Forgetting

"Delete: The Virtue of Forgetting in the Digital Age," by I+I director, Viktor Mayer-Schönberger, has been on a tour in the US and Europe for the past few weeks. In addition to the numerous responses it has generated in the media and the blogosphere, presentation of the book started a number of interesting discussion on the role of memory and the ability to forget in our hyper-mediated reality. Last week, "Talk of the Nation," one of the premier shows on NPR, hosted Viktor for a conversation about the book. In addition, Daily Kos, the leading liberal blogging community in the US, hosts an open thread with a discussion of "Delete" - it is worth checking out!

Times Higher Education, a London based magazine focused on higher education, has chosen "Delete" as the book of the week. The review of "Delete," written by Henry Farrell, an associate professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University, concludes with following:

"After a decade or more of books examining digital technology's consequences for the law, politics and society, we are finally beginning to see interesting books that talk about its effect on the individual. Delete is a highly promising (and often fascinating) first effort to spell out the problems, and to think through how they might be engaged."

You can read the complete review here.

Why is it sometimes good to forget? Should information have an expiration date? These and other questions were brought up in a conversation Webster Lanigan and Jimmy Malone of Majic 105.7 had with Prof. Mayer-Schönberger about his new book, "Delete: The Virtue of Forgetting in the Digital Age." You can listen to the interview here.

Princeton University Press has just released a trailer for I+I director Viktor Mayer-Schönberger's upcoming book "Delete: The Virtue of Forgetting in the Digital Age".

See for yourself:

The British Sunday Times discussed I+I Centre Director Viktor Mayer-Schönberger's upcoming book "Delete: The Virtue of Forgetting in the Digital Age" in its August 9, 2009 issue.

Editor James Harkin agreed with Viktor Mayer-Schönberger and wrote about the importance of getting Google to forget.

In the August 2009 edition of premier digital age magazine WIRED, Clive Thompson reviewed I+I Centre director Viktor Mayer-Schönberger's upcoming book "Delete: The Virtue of Forgetting in the Digital Age".

Calling it a "fascinating book", Thompson goes on to concur with Viktor Mayer-Schönberger's proposal to introduce expiration dates for information.