If, in fact, systemization will ultimately govern cultural capital and intellectual property over the next fifteen years or so, it will be vastly different from the nineteenth century modernist scheme of centralized organization. Uniform card catalogue systems, OCLC, and Library of Congress classifications certainly served a purpose since users at any geographical location could easily employ these systems of access. However, such systems, using librarians' terminology, search methods, and metaphors cannot organize large databases and other materials on the WWW. If we can't find information, then it is essentially invisible and inaccessible.

In contrast to centralized distribution systems, more academics favor decentralized, multiple modes of production and knowledge. Email, copy machines, the WWW, and databases like the Gutenberg Project or the Electronic Text Center at the University of Virginia (providing texts for individualized courses) offer authors multiple venues for both production and distribution. These various media allow academics to self-publish materials, which may have too small or narrow a readership to justify an expenditure of financial capital. However, cultural capital may be considerable for a wide readership via listservs, electronic archives, email, and webpages. Note the thousands of "hits" on professional webpages, online writing centers (OWLs), and electronic journals like Kairos and CMC Magazine. Many of these new media are searchable, easily accessible, and inexpensive. Texts that challenge the status quo can transcend traditional cultural values institutionalized by higher education.


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