Professor in an electronic ivory tower

Under the heading "Getting Granny Wired" (THES, April 28), Nicholas Negroponte suggests that most of those present at the G7 meeting in Brussels a few weeks ago had little understanding of the Internet.

However, most of the people to whom I spoke seemed to have a good feel for at least some aspects of the information highways and byways. It may be true that the perception of the net may differ for the advertising director, the managing director and the chief research officer, but to imply that Al Gore is not "wired up" is quite odd: he and many others have been caught in the information flow, even if they do not have a grasp of the nuts and bolts, as Professor Negroponte obviously does.

His "guide for parents lost in cyberspace" (no doubt) would be an amusing read for the average ten-year-old adrift in Cyberspace, and the "granny" who has got connected. Many of those two disparate groups seem to have the measure of it: the professor may be stuck in an electronic ivory tower.

GORDON JOLY

http://www.tecc.co.uk/gordo/ IIgordo@dircon.co.uk