This is what we did:
We started out by discussing current individual IT-experiences, ideas and attitudes. Then we spent some lessons going through the article in a fairly traditional way: doing vocabulary-exercises, discussing the ideas expressed in the article, etc. (The class also had a Danish glossary). Towards the end of the project groups were formed. One group pr. questions below. Their assignment was to check out the web-sites indicated and give a presentation of their findings to the class. At that point we did not have our video-projector hooked up so we made do with OHPs and paper-copies. The work-sheet was available on-line at this URL, but it might as well have been uploaded to any PC on the school's LAN.All the links and assignments below refer to our article "Information Revolution" from National Geographic Magazine. They provide further information, images and insigts that allow you to get a deeper understanding of some of the issues of the text.
1. Check out who Johannes Gutenberg was. If you want more information use a seach engine. (Alta-Vista will give quite a lot of hits.)
2. It might also be interesting to know something about the modern "Gutenberg Project". Check it out and tell the class about it.
3. Check out the William Gibson page on the web, and try to figure out what sort of information it contains. (refer also to the last couple of paragraphs of your text (p. 7).
4. Find information about Fahrenheit 451 - just click the title. Tell the class about it. You may also print a page or two if you like.
5. Find information about Ray Bradbury. - and tell the class about him.
6. In the article an Italian, Frederico de Montefeltro, is mentioned. If you go to URL http://www.lycos.com - which is a search engine, you can type the name in the white "box" or window, and click on the word "Search" (or Go Get it). After er while you'll have a list of web-sites which give further information. Try that - and tell us something about him.
7. Hyperfiction is also mentioned in the article. You can use the search engine above to get more information. Just type the word "hyperfiction" in the box, click "search" and you'll get about 10.000 "hits" - pages with information on hyperfiction. Try a couple. Tell the class about it.
8. A particularly handsome work of hyperfiction is Mercury. Click and read along. (You can click anywhere in the text and get a new snippet of the story. What do you think of the work - why?
9. On National Geographic Society's pages you can find an interview with Joel Swerdlow who wrote the article. Read the interview. Summarize his main points - do you agree/disagree?
That's it for now!
Most recent revision 9/9-1997