In my lifetime, the world has changed so much, largely in part because of technological advancements. Now instead of referencing the yellow pages to look for a company to complete a task around your house or a new restaurant to take your relatives who are visiting to eat at, we as a society turn to Websites.
In Michael Guilfoyle’s article, “Do You Know Why a Website Is So Important for Your Business?” he discusses the importance of companies and organizations having and maintaining a Website. He first addresses the speed and efficiency of referencing the Internet when choosing the proper lawn care service and obtaining their contact information. The Internet still allows you to search online directories like the yellow pages, but it also allows you to instant message your friends and ask who they recommend, read twitter and blogs (perhaps that link to companies’ Websites) pertaining to their abilities and prices. Not only do we search the Internet for answers, but we also are most likely to be convinced by the information provided on companies’ Websites about their prices, customer compliments, and photographs of their completed work.
With all the things that business (no matter how small or large) spend money on every day, one item company spending should definitely be going to is a Website! For example, companies spend hundreds and thousands of dollars every year leasing out their office space to be in the best possible location for their customers. Now the best possible location for all customers for easy and convenient access is on the Web! The Web allows customers to “visit” the store, while sitting at home drinking their morning cup of coffee. People no longer have to drive out of their way to actually come into your store or to your office!
At the rate companies have Websites and are updating their Websites, companies with out a site are not going to be able to keep their business running. Even if people receive a flier advertising a company to use for an action, most follow-up research takes place online. Online advertising is a win-win situation for both parties, allowing businesses to fully express themselves and potential clients to learn about a particular business.
Websites are the way to attracting new business, without one, a company’s business will trickle in, if there is a flow at all. So if you work for a business, make sure you have a Website that is fully functioning! It needs to look good since the Web now offers clients their first impression of your company and what you have to offer!
I can’t resist getting on my computer at least a couple hundred times a day. When I am on my computer, even if I’m working on a class assignment on the side, I am always using the variety of social media tools that the Web has to offer–from e-mailing friends, family, coworkers, and professors, to reading friends’ blogs, stalking on facebook, listening to live streaming radio online, or whatever activity looks appealing at that moment. One benefit of the various outlets the Web provides is the ability to multitask and interact with multiple people simultaneously.
Although I participate in citizen journalism or citizen media, whether in the form of reading, commenting, or writing, I do see some serious problems with having control of Internet content at the tips of our fingers. I acknowledge that the Web allows us to be creative and express ourselves, all while learning about the world around us. However, I am also familiar with the inaccuracies that sometimes accompany citizen-provided content. Some of these inaccuracies may be unintentional accidents, but the Internet does allow for people everywhere to publish incorrect and misleading information. It would be a fabulous invention if there was a system created that could find factual errors in content provided via the Web quickly and effortlessly. Maybe one day that technology will be created!
I also have mixed feelings about Keen’s proposed “moral obligation to develop technology.” (2) When my cell phone dies and I don’t have my charger or when my computer is in the shop to be worked on, I can easily see how we have all become very dependent on these social networking devices–perhaps too dependent. We have survived for centuries without the Web in the past, and although I know there are also many benefits to the Web and the services/capabilities that it provides, I am sure that we could survive without the Web again. We could survive, however, most of the younger generation would have a difficult time developing skills that they have relied on technology to do for them their entire lives.
As far as the creativity and personalization that the Web provides for amateurs and pros, I appreciate not being limited to “one exclusive sphere of activity.” (2) I agree- the various perspectives and opinions availble makes the Internet much more valuable when one is trying to learn all angles of an issue. I look forward to seeing the new places the Web is bound to take us in the future! Hopefully, in time, we as a society will learn to use the Web in moderation.
In a word, NO.
I do not think that Google is making us stupid. In fact, I feel that it challenges us to keep up with the fast pace of side stories, background information, advertisements, and profiles with every article. I do, however, feel that Google is making us lazy and less appreciative of the time and effort it takes to complete a work of writing. I would tend to agree with Carr that “the more [we] use the Web, the more [we] have to fight to stay focused on long pieces of writing.” (58) This is especially the case when it comes to the younger generation today. We feel connected to the Web based on the content’s interactivity. Reading on the web is no longer just reading. Although, a person reading a book is required to turn the page, a person reading online can scroll down while reading, click on various links, watch a variety of clips pertaining to topic at hand, etc. (Hence the reason that college students will opt to waste away time exploring the Web instead of reading their dreaded textbooks. )
I do not see our desire to use the Web to die out with the continued additions of many forms of new media technology. I also do not see books going away any time soon. But most importantly, I do not see IQs and test scores plummeting as a result of what all the Web has to offer. I think we just have to train our minds to approach the written word and a multi-media form of written material, like the Web, in different ways.
Ong argues that speech, oral communication, is the primary form of language, whereas writing is more advanced, since the written word can only be completed with the pre-existing knowledge of the spoken word. Ong goes on to say that “some non-oral communication is exceedingly rich…in a deep sense language, articulated sound, is paramount.” (7) This idea of language as sound is interesting in relation to writing for the world wide web. Websites are constantly revamping their format so that it includes different forms of new media, whether it be radio streaming live over the Internet, coverage of the Olympic games airing via the Net, or segments of the news being available online to watch what’s happening in your neck of the woods.
If Org is correct in that speech is the first, most basic form of language, and writing is second, the Internet is reverting back to the primary form of language, thus allowing its audience to actually be able to hear the news instead of having to pick up a paper and read it. While this may be seen as a less scholarly approach to getting one’s news, instead of reading the paper, ultimately the Internet is using spoken communication as a means of making it less expensive for the reader and allowing the reader to multi-task while getting their news fill.
Another point that I found somewhat conflicting is Ong’s claim that “the basic orality of language is permanent.” (7) Today, people are constantly being warned that whatever is written over the Internet is permanent since cyberspace is so vast a medium. I find it far more feasible that the written word is permanent in comparison to the spoken word since dialects alter the pronunciation of words, words over generations become archaic and are no longer used, and new words are added to our dictionaries every year. This trend of our spoken language seems far more fallible than anything put to pen or type over the Internet.
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