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Subject:Re: Has the Web advanced the written word? From:Denise Fritch <dfritch -at- INTELLICORP -dot- COM> Date:Fri, 25 Sep 1998 08:49:48 -0700
Ron,
> Someone once commented to me that the Internet, especially email, has
> been a boon to written communication.
> . . . .
> But when I go to one of the online news services to read
> a piece, I often find enough typos to send an editor out for a long
> smoke break. It is the immediacy of the medium that explains it; the
> language has gained spontaneity even as it has become less formal.
Seems to me you are confusing "expanded distribution" and "quantity" of the
written word with the "quality" of those written communications. Did the
invention of the printing press and moveable type improve the quality of the
written word? Probably not. Yet the printing press and moveable type did
increase the quantity and variety of written communications.
Hmmm. I wonder whether the same question was posed when the typewriter first
became available?
Best,
Denise L. Fritch
Sr. Tech Writer
IntelliCorp, Inc.
Mountain View, CA
