 | |
I think that the the migration of the written word from paper to the internet is just one example of society becoming centered on the digital rather than the physical world. Our professors recently posted about whether this shift is good or bad, and some of the students had different opinions. I think, at least in the case of the written word, it's a very good thing. For example, the majority of my college professors have required students to turn in hard copies of written assignments. Printing my assignments is time-consuming, and costs 7 cents per page in the library. And, if I discover I made a mistake, I have to re-print the entire assignment. In contrast, my New Testament professor wants us to e-mail our assignments to him. This is very easy, and I can do it from home if I want to.
However, I think that social interaction over the internet can't compete with face to face interaction yet. Written messages have their place, and technology for videoconferencing is becoming more widespread, but it's not the same as actually being with someone.
By the way, I realized that I actually haven't fulfilled the requirements for my first class lab, so sometime soon I'll have to post detailed instructions on how to use Google Scholar. I think it'll be a pretty boring post though, since most people could figure in out in about two minutes. Oh well.
I think one thing that will be interesting to see, is whether or not the quality of the information out there decreased because of the ease in creating content. Suddenly you don't need millions of dollars to print opinions about sports in a column of a newspaper. You can simply create a blog. If the internet, controlled by anyone with any sort of technical literacy, becomes the source of information, will it cause a decline in the quality of important information?
ReplyDelete--Eric Collyer
I also think that it will be interesting to see how what we gain from reading on the internet will be different than reading an actual hard copy of the text. We talked about these differences a little in class a few times ago. I've noticed from the reading that I've done online compared with the hard copy, I tend to read the actual text more seriously. It seems that society is moving towards reading that involves skimming over the text to get the general idea. If all texts become digital will the analytical skills of society decrease? Will we miss something important when we read a classic on the internet rather than the book itself?
ReplyDeleteGreat comments on a great post. The Dewar article that you linked to is wonderfully prescient (from 1998). It also provided a great summary of Eisenstein's seminal study of the effects of printing. Thanks for bringing this to our attention!
ReplyDeleteAs for Google Scholar, be sure you explore its features and can explain how searching through it differs from typical Google searches. Look at the way citations work in particular, or how access is made to published books.
My roommate and I were talking the other day and he mentioned something he learned in his technical writing class (English 316). For written documents such as magazines, newspapers, books, e-mails, etc. the reader decides within the first 8-10 seconds whether or not he/she will continue reading the article or not. For articles on the internet, the reader decides after 5 seconds. It's crazy but I agree.
ReplyDeleteI haven't done anything on Google Scholar yet either - I'm anxious to read your experiences & advice!
ReplyDelete