THE JOURNAL OF EDUCATION, COMMUNITY, AND VALUES
by Bernardo A. Huberman, MIT Press, 2001, ISBN 0262083035
Review by Drew Harrington <harrington@pacificu.edu>
University Librarian, Pacific University
Huberman, an HP Fellow at Hewlett-Packard laboratories in Palo Alto, California, wrote this book for the layman—but portions of it require that layman to be bright, alert and focused. Huberman has done vast research on the Web and its users, and has applied theoretical models borrowed from the fields of physics and statistical mechanics to search out patterns in the structure and human use of the Web. He explains that the Web is a sort of hybrid of mathematics and technology crossed with sociology. The book is highly analytical in its exploration of how the Web works and is worked, and does not speculate about possible social impact. The application of statistical models allowed Huberman to sample a vast, diverse population of millions around the world, and to look at an enormous array of linking patterns in the Web's structure. The goals of the research and the book are to improve the Web as an informational structure and as a marketplace, and Huberman's conclusions are interesting. Web designers and market analysts are likely to find this slender book most useful. Huberman concludes his book by identifying two large, pending Web issues which are, not surprisingly, the issue of privacy and the applicability of a national laws from around the world.
Drew Harrington can be reached at harrington@pacificu.edu.
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