If you were waiting for an audio version of my new book, you’re in luck. Now available on Audible and Audiobooks.com. Read by Tom Perkins and published by Tantor Media. Unabridged, run time 9:44.
Forged in War Audiobook Now Available
Forged in War: How a century of war created today’s information society
Lankes, R. David (2021). Forged in War: How a century of war created today’s information society. New York, NY: Rowman & Littlefield.
Forged in War: How a Century of War Created Today’s Information Society
I am proud to announce my new book Forged in War: How a Century of War Created Today’s Information Society published by Rowman & Littlefield.
Many of what we think of as Information Age tools and media— computers, cell phones, the internet, encryption, and more— evolved directly out of modern warfare. These tools started with World War I (which began not with arms but with England cutting off underwater cables to Germany to isolate it), accelerated through World War II and the Cold War, and now play a central role in both declared and non-declared conflicts like election interference and cyberbattles.
We buy phones, smart speakers, and virtual assistants like Siri and Alexa to help us do our work and answer that one trivia question that bugs us. Yet these devices are data gatherers. They collect, repackage, and monetize our questions, purchases, photographs, and web surfing to form a data industry now larger than the oil industry.
Forged in War takes a critical look at the systems we use and how we ended up in a society that increasingly values data over personal liberty and commerce over the public good. It tells a compelling and previously untold story of how our ideas of information and knowledge reflect the century of war that has militarized our worldview.
R. David Lankes’s work has been funded by organizations such as the MacArthur Foundation, the Institute for Library and Museum Services, NASA, the U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Department of Defense, the National Science Foundation, and the U.S. State Department. This, his latest book, will help all of us learn how war has shaped our world and how to begin to create an agenda to stand down weaponized data and a media that seeks to own our personal, even intimate, data like one owns a gold mine.
Check out the star review in LibraryJournal: “VERDICT This most recent book by Lankes is ideal for readers seeking a more comprehensive look at information dissemination technology, its context, and its impact on the way in which we now live.“
Available to order from Rowman & Littlefield
SPECIAL OFFER
30% DISCOUNT OFF LIST PRICE USING CODE RLFANDF30
978-1-5381-4895-2 • Cloth May 2021 • $36.00 • after discount: $25.20
978-1-5381-4896-9 • eBook May 2021 • $34.00 • after discount: $23.80
Ampliemos expectativas – Expect More in Spanish Free Online
On Tuesday I had the honor of joining a launch event with the National Library of Peru. The library, working with the Library of Valencia, have translated Expect more into Spanish. It is a part of the National Library of Peru’s Reading, Library and Community Book seriesBest yet, they have released it to the world!
You can link to the Spanish eBook here: https://bpdigital.bnp.gob.pe/info/ampliemos-expectativas-exijamos-mejores-bibliotecas-para-lidiar-con-la-complejidad-del-mundo-actual-00638600
Here are my remarks for the release:
I am so happy to join you today for the launch of Expect more as part of the “Reading, Library and Community” Book series. I want to thank the National Library of Peru and the librarians of Valencia for their work translating and publishing the Spanish language version.
Continue reading “Ampliemos expectativas – Expect More in Spanish Free Online”Bibliotecários construindo o novo normal
Lankes, R. David (2021). Bibliotecários construindo o novo normal. Revista Brasileira de Biblioteconomia e Documentação Vol. 17
The Library as a Movement
Lankes, R. David (2021). The Library as a Movement. In Slijkerman & van Vlimmeren (Eds.), Living Libraries: The House of the Community around the World. De Bibliotheek Utrecht.
Never Neutral, Never Alone
Lankes, R. David (2020). Never Neutral, Never Alone. Journal of Education for Library and Information Science. 61(3). Available: https://doi.org/10.3138/jelis.61.3.2020-0007
Lankes Signs with Rowman and Littlefield for His Next Book
I am so happy to announce that I’ll be publishing my next book with Rowman & Littlefield. I am also thrilled to be working with Charles Harmon as my editor again.
The book should be published in 2021 and is about how the data and media landscape we live in has been shaped by a century of conflict and war. I am writing for a general audience and unlike my last books this one is not specifically about librarianship (though you know I’ll be doing my best to promote them).
The following is from the book proposal:
The first battle of World War I was not on land and not fought with battleships. It was cutting the telegraph cables that connected Germany to the rest of the world. With this action Britain not only launched the first information war but set in motion a series of events and ideas that shape our world. From the internet, to Google, to filter bubbles and Russian election interference, Lankes explores how we ended up in a society that values data over personal liberty and commerce over the public good. How our ideas of information and knowledge reflect the century of war that has militarized our worldview.
Using a series of trips through history from World War I until today, Lankes explores concepts from encryption and how it can be used to change our understanding of ownership to artificial intelligence and the wide scale adoption of software we don’t truly understand. He uses these grounded ideas to argue for a new humanism that focuses on how we find meaning in life and for an agenda to take back control of the world’s knowledge infrastructure. From Nazi espionage to smart appliances that spy on us in our homes to the COVID-19 pandemic this book is a clarion call for new polices in copyright, facial recognition, privacy, and in managing the trillion-dollar data/technology industry.
Expect More in Italian (Biblioteche innovative in un mondo che cambia)
Thanks to the amazing work of Anna Maria Tammaro and Elena Corradini, Expect More has been translated into Italian and is now available here (https://www.editricebibliografica.it/scheda-libro/r-david-lankes/biblioteche-innovative-in-un-mondo-che-cambia-9788893571043-579345.html). Apparently the first printing has already sold out and they are making another run!
Anna Maria is also offering a course on the Library as a Platform. There is a new section starting June 18: https://www.editricebibliografica.it/scheda-corsi/anna-maria-tammaro/la-biblioteca-come-piattaforma-04-2020-3-579391.html
I have been fortunate to work with the incredible librarians of Italy and I can’t wait for my next trip to listen and learn. Thanks again to Anna Maria, Elena Corradini, and Editrice Bibliografica
Is It Time for a Second Edition of the Atlas?
Greetings Readers and users of the Atlas of New Librarianship, I need your thoughts. Next year is the 10th anniversary of its publishing. I’ve been talking with my editor at MIT Press and have a couple of options.
1. Ignore it.
2. Write a new foreword and perhaps a nice on the cover, or
3. Develop a second edition.
And here’s where I need your honest input.
A second edition would be a lot of work (it would have to be submitted by the end of the summer), but would it be useful, particularly with the New Librarianship Field Guide out there now? I know some of you use the Atlas for classes, so I am really interested in your opinion.