John Schwartz (b. 1957) is a science writer at the national desk of the Washington Post, where he writes a regular column about Internet and technology issues. Formerly he was a business writer for Newsweek. This article appeared originally in 1996 in Virtual City, a magazine for people interested in the Internet that was launched by Newsweek but is no longer being published.
"The American Dream, and Email for All (Composing Cyberspace p. 240) is not available online.
1. Schwartz writes that Blacksburg is "a place that has successfully fused small-town folks with high-tech communications" (¶ 5). To what extent do you agree with this judgment, based on the article? Do you think that Schwartz glosses over "that remaining 40 percent" (¶ 10) of the the population not online or dissenters such as fortune teller Helen Johnson?
2. Regarding online civility, Blacksburg Electronic Village's project director Andrew Cohill is quoted as saying, "Here, if you yell at somebody, there's a good chance you're going to see them on the street" (¶ 18). What differences does Schwartz see between BEV and civic networks in other places, what evidence does he present, and how does he account for these differences? How do you think rural, suburban, and urban communities might make different uses of civic networks?
3. How do you think your own community might use a civic network like Blacksburg's? Or if your community already has such a network, how would you compare its uses with those described by Schwartz?
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