In The Guardian news article “The writing is on the paywall-
but the end of the print is not quite nigh” it is reported that in Christmas
2012, it wasn’t print books that won out, or e-readers that won out. It was both.
There are those who swear by print, and those who rejoiced at the
release of e-readers. Then there are
those who simply like both. There’s
nothing quite like holding a book in your hand, turning the pages, flipping
back and forth easily. But for those of
us who like to read, and who would carry multiple books with us where ever we
could if they didn’t weigh so much, there’s the convenience of the e-reader,
tablets, or even cellphones. As someone
who sees the importance of both, I believe there is something to be said about
the results of sales at Christmas time.
Neither one can really replace the other. There is value in print in cyber space, and
there is value in hard copies. It doesn’t
matter if it’s a screen or a book, if something manages to capture my
imagination, it’s not likely that I’m going to get distracted by anything else
around me, or by anything else I could be doing in my immediate area.
Sheldon says. “It runs on the world’s most powerful graphics
chip. Imagination.” He does this while playing a 80s text based
game on his computer. Despite being
outdated, and long since replaced with newer games, with images, sounds, and
characters you can control, he easily gets immersed in the game. The way I see it, the key is
imagination. From text based games, to
crystal clear graphics on Playstation or Xbox, or from books to e-readers, it’s
really all about a readers, or participant’s imagination, interests, and how
quickly something can pull them in.
The way we print text may have changed and evolved over
time, but the concept remained the same.
Words, texts, images on paper, essentially finalized and bound together
in our hand. As Elizabeth Eisenstein
states, “Premature obituaries of the death of the sermon and the end of the book are themselves testimony to long-enduring habits of the mind.” It’s not the end, it’s just another way of doing things, and there are those who are always going to circle back around to printed documents. “Yet the views held by previous generations cannot be deleted as easily as can words upon a screen.” There is almost a feeling of security with books. It you hit one wrong mistake, you won’t lose your content, if you throw your book across a room (I’ll fully admit I’ve done this, emotional response to whatever I was reading) the book is still going to be there, likely unharmed. While there are now clouds, and ways to back up the content we read on screens, it’s just not quite the same. Flipping it around, the e-readers offer books at a lower price, they don’t use paper, and you can bring more books with you wherever you go. These debates between the new and traditional can go on and on.
In the end, methods of communication are always evolving and changing, but I really do think there’s always room for more than one method.
References
Eisenstein, E. L. (1995). The end of the book?: Some perspectives on media change. The American Scholar, 541-555.
Preston, Peter, (2012). “The writing is on the paywall – but the end of print is not quite nigh,” The Guardian
In the end, methods of communication are always evolving and changing, but I really do think there’s always room for more than one method.
References
Eisenstein, E. L. (1995). The end of the book?: Some perspectives on media change. The American Scholar, 541-555.
Preston, Peter, (2012). “The writing is on the paywall – but the end of print is not quite nigh,” The Guardian
Cara, I agree with you that there is room for both. I like to read giant books like The Goldfinch on my Kobo because it's easier to carry around, but when it comes to reference books, I like the real thing. I find that it's not easy to flip around in a digital book in any format, the indexing isn't great and there is lacking a sense of space. By that, I mean you don't get a sense of where you are in a book- I can visually tell something was 1/3 of the way in or near the end on a real book when I look for it again, and I know how close to the end I am. With any kind of e-reader there isn't the same tactile feedback- do you think that will change?
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