Wrong Turn on the Information Superhighway: Education and the Commercialization of the Internet

By Bettina G. Fabos

Book Overview

Are students using the "information" superhighway or are they really on the "commercial" highway? This book offers a rare counterpoint to the generally rosy view of the web, showing how students are contaminated by a hyper-commercialized electronic environment and offering recommendations for taking back the internet for our schools.

In this dynamic volume, Bettina Fabos:

Investigates the shortcomings of the multibillion-dollar project, the "Educational Challenge," to link every U.S. classroom to the information superhighway, exposing the advertising campaigns and corporate maneuvers that lured schools online.Explores how educators use the web in their classrooms, providing advice to help students and teachers look more critically at information provided by commercial search engines and sites.Features an eye-opening case study of a technologically advanced school district, illustrating how commercialization influences every aspect of students' online research.Identifies solutions, such as noncommercial subject directories and the emerging digital archiving movement, as the best hope for educators to take back the internet from commercial control.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0807744743
• ISBN13: 9780807744741
• Release Date: January 2004
• Publisher: Teachers College Press
• Length: 186 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.2" x 8.9"