getting Physical media
Don't underestimate the power of "off-line".
While a digital photo can be whisked to the other side of the planet in an instant, a printed photo can be displayed on a wall or held in a wallet.
A pdf can be read on screen, but a book with an inscription can be passed from a long dead great great grandparent to a newborn.
Which would you rather your child have. A video (file?) of you talking to her, or a bundle of letters?
Physical has two meanings. And those meaning are intertwined.
There is also the simple matter of getting your data off the devices. I know lots of people who use their phone cameras, but few ho can do anything with those bits in there.
Remember the BBC Domesday Project from 1986. I think it was the 900 year anniversary of the Domesday Book, so the BBC created a new version for the digital age.
Unfortunately by 2002 they realised that there was hardly anything left which could read the laserdiscs that the project was stored on. So the BBC worked on a project to make a web version. The irony was that the original velum bound book was indeed still readable over 1000 years later.
Sometimes the simplest, physical solution beats the latest digital one.
While a digital photo can be whisked to the other side of the planet in an instant, a printed photo can be displayed on a wall or held in a wallet.
A pdf can be read on screen, but a book with an inscription can be passed from a long dead great great grandparent to a newborn.
Which would you rather your child have. A video (file?) of you talking to her, or a bundle of letters?
Physical has two meanings. And those meaning are intertwined.
There is also the simple matter of getting your data off the devices. I know lots of people who use their phone cameras, but few ho can do anything with those bits in there.
Remember the BBC Domesday Project from 1986. I think it was the 900 year anniversary of the Domesday Book, so the BBC created a new version for the digital age.
Unfortunately by 2002 they realised that there was hardly anything left which could read the laserdiscs that the project was stored on. So the BBC worked on a project to make a web version. The irony was that the original velum bound book was indeed still readable over 1000 years later.
Sometimes the simplest, physical solution beats the latest digital one.
5 Comments:
Thanks for the reminder that even low-tech has staying power! I can't think of a more personal gift than a book passed down through generations.
exactly. I honestly think a book (and I really mean a handwritten diary) is something that only means something to someone when there is a personal connection.
Now why can I keep my blog going for longer than my diary?
I think anything that transcends the current media idiom is a good thing. Bring back freedom of speech, asbo no-more, asbo no-more. Magna Carta remind me of my truth and the right to trial by my peers, oh where did it go?
Why is easier to keep a blog than a diary? My two cents: A blog gives you almost immediate feedback (if anyone comments!) whereas a diary is for the long haul, and offers conversation across years instead of pixels. Takes a bit of patience, that.
Well Adam, small steps (or huh?).
Tonii, that sounds about right. Also a diary is private... no one knows when you stop, a blog is sort of clear (unless like me you update infrequently)
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