Tomorrow's Technology and You

George Beekman's Tomorrow's Technology and You has introduced students and non-students to computers and information technology for more than a decade. Hundreds of thousands of people around the planet have used the first eight editions of this popular text, formerly known as Computer Confluence, to learn about computers, networks, and their uses and abuses. The book draws on George Beekman's decades of experience teaching at Oregon State University, writing for popular magazines, and demystifying technology in workshops from the Atlantic to Alaska. For the ninth edition, George Beekman is joined by writer, multimedia designer, and technological wizard Ben Beekman. The father-and-son team is now working on the tenth edition, due for publication in December of 2010.

Tomorrow's Technology and You has always been about convergence--the convergence of computers and communication technology; the convergence of the written word and multimedia; and most importantly, the convergence of technology and the people whose futures are changed by that technology.

Tomorrow's Technology and You is known for its lively, inviting writing style, its clear explanations and illustrations, its human-centered, future-oriented approach to technology, its practical tips for navigating technological waters, and its emphasis on important ideas and trends rather than techno-trivia. Students and non-students alike have found it to be an invaluable guide for understanding the applications and implications of computer technology today and tomorrow.

Tomorrow's Technology and You is available in two forms: a ten-chapter Introductory Edition and a fifteen-chapter Comprehensive Edition with more coverage of systems development, applications in the enterprise, and artificial intelligence.

HyperCard 2.3 in a Hurry: The Fast Track to Multimedia

HyperCard was the original multimedia authoring tool when it first appeared in 1987. For many years Apple bundled it with every new Macintosh. HyperCard was widly popular with Macintosh users because it made it easy for non-techies to create interactive multimedia documents and even complete database-driven applications without learning complex programming languages and technical protocols.

George Beekman's HyperCard in a Hurry was, for many years, one of the most popular introductions to HyperCard. The latest edition of the book (version 2.3) was co-published by Wadsworth as a textbook and Peachpit Press as a trade book.

HyperCard in a Hurry was a popular starting point for students and others who wanted to turn their ideas into multimedia presentations. George Beekman taught HyperCard in a Hurry workshops for teachers and students from the East Coast to Alaska. In two of those workshops, Native American children from Oregon used HyperCard to create animated versions of legends from their native cultures. Today students use PowerPoint, HTML, Flash, iMovie, and other tools to do creative multimedia work. All of these tools include features and concepts that HyperCard pioneered.

Home Companion Books: Ancient Home Computing History

In 1982 the microcomputer revolution was in full swing. Apple, Commodore, Texas Instruments, Coleco, Tandy, and other companies were cranking out little machines like crazy. The problem was that these early machines, like the IBM PC that followed them, were difficult for mere mortals to understand.

George Beekman's Home Companion books were designed to demystify these little beasts and make them useful in home environments. The first in the series, The Commodore 64 Home Companion, was selected by the Whole Earth Software Review as the best book for learning how to use Commodore's ubiquitous machine. Unfortunately, the series publisher declared bankruptcy shortly afterward, much to the chagrin of the authors and home computer users everywhere.

Other Writings and Teachings

George Beekman's words have shown up in a variety of publications over the years. He was a regular contributor to Macworld for the first two decades of that publication's existence. He wrote or cowrote articles for The Computing Teacher, A+, InCider, Mouse Droppings, Whole Earth Catalog, Mother Earth News, Lifestyle, and several obscure journals that (almost) nobody read. His first major publishing project involved coauthoring several software-specific manuals to accompany a popular Pascal programming textbook. (Remember Pascal?)

George Beekman taught multimedia, computer literacy, computer ethics, and software design in Oregon State University's Computer Science Department for 24 years. As an adjunct faculty member for OSU's SMILE program, he worked with students and teachers in communities with large Native Americans and Hispanic populations, helping them to apply computer skills to science, mathematics, and communication problems. He has done keynotes, presentations, and workshops on computers and multimedia in education at many conferences around the United States.