When I was younger and first considering career options, I planned on becoming a reporter for a newspaper. I figured I would put my love for writing to good use and began taking every possible opportunity to involve myself in every print journalism facet that was open to me, and I found a comfort zone when I was the Sports Editor for the school newspaper. But especially over the last year, it's quite evident that advancements in technology are sending the print industry into a downward spiral. So, why the change? Even though I will always love the written word, being a college student has opened my eyes to the benefits of online media advancements and has ultimately shifted my focus to the online industry.
I'm usually not one for change, so this step was a big one for me. But the one thing I can't seem to handle is the talk about books becoming obsolete as well, as according to http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/29/books/29beas.html?_r=2&ref=business&pagewanted... Don't get me wrong, there are definite benefits of online reading. One prime example is textbooks. Consider the amount of money that college students spend each semester on text books, and imagine how this number could be decreased if the same books were available online. So having these books keyboard accessible not only saves money, but it's also helpful when lugging books from class to class and if a student misplaces a book.
Okay, so the benefits are clearly mapped out, blah blah blah. But am I the only one being skeptical here? Something has to be said for the preservation of famous documents. I compare it to keeping a scrapbook. If you keep pictures and put them together into events, you're going to remember things that you may have forgotten. However, if you solely rely on memory, you might not remember some of the details or be able to relive the experience. This also proves true with hard copy books vs. online books. Holding primary sources and old newspapers that once played a major role in history can make the assignment more real than just words on a printed page.
Is it really worth cheating history to make advancements in technology?
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I can absolutely say I'd appreciate being able to buy online access codes for college textbooks. I can't imagine them costing more than the $700 per semester I'm spending now!
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure you're cheating history simply because you change the medium. For the mundane, the electronic expression of these ideas makes a lot of sense. More searchable, more accessible, more environmentally friendly (?) are all advantages.
ReplyDeleteLess nostalgic... probably. But these shifts don't seem to "destroy" as much as they create. Moving from radio to television is an example of a similar transition. Today few people long for a return to the good old days of radio, television has taken us all over the world and even to the moon.
A concern about permanence and control is valid. Amazon's recent erasure of 1984 from Kindles is very troubling. It's so ironic that Big Brother erased himself. But book burners could have a far more reaching impact than simply lighting up the night sky if they could delete millions of copies with a key stroke.
While teaching an SAT class last night, I talked with students about their classes and found something really interesting: they don't carry books, notebooks, or binders anymore. Their school financed a "tablet" laptop for each student. This "tablet" allows them to take notes as well as view class readings (which they can upload via flash drive). I couldn't believe that less than a decade ago, I was carrying around 20lbs worth of books, notebooks, etc. while they sport a 5lb tablet as they go about their business.
ReplyDeleteWhen I asked them what the purpose of lockers was (since they had no books they store there), they stared blankly at me, before answering, we "don't know."
When I bought my textbooks for college, I actually received access codes to the online book for that subject. The reason for this is that I have to do most of my homework online. The book that I bought is more of just something to reference to and read from to further increase our knowledge on the subject our professor is teaching. Yet probably the main reason I like having a real text book in my hand is the fact that I can scribble all over and annotate what I've bought. It's easier to remember things when I write them down twice, and I can recall important references or whatnot if I draw things and write notes in the margins of my book.
ReplyDeleteBecause of the fact that many professors write or co-author their own textbooks and then "require" them as part of a course curriculum, resulting in additional income, I'd be very surprised to see textbooks totally disappear from the scene.
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