In this essay we review the special linguistic needs of language-disordered users who are potential users of the world wide web hypertext system. For the web to be a true information highway, there must be facilities to enhance the comprehension of those users who have special requirements, and who will benefit enormously from appropriately aided access to the web. We provide some guidelines for the development of such facilities. The Information Highway in Contemporary Magazine Narrative by Linda Cooper Berdayes and Vicente Berdayes Narrative is important in constructing social reality. It defines a coherent world within which social action occurs.
Narrative analysis is a powerful technique for revealing assumptions that define social settings.
This study employed narrative analysis to examine a maximum variation sample of magazine articles about the information highway directed at demographically and ethnically diverse audiences. Given the information highway metaphor, our purpose was to reveal the worldviews within which communication infrastructures develop. Regardless of the intended audience, a sense of powerlessness pervades narratives about the information highway. Although slight resistance is depicted, the world is portrayed as autonomous economic forces toward which individuals must adjust their actions. We argue that the narrative impoverishment of discourse that employs the information highway metaphor closes off alternate possibilities for social development.