The technological Tower of Babel

I have not read Silicon Snake Oil, by Clifford Stoll; I have only heard about it. It is apparently a book that questions the direction in which the Internet is taking us. The jacket (found online) reads: "When do the networks really educate, and when are they simply diversions from learning? Is electronic mail useful, or might it be so much electronic noise? Why do online services promise so much, yet deliver so little? What makes computers so universally frustrating?"

But it is not the book that interests me as much as the philosophy that Stoll used when writing it. And in fact, it is this philosophy that is the reason I have heard about the book, and it was only through a process of reverse investigation that I learnt what the book was actually about.

Silicon Snake Oil first came up in discussion when an erstwhile boss of mine and I were discussing the foibles of a younger member of staff. Despite numerous requests for information which we directed at this junior writer, he still failed to return any answers. When confronted as to why this might be, his excuses always centred around his exasperation with those sources who had not returned his e-mails.

If I had written this article in fountain pen, would it be an entirely different piece of work?

Georgina Guedes, journalist, ITWeb

When we suggested that he might like to phone these people and follow up, we were met with dumbfounded stupefaction. It was as if he didn`t understand what we were saying to him. Even after we had given him a direct instruction to do so, he would continue to offer the "they haven`t returned my e-mail - I don`t think they`re at work today" excuse. We concluded that there was some kind of cultural block at work.

We studied our subject. He was 19, bright, fairly socially inept and he lived, ate, breathed and slept technology. He had even found his girlfriend on ICQ. His scepticism of the telephone, a piece of technology that he relegated to the ranks of an outmoded generation, was entirely based on his lifestyle. After this, we explained to him that in some instances, when an immediate response was required, it is essential to make a phone call. It lends gravity to the request, and generally guarantees a rapid response.

But I did concede on one aspect, and from thereon, even though the kid sat at a desk opposite me, we conducted all our future interactions electronically. I was amazed by the results. His online persona was someone with whom I could share jokes and empathise. His usually aloof personality transformed online into a witty, emotional and insightful online presence. He still hated me for making him phone contacts from time to time, but our relationship improved in leaps and bounds as a result of electronic interaction.

It was in a discussion about this transformation that Stoll`s book came up. Apparently, when writing it, he elected to write each chapter using a different medium, and see if this affected the style of the writing. One chapter was written on a manual typewriter, another in pen and yet another on a word processor. My boss, who had read the book, maintained that Stoll`s style varied considerably from medium to medium. A decoder was provided at the end of the book that readers could use to interpret which part of the book was written in what way. Apparently the stylistic differences could logically be attributed to the medium.

It`s interesting to think that our styles are formed by the technology we utilise. I know that my SMSs used to make use of cute abbreviations before predictive text technology made it easier to spell and punctuate accurately. My e-mails are often quick, cold missives, correctly indicating that the medium as has been selected for its expedience. More recently, I have found myself scrutinising my outgoing mail content, in case what I send hoping for a quick response gets relegated to mail purgatory by mail servers that have perceived only their innocuous sin of containing the subject line "hi".

I`m not convinced that I like the idea of my writing style being formed by the technology I am using. If I had written this article in fountain pen, would it be an entirely different piece of work? There are movements to preserve language dialects threatened with extinction, because of their historic value, so perhaps we should all buy into creating the dialects of the technological era and allow our writing to evolve in a medium-dictated style.