Book Review: The Content Analysis Guidebook

much more quickly and fundamentally than did earlier ICTs like the Gutenberg typesetting machine, telegraph, or the telephone. Each of these devices took decades or centuries to saturate the marketplace to the extent that they were available to the masses. Nicholas Negroponte, M. McLuhan, A. Toffler, and other futurists would argue that the web became available to the masses (at least in the United States) in less than 10 years after its introduction, and about 30 years after the Internet moved from concept in Rand Corporation research labs to reality in the U.S. Department of Defense. Overall, Access Denied is a sound contribution to the growing body of technology/social science literature. It casts a wide net with respect to how information communications technologies affect society and it is thorough in its analysis in relation to the view that technology itself will not change existing inequities in society dramatically. If the reader believes that modern information and network technology will indeed cause a fundamental shift in society in a Nicholas Negroponte “Being Digital” sort of way, this book will be challenging. If, however, you feel that technology is changing the world in a more incremental manner, Access Denied will be a nice addition to your library.