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Summary: Internet Communicators: Producers and Consumers
Review: Tyrone Adams' and Norman Clark's new book, The Internet: Effective Online Communication, provides a comprehensive and insightful view of the Internet from a communication perspective. Although there are other texts on the Internet, this is the first to focus on communication competence in the online environment. The text integrates theory and practice to help readers become critical Internet consumers and producers. I found Chapter 1 on the Internet's history the most intriguing. That background information provides a context for understanding the Internet's structure and current uses. In Chapter 2, the authors distinguish the Internet from other communication mediums, and at the same time observe that the boundaries between communication contexts are blurring. Chapters 3-5 cover the nuts and bolts of communicating online: email, listservs, newsgroups, chat rooms, MUDs, MOOs, and net conferencing. Although most students are quite familiar with email, listservs, and chat rooms, they are often less familiar with newsgroups, MUDs, MOOs, and net conferencing. With more and more organizations using net conferencing for work group and team meetings, the latter topic is especially useful. Chapters 6 and 7 address gathering information on the Internet. These invaluable chapters move readers out of the traditional search engine to other search strategies such as topic rings and bibliographic databases. In addition, the authors provide specific criteria for evaluating online information and how to cite the information found. Chapters 8-10 shift the reader from an Internet consumer to an Internet producer. With the help of the CD-ROM included with the book, students can design a fairly sophisticated webpage. Although the authors stress the utility of learning HTML, the web editor on the CD-ROM allows students to produce their first webpage with ease. Students found Part 5, "Exiting Cyberspace: Implications of the Internet," particularly informative and sometimes surprising. For example, Chapter 12, "The Internet and U.S. Law," led several students to investigate computer use policies in the workplace. My students gave the book high marks for readability, current examples, and thorough explanations. The authors' familiarity with effective online communication is plainly evident: Adams and Clark don't just write about the Internet; they are cybertravelers, clearly comfortable with and truly knowledgeable about Internet communication. We've become so immersed in online communication that we seldom give it a second thought. Adams and Clark include provocative information that will spark much debate in any classroom. Students learn practical online communication skills, as well as the theoretical background they need to adjust to an ever-changing and increasingly globalized Internet.
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