(SitNews) Ketchikan, Alaska - During Fall 2012 semester, University of Alaska Southeast Ketchikan is sponsoring its second One Ketchikan One Book project, and invites the community of Ketchikan to read and discuss Alone Together: Why We Expect More From Technology and Less From Each Other, by Sherry Turkle.

 Odds are you are already having conversations along the themes of privacy and the lack there of with family, coworkers, and others.  There is likely no parent of a teenager out there who hasn’t battled over cell phone usage.  How personal is our communication with each other?  How is technology affecting our family life?  Our democracy?  Our individual rights?

Turkle’s most recent work, Alone Together, argues that we are at a point of decision and opportunity. Technology now invites us to lose ourselves in always-on mobile connections and even in relationships with inanimate creatures that offer to "stand in" for the real. In the face of all this, technology offers us the occasion to reconsider our human values, and reaffirm what they are. She says, “It’s time to talk about the effects of technology…how we use it…and develop a more self-aware relationship.”

The first discussion about the book will be held on Wednesday, September 26th, beginning at 6:30 p.m. in the UAS Ketchikan Campus Library, 2600 Seventh Avenue, Ketchikan, Alaska, upstairs in the Ziegler Building.  Themes from the book will be introduced using technology and human to human conversation. The focus of our discussions will be Part 2 of the book, which begins on page 151.  Light refreshments will be served.  

There will be three formal events held throughout the Fall semester to discuss the book and its related topics, including a roundtable discussion.  In addition, a blog is available at  http://oneketchikanonebook.wordpress.com/ so that interested readers may add follow the postings of UAS Ketchikan librarians, add their own postings or comments to the postings of others, or to disagree about issues.  Articles and other sources along this topic will can also be found on the blog.  

These events will be free and open to the public. Books are available for check out at the UAS Ketchikan Campus Library and at the Ketchikan Public Library. Call 228-4567 with any questions.   

Source of News: 

University of Alaska Southeast Ketchikan
www.ketch.alaska.edu/

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