Critics object . . . that there's too much to read in cyberspace, because so many people are filling our screens with too much text. Even if the web can't or shouldn't be censored, they argue, someone needs to sort and catalog it so that users can more easily visit the places they want to and avoid the ones they don't. (Baron 217)
When students look at a 500-600 page text dealing with grammar, usage, style, and documentation rules, it's no wonder they don't read it. They don't have a need for all of the information (at least not all at one time), and even if they did, they could never learn everything contained in the text in a semester.
In the past 10 years or so, the cultural embrace of the Web, its technology, and its visual components have caused grammar handbooks to gradually change, to mimic the Web's display or design style as best print can, assisting the reader with "sorting" important or relevant information. Baron continues, "The trick to dealing with too much information is filtering out what to ignore. To do that, we invent ways to organize reading matter, index it, and search it" (218).
The organization in these print texts follows similar designs students seem more familiar with on the Web. The introduction of tabs (similar to Windows tabs), graphics, and weblinks (like hyperlinks) allows students to quickly find the information they need without wading through pages of (what students deem) unnecessary material. "Chunking" text and creating something other than a linear layout also follows from the Web environment. These design tools assist students in the creation of a more direct and efficient path to the information they require.
Interesting that the overload of information is a dark side. Does this decrease our attention spans and memory or does it enhance it?
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of filtering information into useful tidbits that are more memorable.