Prime Time Replay:


Michael Clark on
Cultural Treasures of the Internet



MsgId: *emedia(3)
Date: Mon Mar 24 21:10:34 PST 1997
From: EMedia_Moderator At: 204.30.67.131

Hi, Michael--thanks for waiting, and sorry about the trouble getting online. It's the first E-Media show since January, folks! Tonight's guest is author Michael Clark, whose book, "Cultural Treasures of the Internet", gives a "history" and guide to where culture can be found online.
MsgId: *emedia(4)
Date: Mon Mar 24 21:11:36 PST 1997
From: clark At: 147.31.63.20

Good--thanks--I am happy to be here!
MsgId: *emedia(5)
Date: Mon Mar 24 21:11:46 PST 1997
From: EMedia_Moderator At: 204.30.67.131

First, can you explain a little about your background, and why you decided to write "Cultural Treaures"?
MsgId: *emedia(6)
Date: Mon Mar 24 21:14:12 PST 1997
From: clark At: 147.31.63.20

Well, my own background--I teach college English--prepared me to look to the classics. When i got interested in the Internet, naturally, i wanted to find things that were worthwhile. This became especially apparent when there was a great discussion about many aspects of the net that were not "classic."

I just felt that there were so many different kinds of useful sites that offered a great deal to anyone who had a serious interest in using the Internet-- teachers, writers, philosophers, etc.

MsgId: *emedia(8)
Date: Mon Mar 24 21:17:37 PST 1997
From: EMedia_Moderator At: 204.30.67.131

What were some of the issues discussed that you disagreed with? The average person assumes that the Internet is something recent, and that a "history" of the Internet seems a very strange term.... Of course, the Internet has been around much longer, available to scientists. How would describe Internet history to someone who disagrees?
MsgId: *emedia(9)
Date: Mon Mar 24 21:21:16 PST 1997
From: clark At: 147.31.63.20

Well, I don't spend a great deal of time on the history of the Internet--but anyone who gets into the net even in a cursory fashion knows that it goes back a ways and is deep. I found it interesting that something which came out of a purely technological sphere could translate so easily--and quickly-- to the public realm. Of course, since my own background is the humanities--just about as far from the technological as one can imagine--it seemed like a leap to go from teaching Dante's Inferno to finding out how the Internet worked--but somehow it was quite natural for me to do just that.
MsgId: *emedia(10)
Date: Mon Mar 24 21:23:44 PST 1997
From: EMedia_Moderator At: 204.30.67.131

And you mention Dante's "Inferno" in "Cultural Treasures". When you were doing the research on websites, were you surprised, shocked, or frightened by the information you could find on literature on the Net?
MsgId: *emedia(11)
Date: Mon Mar 24 21:25:44 PST 1997
From: clark At: 147.31.63.20

I was absolutely stunned by the material that was on the net. No question. And this was in 1992 or thereabouts--when there was hardly anything to speak of as compared to today. And everyday, it grows and grows . . .
MsgId: *emedia(12)
Date: Mon Mar 24 21:28:38 PST 1997
From: EMedia_Moderator At: 204.30.67.131

Do you think your students would rather get information about Dante off the Net, or read about him? The Net's been described as a way to teach as well. Are you worried that teachers could become obsolete as the Net becomes more comprehensive?
MsgId: *emedia(13)
Date: Mon Mar 24 21:33:01 PST 1997
From: clark At: 147.31.63.20

Oooo, good question. There are lots of pressure on the educational system to reduce costs, etc. Technology will no doubt play a larger and larger role in disseminating information to students, no doubt. Speaking as someone who enjoys teaching and values the close personal experience of the classroom, however, I hope we don't go too far in that direction.

I do find that students take to the Web quickly. More and more i find that students bring me in things that I don't know about--hand me printouts all the time.

I see the web as an extension of the classroom rather than a replacement for it. It can tear down the walls and bring the foreign, the exotic, the unreachable into the most remote teaching environment.

