Whither the Web? (News And Notes).

Another concern I have is that the web will become marginalized. Already it seems to be losing some of its steam. It's a wonderful cornucopia, a Pandora's box at times and godsend at others. It may even--along with Harry Potter--have reintroduced the younger generation to the wonders of text (bloggers, for example), which we can hope will bode well for the future. It is faster and easier than ordering by phone via a catalogue. But the excitement--today's neat sites!!!--has faded away (see Lisa Guernsey, "As the Web Matures, Fun Is Hard to Find," www.nytimes.com/2002/03/28/technology/circuits). The dot.com empire burned and crashed like the Hindenburg at Lakehurst, New Jersey (for a downloadable version of Herb Morrison's famous radiocast of the May 6, 1937, disaster go to http://www.otr.com/hindenburg, html--just the sort of resource that makes the web a great thing). Online universities have fallen victim to overblown promises and a gagging dose of fiscal reality, but not, unfortunately, to real doubts about the ability of this medium to deliver what happens in a classroom and among students physically present in the same place with others.

The best thing about the newly hatched WWW was the opportunity for talented teachers to design sites that aimed to teach in a new way. The same sort of enthusiasm greeted the advent of the TRS-80 and Apple II and later with the introduction of HyperCard for the Macintosh, both of which empowered teachers, allowed them to do for themselves, to pursue their own vision, and not rely on the fare provided by commercial vendors. Those looking for another parallel might look at the early days ('54-'56) of rock `n' roll when ...