From what I'm reading, everyone loves their Kindle. From the first DX model to the second-generation Kindle 2, the e-book reader by Amazon appears sleeker, lighter, more user-friendly, and more versatile than the competing brands by Sony or Barnes & Noble. You can even use it internationally now. My personal favorite function of the Kindle 2 (if I had one) would be the built-in dictionary. I think I would use that for every "page."
The Kindle has been hailed as the "future of reading." By whom, I'm not sure. I can't find the exact quote anywhere online. I'm sure the Amazon marketing people could.
The Kindle is supposed to be the beginning of a brand new culture of book-lovers. One where we do all of our reading on computerized screens...but we're no longer limited to cords and outlets and CPUs. We can take our electronic reading devices anywhere, and buy books whenever we want. I'm not necessarily for that type of culture, exactly, but if that's where the world is headed, I don't know if I'd be unmovable. I like new ideas, and I've been kind of interested in this whole green technology thing lately. I mean, it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, would it? To have books stored in an electronic device rather than on our bookshelves?
Ok, maybe it would be. Thinking of my house without actual books in it makes me a little shaky and my heart rate goes up. I also don't think I'd want to take any kind of e-reader to a beach, even though the girl in the Amazon ad portrays that as a completely normal Kindle 2 activity. What do you do when you get sand in the minuscule cracks where it's put together? I can't even get sand out of my bathing suit, let alone a Kindle. And then there's this:
I was sitting in the cafeteria at work today, eating lunch with friends, when one of them brought up something I had never even thought to consider. Amazon's e-book reader is called the Kindle. The Kindle. "Yeah," I said. "You know...it, like, sparks your imagination. Ignites education and creativity! [And sales.]"
Wrong.
The Kindle.
According to my friend, it turns out the hottest tech toy of 2009 is actually some well-laid subliminal plot to get all us consumers to ditch paper books forever. FOREVER. The Kindle. Kindling. Book burning. The figurative book burning of a culture of readers, to be exact. My culture. And it will probably go down in history as the biggest, most successful book burning of all. Why? Because I can't even see the Kindle for its own name. We're so enthralled with the concept, we're missing the consequences. And its name.
As I stated in a past post, book burning is viewed as a form of violence against a culture; it serves a demonstrative purpose, as a way for an oppressive power to force its influence onto a group of people. I just bought three CDs from Amazon today. Am I feeding the fire? Should Amazon be viewed as a brutal regime, out to quash my appreciation for "real" books?
Or is Amazon a friend to the forests, and the Kindle just a vehicle for expression? Is their purpose simply to keep us all up-to-date, current with not only the trends in reading and technology, but in business, and with communication tools, too?
And on top of all of this, to properly sort things out, you then have to ask the question: "What makes a book?" Is it really the paper and binding? Or is it the words? Is it the message? Or a combination of all of it? When did reading get this complicated?
So do you have a Kindle, or another e-book reader? Whose side are you on? Are you a good witch or a bad witch?
And where are we going now?
Showing posts with label Paperless. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Paperless. Show all posts
October is a Busy Month
Just a short post here, as I need to get back to my book!! and the Internet connection in this beach house is sketchy.
President Obama named October 2009 National Information Literacy Awareness Month. I could dedicate this whole post to covering why I'm going to add "Holiday/Month Namer" to my list of dream jobs (following Street Namer and Menu Writer), but I'll focus on the positive here instead.
The long title really did help me break down what the month will be all about, however. This is no ordinary war on illiteracy. Drawing awareness to the issue of illiteracy in the United States is a great step forward, and one we can all support. There is no downside. But extending support for information literacy (and for now I'll just umbrella that under "evaluating Internet technology," because even I need to bone up on my information) really knocked into me how much the world is changing.
When I was in first grade, we had the Book-It! program. What do kids today have? How are they learning to succeed, and what tools are going to be more useful to them? The ALA is encouraging Americans (and I'm encouraging everyone) to visit their local libraries and really reap the benefits of the information services provided there. I have always been one to live in the past, but it is so important that we all know how to navigate through the jargon. With the growth of the Information Age, we need to adapt our literacy skills, no matter what our age. Please read the President's statement, linked above, and let's commit ourselves to learning...no matter the shape, form, or variety.
President Obama named October 2009 National Information Literacy Awareness Month. I could dedicate this whole post to covering why I'm going to add "Holiday/Month Namer" to my list of dream jobs (following Street Namer and Menu Writer), but I'll focus on the positive here instead.
The long title really did help me break down what the month will be all about, however. This is no ordinary war on illiteracy. Drawing awareness to the issue of illiteracy in the United States is a great step forward, and one we can all support. There is no downside. But extending support for information literacy (and for now I'll just umbrella that under "evaluating Internet technology," because even I need to bone up on my information) really knocked into me how much the world is changing.
When I was in first grade, we had the Book-It! program. What do kids today have? How are they learning to succeed, and what tools are going to be more useful to them? The ALA is encouraging Americans (and I'm encouraging everyone) to visit their local libraries and really reap the benefits of the information services provided there. I have always been one to live in the past, but it is so important that we all know how to navigate through the jargon. With the growth of the Information Age, we need to adapt our literacy skills, no matter what our age. Please read the President's statement, linked above, and let's commit ourselves to learning...no matter the shape, form, or variety.
