Rating: 
Summary: First Heartbeat of the CyberEcology
Review: "Data Smog" presents the good, the bad, and the ugly of what the Information Age is all about. David Shenk does a good job describing the problem and effects of information overload. He clearly shows how information overload is creating more confusion, more stress, and decreased attention. A large portion of the "Data Smog" focuses on the effects of technology on politics. Some of the ideas and suggestions for keeping information at bay seem vague or inappropriate, especially when it comes to his suggestions for the role of government. But I think, "Data Smog" is more important book than most people will realize. David Shenk makes a very good case on how we should tighten up discipline of information intake or else have our lives consumed by media. Although his solutions, which are ways to reduce data overload, sounds too simplistic. Nevertheless, please keep a copy of "Data Smog" close to your computer when you need a dose of common sense and to give some peace to your overloaded brain.
Rating:
Summary: First Heartbeat of the CyberEcology
Review: "Data Smog" presents the good, the bad, and the ugly of what the Information Age is all about. David Shenk does a good job describing the problem and effects of information overload. He clearly shows how information overload is creating more confusion, more stress, and decreased attention. A large portion of the "Data Smog" focuses on the effects of technology on politics. Some of the ideas and suggestions for keeping information at bay seem vague or inappropriate, especially when it comes to his suggestions for the role of government. But I think, "Data Smog" is more important book than most people will realize. David Shenk makes a very good case on how we should tighten up discipline of information intake or else have our lives consumed by media. Although his solutions, which are ways to reduce data overload, sounds too simplistic. Nevertheless, please keep a copy of "Data Smog" close to your computer when you need a dose of common sense and to give some peace to your overloaded brain.
Rating:
Summary: Can we see through the Data Smog?
Review: A linear picture at the beginning of the book caught my attention first: a lonely man climbed on his horse in front of beautiful scenery. Under the picture, are the words as following: "You must be proud of yourself," said the professor. "No," replied Mr.Mouche. "Still, you horse goes exactly where you want it to go," said the professor. "That's because I always want to go exactly where the horse wants to go," replied Mr.Mouche. ----Jean-Luc Coudray That's the way David Shenk begins his book. Following is the thirteen laws of Data Smog concluded from the whole book. Before reading the whole content, I was attracted by the condensed words and sharp meaning in the first part of book. Reader likes to be treated as wise as the author, David Shenk is really a wisest author. As a Neo-Luddite, Shenk shows us his unique viewpoint toward the information age detailly. In his first law of Data Smog, He says, the information, once rare and cherished like Caviar, is now plentiful and taken for granted like potatoes. He finds the glut of information is becoming the data smog scattered into every corner of our living sphere, "It crowed out quiet moments, spoils conversation, literature, and even entertainment. The date smog thwarts skepticism, rendering less sophisticated as consumers and citizens, it stresses us out......". To explain his ideas clearly, Shenk divided his topics into four sections. In the first three parts, Shenk talks about many disservice effects the information age brings about through historic, culture, social and political perspectives. Such as Info-Biological Inadequacy Syndrome (A form of anxiety brought on when a person hope to absorb information at a rate faster than the level that hard-wired into human DNA back in the Paleolithic Era); the techno-utopian dream; "upgrade" pitfalls; a flood of statistics; hyper-specialization (niche marketing); Dataveillance; Cyber-Republicans. In the fourth part, Shenk design a set of prescriptions for readers who are trapped into the data smog: Be you own editor, be your own filter, simplify and de-nichify. As a media scholar writing for Wired, Harper's, the New Republic, the New York Times, Shenk also has used Macintoshes for nearly one-decade years. With a skillful mixture of those personal experience, firsthand reports, broad knowledge background, and proper analysis, Shenk surely gives us a deeper impression and more convincible effect to understand the negative consequences that every technology has. Shend is not a totally Luddite, because he also prescribes several antidotes for us which seem we need not go back to a place without electricity again. However, some suggestions he gives seem too weak and unfeasible to resolve fundamental problems we face. For example, I cannot give up using up-grade software because "I/software companies always want to go exactly where the information technology want to go". Before ending this book review, I naturally have faced the same challenges, which makes for a terrific irony: I'm recommending a book about information glut, wishing everyone can see through the data smog effectively, but I'm also a participant making the data smog more dense than before.
