The New Information Infrastructure: Strategies for U.S. Policy (A Twentieth Century Fund Book) [Paperback]

William J. Drake (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1995 | Series: A Twentieth Century Fund Book

The telecommunications and information industries have undergone a profound transformation, driven by rapid technological change, globalization of markets, liberalisation of government policies, and new patterns of organisational control. The convergence of information businesses and functions and the formulation of government policies promoting the construction of broadband information infrastructures are taking centre stage in the U.S. and abroad. This volume suggests policy alternatives compatible with the world of advanced information infrastructures. In addition to the editor, the contributors include Francois Bar, University of California, San Diego; Albert Bressand and Catherine Distler, Promethee Institute; Peter Cowhey, University of California, San Diego; Herbert Dordick, Temple University; Linda Garcia, U.S. Office of Technology Assessment; Henry Geller, the Markle Foundation; Bruno Lanvin, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development; Lee McKnight, MIT; Russell Neuman, Tufts University; Kalypso Nicolaidis, Harvard University; Eli Noam, Columbia University; Richard Solomon, MIT; Joel Reidenberg, Fordham University; and Anthony Rutkowski, the Internet Society. William Drake is assistant professor of communication at the University of California, San Diego.

Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Brookings Inst Pr (October 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0870783661
• ISBN-13: 978-0870783661
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 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: #3,753,420 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Good reference for telecommunications policy, September 30, 2002

By 

Zecon - See all my reviews

This review is from: The New Information Infrastructure: Strategies for U.S. Policy (A Twentieth Century Fund Book) (Paperback)

I'll admit at the outset of this review that I did not read this whole book, so I cannot speak for it in its entirety. Despite that I want to offer my opinion on what I read because it was very useful to me academically. This book is an excellent compilation of contributions from scholars. All the contributors are to a degree prominent and the book mainly deals with telecommunications policy.

I purchased it specifically as a reference for my dissertation. I was interested in two chapters from this book that dealt with international telecommunications policy and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). These two chapters were contributed by Cowhey and Rutkowski and proved to be very useful to me. Finding pedagogically sound reference material on the ITU is very difficult and these contributions proved to be a goldmine.

Both contributions deal with recent (1990s) changes to the ITU. In addition, these two contributions provide a greater fidelity to the material I've been able to find to date on the ITU. For example, Rutkowski explains how the ITU's origins in the postal ministries of late 1880s Europe can help explain why it is such a stagnate organization in the face of dynamic technological and market change today.