Ancient History And The Information Age
A very very long time ago, in an age away with time to spare, the Internet was a mysterious and terrifying entity even though it was whole orders of magnitude smaller than it is today. That was, I think, because its denizens were few and its mysteries many; the arcana of the old network were not as penetrable to the general public.
It was in those 'dark ages' of the Internet that I was commissioned to address a school principals' seminar in 1996. What was there to say in 1996? I shall, with care for both innocent and guilty, reproduce some of the speech I made, censored appropriately as a challenge to the modern reader. It is dated, pathetic, worn, tired, this decade after its birth, at least six generations of computer life later. But some of its points still have some value. Here it is.
=====
The Internet and Education in [Country 01]
(Note: two versions of this talk were first presented at the 1996 Principals’ Seminar hosted by [Organisation 01].)
1. Personal History:
I first became interested in computers some time back in 1979. In those days, one could assemble a primitive but satisfying microcomputer on one’s own. It would have a few bytes of memory and be able to do primitive arithmetic and flash lights when ordered to. I learnt programming theory at school in [Country 02] and came back to [Country 01] towards the end of my [8th Grade] year, when I was introduced to the brand-new [Company 01] computers which [School 01] had bought for its computer club.
One thing led to another; I took up Computer Science at [Educational Level 01], played around with huge machines taller than a human (with an amazing 20 Mb of hard disk space on single 13-inch solid metal plate) and ended up attached to an [Organisation 02] unit which was setting up a school for computer-aided instruction in 1986. The even larger machine used there needed an operating temperature of <20°C and a relative humidity of under 50% to work properly, and for once, I was glad to be able to wear long-sleeved [Organisation 02] [Colour 01] uniforms. I continued at [Organisation 03], and by the time I’d finished at [Organisation 04], I had learnt to use machines ranging from the tiny [Company 02] micro (1k of RAM and a cassette drive), to the awful [Company 03]-compatible machines, to the [Company 01] computers which I have always preferred to use.
2. The Internet and its Nature:
In the early 80s, Alvin Toffler had already begun writing books like ‘Future Shock’, in which he talked about a world in which the main commodity would be information and the service sector would be the most important area. He wrote about computers in classrooms, followed ‘Future Shock’ with ‘The Third Wave’, and convinced me that computers could be very important in times not far ahead. He also convinced me that computers might be a dire threat to conventional ways of thinking — a good thing, possibly; also perhaps a bad thing.
When my then [Officer Level 01], [Officer 01] at [Organisation 05], nominated me to take part in a pilot Internet programme set up by [Organisation 06], I was very happy to accept. I developed contacts at [Organisation 01] (who had no clue at the time what ‘curriculum’ meant, as well as [Organisation 06] (who had no idea [Organisation 01] didn’t know what ‘curriculum’ meant), and began legally surfing the Internet in 1993.
The main purpose of the programme was really to see how the Internet could be incorporated into the normal school curriculum. With that in mind, [Organisation 05] asked me to redesign their computer education programme to accommodate this. I found myself asking: “What is the difference between the Internet and any other form of communications or computing?”
The answer needed an historical approach. Primitive communications could travel only as far as a human could shout or as far as that human could run, swim or travel; the limits were biological first, and then technological. Dissemination of information was slow and the target audience was necessarily small. Until Gütenberg popularised the printing-press in Europe, large amounts of information were the jealously-guarded province of the very rich and the very powerful, or of those who spent entire lives copying out the material by hand.
Only when the Industrial Revolution gave birth to steam machinery and reliable sea travel did communications begin to span the world. Electrical technology complemented this, and telephony and telegraphy could send urgent messages across the world by relay in a far shorter time. Nevertheless, in many parts of the world, receiving a personal message from a great distance ranged from impossible to miraculous.
World War II spawned new technologies. The post-War years saw the development of the transistor and the fruits of space research. The Cold War brought the need for fast and secure communications, and the Net was born.
The beginnings of the Net were humble: large machines joined to others by secure lines across [Country 03]. Within 30 years, as people found ways to hook up to the convenient (but very messy) network thus formed, the Internet as we now know it took on its present form.
The Internet had something no other form of communications, even TV and newspapers, could have. It promised unlimited access to information (from your home!), the power to retrieve and store that information for personal use, the possibility of modifying the contents of such information, and the ability to publish (or broadcast) your own information to a wider audience than ever before.
