bobby knox's List: Disinfo Debate

• Many people who write about information   technology draw a parallel between the introduction of the printing press in   15^th century Europe and the introduction of the computer. The parallel   is based on the notion that technological revolutions entail rapid and far-reaching   social change that is the inevitable result of the introduction of a major   new technology.
• In this view, changes in the technologies of literacy affect   literacy practices and communities: The transformation from an oral culture   to a literate one reshaped consciousness; the introduction of alphabetic writing   in Ancient Greece transformed Greek thought; the invention of the printing   press moved the power of scholar-priests to more democratic institutions and   promoted individualism, nationalism, and secularism.

• CONCLUSION

   

  While it is clear from an historical   analysis of earlier literacy technologies that the technology does not cause   social or religious revolutions, it is also clear that the introduction of any   technology is not neutral, whether the technology is a literacy technology or   not. "The computer [or any other technology] is not just a tool; it is an extension   of the environment in which we think and communicate" (Costanzo, 1992, p. 21).   All tools carry social meaning, reflecting social values and practices. Their   social meaning, however, is only evident in their use
• When the telephone was   first introduced, for example, people did not see it as anything more than a   machine. Over time, however, it has become a cultural artifact, a way of communicating,   with its own conventions for polite interaction, including opening sequences,   turn-taking, and closing sequences. Societies adapt new literacy technologies   to fit their value systems and practices so that any new medium becomes another   part of the web of communication (see Murray, 1991).

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