Cyber Culture: The Future of Print Essay -- Technology Literature Essa

When we think of technology, what often comes to mind are televisions, communications devices such as cell phones and satellites, computers, and different modes of transportation. However, there are other ways in which technology is applied, one of those being the Internet and its various components including email, chat rooms, and search engines. The list of uses for the Internet is innumerable and many corporations and universities are forcing people to make use of it. But no matter how much this new technology is forced on us, people are still resistant to it. As George Landow, Professor of English and Art History at Brown University, states, "Technology, in the lexicon of many humanists, generally means 'only that technology of which I am frightened'" (Landow 218). Such resistance is unfortunate because the generation of online technology is here. Whether we have accepted it or not we are "twenty minutes into the future" (Landow 214). Books are no longer the sole resource for inf ormation gathering and communicating. A whole new system for conveying information has taken place. "In many ways, we have, for better or worse, already moved beyond the book. Even on the crudest, most materialist standard involving financial returns, we no longer find it at the center of our culture as the primary means of recording and disseminating information and entertainment" (Landow 215). Cyber culture, particularly Internet phenomenons such as online journals and email, have enhanced the way we work with writing and changed the way we write. For instance, references such as online journals and magazines have facilitated researchers in numerous ways. EMU's online database alone contains a library of information on topics ranging from busines... ...w technology called cyber culture, Landow makes a very good point when he says â€Å"Digital technology may be new, but technology, particularly information technology, has permeated all known culture since the beginnings of human history (218). Cyber culture is here to stay and can be very effective in communication, research, and writing; the challenge now, is to close the generational gap between those who have embraced cyber culture and those who still resist it. Works Cited Landow, George. â€Å"Twenty Minutes into the Future, or How Are We Moving Beyond the Book?† Writing Material: Readings from Plato to the Digital Age.† Comp. Evelyn B. Tribble & Anne Trubek. New York: Longman, 2003. 214-226. Lesser, Wendy. â€Å"The Conversation.† Writing Material: Readings from Plato to the Digital Age.† Comp. Evelyn B. Tribble & Anne Trubek. New York: Longman, 2003. 227-223.