ABSTRACT
Diverse voices have outlined the advantages or disadvantages of technology as they have emerged within classrooms, businesses, communities, and families. Enthusiasts vaunt technological changes, which they contend can effect a more equitable distribution of power. They invoke issues such as empowerment, equality, access, speed, efficiency, liberation, and the development of a global community in support of a pro-technology agenda. People tend to think of technology as a set of tools to perform a specific function. These tools are often portrayed as mechanistic, exterior, autonomous, and concrete devices that accomplish tasks and create products. New information technologies are often designed to forward democratic ideals through interaction, collaboration, and sharing of information. A familiar example is local area networks that allow multiple users to share folders as part of their collaborative work. As information technologies merge with communications technologies, what can be done with a computer depends on the quality of network connections.
