At its most hopeful moments, Literacy Theory suggests that the Internet delivers on the promise of poststructuralist theory and is capable of bringing nonlinear, nonhierarchical interaction to the classroom. And in line with much postmodern scholarship, the authors are strikingly effective when deconstructing the old guard of traditional literacy, but are often hard put to offer a viable replacement. Admittedly, some of the essays do wax rhapsodic about the achieved paradise of the computer classroom, but in the best articles, the authors are willing to confess their collective fall from grace and discuss the difficulties of introducing the Internet into a goal-oriented classroom. Theory and praxis are repeatedly brought into sharp contrast as the insights gained from student interaction offer a sobering counternarrative to the heady optimism that permeates some of the articles' more explicitly theoretical moments. Speaking from within a conversation that often discusses the wonders of cyberspace in terms appropriate for evangelical testimony, this collection gains its power from its willingness to blaspheme.
Many contributors suggest that the Internet falls well short of the revolution it seemed to herald.
Indeed, several essays argue convincingly that cyberspace is quite capable of reinforcing the very intolerance and injustice its proponents believe it uniquely capable of destroying. As we move into this new era of communication, Johnson-Eilola argues, the emphasis must be on process rather than product. The era of discrete individual creation is over, and the college student of the future will be judged not by what she creates, but what she collects. A paradigm of shared knowledge and creative collaboration will ultimately replace private ownership of ideas. As many of the essays in the collection point out, globalization offers the individual an ever-increasing barrage of information, much of it designed to benefit multinational corporations and the interests that serve them.