eerdmans, 1986). This is a substantial book intended for the general reader. Some familiarity with sociological language would help in reading it.
A very readable introduction to general technological issues is Human Future? Living as Christians in a Hi-tech World, by Alan Jiggins (Scripture Union, 1988).
The trouble with most books on computers is that they confuse computers, and what they can do, with the technology itself. The technology, what computers look like, what disks and keyboards look like, and how they work and so on is certainly both useful and fascinating, but these are not the issues raised in this book! An excellent introductory book to computers and what they mean is Computer Science Unplugged: Off-line Activities and Games for All Ages, by Tim Bell, Ian Witten and Mike Fellows. The activities are suitable for people of all ages and backgrounds and you don't need a computer to read the book. Full details of the book are available from its web site: http://unplugged.canterbury.ac.nz. {European Mirror site here}
Cyberspace for Beginners, by Joanna Buick and Zoran Jevtic (Icon Books, 1999) is a useful introduction at a light-hearted level.
For a general introduction on what computers can and cannot do, see Douglas R. Hofstader's Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid (Penguin, 1979). This is a classic book interleaving art, music, literature and computing, that could be recommended whole-heartedly to computer enthusiasts who want to get into something deeper. It is not an easy book.
On its fiftieth anniversary, the Association for Computing Machinery (the world's largest computer society) collected articles looking towards the future of computers. These articles are wide-ranging, and show a considerable concern for social issues. The message is: the scientific, social and economic impact of computers is only just beginning to be felt. Beyond Calculation: The Next Fifty Years of Computing, edited by Peter J. Denning and Robert Metcalf (Springer-Verlag, 1998).
Two books that contain short chapters covering a wide range of issues about IT and cyberspace are: The Information Society: Evolving Landscapes, edited by Jacques Berleur, Andrew Clement, R. Sizer and D. Whitehouse (Springer-Verlag, 1990) and Computerization and Controversy; Value Conflicts and Social Choices, edited by Charles Dunlop and Rob Kling (Academic Press, 1991).
For anyone considering practical issues of setting up a virtual community, reading up on the Blacksburg Electronic Village project is essential - this is the major wired local community in the United States. The book gives lots of food for thought and practical recommendations, technical and social. Community Networks: Lessons from Blacksburg, edited by Andrew M. Cohill and Andrea L. Kavanaugh (Artech House, 1997).
Is cyberspace new - or a continuation of previous development? One book that has been particularly illuminating is Becoming Virtual: Reality in the Digital Age, by Pierre Levy (Plenum, 1998). But be warned: this is written in the French philosophical tradition!
People responding to computer interaction as though it were reality - the
so-called media equation - is an idea that is developed in The
Media Equation, by Byron Reeves and Clifford Nass (Cambridge University
Press, 1996).
The Christian sociologist David Lyon has written widely on the increasing surveillance of people as they go about their everyday lives, beginning in his Silicon Society (Lion Publishing, 1986) and continuing with The Electronic Age: The Rise of the Surveillance Society (Polity Press, 1994).
The Community Affairs Board of the Irish Council of Churches undertook a close look at the nature of privacy. Their small pamphlet, at times quite philosophical, but always readily accessible, is undated and highly recommended: A Study on Privacy with Special Reference to Computers, Technical Surveillance and the Media.
How do the new communications affect individuals? Sherry Turkel is a clinical psychologist, who examines what computers can do to our inner lives in Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1996).
A very good introduction to computer ethics in general is the short and clear textbook by Deborah Johnson, Computer Ethics, second edition (Prentice Hall, 1994).
A good primer on the Internet itself is Howard Rheingold's The Virtual Community (Minerva, 1995). This book emphasizes the human impact, and explains the new technological frontier and what it does for communities.
For how and why computers and communications work, and what they may achieve, building on Rheingold, and explaining why we're only just beginning, read Being Digital, by Nicholas Nigroponte (Coronet Books, 1995).
A good explanation of some of the new technical possibilities, particularly for business (electronic commerce), is Daniel C. Lynch and Leslie Lundquist's Digital Money (John Wiley, 1996). The book explains the new ideas of public key cryptography and applications, such as in writing cheques.
A detailed analysis of what might be considered professional for an information expert is found in Ethics of Information Management, edited by Richard O. Mason, Florence M. Mason and Mary J. Culnan (Sage, 1995).
Computers are very successful, we are told, but all is not well because they are hard to use - or, at least, they are harder to use than they need be. The classic analysis of the problem is Tom Landauer's book, which concludes that successful use of computers must be based in human needs: The Trouble with Computers (MIT Press, 1995).
Joseph Weizenbaum's Computer
Power and Human Reason (Penguin Books, 1993), was the classic 'wake-up
call' to computer experts to consider ethical issues, and raises 'objectively'
many human issues that were being ignored.
There is a vast literature on the computer, thinking and the brain, of which the most accessible in the Christian tradition is God and the Mind Machine: Computers, Artificial Intelligence and the Human Soul, by John Puddefoot (SPCK, 1996).
On how minds, brains and computers relate, see Philip Johnson-Laird, The Computer and the Mind, second edition (Fontana Press, 1993), and Roger Penrose with Abner Shimony, Nancy Cartwright and Stephen Hawking, The Large, the Small and the Human Mind (Cambridge University Press, 1997) (see, for example, Chapter 3, Physics and the Mind).