3. A New Syllabus:
With this in mind, the main question became: “How can we give such a terrifying gift to our students?” Many of my colleagues were wary of this, and counselled restricted access with [Officer Level 02] supervision. Events in [Country 03], the birthplace of the Net, showed the impossibility of this. It became a fact that any 12-year-old with the aptitude, will and intelligence, could access almost any information with a low-speed modem.
To me, it was no longer an issue of how to control access to the Internet, but how to educate students to use it without abusing it. It became clear that many [Officer Level 02]s, too long used to controlling the flow of information, were fearful and suspicious of the Internet. Students, only too happy to do things their [Officer Level 02]s were unhappy about, clamoured for access. The new computer education syllabus had to take these things into account, and school resource planning had to accommodate the changes. ([Organisation 05] now has four computer labs running [Technology Class 01] computers, a computer in every classroom, and a staff computer workroom; this began even before I began working there in 1993!)
The Internet syllabus as it developed was composed of six basic sections over a 10-week period. It then merged into the 20-week computer applications syllabus which included class IT projects and skills such as resumé-writing and desktop-publishing. These were the sections:
a) History of communications: showing Internet as an historical phenomenon
b) Structure of the Internet: showing the Internet as a technological phenomenon
c) Email: simple communications, smilies and icons, Netiquette; the Internet as a social phenomenon
d) Searching and FTP: responsible management of information and resources
e) HTTP (the Web): a visual link and an educational tool
f) Security and censorship: moral and ethical issues of responsibility and self-censorship
4. A New Classroom?
In 1996, when [Organisation 01] approached me, as someone familiar with the development of the Internet as an educational issue, to give this talk, the issue of how the use of computers affected human society had become a hot research topic. [Organisation 07] had begun giving symposia and hosting conferences on Human-Computer Interaction, the mathematician Roger Penrose at [Organisation 08] had warned against thinking that computers could ever replace humans, and Kent Norman at [Organisation 09] had written an internet book on the classroom of tomorrow. (With Dr Norman’s permission, I quoted parts of his book during the talk.)
Basically, the most important educational and sociological views were that:
a) the classroom metaphor should be retained, with well-defined objectives to make sure that studying (not so much random browsing), and directed searching (less random exploring) occurred; that is, that students should be given a formal study structure, graded work, and fixed times and places for academic tasks;
b) search strategies and student-student communication (as the most important form of classroom communications) should be taught and developed as learning tools to give greater independence in pursuit of academic goals;
c) danger existed in the sense that computer technology was actually bad for people in three major ways: firstly, a diminished sense of responsibility (from the ease with which mistakes can be rectified and the distance at which an act of sabotage or indecency can be committed before a large audience); secondly, a weakening of reasoning ability because linkages between facts on the Internet are not shown explicitly and in detail (it was estimated that at least 60% of multimedia educational software suffered from this!); and thirdly, a deficiency in human interaction and communication skills since basic computer use requires neither; and
d) education should stress ways of avoiding such dangers and stress the fact that a computer, although very complex in many interesting ways, is only a powerful tool which can be used for a range of activities.
5. Conclusion:
After all that, it turns out although many people talk about computers replacing [Officer Level 02]s, the fact is that [Officer Level 02]s will actually be more important in time to come. Since the volume of accessible information is increasing faster than it can be processed, the task of the teacher must be to help reduce this volume to manageable levels, help students cope with information overload, and help everyone deal with the stresses and dangers that a computer-filled life can bring.
A great [Country 04] [Officer Level 00] once said, “Education is like a weapon: its effects depend on who holds it and at whom it is aimed.” This is true. We must remember who we are and why we are [Officer Level 02]s, we must remember that we have students to who we should teach skills and ways of thinking which will be useful in later life. We owe it to them, and we must never forget that — or why bother being [Officer Level 02]s?
=====
All this came to mind when I received a certain electronic communication today which in effect told me that I had created a problem by exposing information sources which were intended for public information to public perusal. Life is even more complicated these days, it seems.
When I first delivered this speech in 1996, two [Officer Level 01]s approached me and said (with kind, noble, generous intent) that I sounded authoritative, like [Officer Level 00] of [Country 01]. I told them I was not sure it was a compliment, and they laughed somewhat uncertainly and left. All this is history.
