Prelude
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The notion for a book about the history of technology since the birth of the PC (personal computer) was hatched somewhere between the end of the educational panel at the Knoxville Writers Guild's April 26th gala last Saturday, and the first of many glasses of wine that evening.
The air was full of juice and electricity about the latest technological advancements and local applications of web site capabilities, blogging, and print on demand before an audience of seasoned writers. Suggestion to do it as an e-book as part of making the point about the significance of the medium being the message.
So, here we are. Hatching the egg electronically, or is it the chicken?
Luckily, my stints in traditional publishing have been enough to persuade me on these basic points. No matter what, you still need:
>a good story,
>someone else to look over your work and put some editing muscle into it,
>ways to get the work out in front of people
The Story Begins
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Sunday, April 27, 2008
This one is beginning inside my calendar of Outlook, so I don't lose the inspiration of the moment, sans spell checker, sans formatting. If I follow the directions prescribed to me yesterday, this now needs to move out to a blog that I then list with the News-Sentinal and the radio station, so it can receive critiques. Against all odds, my heart in my mouth with years of copyright fears digested, I'm going to do this, then see what happens. I now challenge what everyone told me yesterday to see if it's true.
Some ideas to include in this book about
the history of technology since the 1980s
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After the printing press, technology is the next major revolution is publishing.
How technology took the human race by storm
Will the human race be better for it?
Laundry list of stuff (add list later, but includes European videotex, IBM PC, Apple Mac and hypertext, fiber optics, CDI, first viruses [Jerusalem?], frame creation machines and scanners, SIGs, games, copying software, CompuServe, Atari/Commodore 64s, electronic bulletin boards, videophones, audio/videoconferencing, freeze frames)
What obstacles need to be overcome?
Is technology a challenge by the future upon the past?
The medium is the message, but content is everything.
In communities, not groups, is how we see ourselves.
The community of folks involved in any work can help to make the art better, and no matter how good the product.
All content needs integrity
After serendipidity and dating services, the Internet has become the next major way
for people meet each other
Will the human race fight wars through technology (from pac man to "war games")?
How does "The Technology Wave" work as a working title? Or better, "E-merging Technology: The History of Technology since 1980"?
