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Acknowledgements
The
New York Times, The
New Yorker,
Harper's Magazine, The
National Post, The
Economist,
WIRED, the
Montreal Gazette and the
Globe and Mail - all these comprised the solid core of my approach to all affairs current - my daily exposure to and discussion of them often a direct, unwavering function of living with a certified and admitted
news junkie. I can't recommend that too highly.
As for the scholarly
monograph - an often degraded venue which, all reports to the contrary, seems to be clipping along just fine - two authors in particular bear mention : the neo-realist analysis of
Robert D. Kaplan, long time international affairs correspondent for The
Atlantic Monthly, and the environmental examinations of
Thomas Homer-Dixon of the University of Toronto Centre for Peace Studies. Both these persuasive writers and their work on current geo-political and social conditions at the planet's economic periphery (areas like the Islamic states of Asia which receive little or no coverage even by the global news outlets
1) have been vital to forming some of the arguments to follow. In addition, non-governmental organisations such as
UNESCO,
Freedom House, the
European Parliament and the
OECD all undertake annual surveys of information access and living conditions around the globe, studies which have also been vital in trying to see beyond the immediate landscape. International activists such as
John Perry Barlow, co-founder of the
Electronic Frontier Foundation &
Phil Zimmerman, inventor of
PGP encryption freeware, or domestic critics like Naomi Klein & Heather Menzies (Professor of Communication Studies at Carleton University) as well as recent authors and commentators such as
Neal Stephenson and
Bruce Sterling have all been hugely influential in broadening my appreciation of the tilting scales of technological advantage. And finally, as for the historical outline, this was filled piece by piece through reading the late
Harold Innis and
Arthur C. Clarke, as well as
Alberto Manguel and dozens of other historians, geographers, philosophers and scientists who have felt drawn to the story of early communications and how these technologies have shaped our world. Finally, the title itself, is borrowed from a piece by English conceptual artist Victor Burgin (viewable at http://www.envy.nu/honeypie/).
As for personal thanks : all those who put up with my elaboration for over a year in preparation : Laura, polymath wonder par excellence at SUNY
Buffalo; Rob, erudite programmer-philosopher, and Becky, creative but clinical e-community architect, both in
Ottawa; Josh, deeply-sceptical but comedic English teacher in
Hong Kong; Doug, jet-setting mining engineer in
Halifax; Eric, globe-trotting activist geologist at
UBC, and Susanna, linguistics extrordinare, both in
Vancouver; Ryan, hyper-practical IT logistics manager, Troy, pure aesthete genius and Brigid, brill Public Policy MA; all in
Toronto - all these people have been the ones to spot technological potentials and pitfalls, as each works inticately with some facet of information, be it technical, artistic, strategic or philosophical, every single day.
They're all amazing, always have been, always will be.
Note 1 : The summer of 2000 will arguably stand as one of the most horrifying examples of cascading print
media coverage in
Canadian history as, for three consecutive months, half the text of each of Canada's daily national papers was devoted quite entirely to some combination of a) the selection of
Stockwell Day as the leader of the up-start, Western-based neo-conservative protest party, the
Canadian Alliance, b) the awe-inspiring anticipation surrounding the release of the newest instalment in the popular children's reading series
Harry Potter, or c) the "
Survivor" television series. The former are at least understandable, as political and publishing phenomena. As for the latter, I'll take the long-range historical perspective and leave this mercifully unelaborated upon.
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