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Expert predictions about the future of society and the possible effects of technology abound, and as is true about every topic, they range from the wildly optimistic to the doggedly pessimistic. Some believe that ‘digital technologies could revolutionize government, education and culture’ (www.startribune.com), others that they are yet another ‘improved means to an unimproved end ’ (Pavlick p. 286) Digital technologies, and the Internet in particular, have not escaped the scrutiny and criticism of such experts. There are futurists such as Alvin Toffler, author of ‘The Third Wave’, who believe in the power of digital technologies to fundamentally change our lives. Equally, there exist critics such as Neil Postman, author of ‘Amusing Ourselves To Death’, who claims that ‘the computer and its information cannot answer any of the fundamental questions we need to address to make our lives more meaningful and humane’. (http://world.std.com/~jimf/informing.html) For every Toffler there is a Postman. There is a third band of critics who call themselves ‘technorealists’. This group suggests a more cautious approach to emerging technologies. They ‘anticipate mixed blessings from today's emerging technol