Monday, June 05, 2006

Jeff Jarvis and print

Cilip daily update email informed me of an article called
Books will disappear. Print is where words go to die by Jeff Jarvis of the famous Buzzmachine blog. Jarvis interestingly hypotheses that the printed is in need of digitalising. He says:-

'We even ignore the undeniable truth that too many books, and far too many bestsellers, are pap or crap.All this might seem to be the medium's greatest advantage: respect. But that is what is holding books back from the progress that could save and spread the gospel of the written word.'

He has a point. But like one person responded, you can't take a digital format so easily as a book to the loo as a book. After Kevin Kelly article in the New York Times, entitled Scan this. Both sing from the same hymn sheet. CENTRALISED KNOWLEDGE, DIGITAL FORM. What a swell idea. Except, only 13% of the world has access to the internet I read recently. I love Jarvis' blog, but his idea has a long way to go.

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