Managing a Nation, The .Soit· ware Source Book, $30, from: Global Studies Center 1611 North Kent Street, Suite 600 Arlington, VA 22209 In the last issue we reported on the Global Studies Center computer conference. In response to that notice the center sent us its recent publication, Managing A Nation, The Software Source Book, that reviews software for application to a wide range of national administration and management concerns. ·The catalog is divided up into s~ctions that include: economy, rural development, energy, agriculture, population, ecolo- ,gy, transportation, security, global models, and modeling languages. Some.of the ~oftware appe·ars to be easy to use and accessible to the general public, such as "A Model of Growth for the People's Republic of China." For other applications you might h~ve to be pretty specialized to find a use for it-""for example, "Dynamic Synthesis of Basic Macroeconomic Theory: Implications for Stabilization." All in all a useful, one-of-a-kind catalog. -SJ The Women's Computer Literacy Handbook, by Deborah L. Brecher, 1985, 248 pp., $9.95 from: The Women's Computer Literacy Project 1195 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 This book may have saved my life-or at least salvaged a part of my career. Being involved in the publishing of technical literature, I must make it my business to familiarize myself with facts of computer graphics, desk-top publishing, digital ·typesetting and. the like. I read a variety of trade pµblications, go to conferences, talk to clients and friends. But it has been this book which has enabled me to probe dowri to that base layer of understanding, grasp some very basic concepts, and begin to · work back up from there. This. handbook began as an off-shoot of the Women's Computer Literacy Project in San Francisco, whose aim is to foster computer literacy in women through intensive, h~nds-on workshops. Recognizing the value of its. technique and the difficulty of reaching a wide REVIEWS "A progr,am is like a generic recipe. The procedure section is the program, and the ingredients are the data." (FROM: The Women's Computer Literacy Handbook) audience on a one-to-one basis, ·the project decided that a book was necessary. The chief beauty of The Women's Compute'\ Literacy Handbook is in its accessible analogies. . Beginning with simplified descriptions of what makes a computer a computer, Brecher works her . way through short- and long-term memory, peripherals, software, file management, and operating systems. She. describes how circuit boards are made (via a batik-like process), how silicon chips have been condensed to hold more memory (like going from whipped butter to regular butter), and how RAM memory works (like ·a hotel/ clerk looking immediately for your room key in the correct hotel mailbox instead of having to search every box beginning with the number one). Woven, among the descriptions and explanations is a simplified history of computer development from nietal cores to parallel 32-bus transmission. Throughout the book, Brecher also points out social and environmental issues that are offshoots of computer use~ such as whether the indiscriminate disposal of chemicals used in circuit board manufacturing makes it such a "clean" .industry after all; how the invasiveness of databases threatens our priv~cy; and the darker side of computer automation which brings "efficiency" to the workplace at the expense of variety and humanity. Interspersed are suggested models to-combat these drawbacks. Summer 1986 RAIN Page 47 On the surface, sqme of the analogies may seem·too rudimentary.. Why is it that computer concepts need to be reduced to ~uch simplistic terms ohly for women? Yet it is precisely these clearly worded everyday examples that have excited me and made me want to share my discoveries with friends. As one male friend put it, why cai;i 't a book be written' that is so easily understood for both women and men? Good point. -Cherry Britton Cherry Britton is a technical illustrator who works with computers a lot. The Women's Computer Literacy Project 1195 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415/821-9276 This project's director, Deborah Brecher, is,the author of the Women's , Computer Literacy Handbook. The project offers classes designed for women to learn about computers. One of the goals of the two-day class is to demystify computers and to empower women to use this tool. Classes are taught in San Francisco and New York City on a regular basis, and later this year will be offered in other cities (including one at Portland State University, Continuing Education Division, ·in Portland, Oregon, in fall 1986). Topics covered include computer concepts and terminology, programming, operating systems, database management, and word processing. -Mi.mi Maduro Conscience in Computing, available for $60/year from: . Jay Bloombecker 2700 N Cahuenga Blvd., Suite 2h3 Los Angeles, CA 90068. The Conscience in Computing newsletter is dedicated to generating a mainstream computer ethic, (or developing ethical conduct in computer use). The newsletter observes fhat development and its limits, including tracking computer crime and looking at ethical implications of computing developments such as artifical intelligence. -SJ
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