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Subject:E-books and traditional books From:"Conlon, Penelope" <pconlon -at- positron -dot- qc -dot- ca> To:TECHWR-L <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Fri, 7 Jan 2000 13:50:28 -0500
Resistance for the sake of resistance? The advent of television was supposed
to kill off the radio - it didn't, radio serials and plays perhaps, but
radio broadcasiting simply evolved. The vcr was supposed to kill off cinema.
It hasn't by any means.
Phila writes:
"Our elders, by contrast, are already devalued and dumped in nursing
homes..." These same elders probably did the same thing to their horses when
the automobile became the general mode of transport.
A book is merely a vessel of information - why is it necessary to quash the
technological development of information packaging? I love books, and I have
a lot of them. Hopefully I will never have to part with them (for
sentimental reasons I want to keep them). But if I have to choose between
printed books and forests, I have to choose the trees themselves. Emru's
email this morning and his review of the Rocket E-book has stirred up some
conversation in my office today. Specifically about the quality controls in
the production of information in the future. The point we rested on was that
regardless of whether information is marketed in an electronic form rather
than a printed form, then the same market rules apply: you get what you pay
for. In this way, the market will determine the level of quality assurance
that remains in the production of information. If people are willing to pay
for poorly edited copy, then budgets for editing will be cut. The 1990s have
seen much wringing of hands and many newspaper articles bemoaning the
dropping standards in book production in the publishing industry world-wide.
This is a bottom-line, profit issue, not a technological one.
I love my books, and I still love my local library, but I also love my
laptop and the access it gives me to the internet and this wasn't a concept
even thought of 20 years ago! Technological development is exciting because
of all the new opportunities it brings for the sharing of knowledge. E-books
aren't scary.
: . : . : . : . : . : .
Penelope Conlon
Technical Communications
Positron Public Safety Systems
5101 Buchan Street
Montréal QC, H4P 2R9
(514) 345 2200 ext. 2514
pconlon -at- positron -dot- qc -dot- ca