It was in those 'dark ages' of the Internet that I was commissioned to address a school principals' seminar in 1996. What was there to say in 1996? I shall, with care for both innocent and guilty, reproduce some of the speech I made, censored appropriately as a challenge to the modern reader. It is dated, pathetic, worn, tired, this decade after its birth, at least six generations of computer life later. But some of its points still have some value. Here it is.
=====
The Internet and Education in [Country 01]
(Note: two versions of this talk were first presented at the 1996 Principals’ Seminar hosted by [Organisation 01].)
1. Personal History:
I first became interested in computers some time back in 1979. In those days, one could assemble a primitive but satisfying microcomputer on one’s own. It would have a few bytes of memory and be able to do primitive arithmetic and flash lights when ordered to. I learnt programming theory at school in [Country 02] and came back to [Country 01] towards the end of my [8th Grade] year, when I was introduced to the brand-new [Company 01] computers which [School 01] had bought for its computer club.
One thing led to another; I took up Computer Science at [Educational Level 01], played around with huge machines taller than a human (with an amazing 20 Mb of hard disk space on single 13-inch solid metal plate) and ended up attached to an [Organisation 02] unit which was setting up a school for computer-aided instruction in 1986. The even larger machine used there needed an operating temperature of <20°C and a relative humidity of under 50% to work properly, and for once, I was glad to be able to wear long-sleeved [Organisation 02] [Colour 01] uniforms. I continued at [Organisation 03], and by the time I’d finished at [Organisation 04], I had learnt to use machines ranging from the tiny [Company 02] micro (1k of RAM and a cassette drive), to the awful [Company 03]-compatible machines, to the [Company 01] computers which I have always preferred to use.
2. The Internet and its Nature:
In the early 80s, Alvin Toffler had already begun writing books like ‘Future Shock’, in which he talked about a world in which the main commodity would be information and the service sector would be the most important area. He wrote about computers in classrooms, followed ‘Future Shock’ with ‘The Third Wave’, and convinced me that computers could be very important in times not far ahead. He also convinced me that computers might be a dire threat to conventional ways of thinking — a good thing, possibly; also perhaps a bad thing.
When my then [Officer Level 01], [Officer 01] at [Organisation 05], nominated me to take part in a pilot Internet programme set up by [Organisation 06], I was very happy to accept. I developed contacts at [Organisation 01] (who had no clue at the time what ‘curriculum’ meant, as well as [Organisation 06] (who had no idea [Organisation 01] didn’t know what ‘curriculum’ meant), and began legally surfing the Internet in 1993.
The main purpose of the programme was really to see how the Internet could be incorporated into the normal school curriculum. With that in mind, [Organisation 05] asked me to redesign their computer education programme to accommodate this. I found myself asking: “What is the difference between the Internet and any other form of communications or computing?”
The answer needed an historical approach. Primitive communications could travel only as far as a human could shout or as far as that human could run, swim or travel; the limits were biological first, and then technological. Dissemination of information was slow and the target audience was necessarily small. Until Gütenberg popularised the printing-press in Europe, large amounts of information were the jealously-guarded province of the very rich and the very powerful, or of those who spent entire lives copying out the material by hand.
Only when the Industrial Revolution gave birth to steam machinery and reliable sea travel did communications begin to span the world. Electrical technology complemented this, and telephony and telegraphy could send urgent messages across the world by relay in a far shorter time. Nevertheless, in many parts of the world, receiving a personal message from a great distance ranged from impossible to miraculous.
World War II spawned new technologies. The post-War years saw the development of the transistor and the fruits of space research. The Cold War brought the need for fast and secure communications, and the Net was born.
The beginnings of the Net were humble: large machines joined to others by secure lines across [Country 03]. Within 30 years, as people found ways to hook up to the convenient (but very messy) network thus formed, the Internet as we now know it took on its present form.
The Internet had something no other form of communications, even TV and newspapers, could have. It promised unlimited access to information (from your home!), the power to retrieve and store that information for personal use, the possibility of modifying the contents of such information, and the ability to publish (or broadcast) your own information to a wider audience than ever before.
