Traces the development of the alphabet, compares Eastern and Western writing systems, and argues that the computer is reducing cultural differences

The Alphabet Effect: The Impact of the Phonetic Alphabet on the Development of Western Civilization

History

Logan, Robert K.

Historical Study & Educational Resources

St Martins Pr

Knowledge has become the new source of wealth, and the co-creation and sharing of knowledge through collaboration, the key to the success of today's organization. Collaboration is everyone's business and every business's concern. Unfortunately, the mindset of most business people is not one of cooperation, but of competition. Collaborate to Compete, offers a practical, applied approach to fostering a spirit of cooperation not just within an organization, but also with suppliers, customers, and even competitors to gain a competitive advantage. Many knowledge management initiatives and approaches have failed in their attempt to harness and share the knowledge resident in organizations because they focus on technology, systems, and the valuation of intellectual property, but often neglect the human side. Collaborate to Compete goes beyond the traditional technological approaches of knowledge management systems to address the human challenges, as well as the psychological, cultural, and organizational barriers to employees, suppliers, and customers actually using these systems. Collaborate to Compete: 
<ul>
<li>Shows how to create an atmosphere of trust, teamwork and collaboration and the promotion of emotional intelligence.</li> <li>Offers practical tools, processes and exercises that are helpful in developing a culture of collaboration.</li> <li>Introduces a unique assessment instrument, the Collaboration Quotient, that measures the readiness of individuals and of their organization to collaborate. It is also used to monitor the organization's progress in developing collaboration.</li> <li>Provides a detailed design for a practical and effective Internet-based knowledge network that facilitates knowledge sharing and co-creation.</li> <li>Includes comprehensive coverage on: how to transform a command-and-control organization into a collaborative one; how to measure, maintain, and increase collaboration; how to identify and eliminate the systems and processes that hinder collaboration; how to reward and encourage collaboration; and much more.</li> <li>Features examples and case studies that provide a blueprint for implementation, including organizations such as Documentum, Hill &amp; Knowlton, Intel, Northrop Grumman, Open Text, Siemens, Turner Construction, Vignette and others.</li> </ul>

Collaborate to Compete: Driving Profitability in the Knowledge Economy

Business & Money

Stokes, Louis W.

Economics

wiley

Describes the evolution of writing, compares the characteristics of Eastern and Western civilizations, and argues that the alphabet led to the development of linear logic

World

William Morrow & Co.

The Fifth Language: Learning a Living in the Computer Age

Computers & Technology

Computer Science

Stoddart Pub.

The Sixth Language: Learning a Living in the Internet Age

The Internet, proposes Logan (physics and education, U. of Toronto), constitutes a new link in an evolutionary chain of languages that include speech, writing, mathematics, science, and computing. Expanding on the communications theories of Marshall McLuhan and Harold Innis, he argues that computers and the Internet will increasingly change how people work and learn, and urges readers to become lifelong students. Parts of the study were published in his 1995 The Fifth Language . Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Networking & Cloud Computing

The ability to communicate through language is such a fundamental part of human existence that we often take it for granted, rarely considering how sophisticated the process is by which we understand and make ourselves understood. In The Extended Mind, acclaimed author Robert K. Logan examines the origin, emergence, and co-evolution of language, the human mind, and culture.
 Building on his previous study, The Sixth Language (2000) and making use of emergence theory, Logan seeks to explain how language emerged to deal with the complexity of hominid existence brought about by tool-making, control of fire, social intelligence, coordinated hunting and gathering, and mimetic communication. The resulting emergence of language, he argues, signifies a fundamental change in the functioning of the human mind - a shift from percept-based thought to concept-based thought.
 From the perspective of the Extended Mind model, Logan provides an alternative to and critique of Noam Chomsky's approach to the origin of language. He argues that language can be treated as an organism that evolved to be easily acquired, obviating the need for the hard-wiring of Chomsky's Language Acquisition Device. In addition Logan shows how, according to this model, culture itself can be treated as an organism that has evolved to be easily attained, revealing the universality of human culture as well as providing an insight as to how altruism might have originated. Bringing timely insights to a fascinating field of inquiry, The Extended Mind will be sure to find a wide readership.

The Extended Mind: The Emergence of Language, the Human Mind, and Culture (Toronto Studies in Semiotics and Communication)

Literature & Fiction

History & Criticism

University of Toronto Press

The ability to communicate through language is such a fundamental part of human existence that we often take it for granted, rarely considering how sophisticated the process is by which we understand and make ourselves understood. In The Extended Mind, acclaimed author Robert K. Logan examines the origin, emergence, and co-evolution of language, the human mind, and culture.Building on his previous study, The Sixth Language (2000) and making use of emergence theory, Logan seeks to explain how language emerged to deal with the complexity of hominid existence brought about by tool-making, control of fire, social intelligence, coordinated hunting and gathering, and mimetic communication. The resulting emergence of language, he argues, signifies a fundamental change in the functioning of the human mind - a shift from percept-based thought to concept-based thought.From the perspective of the Extended Mind model, Logan provides an alternative to and critique of Noam Chomsky's approach to the origin of language. He argues that language can be treated as an organism that evolved to be easily acquired, obviating the need for the hard-wiring of Chomsky's Language Acquisition Device. In addition Logan shows how, according to this model, culture itself can be treated as an organism that has evolved to be easily attained, revealing the universality of human culture as well as providing an insight as to how altruism might have originated. Bringing timely insights to a fascinating field of inquiry, The Extended Mind will be sure to find a wide readership.

Understanding New Media: Extending Marshall McLuhan

Marshall McLuhan made many predictions in his seminal 1964 publication, Understanding Media: Extensions of Man. Among them were his predictions that the Internet would become a «Global Village», making us more interconnected than television; the closing of the gap between consumers and producers; the elimination of space and time as barriers to communication; and the melting of national borders. He is also famously remembered for coining the expression «the medium is the message». These predictions form the genesis of this new volume by Robert Logan, a friend and colleague who worked with McLuhan. In Understanding New Media Logan expertly updates Understanding Media to analyze the «new media» McLuhan foreshadowed and yet was never able to analyze or experience. The book is designed to reach a new generation of readers as well as appealing to scholars and students who are familiar with Understanding Media. Visit the companion website, understandingnewmedia.org, for the latest updates on this book.

Biographies & Memoirs

Professionals & Academics

Peter Lang Inc., International Academic Publishers

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Books by Logan, Robert K.