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Computerized Monitoring and Online Privacy. Thomas A. Peters. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1999. 402 pp. ISBN 0-7864-0706-9. $65.
This comprehensive overview of HCI (human-computer interaction) as it deals with the use of computers to monitor people's use of computers is, unfortunately, far too comprehensive. That is perhaps to be expected of the first treatment of a subject but the net result is that even the most dedicated reader is unlikely to find the time or the energy to read through all 322 pages of text. Peters' treatment of this important subject is, therefore, likely to be relegated to supplementary reading lists in library school classes and looked at in detail only by a relatively few people searching for specific information on one of the four major areas covered. Those areas are, formal learning environments (e.g., educational software); information seeking environments (e.g., online catalogs); the workplace; and the Internet (e.g., online shopping). The discussion of each of those topics, which typically takes the form of a series of strungtogether annotations of a large body...