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Cyberlines: Languages and Cultures of the Internet

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April 2, 2000: This message was distributed by Papyrus News, a free e-mail distribution list on the global impact of information technology on language, literacy, and education. Feel free to forward this message to others, preferably with this introduction. For information on Papyrus News, including how to (un)subscribe or access archives, see <http://www.lll.hawaii.edu/web/faculty/markw/papyrus-news.html>.

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MEDIA RELEASE

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT

Mary Berchmans
Phone: +61 3 9690 5955

James Nicholas Publishers                                                       
Fax: +61 3 9699 2040

email: m.berchmans@jamesnicholaspublishers.com.au              

PO BOX 244, ALBERT PARK, 3206

Publication Release:  Cyberlines. Languages and Cultures of the Internet
Donna Gibbs and Kerri-Lee Krause, editors                rrp pb.
$39.95                             ISBN 1875 408 26 6

The book is the first original, in-depth analysis of the Internet's distinctive language and culture. It argues that the exponential growth of Internet usage in the last decade is producing a new language, as well as new styles of communication and new subcultures. It originated with the Cyber Project research, conducted via the Net by the Macquarie University-based editors.

Of critical importance to teachers, educators and those in the communication industry, the book highlights the need for a new literacy required by e-texts, or electronic texts. Successful navigation of the Internet requires readers to develop new skills, strategies and habits of thought as conventional reading skills are shown to be inadequate for screen reading. Assessing online information involves an ability to understand icons and hieroglyphics and, in the case of multimedia, to navigate between graphic displays, video and sound, as well as text.

The authors claim that the reading skills needed for hypertext documents rely on processes of association and linking which are often assumed rather than taught. Literacy problems with online materials can also spring from perceptual difficulties making searching for specific information difficult.

Cyberseeking, or electronic information searching, also creates another major literacy challenge to educators because learners re inducted into the knowledge pathways offered by search engines, without having the necessary skills to evaluate the reliability and validity of information. The automatic scanning and keyword indexing used by search engines are discussed, with the authors noting hat few searchers understanding how creators of webpages can manipulate these automatic indexing mechanisms to induce the retrieval of ages by constant repetition of keywords in titles or the first 100 words.

In one chapter an actual transcript is downloaded from the internet and register theory is used to analyse its linguistic patterns and highlight the differences between Internet Relay Chat (IRC) and face-to-face conversation. Other chapters cover: the processes of cultural identity formation on the Internet within the context of bodilessness and default identity; the influence of cartoon cultures, adolescent identity and the global style of cyberspace analysed in terms of the relationship between style and cultural identity; and finally, an analysis of cyberpunk communities and hacker subcultures tests the extent to which the Internet facilitates interaction across previously immutable barriers of language, ethnicity and space.

Mary Berchmans
Editorial Assistant

James Nicholas Publishers
Ph: +61 3 9690 5955
Fax: +61 3 9699 2040

http://www.jamesnicholaspublishers.com.au


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Last updated: April 2, 2000