Program Or be Programmed: Ten Commands for a Digital Age

Douglas Rushkoff

Jan 2010 · OR Books

About this eBook

Is the internet good or bad? How can technology be directed? In this spirited, accessible poetics of new media, Rushkoff picks up where Marshall McLuhan left off, helping readers come to recognise programming as the new literacy of the digital age and as a template through which to see beyond social conventions and power structures that have vexed us for centuries. This is a friendly little book with a big and actionable message.

Ratings and reviews

From unforgettable anecdotes of needlessly virtualized model UN meetings to prescriptions for interaction online and (yet another) exhortation to take up programming, Rushkoff here offers a short and thoughtful piece on technology, digital media and the internet. Definitely recommended for anyone out there connected to a device--so, yeah, that's pretty much everybody.

It's so easy for us to get lost in the fast moving tech world and neglecting technology is essential a double-edged sword. It's a required read for my students in a computer science at UC Berkeley.

Quite a good read for people that are interested in the subject. A few things are repeated and obvious but still there are a lot of good observations and ideas.

About the author

Douglas Rushkoff was born on February 18, 1961. After graduating from Princeton University he received an MFA in Directing from California Institute of the Arts. He has written numerous magazine columns on topics including cyberculture and has been aired on CBS Sunday Morning and NPR's All Things Considered and published in The New York Times and Time magazine. Rushkoff has taught at the MaybeLogic Academy, NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program, and the Esalen Institute, and he teaches media studies at the New School University. Rushkoff lectures around the world about media, art, society, and change at conferences and universities. He consults to museums, governments, synagogues, churches, universities, and companies on new media arts and ethics. Rushkoff won the first Neil Postman award for Career Achievement in Public Intellectual Activity. He is on the Boards of the Media Ecology Association, The Center for Cognitive Liberty and Ethics, Technorealism, The National Association for Media Literacy Education, MeetUp.com, and Hyperwords. His bestselling books include graphic novels, Cyberia, Media Virus, Playing the Future, Nothing Sacred: The Truth about Judaism, Get Back in the Box: Innovation from the Inside Out, Coercion, and Life Inc.