Through new technologies including computers, World Wide Web, and email, we have seen many changes the way we think about and carry out the process of writing. While most seem to welcome new technologies others like Sven Birkets believe these new technologies are hurting the learning process. He writes, “Many educators say that our students are less and less able to read, or analyze, or write with clarity and purpose. Who can blame the students? Everything they meet with in the world around them gives the signal: That was then, and electronic communications are now (63). This “cyberculture” that we are a part of has truly changed the way we currently live our lives. If we use new technologies to enhance learning and not it’s primary source we as a culture, a “cyberculture” will be able to make even greater advances than previously anticipated. Presently the need for actual printed textbooks is on the decline and is sure to continue as we move further into the future.
The World Wide Web has had an enormous impact in the decline of printed books. The once popular series of encyclopedias seem to have disappeared. Instead of purchasing new sets of encyclopedias every few years we are able to obtain not only information from encyclopedias but from all sorts of other media by searching the web. Taxes can be filed for you online, eliminating the need for instructional booklets that always seemed to run out at the local libraries. Repair manuals for automobiles have been transferred to electronic print, eliminating the thick manuals that took up a lot of space that were easily damaged by grease when thumbing through sections.