This ground-breaking book not only introduced the phrase 'the Net Generation" to our language, but brilliantly defined why the future will be ruled by Net Culture. Tapscott clearly illustrates all the ways in which the Net Generation will influence the future. His positioning of this group helped inspire many leading companies including Hewlett-Packard to rethink their business strategies. Like H-P, any company that wants to succeed will have to reach the Net Generation now - and this is the book that explains who they are and how they're reshaping the way the world works, plays, learns, and does business.

Preface

One of the great stories of the dawn of the new millennium will be the ascendancy to power of the Net Generation.

More than 88 million strong, these youngsters are the biggest demographic group in the United States and Canada. The oldest of this generation are now entering the labor market, bringing with them their profoundly different notions of work, reward, responsibility, and collaboration. Soon this generation will be assuming positions of growing influence in the business, political, and cultural arenas. Their comfort with the new media, and their mastery at its exploitation, guarantees that this generation will be an increasingly powerful voice in all debates. Ultimately, of course, it will become the dominant voice -- dominating the 21st century.

Since writing the book I have continued to meet new youngsters and learn from them. One is 16-year-old Michael Furdyk, who worked on growingupdigital.com. Michael and several collegues of his have developed their own Net environment -- the mydesktop.com network, which evaluates and discusses technology (http://www.mydesktop.com). Their site receives 20 million hits per month, making this group more influential on the Web than many Fortune 500 companies, many national governments, and many media empires.

Michael embodies one of the book's central points. For the first time in history youth are an authority on an innovation central to society's development. We can learn from him and his generation. And they are an unprecedented force for change.

We wonder how big e-commerce will be? How fast will technology change the schools, firms, governments, society? It's as if we've all been sitting on the beach wondering what kind of day it's going to be -- and no one noticed the tsunami just off the horizon.

Imagine being Michael's teacher. He and his generation know more about arguably the most important development in learning ever.

Imagine being Michael's employer. Michael has grown up in a culture of innovation, collaboration, and networking, which will replace the culture of the traditional firm.

Imagine Michael as a consumer. He'll purchase his first car online. He'll shop for many things -- from groceries to his first mortgage -- on the Net. He'll change our thinking about the brand, advertising, the establishment of prices, and most of what is known about merchandising.

Imagine Michael as a citizen. Will he settle for our current models of democracy and citizen participation?

Overall, reaction to the book has been very heartening, with positive reviews and best-seller sales. The book was Amazon.com's first-ever best seller in nonfiction. It has been the focus of many newspaper and magazine articles and radio and television shows. The book has been translated (or is in the process of being translated) into 14 languages.

One pleasant surprise is that tens of thousands of teachers and educators have bought the book. I have received many e-mails describing how it is being used as the basis for changing a class or school. Teaching is becoming a less unidirectional process and much more collaborative and heuristic. The feedback I am getting tells me that teachers view this as a more stimulating and satisfying model.

Since writing the book I've heard many tales of students and teachers working together to implement technology in the classroom and more important new models of learning.

 

Don Tapscott is Chairman of the Alliance for Converging Technologies and

President of New Paradigm Learning Corporation. He is an internationally

sought consultant, speaker, and authority on information technology in

business.

In Canada, in 1992 he chaired the first information highway advisory

council ever established -- setting a model emulated by many countries.

Mr. Tapscott has authored several books on technology in business

including The Digital Economy: Promise and Peril in the Age of

Networked Intelligence (McGraw-Hill, New York). Mr. Tapscott is also

the co-author of Paradigm Shift: The New Promise of Information

Technology, which is now in its eleventh printing and has been

translated into seven languages. He co-authored Who Knows:

Safeguarding Your Privacy in a Networked World (Random House,

Toronto). His most recent book is Growing up Digital: The Rise of the

Net Generation. Don holds a B.Sc. in Psychology and Statistics and a

M.Ed. specializing in Research Methodology.

 

Growing Up Digital by Don Tapscott
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