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There are useful charts and reference materials along with the text. Useful and current data.
M. G o r d o n et. al. Dictionary o f New Information Technology Acronyms. (London: Kogan Page/Detroit: Gale Research, 1984, $56.00, 217 pp.). This publication comes along to help us all out of the accumulating alphabet soup. Growing out of two (of the three) authors' work on a more general dictionary a couple of years ago, this 217-page guide includes over 10,000 acronyms, stressing those used in the United Kingdom and the United States, but some others as well. The citations provide not only what the acronym actually stands for, but also a sense of where it came from and how it is used.
The Interactive Cable TVHandbook (Bethesda, MD: Phillips Publishing, 1984, $97.00, paper, 361 pp.). This is the fourth edition of this guide. It details the operations of some ,100 U.S. cable systems involved in two-way communications. The introduction includes a survey of the field, and the 361-page guide includes sections on owners, details of the 100 systems themselves, hardware and software suppliers, technical and information services, regulatory bodies, carriers in cable TV, technical articles, a glossary, and an index.
Machlup, Fritz. Knowledge: Its Creation, Distribution, and Economic Significance. (Princeton, N J: Princeton University Press, 1980-1984, three volumes. Price varies, with Volume III, 1984 running $50.00). This is an important, but tragically incomplete work by the world-renowned economist. Machlup, who died early in 1983, was one of the world's first and most important students of the world of information and knowledge production, dating from the 1962 publication of his classic The Production and Distribution o f Knowledge in the United States. The original plan of this multi-volume new work was for a 10-book series, which, when completed, would update and expand the 1962 work. Even in its never-to-be completed form, these three volumes provide a gist of a lifetime of theoretical analysis of a field Machlup largely helped to create (in at least the economic sense).
Martin, James. An Information Systems Manifesto. (Englewood Cliffs, N J: PrenticeHall, 1984, $42.50). This is the latest (29th) in the extensive library of books by this author from PrenticeHall. The former IBM specialist, now freelance consultant/conference-giver/author, provides an introduction to what is happening in the workplace, the automated office and the like. It is specifically "designed to provide end users, DP staff, and senior and top management with a strategy and direction on how to change and manage the dramatically changing environment o f information systems and data processing."
Nordenstreng, Kaarle. The Mass Media Declaration o f UNESCO. (Norwood, N J: Ablex, 1984, price not given, 475 pp.).
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Nordenstreng, a long-time member of the university of Tampere (Finland) faculty and observer of international communication trends, provides a book which is about half narrative and half reference material in its 475 pages. The book begins with detailing the movement toward a new international information order, a history of the preparation of the 1978 Declaration, its content, international law as a regulatory of international standards in this field, international instruments for setting media standards, prohibition of war propaganda, contributions to peaceful coexistence among nations, standards at the national level, codes of ethics, and journalism as a profession. The book's approach will not please Western readers, but adds to the debate-both on UNESCO and on news "flow" matters.
Rice, Ronald E., and Associates. The New Media: Communication, Research, and Technology. (Beverly Hills, CA: Sage, 1984, $28.00/$14.00). This is a very timely and pioneering look at the impact of changing technologies and how best to research that impact. The 12 original papers appear in four parts: new media technology and research, individual and group communication, theories of electronic newsreading and mediated group communications, organizational communication, and communication within institutions and environments.
Shultz, Richard H., and Roy Godson. Dezinformatsia: Active Measures in Soviet Strategy. (New York: Pergamon Press, 1984, $19.95/$12.95, 210 pp.). This is a modern study of Soviet propaganda methods and successes. The authors, on the faculties at Georgetown and Tufts, respectively, divide their study in six parts: an introduction, Soviet perspectives and strategies, overt propaganda themes from 19601980, covert techniques over the same period, interviews with two former Soviet block intelligence officers, and a short conclusion. The 210-page indexed study is the first English language appraisal of the subject in many years, and shows considerable insight into both organizational and substantive trends in the USSR system.
Space Communication and Broadcasting: An International Journal. (Amsterdam: NorthHolland/New York: Elsevier Science Publishers, $88.00 per year/quarterly). This publisher began early in 1983 to publish technical and policy material related to broadcasting applications of satellites. The majority of material in early issues had a strong technical bent, with contributions from many different countries.
The VideotexMarketplace. (Bethesda, MD: Phillips Publishing, 1984, $97.00, paper). This is a dictionary of services and information sources divided into sections on equipment suppliers, online and broadcast services, access networks, standards groups, business and technical services, associations and educational institutions, communications attorneys, and the regulatory environment. The 204-page guide has both a glossary and an index.