3. A New Syllabus:
With this in mind, the main question became: “How can we give such a terrifying gift to our students?” Many of my colleagues were wary of this, and counselled restricted access with [Officer Level 02] supervision. Events in [Country 03], the birthplace of the Net, showed the impossibility of this. It became a fact that any 12-year-old with the aptitude, will and intelligence, could access almost any information with a low-speed modem.
To me, it was no longer an issue of how to control access to the Internet, but how to educate students to use it without abusing it. It became clear that many [Officer Level 02]s, too long used to controlling the flow of information, were fearful and suspicious of the Internet. Students, only too happy to do things their [Officer Level 02]s were unhappy about, clamoured for access. The new computer education syllabus had to take these things into account, and school resource planning had to accommodate the changes. ([Organisation 05] now has four computer labs running [Technology Class 01] computers, a computer in every classroom, and a staff computer workroom; this began even before I began working there in 1993!)
The Internet syllabus as it developed was composed of six basic sections over a 10-week period. It then merged into the 20-week computer applications syllabus which included class IT projects and skills such as resumé-writing and desktop-publishing. These were the sections:
a) History of communications: showing Internet as an historical phenomenon
b) Structure of the Internet: showing the Internet as a technological phenomenon
c) Email: simple communications, smilies and icons, Netiquette; the Internet as a social phenomenon
d) Searching and FTP: responsible management of information and resources
e) HTTP (the Web): a visual link and an educational tool
f) Security and censorship: moral and ethical issues of responsibility and self-censorship
4. A New Classroom?
In 1996, when [Organisation 01] approached me, as someone familiar with the development of the Internet as an educational issue, to give this talk, the issue of how the use of computers affected human society had become a hot research topic. [Organisation 07] had begun giving symposia and hosting conferences on Human-Computer Interaction, the mathematician Roger Penrose at [Organisation 08] had warned against thinking that computers could ever replace humans, and Kent Norman at [Organisation 09] had written an internet book on the classroom of tomorrow. (With Dr Norman’s permission, I quoted parts of his book during the talk.)
Basically, the most important educational and sociological views were that:
a) the classroom metaphor should be retained, with well-defined objectives to make sure that studying (not so much random browsing), and directed searching (less random exploring) occurred; that is, that students should be given a formal study structure, graded work, and fixed times and places for academic tasks;
b) search strategies and student-student communication (as the most important form of classroom communications) should be taught and developed as learning tools to give greater independence in pursuit of academic goals;
c) danger existed in the sense that computer technology was actually bad for people in three major ways: firstly, a diminished sense of responsibility (from the ease with which mistakes can be rectified and the distance at which an act of sabotage or indecency can be committed before a large audience); secondly, a weakening of reasoning ability because linkages between facts on the Internet are not shown explicitly and in detail (it was estimated that at least 60% of multimedia educational software suffered from this!); and thirdly, a deficiency in human interaction and communication skills since basic computer use requires neither; and
d) education should stress ways of avoiding such dangers and stress the fact that a computer, although very complex in many interesting ways, is only a powerful tool which can be used for a range of activities.
5. Conclusion:
After all that, it turns out although many people talk about computers replacing [Officer Level 02]s, the fact is that [Officer Level 02]s will actually be more important in time to come. Since the volume of accessible information is increasing faster than it can be processed, the task of the teacher must be to help reduce this volume to manageable levels, help students cope with information overload, and help everyone deal with the stresses and dangers that a computer-filled life can bring.
A great [Country 04] [Officer Level 00] once said, “Education is like a weapon: its effects depend on who holds it and at whom it is aimed.” This is true. We must remember who we are and why we are [Officer Level 02]s, we must remember that we have students to who we should teach skills and ways of thinking which will be useful in later life. We owe it to them, and we must never forget that — or why bother being [Officer Level 02]s?
=====
All this came to mind when I received a certain electronic communication today which in effect told me that I had created a problem by exposing information sources which were intended for public information to public perusal. Life is even more complicated these days, it seems.
When I first delivered this speech in 1996, two [Officer Level 01]s approached me and said (with kind, noble, generous intent) that I sounded authoritative, like [Officer Level 00] of [Country 01]. I told them I was not sure it was a compliment, and they laughed somewhat uncertainly and left. All this is history.
etched with acid at 10:57:00 pm
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