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Subject:Re: FAX to TEXT From:Vicki Rosenzweig <murphy!acmcr!vr -at- UUNET -dot- UU -dot- NET> Date:Tue, 22 Jun 1993 09:42:37 EDT
If converting faxes back to text is a complete misuse of the medium, so
is using computers for messages rather than number-crunching. I think
it's more useful to think of them both as _extensions_ of the original
devices. Faxes these days are used less as a way to transmit images than
as a way to send things faster than the post office without playing
telephone tag. People who for whatever reason don't write real letters
will drop a short note into a fax machine. The ability to send a written
or printed message within minutes has cut the amount of messenger work in
New York City in half in the last few years; ironically, one of the few
things messengers still carry is artwork, because faxes don't do color and
don't offer the resolution needed to approve a cover for a magazine.
The street finds its own uses for technology.
Vicki Rosenzweig
vr%acmcr -dot- uucp -at- murphy -dot- com
