Dumbfounded
The application we use to write stories and lay them out is down. Don't know why. It just got tired, I guess. So it's being fixed. But in the meantime, I started thinking. Though I have a ton to do, I'm literally at a loss without access to NewsEdit. All the information I need is in there.
Isn't it just crazy how dependent we are on computers? I remember the first time I used a computer, in early grade school. But I also realize that kids in high school today don't even remember life without computers and especially the Internet. It's been around since they could read.
Do kids today have to go to the library and use the Readers Guide to Periodical Literature to do research for papers? Do they have to go into old musty books for historical data? Or do they do all their research online? I wonder if high school teachers limit the amount of Web sourcing kids can do.
I recently was involved in a situation where a college student didn't even realize it was wrong to cut and paste something from a Web site and then run it verbatim in a publication. I mean, we heard all about plagiarism in high school, but back then, it was kind of difficult: You had to literally find something at the library and spend time copying it. It was almost easier to put it in your own words. But now, with cut and paste, I bet teachers have to be a whole lot more diligent.
While I admit I'm dependent on the computer and the Internet to do my job, it almost scares me. What does this mean to kids today? What will it be like in 10 or 15 years when they are in my place? I feel almost curmudgeonly about it, and I'm not yet 30.
Ah, my e-mail has alerted me that NewsEdit is up and running. Thank goodness!
Back to the word of editing!
Isn't it just crazy how dependent we are on computers? I remember the first time I used a computer, in early grade school. But I also realize that kids in high school today don't even remember life without computers and especially the Internet. It's been around since they could read.
Do kids today have to go to the library and use the Readers Guide to Periodical Literature to do research for papers? Do they have to go into old musty books for historical data? Or do they do all their research online? I wonder if high school teachers limit the amount of Web sourcing kids can do.
I recently was involved in a situation where a college student didn't even realize it was wrong to cut and paste something from a Web site and then run it verbatim in a publication. I mean, we heard all about plagiarism in high school, but back then, it was kind of difficult: You had to literally find something at the library and spend time copying it. It was almost easier to put it in your own words. But now, with cut and paste, I bet teachers have to be a whole lot more diligent.
While I admit I'm dependent on the computer and the Internet to do my job, it almost scares me. What does this mean to kids today? What will it be like in 10 or 15 years when they are in my place? I feel almost curmudgeonly about it, and I'm not yet 30.
Ah, my e-mail has alerted me that NewsEdit is up and running. Thank goodness!
Back to the word of editing!
1 Comments:
I've thought about this before. I'm not really even sure how to write a paper only using the Internet. There's no standard info to cite, except for the URL which may or may not be there the next time? And usually, the signal-to-noise ratio of quality material vs. Joe Schmoe's website is high, making it hard to organize for a paper. At least in print, the material must have gone thru an editing process (hopefully) once or twice. Bookmarking websites just isn't the same as a stack of books 4 ft. high on the desk in front of you, with 10-15 real bookmarks sticking out of each one.
As far as computer dependency, at least when work applications go down, Blogger still works.
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