Information Technology in Theory

Citation

Hannabuss, S. (2009), "Information Technology in Theory", Library Review, Vol. 58 No. 1, pp. 68-70. https://doi.org/10.1108/00242530910928942

Readers come to books on information technology (IT) (and information generally) from many directions, some wanting description and analysis of the technology, others more the social impacts. It is so fast‐changing a field that there is nothing so sad as the many out‐of‐date books on IT, information and communication technology and their many offshoots and developments, that rest gathering dust on library shelves and appear in charity shops when students realise they cannot sell them on because of new editions. Indeed, formal research into the twilight world of the superseded edition would be valuable.

That said, where such books hit the mark is when they get the mix of technology and analysis and social inference right and at the same time provide a clear and up‐to‐date discussion of current and likely trends and do it clearly enough for readers (usually students in colleges and universities) of all types (they are mainly specializing in IT or telecoms or information studies and the like) to understand.

IT in Theory comes across well. Without condescension, it presumes an intelligent but not necessarily a specialist reader at the start, with material describing what things are and how and why they work as they do. Examples include chapter two on the digital domain (binary, bits, noise, transmission), chapter five on software (programming and markup languages, operating systems, open source), chapter eight on communication fundamentals (analog and digital signals, spectrum, multiplexing, chapter nine on fibre optics (types, transmission plus and minus factors and others on communication protocols and internet architecture).

We should expect all these to be there, not only if we are students doing an IT or computing course but also if we are lecturing on them. Wider would be the swathe of people, in education and training as well as out of interest, who want to know more about, say, voice over internet protocol (VoIP) or network security. Everyone uses internet and wireless devices and for anyone studying them seriously or formally (as, say, lawyers studying electronic communications or journalists exploring the technological reasons why multimedia are designed as they are and work as they do) the explanations in books such as this are most helpful. They also add to the wide range of more popular information available on the websites of appropriate providers, in relevant journals and magazines (especially the magazines), and increasingly on blogs and wikis.

Authors Aksoy (George Mason University in the USA) and DeNardis (Yale Law School's Information Society Project) suggest three major lines of inquiry in and for the book: mathematical principles of multimedia IT (so we get information on images and text in binary code, Boolean logic, integrated circuits, electronic signalling and radio‐wave communication, digital audio, pulse code modulation, encoding), socio‐economic issues (followed up in intersections between IT and society like sharing online music, net security and neutrality, media obsolescence and cyberterrorism) and cutting‐edge technologies (such as VoIP, multi‐media devices using Wi‐Fi and Bluetooth and stakeholders in observing and monitoring changes in things like audio and video compression). This tally is almost a canonical list for anyone picking up contemporary issues in the trade and running with them, looking in all likelihood to take some of them forward in more detailed ways – mathematically or sociologically or legally, perhaps.

The book is designed consciously to underpin a formally‐designed education/training programme, as a quick look through the prefatory material will confirm. Each chapter sets out clear learning objectives at the start, provides a summary at the end (along with a list of key terms, all of which can be followed up in the general index itself). Review questions come with every chapter, too: typical ones for chapter seven (on digital images and video) are “What effect does varying the spatial resolution have on an image?” and, more detailed, “Calculate the file size, in megabytes, of a 30‐minute documentary movie… ” and so forth. Broader discussion questions also appear at chapter ends: typical for chapter eighteen (on wireless multimedia) is this one: “Will broadband metropolitan wireless services such as WiMAX live up to the hype? Will some new alternative emerge?”. There is a glossary (end of the book) to get terms straight in your mind.

I hope that this review reveals clearly that a book such as this has a wide variety of uses – to readers in IT and studying it, but also many others who need concise but detailed and recent information on how and why things relevant to their study and work operate as they do. Media studies, for instance, will benefit from incorporating such books into their curricula. Any internet and telecoms‐related programme of study designed for lawyers, accountants, network and e‐mail managers and customer‐relations managers will find a lot of the background here useful (when it is not generic, that is). Chapter sixteen (on the telephone system) offers historical background on the US system, on transmission facilities and switching (essential for going on to understand public switched telephone networks and VoIP services), wanting clear explanations of the telecoms principles by which they operate (e.g. pulse code modulation, multiplexing). For some readers, this will be just the thing: for others, probably more knowledgeable and/or specialist, they will pick‐and‐mix with a book like this.

For readers, taking a more social or sociological slant, there is a lot here. For example, in chapter seventeen (on VoIP) current challenges like quality of service, power outages and security continue to resonate in the industry and among customer groups (and regulators and lobby groups). Public policy issues and law get hints here and elsewhere, as does media policy and industry dynamics (e.g. inter‐operability, convergence, security) in other chapters. For anyone with an interest in standardization, there is a useful distillation in chapter thirteen (on communication protocols, such as the IEEE family of 802 network protocol standards and such as 802.16 for broadband wireless access. All can and should be followed up through relevant websites and appropriate literature.

As for the mathematical approach, there are sections on the maths of storage (bits and bytes), chapter three (on representing numbers and text in binary (a chapter that includes ASCII and EBCDIC standard codes), a discussion on computer speed and storage, and another on high‐ and low‐frequency signals in digital multimedia. Local area network topologies and types (including wireless) understandably covers transmission, standards and switching. The IT field is crowded, especially the student market, and a visit to any well‐stocked college or university shelves (and a good search online) will come up with most things here. But, the art is to adapt and package just what is most needed in a reasonably priced and portable form, and Thomson has succeeded well with this one. The paperback format will shorten its life as a library book but make it more readily available for multiple‐copy purchase. Librarians keen to get a wider view of the output from the publisher (including books on databases, enterprise resource planning, data communications, systems analysis and security) could visit their website for a lot more.