Holeton, Research Links for Chapter 7

Chapter 7 index || Forward Thinking || Discussion Threads || More Online Readings & Resources ||

1. Reread Jorge Luis Borges's "The Library of Babel" along with "The Air-Ship" by E.M. Forster (Chapter 4), plus if possible Forster's full-length story "The Machine Stops" (with the conclusion to "The Air-Ship"). Compare these two dystopian, or anti-utopian, fantasies by well-known writers before the age of the Internet. You might also compare a contemporary science fiction story, such as William Gibson's "Burning Chrome" (Chapter 8). Consider focusing your comparison on information overload, or the effects of information technologies on social relations in each story. (If you want to follow the connection between Borges and new electronic media suggested in this chapter, you might explore works by modern hypertext theorists such as Jay David Bolter and Stuart Moulthrop, who have discussed several Borges stories, including "The Library of Babel" and "The Garden of Forking Paths.") Test your ideas about the stories by integrating critical sources you find in library indexes such as the MLA Bibliography.

2. Sven Birkerts quotes and discusses a number of other media critics and literary writers in his essay. Follow up on one of these who interests you by locating and reading original works by, for example, Camile Paglia, Mark Leyner, or Joseph Brodsky. Consider and respond to Birkerts' criticism as you make your own argument about that writer's ideas or writing. For example, Birkerts apparently finds the favorable judgments about Leyner's fiction that he quotes from the New York Times to be ludicrous; after reading I Smell Esther Williams and My Cousin, My Gastroenterologist or other works by Leyner, plus additional critical commentary, what's your view about Leyner's cult success?

3. If you have access to the Internet, explore some of the online publishing experiments referred to by Shyamala Reddy, such as William Mitchell's City of Bits, or hyperfiction you find linked to Michael Shumate's Hyperizons Web site. Read several works composed specifically for the Web, and then evaluate the various claims about electronic writing made by Reddy and Sven Birkerts in this chapter. Write a research paper -- or, if possible, a set of Web pages with hyperlinks -- in which you interpret the works you've read and assert your critical judgment about the value or potential of this new medium.

4. Research and write about some aspect of virtual reality (VR) that interests you. On the Web, you can get a sense of the amount of online information about VR -- and the many directions you might take this broad subject -- from the Yahoo! VR subtopics and links. A useful approach would be to explore VR in a particular field such as medicine, the military, art, or -- Brenda Laurel's area of interest -- theater. The fictional VR environment of the "holodeck" serves mostly an entertainment function for crew members in the science fiction series "Star Trek: The Next Generation" and "Star Trek: Voyager," though sometimes the holodeck leads to confusion about what is real and what is virtual. The utility, success, or potential of VR in any given field or context -- from medicine to Star Trek -- is likely to be somewhat controversial. Take a position on one such controversy.

5. Linguist George Lakoff, in Chapter 1, discusses the importance of metaphors and language in the way we think about technology. Reread the selections in this chapter by Jorge Luis Borges, Sven Birkerts, Shyamala Reddy, and Brenda Laurel in terms of Lakoff's ideas. How do you think Lakoff would analyze the different metaphors for information technologies used by Borges, Birkerts, Reddy, and Laurel? Expand your analysis by including the views of other linguists and media critics; what conclusions can you draw about the language of information overload?

6. A recent debate about information technology and the Internet concerns the "pull" model versus the "push" model. "Pull" is the way the Net has historically been organized, with individual users searching for and selecting the information they want to use. "Push" technologies are beginning to use the World Wide Web for the broadcasting of information, somewhat like TV, except that information can be tailored to specific needs or wishes. One of the early examples of a push technology is the PointCast network, which broadcasts selected news stories directly to people's Web browsers. The editors of Wired promoted push in the cover story for the March 1997 edition of the magazine, and other Internet journalists responded with criticisms of the push model. One controversy concerns whether these developing tools will allow everyone with Internet access, or only larger organizations with big budgets, to broadcast information. Some critics have suggested that push represents a giant step backwards, rather than a leap into the future. Research the latest in push and pull, if possible experiment with the most recent technologies yourself, and defend your own views on the controversy.