In his presentation, Dr. Caruso began by pointing to recent studies that suggest that new information technology has so far failed to address the problem of the growing gap between information haves and have-nots. Higher income groups c ontinue to dominate the content, access to, and the use of the Internet. In addition, Caruso stressed the problem of readers who are now growing up in high school and entering college with electronic mail at the center of their social and academic lives.
Online texts get all the attention.
Dr. Caruso expressed particular concern about the new trends in college teaching methods, which seem to be overturning conventional ways of reading and writing. What is worrisome for Caruso is that this sort of literary practice in whic h authorial control is eroded in favor of the reader often neglects a careful account of the socio-historical context of the author and the original text. Caruso implied that this kind of teaching of texts and writing has foreshadowed the current experience of the Internet. Caruso sees a real difficulty in such student-generated sites particularly because they often lack adequate citations and bibliographies. Given the ever-increasing demands on readers' time, many readers may not be as equipped as they sh ould be to evaluate what they read and especially if they are being taught to view all texts and images as equally valid and important.