"Professionally our methods of transmitting and reviewing the results of research are generations old and by now are totally inadequate for their purpose. If the aggregate time spent in writing scholarly works and in reading them could be evaluated, the ratio between these amounts of time might well be startling. Those who conscientiously attempt to keep abreast of current thought, even in restricted fields, by close and continuous reading might well shy away from an examination calculated to show how much of the previous month's efforts could be produced on call. Mendel's concept of the laws of genetics was lost to the world for a generation because his publication did not reach the few who were capable of grasping and extending it; and this sort of catastrophe is undoubtedly being repeated all about us, as truly significant attainments become lost in the mass of the inconsequential."
This paragraph for me highlights one of the main benefits of our digital age. I believe though, that there is more work required in making World Wide Web secure before it can be used as a tool of storage and communication in areas sensitive to plagiarism and theft. Where does the intranet fit into the structure of the WWW? My husband works for the RAAF and can send some stuff off base. And what about the policing agencies, surely their matching and retrieving of fingerprints from “Codis” (too many CSI programs me thinks) are done using some sort of intra/inter net?
But I digress; after all we are looking at books in the digital age, not fingerprinting techniques or military secrets.
I love Bush’s idea of a “memex” (sections 6-8 on p.4 of the Atlantic document) , it has a Jules Verne feel to it. Bush was an incredible intellect, whose works for me are marred by his recommendation of the use of the atomic bomb.
Future
I couldn’t find a date of writing for Is it a Book - Future (except on the credits page where the authors announce their receipt of a 1998 award) but the authors mention the limitations inherent with computers; namely portability and electricity. If this page was written in 1998, it’s amazing to think that just 10 years later computers are portable and do not require a power source to be used – look at the latest Apple iPhone http://www.apple.com/mobileme/ or any other internet-enabled mobile phones: access your own files or browse the internet, just connect it to power so it can recharge when you get home. These arguments seem to hold little weight for people who can access these types of devices.
I can, in fact I’m waiting for a local mobile phone shop to get in an LG Renoir. For just $29 per month I get 20mb internet access and $170 worth of free calls. 3G have got a similar $19 plan – how easy and inexpensive are these things going to get? I’ll be able to access online university notes and books – a limited amount, sure, but quantity can be upgraded. And it’s considerably smaller that any book that I’ve seen and wanted to read.
Regarding the users of technological devices; my 72 year old father-in-law is learning to use a computer – he’s done a course aimed at aged pensioners, and with our children using computers from such an early age – pre-school in many cases – it won’t be long before any lagging baby-boomers and generation X individuals catch up.
Regarding the users of technological devices; my 72 year old father-in-law is learning to use a computer – he’s done a course aimed at aged pensioners, and with our children using computers from such an early age – pre-school in many cases – it won’t be long before any lagging baby-boomers and generation X individuals catch up.
But don’t misunderstand me. I’m a bibliophile, and while space and budget these days restrict my book purchases, I’m a regular at the council and university libraries – so are my husband and kids. It isn’t so long ago that I had difficulty reading from a monitor, I used to have to print out all my readings for uni courses and didn’t even think of reading a book online. Now I can, and do, but I can’t see a time when I can’t, or won’t want, to curl up in bed with a good book. They have a unique place in our culture regardless of genre or format.
Salon.com is a site, found through a link at the Is it a Book site has some interesting reads – essays about Stephen King’s e-book, a criticism of The Gutenberg Elegie and an essay about a digital reader Unfortunately these essays are out of date by eight years, and we know that’s a long time in the world of computers and computer-related technology, so I looked up a device that I think is similar to the one mentioned in The Digital Reader. The rest of the links (the ones that still work, anyway) are also worth following up; somewhat dated, but interesting.
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