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From: taylor@hplabsc.UUCP (Dave Taylor)
Newsgroups: mod.comp-soc
Subject: Re: Computer Networks and Literacy
Message-ID: <903@hplabsc.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 26-Nov-86 14:42:20 EST
Article-I.D.: hplabsc.903
Posted: Wed Nov 26 14:42:20 1986
Date-Received: Wed, 26-Nov-86 20:46:52 EST
Reply-To: sdcsvax!sdcc18.UCSD.EDU!ee161aba
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Laboratories
Lines: 33
Approved: taylor@hplabs
Reference: <882@hplabsc.UUCP>


This article is from sdcsvax!sdcc18.UCSD.EDU!ee161aba (David L. Smith)
 and was received on  Tue Nov 25 23:15:52 1986
 
Steve North writes;

>You ran the experiment but you don't understand the result.  The key is this:
>computer networks bring everyone down to the lowest common denominator.
>Students who are meek and mild manners flame wildly on the net.  Meanwhile
>the chairman of the dept. or someone else that projects a Presence and
>knows how to control a meeting or read the look on his audience's faces is
>deprived of his position and non-verbal information.  "The potential of the
>net" is a joke.  It's mostly a lot of noise and a waste of time.  

Either you're being satirical (you forgot your smiley face then:-)) or you're
missing the whole point.  The reason this narrow bandwidth medium is better
than a face-to-face meeting is *because* it brings everyone down to the same
level.  A silly idea shows up as a silly idea and people are less embarrassed
about shooting down a silly article than to stand up in front of this great
person and tell them to their face what a stupid idea it is.

The computer screens us, hides our physical flaws and allows us to present
our ideas for what they are worth.  The only things we can be judged by are
our ideas, our spelling and our grammar.  Slow thinkers and fast thinkers
are more normalized in a non-real-time discussion since an argument can be
looked over, polished and even disgarded with non the wiser.

Presence projecting is great.  That's how we elect our politicians and look
at the mess we're in now.  Maybe we should make them post to the net
(and no ghost keyboardists, either!)

			David L. Smith
			UC San Diego
			sdcsvax!sdcc18!ee161aba