reviews Book Reviews 501 501 Book Reviews Children in the Digital Age: Influences of Electronic Media on Development. Eds. Sandra L. Calvert, Amy B. Jordan, and Rodney R. Cocking. Westport, Conn: Praeger, 2002. 260p. alk. paper, $49.95 (ISBN 0275976521). LC 2002-19509. For years, people have been writing about the effects of television—and before that radio and movies—on children. Children in the Digital Age is a collection of essays centered on the effects of interactive me- dia on children. Editors Calvert, Jordan, and Cooking have collected an impres- sive group of contributors to fill the pages of this thought-provoking work. Similar to the general concerns regard- ing the effects of earlier media on chil- dren, interactive media—such as online real-time games, computer games, chat sessions, and, in addition, the pervasive- ness of the Internet—have raised as much, if not more, concern than in the past. The potential harmful effects of interactive media are examined, but Children in the Digital Age also explores the demograph- ics of access, expenditures of time, differ- ences in gender behavior, and how online interactive environments such as MUDs and MOOs impact the development of identity in adolescents. Four major sections make up this book: “Media Usage Patterns,” “Behavioral Ef- fects of Media,” “Cognitive Effects on Media,” and “Family and Consumer Media Models.” The first section focuses on how children use the Internet. Much of the data gathered for this section rely on interviews with children and their parents and therefore are not as quantita- tive as this reviewer would like. This sec- tion also discusses a 1997 national survey related to children’s use of electronic me- dia. Use patterns point to the fact that as interactive media become more wide- spread, users of both sexes tend to replace one medium with the next, so time pre- viously spent watching television is be- ing replaced by time spent play- ing computer games and on the Internet. The studies also show that, at least in the short run, computer media tend to en- hance spatial and attention skills and that e-mail and chat have a positive effect on communication skills. The data from 1997 are dated and focus mostly on television and non-Web- based gaming devices such as Sega and Nintendo; the author indicates that new data were gathered in 2002 and will be published in 2004. The second section looks at what be- havioral effects media has on children. It points to the fact that children need con- structive and well-designed virtual envi- ronments where they can explore and develop their identity. The study of health resources on the Web, for example, points to the fact that adolescents have high ex- pectations for the resources produced for them: Web-based resources need to incor- porate high production values, include imbedded effects, and be designed to keep their attention. The third section deals with how in- teractive media affect cognition. The pri- mary point of this section is that cogni- tion develops differently among even those students who are of the same age, gender, and social position. The authors discuss the fact that interactive media lend themselves to instruction that is tar- geted toward individuals or small groups of students, allowing students to develop at their own pace. Carole R. Beal and Ivon Arroyo, authors of “The Animal Watch Project: Creating an Intelligent Computer Mathematics Tutor,” are of the opinion that as more study is conducted on com- puter instruction, computer tutorials will become more effective. The fourth section focuses on the con- sumer aspects of media. Studies indicate that in the media arena, children and ado- 502 College & Research Libraries November 2003 lescents tend to be early adopters, driv- ing families to purchase computers and establish Internet connections. Ultimately, how much of an impact interactive me- dia have on children is determined within the family and household. The total ef- fect of interactive media on children, ado- lescents, and the family needs additional study. This is a very interesting book. Well researched and well written, many of the chapters point to research that still needs to be completed. As librarians, we need to be aware of not only what technolo- gies children and adolescents are exposed to in a learning environment, but also what technologies they embrace for play. This awareness will allow us to plan for the future and make us better prepared to meet the expectations of our patrons.— Tim Daniels, Georgia Institute of Technology. Rowing Upstream: Snapshots of Pioneers of the Information Age in Africa. Eds. Lisbeth A. Levey and Stacey Young. Johannesburg: Sharp Sharp Media, 2002. 126p. Free (ISBN 0620289139). The preface of this book states: “The book you hold in your hands is an attempt to celebrate the achievements and document some of the most salient lessons learned from the experience of more than five years of work undertaken by successful pioneers of the technological revolution in Africa.” I appreciate titles that hold up to the aims expressed in their preface, and this book certainly does. The complex world of Internet technol- ogy, electronic communication, and infor- mation services is an ever-evolving one that increasingly defies facile description or summation. Books such as this one, then, must necessarily become histories of a particular program or period simply to limit the scope to something manage- able. Rowing Upstream is both a summary of a five-year program and a glimpse into the lives of those who participated in the various projects funded by this program. The book’s structure often fuzzes the boundaries between personal reminis- cences, institutional description, and project narratives. This is an intentional effort, as the editors insist in their intro- duction that “it is important to note that philanthropy can and frequently does un- derestimate the capacity of institutions and individuals in the developing world to take the lead in promoting technological change … Rowing Upstream testifies to the dynamism of Africans who are using tech- nology creatively. Ford helped them secure the paddles, but they are rowing this boat by themselves.” Throughout the book, there is an emphasis on illustrating that IT development is not just a top-down effort; it requires a coordinated and collaborative effort to “wire” a continent facing so many challenges. The book does, in fact, celebrate the various ICT (Internet Connectivity Tech- nology) initiatives and programs devel- oped by those NGOs, philanthropic bod- ies, social service agencies, and individu- als throughout the African continent dur- ing the late 1990s. The most enlighten- ing—and perhaps most uplifting—mes- sage here is that despite the enormous economic and social challenges facing the people of the continent, information tech- nology and electronic communication have not only taken hold but have devel- oped along lines that strongly resemble routes that we in the “developed” world have taken, either blindly or by design. The same issues and challenges we have faced are echoed throughout this book. Tales of hooking up that clunky first mo- dem, downloading that “free” upgrade that somehow disappears on your hard drive, and the mysterious hardware de- livery to an unsuspecting reference librar- ian sound all too familiar. The fact that the hardware delivery described here was by canoe lends further insight to the unique obstacles and challenges faced by those who participated in building IT in Africa in the 1990s. As told here, Africans have con- fronted—and conquered—the same thorny issues of building and enhancing electronic communication. 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