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Oleo de José Tola
From: Carla
Date: 3/12/99
Time: 12:06:33 PM
Remote Name: 152.163.201.58
I just finished reading Darnton's article. First of all, I love his writing style...simple, informative, comprehensive...and would love to read more articles written like this one!
Darnton is an old-fashioned, traditional professor and historian who can't wait to take his first step into cyberspace. However, like a majority of the people who are stuck to the traditional old ways (chalk, blackboard, index cards, etc.) he is scared and intimidated by what he calls "cumbersome machines" or computers.
His idea is to put all his research, (too cumbersome to put in a "physical book") out there in cyberspace by means of an electronic book arranged in the shape of a pyramid (most important, less detailed information on top, getting more detailed as you go down to the bottom).
All of his concepts sound like a great idea to me, but, to me, it seems like this article was written about 10 years ago! This guy talks about his "e-book" idea being only a "fantasy" to him but, all the technology he needs is available RIGHT NOW!!! Such a publication may not exist right now in his field, but IT IS AVAILABLE, so it's just a matter of getting to work! (especially since he has pretty much all of his research done!) Nowadays, you can put music to go along with your web page, you can add links, you can put pictures up to illustrate better your subject matter. IT IS ALL THERE ROBERT, NOW stop being scared of this new technology, get yourself a tutor to guide you through the basics of constructing your "e-book" and GET TO WORK!!!
CARLA