| Acknowledgments |
| A polemic for a preface |
| Introduction: Literacy and orality as a context |
| Literacy and the results of taking communication out of immediate |
| Properties of the Medium |
The list, the diagram and the syllogism |
Lists |
Law |
Grammar |
| Blurring the distinction between literacy and orality. |
| A case study: the Vai of Liberia |
| Conclusion to Chapter One |
| The History of the index - making information accessible |
| Writing, empires and tax |
| The end of books |
Sound (cassette tape) versus Paper (paperback) |
| Hypertext |
Non-linearity- |
| A semantic cognitive web |
| Empowering the reader? |
| Further sceptical comments on hypertext |
| Hard and Soft Structures |
| Deep history |
| The history of writing |
Aspects of the history of writing |
Language shifts and the development of syllabic writing: Akkad and Sumer |
| Scribal élite controlling the technology |
| Technology and politics: syllables and democracy |
| Part Two: a technological history |
| Effects of the Medium |
| Some popular writing media |
Electronic addresses and Electronic Mail |
Electronic Mail |
Electronic discussion lists and Netnews |
Bulletin boards |
World Wide Web |
Electronic journals |
| Table: Factors affecting choice: |
| A plea for Assertive Reading |
| How to skim |
| Note-taking |
| Why neat, regimented notes are Bad |
| Beyond the word processor with word processors |
| Everything is corpora |
| Field notes |
| Structures of information |
Useful tricks to achieve a consistent structure |
| Concordances - dealing with texts |
| The problem for databases |
| Everyone is kin |
| It looks and sounds like this An introduction to multimedia |
| More on photos and recordings -sound and video |
| Dealing with images |