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Computers in Language, Art, and Communication
Word Processing A word processor is a software program used for creating text documents such as memos, reports, or full-length novels. Most word processors ![]() The advent of the word processor has revolutionized writing, but not everyone would agree the change was for the better. The ordinary writer is now able to produce a document that contains formatted, typeset text that looks as good as any major book publisher could produce. Of course the book written by the ordinary writer might be quite ... ordinary. A book from a major publisher can be assumed (not always correctly) to be rather extraordinary by virtue of the fact that the publisher selected this manuscript over many other possibilities. Many would-be writers of the next "great American novel" can now self-publish their work on the Internet, regardless of the quality of the work. Most word processors include a cut-and-paste facility. This allows one to electronically copy a section of one document and insert it into another. Convenience of copying makes plagiarism easier to commit, but this is not the extent of the dangers of cut-and-paste. Convenient movement of text within a document can lead to incoherent structuring of the document since one does not have to carefully consider the structure ahead of time -- one can simply rearrange the text after the fact. A CD-ROM can store
over 600 million characters. For comparison the plain text of the Bible New
Technical Words Added to the Dictionary Computer
Art There have been a few significant inventions of communication technologies throughout history from the invention of writing (Sumerian cuneiform writing dates from 3500 BC), to the invention of the printing press in 1450 AD, to modern electronic broadcasting beginning with the invention of radio in 1895. Each of these technologies produced a flourish of variations. Writing produced writing implements—from chisels to brushes, as well as writing surfaces—from stone tablets to papyrus to paper. The printing press lead to mass-produced Bibles, books, magazines, journals, newspapers, and junk mail. Similarly, information technology has produced a whole array of new communication mediums:
These new technologies share some characteristics with the old technologies, e.g., e-mail can be very like a personal letter, but can also be similar to junk mail (and then it is called "spam"). |
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If you encounter technical errors, contact rit@calvin.edu. |