First, we should consider the role of the web in the world of business.
Buying and selling via the web (e-commerce) appears to be booming. Almost
all businesses now seem to have a something-dot-com electronic address,
and they act as if not having a web site is like not having a telephone.
Consumers in South Dakota can benefit greatly from e-commerce. When
we do electronic shopping, we can buy a book or a set of tires from as
large a selection and at as good a price as someone at an outlet store
in New York. It makes little difference where we live when we visit web
stores.
E-commerce could be a significant source of revenue for our rural economy.
We can manage an online business as easily from South Dakota as from California.
The electrons that make up the web do not care where they go, and thus
there is no reason that we should not enjoy the excellent lifestyle of
South Dakota and, at the same time, market products on the web
In order to be a successful player in the e-commerce game, we would
have to learn some new things. Naturally, we would have to know how to
create a presence on the web and how to make people visit our sites and
buy products there. Most important, we would have to see things in a wider
perspective. In fact, it would be best to think in global terms -- we must
learn how to make our products attractive to those in Europe as well as
to those in, say, Lake and Moody counties.
We should not jump to the conclusion that e-commerce will make local
stores obsolete. In the first place, in-store services (such as the ability
to try on shoes) can be the most important part of a purchase. I would
miss the friendly chatter in sports stores (often about superstar athletes)
when I buy a new tennis racquet. Of course, widespread marketing can stimulate
all sales. A local bookstore might take advantage of national advertising
by posting this sign on a stack of bestsellers: "Featured on the web by
amazon.com."
Obviously, the future of e-commerce will depend on the health of the
web as a whole. It must not be allowed to slow to a snail's pace. Already,
the World Wide Web is sometimes known as the World Wide Wait.
The web must continue to feature lots of genuinely interesting and helpful
information. It cannot consist entirely of e-commerce sites. Who would
watch television if it were almost all advertising?
There has been more debate about the use of the web for education than
about any other use of the web.
Certainly, an enormous amount of valuable educational information can
be found on the web. Students using the web in a classroom guided by a
teacher can find more material on a given topic than in a major university
library -- and the web will provide more up-to-date information. Students
can view images from the Hubble telescope, study newly-discovered versions
of Shakespeare's sonnets, and pinpoint the causes of the Civil War (and
read a description of what this nation would be like if the Confederate
army had won the war).
Teachers are an essential factor in successful student research of the
web. Teachers are trained to encourage, to urge persistence, to suggest
a variety of approaches, and to narrow topics. Naturally, for maximum effectiveness,
teachers must be able to help their students understand the structure of
the web and how to evaluate what is found there. Teachers will need to
know quite a bit about the web and its contents in order to teach well
in modern classrooms.
The web has been used to teach students at a distance. Some subjects
lend themselves to electronic teaching -- especially some writing courses
and some computing courses. Online classes can be offered in a far wider
range of subjects than any school can offer.
If students are disciplined and persistent, they can learn from online
courses, and such courses will probably continue to be offered. As might
be expected, online courses are attractive to non-traditional students
who do not live close to a university. However, most of us would rather
learn from face-to-face teaching, and it is much more efficient. In the
past, we have experimented with all kinds of substitutions for teachers:
programmed textbooks, audio tapes, and television. Students did not learn
very well from any of them, and online courses will not work much better.
The web invites comparisons with traditional kinds of mass media since
they all supply information and entertainment -- not to mention advertisements.
In the past two centuries, there have been three principal kinds of
mass media: newspapers, radio, and television. In each case, the newer
medium did not replace the older, but adjustments had to be made in the
older medium when the newer medium became popular. For example, newspapers
once attempted to deliver what is now called "breaking news" by printing
extra editions: "Extra, extra, read all about it." However, when radios
were found in most homes, it was impossible for newspapers to compete in
presenting immediate coverage of events, and, instead, they focused on
in-depth articles or brief summaries. Television forced an adjustment in
the role of radio (radio dramas disappeared). The web will probably force
changes in all of the traditional mass media.
The web is quite different from other mass media, and it will not be
a replacement for newspapers, radio, or television. The web is interactive,
and thus it forces users to be active: enter, search, scroll, and click.
A massive amount of information can be obtained quickly, but we must do
a lot of work. Radio and television allow us to sit back and simply listen
or watch. The web is most like a newspaper in asking us to make choices
about what to focus our attention on, but newspapers organize the material
much better, and they invite us to relax and read. By contrast, when we
go to the web, we sit at attention and tend to skim or scan the screen,
always ready to click on something different.
It will be easy for traditional media to successfully compete with the
web if they emphasize what they do best: present an easy-going, well-ordered
account of the world. Traditional mass media do two things well: please
and instruct -- the web has learned little about pleasing.
In conclusion, for buyers and sellers, e-commerce can bring a higher standard of living, but it should never replace local businesses. Just as we are realizing that education is more important than ever, it would be a tragic mistake to substitute the web for classroom teachers. The web allows us to find information much faster than by any other means, and that is good in an age in which information is power, but using the web is hardly relaxing, and it is a poor substitute for newspapers, radio, and television.
Eric Johnson is Dean of
the College of Liberal Arts at Dakota State University. He has written
or edited more than one hundred published volumes and articles -- mostly
about computing. Some of his articles
are online.
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Creada: 15/09/2000 Última Actualización: 18/06/2001