This booklet comes as a timely reminder that the web needs to be seen not only as a tool for better communications but also as an ethical challenge. Part of that challenge lies in the fact that the majority of those who have access to it are, if we're honest with ourselves, those who least need it:

"As of mid 2002 only 9% of of the world population have access to the Internet, and this is a close approximation to the richest 9%" - p.12

Do we, who already have so many means of communication, need yet another?

However we respond to that, the web won't be going away any time soon. Clough splits his analysis into five parts, each with a question mark hanging over it -- A New Beginning? A New Place? A New Time? A New Person? A New Task? -- and manages to cover an awful lot of ground in his 25 pages. He looks back at earlier technologies that were hailed as the technology that would change the world for ever, considers the present situation and then begins to probe the way ahead in response to these.

If you're concerned about where the web is taking us -- or where we're taking the web -- and which of these will come to dominate -- this is one publication you can't afford to miss.

Phil Groom, December 2002

Phil Groom is this site's Webmaster and Reviews Editor. He's a regular contributor to Christian Marketplace magazine and is the manager of London School of Theology Books & Resources. Any opinions expressed here are personal and should not be taken as representing the views of London School of Theology or of any other group or organisation.

From a review previously published on the London School of Theology website.