The Communications Toolkit: How to Build and Regulate Any Communications Business [Hardcover]

P.H. Longstaff (Author), Anthony G. Oettinger (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 15, 2002

Although telephone, cable, broadcast, print, and Internet companies are changing at a fantastic rate, the fundamentals of communications, networks, and competition have remained constant. This book provides the tools necessary to build lasting, flexible strategies to survive and grow in these times of transition. Whether you are a business executive, lawmaker, policy analyst, industrialist, stock analyst, lawyer, or judge, these tools will help you to solve real problems right away.The toolkit contains six tools -- -essentially ways to view the workings of the communications sector from a larger, more inclusive perspective. The tools draw on knowledge and concepts from communications, engineering, biology, business, and law. Tool #1, New Building Blocks, presents the big picture of the communications sector. Tool #2, Networks, develops the fundamental parts and processes found in all networks. Tool #3, Competition and Cooperation, presents the basic characteristics shared by most processes in which two or more entities compete or cooperate to obtain a scarce resource. Tool #4, The Three Visions of Convergence, sorts out the many things people mean when they say "convergence." Tool #5, Convergence Theology, shows how people's faith (or lack of it) in convergence influences their predictions for the future. Finally, Tool #6, Concentration/Diversity, focuses on the forces that drive things together and those that pull them apart. The book also discusses how the tools can be used to understand and influence public policy issues.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"I want to tip my hat to P.H. Longstaff...." Peter H. Salus the bookworm

"Longstaff presents a compelling case that an interdisciplinary approach is required to make sense of the often bewildering developments in the digital information economy. The Communications Toolkit is an intellectual tour de force that will become an essential reference in the understanding of communications networks and the convergence of the communications and computer industries."--Allan Brown, Australian Key Centre for Cultural and Media Policy, Griffith UniversityPlease note: Endorser gives permission to excerpt from quote.

"Clear, rich, deep, and eminently useful, Longstaff's Communications Toolkit provides the single best analysis to date of what the digerati of the information age have dubiously termed 'convergence,' examining its economic and policy context and the forces behind it. A must read for everyone involved with the information economy!"--Viktor Mayer-Schönberger, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard UniversityPlease note: An umlaut appears over the "o" in "Schonberger."

"This book provides an intelligent, comprehensive, and accessible guide to the tools and strategies that organizations need to succeed in the turbulent world of new communication and information networks. It marks a refreshing break from the simplistic triumphalism that provided the smoke and mirrors for the dot com boom by offering practical ways to think about tough issues like convergence, competition, cooperation, and diversity in an information society. Longstaff's insights on government regulation alone make this essential reading for everyone with a stake in communication policy today."--Vincent Mosco, Professor, School of Journalism and Communication, Carleton UniversityPlease note: Endorser gives permission to excerpt from quote.

About the Author

P. H. Longstaff is Associate Professor of Television, Radio, and Film at the S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University, and a Research Associate at Harvard University's Program on Information Resources Policy.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 285 pages
• Publisher: The MIT Press; 1st edition (June 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262122464
• ISBN-13: 978-0262122467
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,904,008 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars An exhaustive and helpful overview, June 21, 2004

By 

Stacey M Jones (Conway, Ark.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Communications Toolkit: How to Build and Regulate Any Communications Business (Hardcover)

Published by MIT Press, with a foreword by Anthony G. Oettinger, chairman of the Program on Information Resources Policy at Harvard, THE COMMUNICATIONS TOOLKIT: HOW TO BUILD AND REGULATE ANY COMMUNICATIONS BUSINESS by P.H. Longstaff is not exactly light, recreational reading, but it's informative, well organized and insightful about the structure of information economies and how to apply information theory to forward-thinking communications business strategies and plans.

This book reminded me of INFORMATION RULES by Shapiro and Varian, which also deals with the economic systems of information businesses, but this is more in-depth and exhaustive. The "tools" of the kit are actually explanations of various theories and systems so that the reader may apply that knowledge in the new, growing and changing information economy. These tools are: new building blocks, a tool for networks, a tool for competition/cooperation, three visions of communications convergence, convergence theology, a tool for concentration/diversity, as well as chapters on regulation.

The most interesting chapters, to me, dealt with comparisons of biological systems to economic systems in explaining cooperation and competition, and "Tool no. 5: Convergence Theology" about the differing and business-shaping philosophies about the information superhighway. The final chapter is a useful summary and reference tool if you don't want to sit and read the entire book.

If you have an interest in information theory, telecommunications, telecommunications policy, Internet business applications and governmental information-economy policy, this will be helpful and informative to you.