ABSTRACT
Computers are not the miracle answer to the shortcomings of newsgathering, but they do go a long way toward solving some of the problems of information overload. Computing often creates the impression that it is the end-all solution to any and everything. This belief is often held by beginners who are dazzled by the speed, systematic nature, and comprehensiveness of computing. The popular media do not dampen this type of thinking, either. Microsoft Corporation’s efforts to promote the new Windows 95 operating system and Compaq’s advertising campaign to sell its line of Pentium-based computers in late 1995 and early 1996 are two highly visible examples. Microsoft’s advertising and marketing efforts tried to create the impression that the new operating system would do everything for users—transform not only the way users interact with their computers, but pretty much the way a user lived. Compaq’s series of television advertisements encouraged belief in that same message even more directly by posing the question about a given model in its new computer line, “Has it changed your life yet?”
