Re: Has the Web advanced the written word?

[Steve Davis <Steve -dot- Davis -at- RTTC -dot- REDSTONE -dot- ARMY -dot- MIL>]

My wife's school uses e-mail as a means of teaching better writing
skills.  Children have a tendency not to worry about speed so much as
quality.  If they know someone else is going to read it, they try
harder to make it right.  Maybe we could learn something from them.
This is just my wife's experience in the classroom with special
education students.

Maybe if we slowed down a little things would get better.  I am a speed
freak; if it's not instantaneous I change channels, re-boot, or any
variety of things to squeeze more speed out of my day.

That's just my opinion, I could be wrong (Denis Miller)


Steve Davis
-----Original Message-----
From: rsering
Sent: Friday, September 25, 1998 10:24 AM
To: TECHWR-L
Cc: rsering
Subject: Has the Web advanced the written word?


Here's a topic for discussion on a Friday:

Someone once commented to me that the Internet, especially email, has
been a boon to written communication. Up to this point the Internet has
been primarily a text medium (witness the Starr report), and certainly
email is a hot competitor with long distance phone service as a means of
communication. But when I go to one of the online news services to read
a piece, I often find enough typos to send an editor out for a long
smoke break. It is the immediacy of the medium that explains it; the
language has gained spontaneity even as it has become less formal.

Even on this esteemed list there is a rule that spelling and grammar
errors should be overlooked. I completely agree with the rule, but what
does it mean for the language? Is using abrevs ;-) such as IMHO, TIA,
etc. an indication of a language evolving in a new medium or of its
degradation? And what about those Smileys? What is _that_ all about?

Well anyway: ruminations on a Friday. Net price: $.02

- Ron

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