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.