Taming the Beast: Choice & Control in the Electronic Jungle (Hardcover)

~ Jason Ohler (Author) "Pessimism about new media and technology has become the easy coin of academics..." (more)
Key Phrases: postmodern humans, Information Age, Autonomous Technology, Industrial Age (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Of all the books now appearing on what to do about media in the education of our youth, Jason Ohler's is, in my opinion, the best. It is the best because he knows what questions need to be addressed, puts them in a meaningful context, and does not presume to know all the answers." -- Neil Postman, New York University, author of Amusing Ourselves to Death, Technopoly, and The End of Education

"We know that many other animals use technology; people are the only ones who can talk about it. The level of that discussion still needs improvement, and Taming the Beast is a significant contribution, a readable text for high school students, a great resource for teachers, and a provocative survey for all. Taming the Beast shows how technology assessment can and should be everybody's business." -- Edward Tenner, author of Why Things Bite Back: Technology and the Revenge of Unintended Consequences

"With so many pundits praising or excoriating the new technologies, it is timely to have a book that presents the pros and cons of various media and stimulates readers to reach their own conclusions." -- Howard Gardner, Harvard University Graduate School, author of The Disciplined Mind and Intelligence Reframed

In a world dominated by technology, we desperately need what Jason Ohler provides practical ways to learn, teach, and think about technology literacy. We need to get beyond the sound-bite, black-and-white view of technological impacts. Ohler gives us a clear view of the landscape, complete with shades of gray, practicalities, and complexities. If it were up to me, every teacher in the world would receive a copy. -- Howard Rheingold, author of Virtual Communities

Jason Ohler gets it. Twenty years and 100 billion dollars into the computer and information revolution, most people are still consumed with cards and cables, hardware and software, input and output, RAM and ROM. In 'Taming the Beast,' Ohler moves well beyond technolust and technodrool to take a hard look at the critical issues that confront us. He shows us that only by getting beyond the tool to the context of the tool and its application to the task can we ever hope to understand and control the beast. This book is an absolute required read for anyone and everyone who wants to really understand what technology is and how we can and must use it. -- Ian Jukes, author of Net Savvy

Product Description

"Taming the Beast" is a rare blend of philosophical reflection, earnest wit, and hard-nosed guide. It casts a discerning eye on our love-hate affair with technology; reveals 27 ways to see, evaluate, and gain control over the electronic and mechanical extensions that have become such vital parts of our lives; and shows how we can choose new machines wisely for educational, business, and community use. "Taming the Beast" is essential reading and understanding for educators at all levels, administrators, parents, policy and decision makers, the media, and all citizens who recognize the extraordinary potential -- and impact -- of technology on education and society.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 152 pages
• Publisher: Agency for Instructional Technology (December 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0784208735
• ISBN-13: 978-0784208731
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #953,192 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Seeing for the first time...and evaluating, January 7, 2000

By	Jamie Gregory (West Virginia) - See all my reviews

I have just finished Jason Ohler's book, Taming the Beast Choice and Control in the Electronic Jungle. It captured my interest immediately;I read it in three sittings. I found this book compelling. I am not a computer savvy techno. I work in the field of mental health. Personally, I have been wandering somewhat unconsciously through issues of relationship, community, culture, and technology and with Ohler's book it was as if I had been handed a map of the terrain. Ohler takes issues and ideas we "know" and presents them anew. Jason Ohler does what Robert Pirsig, author of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintence,refers to in commenting on James P. Carse's book, Finite and Infinite Games,that is, "add new patterns to existing facts...things you've known for years suddenly stand up in a whole new dimension." Upon reading Jason Ohler's book I have contemplated my microwave oven for the first time. Through my use of the questions that Ohler proposes for a Science and Technology Agent, a fictitious FDA adptation, I recognize a greater sense of the trade offs, the choices, the impacts inherent in living with technology. My sense of being overwhelmed by the technology of the postmodern world has lifted some, as I apply the aspects of technological literacy Ohler puts forth. In the midst of all the proclamations of "good" and "bad" technology and what it will reap for us, it is important to become what Ohler refers to as, fourth stage literate. Fourth stage literacy is being skilled at seeing and evaluating. It is then that we realize our choice and control. I am reading this book again and proposing it be added to the cirriculum of high schools and university education departments.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Who Would Have Thought It, April 20, 2000

By	John D. Monahan (Fairbanks, Alaska) - See all my reviews

I've known and learned from Jason for years and I appreciate him taking all of his brilliantly simple, yet practical suggestions and advice, and accumulating them into one good read. If you aren't fortunate enough to drink coffee with Jason and pick at all the wealth in his brain, this book is an excellent substitute. END

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How to be at peace while awash in information age technology, August 27, 2001

By	James L. Grubb "[e-mail]" (Scottsdale, AZ) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The author has unusual credentials. A Ph.D., he teaches Technology Assessment at the University of Alaska in Juneau, and directs the University's Educational Technology Program. He is an original thinker with fresh views on how to be at peace while awash in Information Age: technology." He provides a thinking process that helps make it serve you rather than rule you. The impression one gets from the media often leaves a disturbing, hopeless feeling of being controlled by a technology. "Technology" though, is just a new way of labeling something that's been around forever; its called "change." Remember the old rag about change: "If you don't bend, you break." We must be in control and not allow technology to break us. Ohler has figured out many of the questions we need to ask about technology. He has put them down in a way you can understand and use, but he doesn't presume to know all the answers. This book deals with the grassroots problems of change. Uncertainty, unpredictability, uncontrollability. A sampling of the questions we must ask to maintain control of a technology. Three basics: (1) what is unique about it? (2) what is the real ultimate goal (any manipulation)? (3) how does it impact environment, the individual, institutions? Is it a tool or a machine? Tools are controlled by the user; machines force us to adapt ourselves to them which is a loss of control. Is the technology an information machine, or a work-producing machine? Ohler points out that tools and machines extend our senses, physical capabilities, our intelligence, and emotional experiences. In the wrong hands, they can be dangerous; properly used, they can improe our lives. Example: A microwave oven reduces the time spent cooking, increases the amount of time to do something else, but reduces family participation and interaction. Why it's important to ask questions about a technology. If you think about it, advertisers and lawyers don't particularly seek truth. They earn their keep trying to get others to adopt a particular point of view, using the tools of truth, as do their intentions, but we need to be aware of "presentation," versus "content." This is scary because of the persuasive power of information technology. Instead of "convince me" the operative words should be "inform me." This is a book with an important message for our times. We can expect that the pace of change will only increase and it's up to us to understand whether the changes are for the better or may destroy us. Ohler has set out a roadmap to enable us to evaluate the opportunities of anew technologies. Not an easy read, but this little book (141 pages) deserves a place on any thinking person's bookshelf.