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Paper vs. Digital

posted on May 16, 2008

I’m still digging my Kindle. The geek lust may wear off in a few weeks and I’ll change my tune, but right now I really like it.

But, last night I ran into a decision that I wasn’t ready for.

I’m a big time impulse buyer. This is especially true when it comes to music and books. If I see something an it sounds like something I want, but I can only preorder it, I usually will so that I don’t  have to think about it in the future.

Last night it happened when I watched this amazing video and instantly wanted to order a copy of The Whuffie Factor. When I found out you could only pre-order it I went to click on the button and then paused. I didn’t pause to question if I wanted it or not. I paused because I pondered if I wanted to read it in paper or digital form. I wondered if I could pre-order for the Kindle. Does Amazon even have that as an option for books? I couldn’t find an example of it yet.

Like I said, I wasn’t ready for this decision. I can’t be the first one to run into it.

In the end I didn’t order the book. I’m going to wait and see if it comes out in Kindle format and THEN decide which way I want it.

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Categories: Rambles
  • Sean Ryan, CLA, ASLA

    Hello, I’m a LA just interested in ideas. I was born 1962 on the divide between paper and digital worlds.

    I have about 10,000 books on landscape architecture and I’d say in about the past 5-10 years now, about a Terabyte of digital info; fishing for ideas all my life has produced some incredible discoveries, at any rate … studying others conclusions about the paper / digital debate, the bottom line is: “both” and at this point the most productive approach is an ecological or holistic method.

    Anyway, the big question I’m interested in is: Is there something technological about a book, paper, scroll, something flat and corporal that is not yet recognized or defined? For example, people pay for a bigger computer screen and more interaction opportunities. Books allow rapid, cheap, reliable mass focus information (usable data)… for instance if you layout say 100 sq. ft of building typologies examples. Architects still claim “the back of a napkin” is the best for early problem conceptualization. There’s obviously something going on with being Human and wanting to touch something like a Car Title, Birth Certificate, Paper Vote, Money, etc. The Egyptians thought writing was magic giving the dead a way to live into the future. And so on.

    See where I’m going? I don’t know the answer but have a very strong instinct that there is some kind of technological equation, rule or idea describing the relation between paper and digital information not yet widely known yet.

    I realize these are pretty heavy questions and this is like throwing a message in a bottle in the ocean, but I figure this is the World Wide Web and someone on the planet might have an answer to this question.

  • http://socialcritic.wordpress.com/ NewsView

    Reading is not a natural human process, and not all cultures developed a written method of communication. Book reading is abstract, and digital reading, without a tangible source, seemingly adds another layer of intangibility. Paper will never be entirely eliminated just as photography did not entirely displace the fine art of painting. Books are easier on the eyes, electronics are more fatiguing. You can sacrifice a book in a rainstorm, do you want to sacrifice your costly e-reader? And do you want to get to the point where everything is so noncorporeal that it encourages even more of a disposable mentality at a time when going “green” ought to mean using fewer resources, making do with what we have while it works and functions, and generally consuming less?

    Buying a book at a bookstore is an event, downloading it is an act. You might run into someone you know going to the library. You might spot an unusual bird, tune into an informative or entertaining radio show on the way over that you wouldn’t have otherwise heard, or witness an interesting sideshow on the street corner. You might see an attractive little cafe you failed to notice before. Confining our experience to the virtual realm is to save time in one sense, but to add another layer of comparatively meaningless distraction. Did we make a b-line to that ebook, or surf at a couple of websites instead. Is it late? Is this bright screen going to disrupt one’s circadian rhythms in a manner printed material never could? Do we stretch our backs and get up from our office chairs that much less, thereby eliminating the incidental exercise involved in physically going to a bookstore or library? There are many considerations in this brave new digital age, but it boils down to 1) personal preference, and 2) whether you want the environmental impact of a book in a landfill, which will degrade, versus a toxic electronic that is obsolete as little as six months to 2 years post purchase, and 3) a gadget’s life span feeding off the electric grid by necessity to operate, unlike conventionally printed material. Less esoteric, do you have any issues with headaches, squinting or eyestrain that are unconsciously adding an annoyance factor? These are just a few of the deciding differences between books vs. ebooks, paper vs. digital. One technology rarely displaces another entirely, it merely adds another layer of complexity and environmental resource drain. Sometimes, marketers have found, when you give people too many choices they are too overwhelmed to make a decision about any of them. So there is this happy medium between TMI and too few options, but let’s be honest here: What we are really struggling with in the Western World is the former. The inherent danger is that no single resource is appreciated for what it is because there is this urge to consume all of them at breakneck, credit-card debt inducing speed. If we’re going to tally the environmental and psychological “expenses” none of these factors can be overlooked.