Rating: 
Summary: Overwhelmed by Information? This book might help
Review: Are we drowning in a sea of information? Blinded by a smog of data? That's Shenk's premise, and I have to admit I'm in somewhat of an agreement with him. It's either agree with him, or admit that I'm getting old and can't keep up anymore. We are of an age, however--he relates how his first computer was a Macintosh in 1984. He talks about becoming involved in the early days of digital communication (back then, there was Compu$erve, the $ource, and local BBSes). He went on the reporting route, while I took the technology route. Now we both feel surrounded by too much stuff, data being the prime component. Shenk blames it on the new medium, whereas I think that maybe it is the nature of our general society. Don't get me wrong. I love data. Databases are your friend, and they've certainly been mine, as I make my living off maintaining them, writing interfaces for them, and creating reports from them. The problem seems to go back to something much older than the Internet, but to the early days of computing. There is a term, not in much use today, called GIGO: Garbage In, Garbage Out. Too much data being stored in databases these days was dumped there, without editing, without sorting, without review. Just because modern tools allow you access to data in these storage areas better, faster, and cheaper, does not mean that data poorly stored has any more value. I am sure many of you have run into a case where the computer was supposed to help you with a task, but instead it just seems that you were able to process more data, not necessarily do the job quicker or easier. More data, as Shenk discusses, is not a solution. Better data would be, but no one is providing quality. And this is where I say the problem is not the technology but the society. Americans have a hard time with quality. We give it lip service, but what we really want is quantity. The tagline for Godzilla, "Size matters," was perfect for us. Yes, we want more. We want a biggie fries and a biggie shake. We want to Super Size that Extra Value Meal. We purchase Range Rovers and the only range we rove is the median when there's a traffic jam. Let's go to CostCo and get the five-pound jar of spaghetti sauce, even though we only eat spaghetti at home once every two months. We'll take 52 channels of crap on the cable, although only four are worth watching. Bigger, we imply, is always better. Our hardware store here has a tagline that says they have "more of everything." Shenk says, more is less. You are a limited creature; you can only handle a limited amount of input. Why not get some quality input for a change? I like the idea, and I have to admit that Jill and I were already working towards this goal before our move. Jill calls it "divesting ourselves of the material culture," but mainly it's just getting rid of stuff. Why did we have 700 CDs? We couldn't listen to them all, and hadn't listened to more than 5% in the last year. Why did we have 2000 books--did we intend to reference or reread all of them? I have been keeping bank and billing records for the last 15 years? Why? We cleaned out the closet, evaluating the things we really needed to meet our goals. And it isn't that much. Why did we have all that stuff. Because we were being good little members of the consumer society. This simplification of the life style is one of Shenk's answers to Data Smog. The others include being your own filter (limit your inputs--cut off the TV, unsubscribe from those lists [well, except from mine]), being your own editor (take your time to understand what you read and hear, don't settle for sound bites), become a generalist (Robert Heinlein said, "Specialization is for insects."), and, lastly, take part in government rather than forsaking it. These antidotes are strong medicine towards regaining control of your life. Shenk probably didn't mean this as a self-help book, but if the tool pouch fits....
Rating:
Summary: Beware the Smog!
