Cyberculture and the Furutre of Print

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Cyberculture and the Future of Print

How has "cyberculture--" particularly Internet phenonemons like the World Wide Web, Blogs, online newspapers, online jourmals and magazines, instant messaging, newsgroups, email, and so forth-- changed the way we think about "writing" and "writers?" Have our habits of reading and writing become fundamentally different as a result of contemporary computer technology? Have technological advances damaged or enhanced the way we work with writing?

Write a five to seven page essay that explores these and similar questions. Be sure to make reference to the assigned readings and similar materials to make your point, and be sure to focus on an example from a particular aspect of cyberculture to illustrate what you are discussing.

Here are some things to think about:

You should keep in mind an audience that of course includes your teacher and your classmates, but also one that includes interested readers who might come across your essay on the web.
Your essay needs to take a position and make some sort of "point," though this can certainly be done in a number of different ways.
You need to make reference to and cite some of the readings from the Tribble and Trubek textbook in order to support your point. You of course can also reference other material that you find that you think is relevant and helpful. Be sure to use MLA style in terms of parenthetical citations within the text and also in terms of a works cited page.
You need to focus in on some sort of example in order to prove your point. We will talk about what this might mean in class and I will share some examples from past student projects for this assignment, but in general, I think you should consider writing about a particular or small group of related web sites, blogs, newsgroups, chat rooms, or related Internet forum that raises questions and issues about writing, writers, technology, and style.
Ultimately, you will "hand in" an electronic copy of this assignment as an MS Word document emailed to me by the due date. If you don't have MS Word easily available, you will send your doucment as an RTF document. We'll talk about some of the technical logistics of this in class.