[WEB4LIB] RE: why ebooks and when?

[Jenny Levine]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Thomas Dowling" <tdowling at ohiolink.edu>
> I don't know what biases they have, but they have the same eyeball design
> that hasn't been upgraded since Homo Sapiens 1.0.  Comments about screen
> resolution, contrast, and reflectivity aren't about being sticks in the
> mud, they address fundamental areas of readability in which electronic
> book devices still need to go through several generations of development
> before coming close to good black ink on good white paper.

    I'm not saying it's about being sticks in the mud.  I'm saying that
people adapt to what has become the norm.  There was a time I thought I
would never want to surf the Web on a laptop, but now I do.  There was a
time I thought I would never use chat online, but now I do.  When I saw the
first Gameboy in the 80s, I thought they were horrible because the screen
was so small and it was black-and-white, but then my brother bought one and
I borrowed it permanently.  I still don't understand TV sets getting
smaller, but the Philips is selling a whole line of new 13" TVs that are
popular in dorms, kitchens, etc.
    For all of these scenarios, my attitudes towards a device or service
changed when it became useful to me or when enough other people were doing
it to make it worth my while.  The same will be true for kids and
technology.  When ebooks become useful to them or pervasive, they will adapt
to them and they will stay adapted as adults, especially if the technology
helps improve the experience by magnifying the screen, projecting it,
whatever.
    I would also note that the eyeball design of homo sapiens may not have
been upgraded, but technological advances have improved eyesight quite a
bit.  After all, so many librarians wear glasses because they read so much
that it is part of our stereotype.  We seem to have adapted to that
technology (and contacts) quite well in order to do something useful to
us -- read.  And that's what these kids will do.  They will adapt to ebooks
on small devices because it will be useful to them.

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Jenny Levine                                          125 Tower Drive
Internet Development Specialist              Burr Ridge, IL 60527
Suburban Library System                       +1 (630) 734 5141
http://www.sls.lib.il.us/                            levinej at sls.lib.il.us
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