Review: Data Smog presents the good, the bad, and the ugly of what the Information Age is all about. For those of us on the fringes of the technology revolution, it is an eye-opener. Shenk shares many personal anecdotes to demonstrate his points. His clever use of language in "The Laws of Data Smog", chapter titles and description make it an enjoyable read. However, it's a bit hard to swallow his solutions, coming from an admitted information junkie. While he suggests ways we can reduce data smog, he doesn't quite succeed in convincing us that he has cleaned up his own act. Shenk starts out with an appropriately brief account of the evolution of the information age, to explain how we got to the point of data smog. He clearly shows how information overload is creating more confusion, more stress, and decreased attention. His argument that technology threatens personal privacy is well-supported and currently a hot-button issue. His claim that the development of niches from sophisticated data analysis will splinter our culture is not quite as convincing. He has to be commended, though, for taking a stand against the idea that technology always means progress. As an educator I had to take issue with the analogy he makes in "The Fourth Law of Data Smog: Putting a computer in every classroom is like putting an electric power plant in every home." I would argue that computers are a vital addition to the classroom, if used appropriately. If they are only used for skill and drill, then yea, they don't give much advantage over paper and pencil worksheets. But when computers are used for researching, communicating with others, and making projects, they are a nice tool that adds to the educational experience. In addition, computers increase teacher productivity immeasureably. As always, the focus needs to be on what is best for student learning... technology provides more tools that give more options for how we teach. Computers will be a major part of life in the future and we need to teach kids the skills they need to use them properly.
Rating:
Summary: Movie Promo for Data Smog
Review: Date: December 5, 2000 To: Larry Wachowski and Andy Wachowski From: Narbeh Dereghishian Subject: Data Smog Movie Proposal Mr. Larry Wachowski and Mr. Andy Wachowski, I have a movie proposal that you are going to love. I think a movie should be made based on the book Data Smog, (I have placed 2 copies of the book in the package for you to read.) The book is a documentary from the viewpoint of an average man trying to survive in the "data smog" filled world. "Data smog" is the phrase used in the book to express excess technology and information use or consumption in the world we live in. The book is a pessimistic view towards our advances in the effort to make our lives easier by relying on technology to do things for us. He believes that more information is not necessarily better. This book isn't written like a story where there is a plot and climaxes. The book lists in a set of chapters all of the symptoms of "data smog", how "data smog" effects our everyday lives, and ways to cure ourselves from this "disease" better known as "data smog" before we meet a deadly end. All this time computers and machines had been doing everything for us. So when we reach a point in time where we must provide for ourselves, we will lack the knowledge to do so. I have chosen you gentlemen to direct this motion picture after I saw your work in "the Matrix". That was a phenomenal movie and the idea of technology ruling the world is very much related to Data Smog. I believe that you men really understand the viewpoint of this book and would express it better then anyone else. I would like to make a few suggestions for the movie: first off, I think the movie would do much better if it were from a third person view of the main character; second, since the book was a documentary, it had no plot, so I believe we should make one for the movie. It should start of with the main character waking up to his alarm clock and seeing the world as is he was looking at everything for the very first time. Everything amazes him at first, such as the printer with amazing speed or a voice recorder that he uses for his interviews. The cons of these technological marvels start showing up after his voice recorder doesn't work for one of his interviews. He realizes that he is incapable of taking notes without it and after that, ideas of "data smog" pop into his head. There should be some action scenes but not enough to take the drama away from the story line; the best actor for the movie is probably Michael Douglas. His performance in "the Game" is just what I am looking for. The action in the movie wasn't over the top, but it still kept you at the edge of your seat all thanks to his performance. I know you two like to be creative and would probably make this movie like none other, by adding special affects and twists in the plot. That's fine by me. You guys would know more than anyone what the audience loves to see. For those talents, I hope you accept this movie proposal and help me. Help me by making this movie show the world that we are headed towards a downfall if we don't make a change for the better. I hope the audience gets the point that technology was made to improve our lives, not run it. Thank you for your time.
Rating:
Summary: Effects or information through technoloy
Review: David Shenk's broad insight into technology, covering mostly the computer and internet, covers the many possible causes of stress, addiction, confusion, misunderstanding, etc.... and most importantly our thought process. If you have ever been afflicted or affected by these or any other of technologies problems. David Shenk gives his own practical solutions to such problems in part 4 of his book Data Smog. "All technologies introducted into our human ecosystem come with a raft of expected and unexpected consequences." If you decide to read the first 3 parts of Shenk's book, he will explain the direct effect technology has on the whole of society. He certainly will unveil the many indirect effects of technology. "Above all else, it is imperative that in the coming years we strive to keep the quality of our thinking as great as the quality of our information."
