Should everybody write? Or is there enough junk already on the internet?

[Dennis Baron]

There's a new post on the Web of Language:

"Should everybody write?" That's the question to ask when looking at
the cyberjunk permeating the World Wide Web.

The earlier technologies of the pen, the printing press, and the
typewriter, all expanded the authors club, whose members create text
rather than just copying it. The computer has expanded opportunities
for writers too, only faster, and in greater numbers. More writers
means more ideas, more to read. What could be more democratic? More
energizing and liberating?

But some critics find the glut of internet prose obnoxious, scary,
even dangerous. They see too many people, with too little talent,
writing about too many things.

read the rest of this post on the Web of Language: http://bit.ly/weblan

____________________
Dennis Baron
Professor of English and Linguistics
Department of English
University of Illinois
608 S. Wright St.
Urbana, IL 61801

office: 217-244-0568
fax: 217-333-4321

http://www.illinois.edu/goto/debaron

read the Web of Language:
http://www.illinois.edu/goto/weboflanguage

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