603 LT1_Act1

I never would have thought to compare the Gutenberg press and the Internet. They are so different that I did not see how they are at all related. I now see that the Gutenberg Press could have been considered the Internet of the time. The Gutenberg Press was created as a way of spreading information. Its first printing was of the Holy Bible. The press was used for a positive and spirititually educating purpose. Prior to this press, the spreading of knowledge was a lot more time consuming and tedious. Once the first mass production press was created, others began to duplicate. As more people gained the ability to print, they amount of information being shared increased. This soon lead way to “secular” or “negative’ knowledge being shared. Like the Gutenberg Press, the Internet began with very few people being able to use it. It was also invented for a positive reason; to aide the US Department of Defense with the sharing of information. The Internet was then adapted by scientists and educators continuing its use in a positive manner. Anyone who published anything on the Internet had to have a great deal of knowledge about computer coding. As the Internet grew, the ability to publish became much easier and no longer required knowledge of coding. This opened to doors for a lot of negative knowledge to be shared just like the Gutenberg Press. While the Internet is still used for positive reasons and the sharing of knowledge, it is full of negative possibilities. One can now search on the Internet to find sexually explicit material, personal information about anyone, and even falsified lies about people. Both of these inventions began with the ability to enlighten and spread positive knowledge, yet the more people who had access to them, the more questionable information was being shared. • Why is each invention heralded as a societal and cultural change agent though they are mere tools? The Gutenberg Press changed society by creating the ability to mass-produce text. It also allowed more people to have access to important information such as The Bible. Once this ability was created, it does not seem logical to go back to the old way. The Internet is no different. Information is now at our fingertips. Information that may have taken days to share now takes seconds. From this point on there will be no turning back. Each of these inventions changed to way people live and how they share and access information. • What do these statements have to do with a web design course for educators? As educators, we must realize that while we may be using the internet and designing a web page to aide our students’ learning, it is very easy for someone to change this positive into a negative. We must limit the amount of people who have access to and the ability to share information on our web page for students to see. We must also remember that once information is on the Internet, there is no deleting it.