Rating: 
Summary: The good and the bad of information
Review: David Shenk's examination on the information flow is somewhat sobering. Shenk has a good grasp on the major problems resulting from too much information. From moral decay to highlighted social distinctions, Shenks dissect all negative aspect of the information age. Weather directly or indirectly, at the end of the day, everybody is affected. His book is divided into four parts where the first three emphasize the problems and consequences of excess information. The last part gives antidotes to be able to deal with the the consequences. In general, the book is very accurate and makes you think a lot. However, I only gave three stars to the book's rating because I felt that the book was a little depressive. I understand that sometimes the truth is not always pink but Shenk wrote in such a way as to depress the readers. Facts are one thing but personel opinions should at least sound a little more positive. In all, I'm glad I read the book but would not recommend this book to any of my friends.
Rating:
Summary: LETTER TO THE AUTHOR
Review: Dear Mr., Shenk After reading Data Smog, there were many things that I had never realized. The book over all was written well, but there were some agreeing and disagreeing issues with the book. Some of the things I agreed with were most information given to the society that is not useful. Another thing I realized was the too much information given is bad, because it doesn't become useful anymore. Knowing that too much information can ruin people's life. One main thing I disagree with is a teacher using a computer and television for their teaching method in schools. You said that teacher don't teach anymore because they have computers and television. Personally I go to a school with technological emphasis and every classroom there has at least two computers and a television. Sure the teachers may use those, but they use them for another way of teaching. There is nothing wrong with that. Computers and TV in the way of people's life! Somehow I think it's true, but you said that people shouldn't have computers and television. Sure they may make people addicted to computers and television, but still you need them. If some people don't know their limits doesn't mean others should face the consequences. If people know their limits on the Internet and television that wouldn't be a problem. Over all I liked your book it made me realize many things. Now there's time in my life where I just sit down in my room and listen to music or just think about different things that happen in life.
Rating: 
Summary: What Might Have Been
Review: I am disappointed that I end up rating David Shenk's book so low because there are some very interesting ideas at work here. His rejection of technology as a panacea for all of humanity's problems is very accurate. Also his distinction between mere information and real knowledge is something that all people should wrestle with. And his analysis that public figures and interest groups rely increasingly on overheated rhetoric rings true to anyone who watched Jesse Jackson compare every current event to Selma or who reads the latest enviro-disaster headline. But despite those positives there are several major flaws which mar this book. First and most important is that Mr. Shenk, as many modern social critics of both the left and right often do, falls prey to nostalgia. He seems to yearn for the golden age of American discourse, but when precisely was that? He worries that consensus runs "thinner and thinner every year." Would he be refering to the previous political consensus that brought us the Civil War, William Jennings Bryan's Cross of Gold, the imposition and repeal of Prohibition, the McCarthy hearings or the long struggle for civil rights? In fact, I would argue that our differences are much smaller than they used to be (even if we argue about them more loudly). As an example, in the recently concluded election, Bush and Gore argued over whose prescription drug plan was better, not whether there should be one at all. Mr. Shenk also decries the growing specialization of both publications and marketing. But were we really better served when a larger percentage of the nation read Life magazine? And is marketing that allows businesses to provide advertising that is more relevant to each person really bad? I personally enjoy seeing the suggestions that this site provides of books I might be interested in. But I am not powerless to resist that advertising as Mr. Shenk seems to fear. The other major sin, at least in my opinion, is Mr. Shenk's knee-jerk liberalism. This became increasingly obvious whether in his disparaging treatment of President Reagan or Republicans in general or the idea that corporations are somehow, if not quite evil, at least morally corrupting. And his depiction of journalists as paragons of objectivity and reason is laughable to anyone who watches the liberal bias of papers such as the New York Times or the conservative bias of the Washington Times.
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