Introduction:
This interview was conducted by Deanna, with Eliza T. Dresang, the author of Radical Change. I first met Ms. Dresang through the Internet when she introduced herself to me via e-mail. Radical Change is a book that has captured an international audience; it presents a powerful message about how the Internet has affected literature and youth.

What is your job title and position?
Associate Professor, School of Information Studies, Florida State University (teaching future information professionals in the areas of policy, management, and services and resources for youth in a digital environment).

Do you enjoy your job, and why?
Yes, immensely. I remember years ago when I was 7 years old "teaching" Sally, the 5 year old next door, how to write her name (black board, chalk, and all). I have always found deep satisfaction in teaching (just ask my 3 now-grown-up children about the 'educational' vacations our family took), although currently I am much more inclined to describe it as "facilitating learning," easy to do in the web-based environment in which I do much of many teaching. And I find researching ideas highly exciting -- exploring what happens and why. I enjoy meeting new people and working in a collaborative work environment. Finally, I have always had an intense commitment to making the world better for children because they are (as trite as it sounds) the future and an incredible often untapped resource because adults too often overlook or suppress their abilities. All of this that I want to do is what I do in my job -- it's a dream come true.

What is your book, Radical Change about?

It explains what has happened to change books for youth in a digital age -- but it goes beyond that. Radical Change is a concept that looks to the interactivity, connectivity, and access of our digital world and how that affects youth, their learning, and how adults perceive them. Much of the focus of this book is on how this translates into changing forms and formats, changing perspectives, and changing boundaries in books. But underlying this is a more fundamental view of how the world has changed as it has become "digitized" (and in my view for the better). I base my book on the assumption that children are capable and seeking connection rather than that children are innocent and needing protection.

Why do you think the Internet is important to our society?
The Internet is revolutionary -- and the instigator of a revolution. The end result of this revolution (or I should say the ongoing result) is the interactivity, connectivity, and access I mentioned above. The bottom line is that both youth and adults have the opportunity to interact with each other, to connect with communities everywhere, and to have access to ideas that never before were available. Used properly (for good, not evil) the Internet provides an extension of human capabilities, knowledge, thinking power -- in enormously exciting and productive ways. Marshall McLuhan saw this coming -- it is too bad he did not live to see what a fantastic global society the Internet has brought or how it is extending our ability to express ourselves, and to understand life and each other with so much more depth than we ever have had in the past.

How do you think the Net affects our youth, and our future?
It is a source of great empowerment for youth. Suddenly adults who have said "too young to think, to young to know" are forced to see and acknowledged capabilities of very young children. Youth need adults, but for the first time in an intellectual sense, adults need youth, too -- so a partnership rather than a dictatorship is emerging in many instances. For the future? It means so much more knowledge, energy, and expertise available to all of us -- the world will leap forward not only because of technology but because of the use of human potential that is being un leased. And, ultimately, autocratic societies will become more democratic -- it's inevitable.

What are two web-related titles that you recommend and why?
1.) Don Tapscott. Growing up Digital. McGraw-Hill. (paperback,1999) This book captures the best of any I've read what today's net-generation youth are like. It delineates their learning characteristics and their potential. It is based on research -- a study of 300 internet users (early adopters as the study took place over 2 years ago now). Even though it focuses on net-savvy youth, it speaks to how youth in general can and do thrive in the digital age -- and will be eye-opening to many adults.
2.) Esther Dyson. Release 2.1 : A Design for Living in the Digital Age. Broadway Books. (paperback, 1998). Esther Dyson is one of the most remarkable women in the cyber society. Recently she was named by Fortune as one of the 50 most powerful women in American business. She is a leader in dozens of aspects of the digital world. In this book, she writes in plain language about the many implications of digital society -- social and political. Although I find her approach to protecting children not as enlightened as I would like, I find most of her insights into the digital world (especially for those who are not yet immersed in it) right to the point.

What does the Web mean to you, personally?
For me, the web is an incredible, fantastic, marvelous extension into all the good things I've mentioned above. I am addicted to learning myself and delve into all kinds of information-seeking situations. I immerse myself often into targeted surfing -- and find information that once took me days to locate (if I could find it at all) at my finger tip. It doesn't replace the handheld book for me (in which I also immerse myself) -- it is a companion to it. I definitely am living in the right time for me.

How do you use the Net to your advantage?
I apply the skills I've learned as an information professional to make my way through the extraneous information. I target even my surfing. I think hard about how it can help in best in any area of my life -- for example, first thing I do each morning is log on to the New York TImes online to see what major events have happened in the world. I advocate for ways to bring the Internet to youth and provide them with the context they need to understand its power while studying the searching methods carefully because they are often more flexible and more savvy at this than adults.

Do you have any additional comments?
I do not think my view of the Internet and its power is overly optimistic. So, I believe that what Nicolas Negroponte and Seymour Papert of the M.I.T. Media Lab are doing through their organization 2B1 to bring the Internet to all children of the world is enormously important. Knowledge is power -- and it is a tool in and of itself to combat hunger and overpopulation and so much else. (See 2b1.Org).

I appreciate the opportunity to share my enthusiasm for a moment in time that is regarded with far too much fear by many -- it should be a time for great rejoicing for what the future might hold (if we use this resource wisely).

Thank you, Eliza.
Our personal thanks go out to Eliza T. Dresang for participating in our interview. Eliza, you are a remarkable person and we wish you the best in everything you persue.

Brought to you by KeyLink.Net