Both Chapters 13 and 14 provide practical applications for all the information discussed over the previous twelve chapters. Chapter 13 “The Web” says that cool can be used to describe technological innovations and future predictions and then gives the implications of how corporations use cool in the Web-based writing process. Businesses use the internet’s popularity for future economic gains.
Rice describes computer manufacturer Hewlett-Packard’s Cooltown– a mythical web-based environment where humans and machines are always connected. In cooltown, computers and technology are ubiquitous, located in nearly every nook and cranny possible– from buttons to pencils. Hewlett-Packard believes that this infiltration of technology will improve the overall quality of life, but cooltown is a symbiotic relationship. Consumers will see a device on the website that they believe will improve their own quality of living, so Hewlett-Packard sees the vision of cooltown as an outlet to sell products.
For the Hewlett-Packard website to be considered cool, Rice says there are two tenets that must be met (pg 136.) The first is the concept of mobility, which has long been linked to cool. The James Deanian rebels of the 1950s were never without a car or motorcycle; similarly, in cooltown, communication often happens on the go. The second tenet is the interlinking of distinct, often juxtaposed, ideas.
Rice’s basis for this tenet comes from the work of media theorist Marshall McLuhan. In 1964, McLuhan wrote the book Understanding Media, which divided popular media into two categories- hot and cool. McLuhan wrote that hot media requires little interaction from users in order for content and meaning to be understood. Therefore cool media requires a lot of participation not only from an audience, but participation from all media forms in each other’s production and meaning. Individual subjects are no longer independent, but instead are interlinked (pg 137.)
Hewlett-Packard’s cooltown exemplifies how technology uses cool as an electronic writing for economic means (pg139.) Companies are now able to sell a variety of products connected to a single theme at one time. For example, the release of a movie can provide for internet and TV trailors, music downloads, keychains, t-shirts, posters and more. These “tie-ins” intertwine similar interests for consumers, while at the same time providing economic benefits for the producer.
In Chapter 14 “Cyberculture,” Rice explains why cool writing is important on the World Wide Web. First, he defines cyberculture as items that are capable of merging technology with other forms of expression or with cultural items that can exist independently of new technology. Cyberculture tends to be futuristic, interconnected, something that builds upon old forms and can even be strange or unsettling (pg 144.)
Cyberculture can then be classified as cool media, according to McLuhan’s definition. It’s sole existence depends on bits and pieces of information connected worldwide. Therefore, web writing itself must be “cool.” Rice associates webwriting to collages, images that often stand to represent something else. Collages allow for the reader to participate by determining their meaning and purpose much in the same way digital culture and writing operates (pg146).
The hypertextual nature of the Internet allows for web authors to make connections and disassociations in both subtle and provocative ways. Several authors can agree on a single topic without having ever met each other, while others can disagree. Either way, website contributors actively participate in disseminating common ideas. Hypertext can also be juxtaposed– a thick and murky environment is created, causing the visitor to navigate through many pages before discovering any meaning. These allusive rhetorical strategies cause the reader to become even more involved in the reading and information gathering process. (pg 153)