MsgId: *emedia(14)
Date: Mon Mar 24 21:35:13 PST 1997
From: EMedia_Moderator At: 204.30.67.131

How much information do you use from the Net yourself in your classes?
MsgId: *emedia(15)
Date: Mon Mar 24 21:39:00 PST 1997
From: clark At: 147.31.63.20

Well, I see my own use of the Net as something that is *evolving*. More and more i find useful items--texts, biographies, chronologies, source material, etc.--that is approrpiate for my class. (Recently, in teaching Huck Finn I made good use of the Twain site at the University of Virginia.)

I have also now set up a web site for my class. This is still in a rather rudimentary state--just because I don't have all the time in the world, these days. But I am hoping to expand upon this site every time I teach. Evenutally it will be interactive, with students being able to have immediate access to their most recent grades, the course averages, etc.

MsgId: *emedia(16)
Date: Mon Mar 24 21:40:27 PST 1997
From: EMedia_Moderator At: 204.30.67.131

Is "Cultural Treasures" required or recommended reading now? :-)
MsgId: *emedia(17)
Date: Mon Mar 24 21:42:57 PST 1997
From: clark At: 147.31.63.20

Well, I have not made it required reading! :) But I have found that an awful lot of my students and friends recommend it to others--especially around Christmas time!--as it makes an excellent gift!
MsgId: *emedia(18)
Date: Mon Mar 24 21:46:15 PST 1997
From: EMedia_Moderator At: 204.30.67.131

"Cultural Treasures" is useful for teachers and professionals in cultural studies/writing, but it's also good for people learning to use the Net, too, because you give descriptions of search engines and services at the beginnings of the chapter. When you started working on "Cultural Treasures", how much time did you have to spend doing the research?
MsgId: *emedia(19)
Date: Mon Mar 24 21:51:22 PST 1997
From: clark At: 147.31.63.20

In 1992 I was a total novice as far as the Internet goes. I had never heard of "ftp," for example. So in many ways, undertaking the book project was also a project in discovering the ins and outs of e-mail, telnet, gopher (big back then), mailing lists, Usenet, etc. Then when I did the second edition, I had to find out more about the WWW and search engines. I was fascinated by the fact that these things were accessible by people (like me) who had little in the way of technical background--and the rewards were great! So when I wrote the book, I approached the topic from the point of view of someone who *didn't know* all this stuff. Then wrote it in a way that that person would have no problem understanding. Lots of people have told me that they find my writing and directions "easy to understand," so I guess I succeeded in my task.
MsgId: *emedia(20)
Date: Mon Mar 24 21:53:20 PST 1997
From: EMedia_Moderator At: 204.30.67.131

What are a few of your favorite cultural cyberspots? Do you visit any of the Netmuseums and/or galleries on a regular basis?
MsgId: *emedia(21)
Date: Mon Mar 24 21:58:34 PST 1997
From: clark At: 147.31.63.20

I guess I have a special fondness for some of the audio sites. For example, the Vincent Voice Library at Michigan State University has audio files from the past 100 years. You can hear various presidents (Kennedy's "Ask Not . . .) or other historical figures (Babe Ruth making his farewell speech to the stadium). Then there is the site for Supreme Court decisions. it brings significant events and people live to your desktop--or to your classroom. Of course, all of this replicates what has been done very well in the past by vinyl records and cassettes--but the scale and immediacy of this is of a new order altogether. Within the next ten or fifteen years, the Internet promises to give us access to an incredible array of information.
MsgId: *emedia(22)
Date: Mon Mar 24 22:03:30 PST 1997
From: EMedia_Moderator At: 204.30.67.175

Where is the future of cultural history headed? Are art archives dead with the onset of the Internet, or will they continue?
MsgId: *emedia(23)
Date: Mon Mar 24 22:10:06 PST 1997
From: EMedia_Moderator At: 204.30.67.175

Thank you, Michael for coming online tonight--especially on Oscar night! Michael Clark, again, is the author of "Cultural Treasures of the Internet", available from Prentice-Hall at local bookstores. Goodnight!


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