What are some of the worst impacts of the digital revolution?
Do the benefits of new communication technologies, in this case, outweigh their dangers?
How does computer change the way we write? Does it change the way we read in a similar way?
Baron astutely points out the many dangers that are typically brought about by a new communication technology. The two most notable dangers, as he argues, are online predation and government’s control on the flow of information for its political agenda. I am inclined to agree with Baron that the internet indeed provides an excellent platform for hate groups to gather anonymously and achieve their agenda of inciting hate and predation against certain strata of the society. The internet allows the groups to overcome physical barrier and gives them a cloak of invincibility that could not obtain in the physical world, which naturally prompt them to operate more daringly and openly on the dark web.
On the other hand, while government could exert a certain level of control over the flow of information on the internet, Baron misses the larger view that the internet is too porous for any authority to exert effective control to achieve its ulterior motive. For example, even in the case of the Great Firewall of China, many users in China could still access out of the firewall through the use of Virtual Private Network (VPN), which severely undermines the government’s effort in controlling the information that its citizens could access on the web.
Finally, Baron suggests that computers enable writers to exert greater creative control over their work. Many writers are now considering graphics, videos, and audio to enhance their writing process. I think this ties in hand in hand with what we are learning in class: writing and composition have now been extended to using different modes of expression, which could be more effective in persuading in many cases. Baron, in this case, makes a keen observation of the role that computers played in changing the way writers compose their text and arguments.
Wong Kin
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