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Berners-Lee Says Internet Will Make Kids Creative
ErikPeterson submitted a story where Tim Berners-Lee (if you need explanation, you're reading the wrong site) is interviewed about how on-line life will make our children more creative than us. He makes various points and predictions about what the internet will do.
"For instance, the Net does not change the number of hours in the day or the number of things you can keep in your head." (emphasis mine)
Sure, it hasn't changed the potential of our memory -- but I would speculate that the internet has decreased the amount of information we do keep in our heads. Because information is so easily available, we need to remember less.
Is this a bad thing? Not as long as the Web is available to us. It probably makes us more effective in general, since we have more info at hand. But if the Web were to fail due to apocalypse or something, I think we'd have some cache-ing up to do.
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
Take a peek at the GameFAQs.com forums. They are frequented by youth and young adults. Notice the terrible grammar, horrible spelling, and the inability of many posters there to post coherent, sensible content. Whether this is caused by a lack of proper education, or whether it is just the nature of message boards, is questionable.
I don't need to go anywhere else. I can look right here on Slashdot. Not only do the various readers of Slashdot (myself included) have spelling and grammar mistakes, the "editors" do as well.
I support creativity, and to be truly expressive requires intelligence and at least the ability to read and write with clarity and correctness.
Are you saying that rap music (full of "foul" language and poor grammar) is not creative? Even though I don't particularly care for that genre, I still respect the artists' creativity.
I'm actually disappointed that you would attempt to forbid a child to read a forum because you disagree with the spelling and grammar content. I don't feel particularly moved to commit spelling and grammar mistakes because others do.
Proper education in the home and at school is what will help to change that behavior. Limiting typing and communications skills is the root of the problem.
I suggest that you PROMOTE discussion forums, chat rooms, etc, as a way to teach typing skills, free thought, and creative writing.
YMMV.
I think that the internet helps people explore interactive content that would not otherwise be available, and interact with people from many walks of life, around the world.
As long as personal/face-to-face relationships do not suffer, everything in moderation is OK IMHO.
As a web developer/programmer, spending time online reading/downloading source from other sites allows me to be more creative in chosing the best way to code a requirement.
I'm not really convinced after reading the article (well, the one paragraph on the topic) that children are going to be more creative. I think by giving them so many channels of things to do, they're not forced to be as creative. I look at when I was growing up and the things I would do. I had Matchbox cars, legos, etc... Very static items that were only fun if I were creative. In fact, I remember spending a lot of time outside, finding L shaped sticks and pretending they were guns for a good game of cops and robbers with friends. Now, when I look at my little nephew, he spends a good deal of his time playing his gamecube. If he's not doing that, he's on the computer playing games on the net. Really, the only time he's doing anything similar to what I used to do is when he goes outside and rides his bike. The fact is, he really doesn't have to be creative because he has so many options at his fingertips that most of us didn't have when we were kids. Because of that, I really have to disagree with Berners-Lee.
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For my sixth grade science project I made the monumental decision to do it on mold. I did not have Encarta on CD nor did the Internet exist. All I had was my science text book and those books at the library. I put bread in petri dishes and exposed them to various amounts of light, moisture, heat etc... These I used in my science display. I also remember my buddy Tim doing his on aerodynamics and his various balsa wood carvings placed in front of a fan. I can only imagine in todays era I would have used the Internet to print out color displays, found how-to guides on mold creation etc... Instead I experimented and created my own ways. I don't know if that was better because in the end I'm sure I was less informed that today's youth but I do think I was forced to be more creative.
"American" also refers to the ideas espoused by the Founding Fathers of America. Remember, America is built around those certain concepts. To be "American" is to accept ideals such as democracy, fair justice, but most importantly freedom (be it of the press, faith, speech, expression, etc.).
One who supports censorship, and is henceforth against freedom of expression, cannot be considered an American. That is simply because they do not subscribe to American values.
Cyric Zndovzny at your service.
To be "American" is to accept ideals such as democracy, fair justice, but most importantly freedom (be it of the press, faith, speech, expression, etc.).
Judging by the decision to send Judith Miller to jail I would've thought a more pragmatic definition would be "resident of the Americas".
In Plato's Pharmacy, Socrates claims the use of writing will weaken one's intellect. Writing will weaken one's ability to memorize. Written records may preserve falsehoods.