Comments on: Do We Really Want a Paperless World?

By: GUstavo Ureña

GUstavo Ureña — Tue, 05 May 2009 15:27:37 +0000

… then it is up to your discretion. you will choose a medium that will be better to deliver the content base on your needs.

By: Dana

Dana — Tue, 05 May 2009 14:56:50 +0000

Gustavo,

I do wonder sometimes if we give content the attention it deserves. As cheap and convenient, interactive and reactive as the digital medium is in facilitating the transfer of information, it is not one that encourages deep reading, and the digestion of long pieces. That’s why I think the Kindle is particularly timely. It takes care of the reading of books, but what about medium-length pieces that are too long for mobile/computer reading, but too short to be sold on a piece-meal basis through Kindle or something like it?

Just a thought. Thank you for dropping by.

By: GUstavo Ureña

GUstavo Ureña — Tue, 05 May 2009 14:41:36 +0000

I think that no matter what medium we chose, what’s going to dictate how we access information is the content itself. For example, breaking news or time sensitive information requires a medium that can deliver in a fast manner, printing materials just take too long to be produced (writing, printing and distribution). It was just impossible to get the news a few minutes after it happen a few decades ago because it was the job of a group of people. Now people have cellphone able to upload content to blogs or twitt about anything happening, this gives the power to regular person to generate content, and content is the king…
In another hand, there are certain content that requires a printing medium (textbooks, novels, etc) and anything that takes more than 30 mins to read.
Remember printing on paper was invented as a cheap and fast way of provide information in a large quantity. Now digital production of the same informations solve the problem of distribution in a cheaper and faster way than paper.

This is the age of collective information, and paper… as much as I like it will disappear in some industries due to its performance.

By: Dana

Dana — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 13:57:27 +0000

Retty,

Thank you. It would be interesting to see how we navigate between the digital and the paper worlds going forward.

By: Retty

Retty — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 13:50:28 +0000

Hi, nice blog…
I am still preferring reading books than e-books, but I’ve got to admit that the online world gave us choices of news to choose. It is also open a wider communication with people we do not know, with culture we do not familiar with…

By: Dana

Dana — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 19:42:03 +0000

I’m very skeptical as to the whether the web is really the best way to deliver content, particularly writings that are longer and more involved. I find myself usually glazing over an article longer than a couple of thousand words.

I think information can still fetch a price if the right pieces are delivered to the people that want them, in a format and within a time frame acceptable to them.

By: Shaun

Shaun — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 19:35:06 +0000

Great post. I’m not a huge fan of a paperless world, if only because I’ve read 1984 one too many times — paper is harder to destroy than digital ones and zeros.