Overcoming the Technological Divide
The most intriguing
part of the book centers on the present and long-term social implications
of the Web and raises questions that our society is struggling to answer. One present
consequence, is how the internet influences perceptions of class and power.
We, so say the authors, are on the verge of becoming a society divided
by technology. The "haves" have access to computers and sufficient
access to the Internet, which allows them to develop skills that are in
high demand. The "have nots" are, therefore, less marketable
because they can't fulfill the demand for "knowledge" workers.
Farkas and Farkas are optimistic however, that it is not too late to reverse
this trend and urge that responsible designers be willing to teach others
the necessary skills and design sites that remain accessible to all.
Another legitimate
concern raised is the erosion of privacy in the home as Web sites collect
information on even the most casual user. The solution here is for the
end user to stop being passive and make choices not to fill out information
or accept cookies and to ask "Why do you need this information?"
"What is it used for?" "Who will see it?" and "Am
I willing to give up this information and if so, what will I be getting
in return?" It is only then that the end user can make an informed
decision to proceed.
Long-term implications
of the Web as communication are already being seen in education. Students
are being exposed to technology at an earlier age and demonstrating more
proficiency. How they seek, read and absorb information is changing from
static text and lecture. Yet these self same students often lack the sophistication
to find and evaluate information that validates a site's reliability.
It is not enough that students be given software and access to email and
message boards. Do they have the tools to evaluate what they read? How
do we identify potential problems? As for limiting what they younger eyes
can see on the Web, what is the best way and when does censorship become
acceptable? There are no easy solutions.
The Web as communication
is still shifting, and as Farkas and Farkas point out, standards have
yet to be set and users still don't know what to expect. The authors do
not conceal their viewpoints on these questions but their self stated
purpose is to "seek to extend your [the reader's] awareness of
ethical issues and to encourage you to reach thoughtful conclusions, stay
alert to new issues and events, and act responsibly on what you come to
believe."
The book references
several perspectives when talking about the Web: that a Web site is a
kind of unstructured database, and the central problems have to do with
information retrieval (the information-science perspective); that text
may be viewed as dialog even though the user is not exchanging with the
author (Bakhtin 1989; MacOvski 1997); but draws Web pages that rely heavily on hypertext
theory which is the idea that hypermedia can be described in terms of
nodes (clusters of information) and links. Hypertext theory is primarily
concerned with how these links are arranged to express meaning and how
they are carried through to the interface. All Web sites have a gate way
(home page) through which the user must enter (or at least the
designer would prefer). It is from this location that the user has access
to all aspects of the site.
