The Whole Internet: The Next Generation

Citation

Fisher, D. (2000), "The Whole Internet: The Next Generation", The Electronic Library, Vol. 18 No. 6, pp. 448-469. https://doi.org/10.1108/el.2000.18.6.448.19

Comparing this new edition with its predecessor (published in 1992) provides a timely reminder of just how much the iconography of the Internet has changed. The first book was populated by such esoteric characters as Archie, Gopher, WAIS and Anonymous FTP. The Web merely warranted one brief chapter and to access it the reader was advised either to Telnet to info.cern.ch, or install their own browser – Viola was highly recommended. Ah, those were the days!

Encountering The Next Generation was rather like meeting an old friend after many years apart – I hoped we would be able to pick up where we left off, but feared we might both have changed too much. I need not have worried – Conner‐Sax and Krol have successfully replicated the informal, relaxed style of the original, even down to the phraseology in the first paragraph of the Preface, which again explains that the book is aimed at the “garden‐variety computer user: someone with a job to get done, who isn’t yet an expert or aficionado.”

As you would expect, the new edition focuses almost exclusively on the WWW with chapters on connecting to the Internet, e‐mail, using browsers, searching, privacy and security, banking and finance, buying and selling, games, creating Web pages, downloading and installing files, and emerging technologies. The layout is clear and well‐illustrated and the text easy to follow. I particularly liked the personal experiences written by a variety of Internet users which are scattered throughout the book.

Following in the tradition of the first edition, a catalogue of resources is included. The resources are all Web sites, rather than the WAIS, Gopher and FTP collections of its forebear. If one section of the book has lost some of its utility then this is it, because the market is awash with guides to all manner of World Wide Web sites, and this collection is brief and unremarkable. However, to the publishers’ credit, they do state their intention to list any Web site address changes on what they call their errata Web page.

The first edition of The Whole Internet was widely praised, with words such as “definitive” and “bible” being bandied around. For once I think the hype was well‐deserved – it’s certainly one of the few Internet titles that entertains as well as teaches. I am pleased to say that the second edition is of a similar vintage. Today though, there are many more competitors on the market, so is it still a must‐buy? I would say it is for the simple but compelling reason that it is a refreshingly articulate guide to virtually everything you might wish to know about or do with the Internet. That’s all very well, you counter, but how can it compete with specialist titles aimed at particular audiences (librarians, for instance), or specific activities (searching or Web page creation)? I would reply that it does just fine, because, in my experience, many of these more narrowly focused publications are 10 per cent information and 90 per cent padding.

The authors state that “the challenge today lies in separating the signal from the noise”; The Whole Internet: The Next Generation will help you to do just that. Buy, read and enjoy!