Paper at
Incubation: internationl conference hosted by Trace Online Writing Community
10-12 July 2000
http://trace.ntu.ac.uk/incubation/
The Internet is one of the most powerful means of communication, ever to hit an international audience. With forces pushing governments and Internet bodies towards a more controlled arena, do we risk cutting out a large part of the world population from taking advantage of the power of an electronic podium?
Not everyone has the ability to polish their prose to perfection. Not every homepage is going to rival Shakespeare but if we allow censorship and aesthetic opinion do we loose the organic power of the net. However, if the Internet is to be taken seriously is there a place for every "This is my Home Page" and "Meet my Cat".
As a cyber citizen and hyper novelist my sympathies are firmly on the side of none censorship. Yet as a reader I'm often frustrated by too much noise and not enough content. My paper would explore the tension between quality and creative freedom and try and find a middle ground.
