Re: Princeton University Goes Digital - The Wrong Way

> go online for a one-time download of

>> the textbook in PDF format.

This is another issue in the ongoing debate between conventional paper and book records and electronic media.

My conclusion is "mixed". I've been doing library research with both kinds of media. I also use both at work.

There are a lot of advantagess of online media: it takes up less space, it's more easily or much more easily searchable, and one can 'cut and paste' selected portions faster and easier than writing them down or making a photocopy.

But there are some disadvantages, too.

Traditional hardcopy (a book) is eye scannable. That means you can see random things with your eyes that an electronic search will never catch. A book is movabl e-- you can arrange it in different ways on the table or on your lap or even in the bathroom, you can't do that with a fixed terminal. Large format books are difficult to read on a computer screen without constant size adjustment or screen scrolling which gets dizzying after a short while.

For example, we have the telephone book available online. They come up slowly and are hard to read. For such a reference it's faster to use the real thing.

As the original article notes, there are many restrictions to the CDs being offered which are significant disadvtgs to the book.

In the case of a textbook where you're reading the whole thing anyway I don't see much advtg to CD. I see it more with reference works or indexes.

Microfilm saves tremendous space. That's significant since space is costly and a large collection probably couldn't be housed. It also lasts longer than paper, esp newsprint. However, it is a pain to search through and look at. The problems of 'scrolling' a large image over a screen remain.

Microfiche is a little bit better in terms of random access, but still a pain.

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hancock4
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