Internet tools are among the most useful of inventions

Email makes it possible to conduct much business online. In my desktop publishing business, it’s rare that I have physical contact with my clients. They send me information for newsletters and I send a completed draft back to them. After a couple of back-and-forth iterations, I send them a PDF file that is ready to print.

I began my desktop publishing career in the mid1980s on a Mac Plus. (Image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/schlaus/926911366/)

Good experiences on the Internet include

· Email improves speed and ease of communication.

· eCommerce facilitates finding just what you want and buying it with a button click.

· Searching the World Wide Web, one can find information on almost any subject.

· The power to influence via blogs has been demonstrated in many political and ideological campaigns.

· Using FTP, it’s possible to share movies and other large files with business or personal contacts.

There are downsides of course.

· Without visual and voice tone cues, it’s easy to misinterpret emails or fail to respond to the real meaning of inquiries. Since feedback isn’t instantaneous, frustration or misunderstanding can result from email exchanges.

· ECommerce makes it almost too easy to shop, and impulse buying becomes a real risk.

· Information posted on the World Wide Web is as likely to be biased or incorrect as any published information, yet people often seem more likely to accept it uncritically.

· The power to influence via blogs has been demonstrated in many political and ideological campaigns (a negative as well as a positive!)

· As we share large file, we tend to clutter and fill up our hard drives, saving even more “junk” than we do in the physical environment.