I'd Like to Check Out These Articles I Saw on My eReader, Please
Ok, 2 pints of Hefeweizen is not the way to start off this blog; but no one ever said I'm not dedicated.
Have any of you seen this? Cushing Academy is indeed ushering in a brave new world. I never thought there could ever, ever be a library without books. A library without books? Isn't that an oxymoron?
Granted, when I was in college, I never really did the whole Dewey Decimal thing. I didn't much care for browsing through the shelves; deciphering the numbered codes posted in the aisles; scanning for an author; hoping the book I'd written down based on its title alone had at least a little something to do with my research prompt...and also hoping I was lucky enough to find a book that hadn't already been checked out, or completely removed due to its lack of relevance. I second-guessed myself quite often. Someone already has my topic. Someone will be using the quotes I was going to use. I'm so unoriginal! So uninspired! I've got to pick a new theme!
I was a huge fan of JSTOR. The biggest. If anyone ever asked me where I'd gotten my research -- yeah, it was JSTOR. All online. All the time. Easy. Convenient. Printable. (Get this -- because even though I preferred researching online, I absolutely hated reading anything via computer. The screen makes my eyes uncomfortable. Sort of ironic for a blogger, right?)
So how do I feel about a library -- I mean a learning center -- without books? It's hard to say. On the one hand, it's pretty cool that the library will be able to provide their students with millions of books and materials, instead of the 20,000 or so they'd originally had physically stocked for use.
On the other hand...
Where's the smell? Where's the palpability? Where's the clear indication that you did read those pages, you did mark them up (because you're a rebel), and you did take the time to actually dedicate yourself and check something out, rather than just download and skim? (Oh, don't think you won't be skimming with that new Sony eReader, or that fancy new PC. I see those instant messaging sessions. I see you check your email while you halfheartedly scrawl a note about a sentence you only halfway understand.) Will a laptop-friendly studdy carrel really keep you isolated enough to write a research paper? I don't think so. I thought that was the point of the Internet: connectivity to everything, everyone, everywhere. There is no solitude, and no room for independent research. You may be sitting alone, but sitting alone with a book, one author, is much, much different than sitting alone with the Internet, with millions of people's opinions at your fingertips. Beneficiary or disadvantageous? I suppose it's all dependent on the student. Personally, I don't think I'd know where to go in a library without books. I'd get lost. What, do I just sit down? Then what? Just start?
The thing that twisted me the most on this issue is the fact that Cushing Academy is replacing their reference desk with a $50,000 coffee shop, which includes a $12,000 cappuccino machine.
...Really?
You're replacing (I assume) good, hard-working, helpful librarians with coffee? Coffee?? Oh, I get it. I get it. Because coffee is helpful, too. Right. Where was coffee when I needed to find Martin Buber's I and Thou? Who do I ask when I'm having trouble figuring out how to run the technology that's supposedly changing my research for the better? Man, that pumpkin latte sure had some great insight into Romantic poetry. I got an 'A' in that class, thanks to coffee.
Growing up around books, it's all sort of hard to stomach (the transition, not the caffeine...or can it be both?). I suppose the generations born after me will find it easier to utilize this sort of drastic change; they'll feel more comfortable in this surrounding. But it is drastic, right? I can't be alone in feeling this way. Are we in desperate times, needing desperate measures? And are we so enamored with the future, we're forgetting the best of the past?
Have any of you seen this? Cushing Academy is indeed ushering in a brave new world. I never thought there could ever, ever be a library without books. A library without books? Isn't that an oxymoron?
Granted, when I was in college, I never really did the whole Dewey Decimal thing. I didn't much care for browsing through the shelves; deciphering the numbered codes posted in the aisles; scanning for an author; hoping the book I'd written down based on its title alone had at least a little something to do with my research prompt...and also hoping I was lucky enough to find a book that hadn't already been checked out, or completely removed due to its lack of relevance. I second-guessed myself quite often. Someone already has my topic. Someone will be using the quotes I was going to use. I'm so unoriginal! So uninspired! I've got to pick a new theme!
I was a huge fan of JSTOR. The biggest. If anyone ever asked me where I'd gotten my research -- yeah, it was JSTOR. All online. All the time. Easy. Convenient. Printable. (Get this -- because even though I preferred researching online, I absolutely hated reading anything via computer. The screen makes my eyes uncomfortable. Sort of ironic for a blogger, right?)
So how do I feel about a library -- I mean a learning center -- without books? It's hard to say. On the one hand, it's pretty cool that the library will be able to provide their students with millions of books and materials, instead of the 20,000 or so they'd originally had physically stocked for use.
On the other hand...
Where's the smell? Where's the palpability? Where's the clear indication that you did read those pages, you did mark them up (because you're a rebel), and you did take the time to actually dedicate yourself and check something out, rather than just download and skim? (Oh, don't think you won't be skimming with that new Sony eReader, or that fancy new PC. I see those instant messaging sessions. I see you check your email while you halfheartedly scrawl a note about a sentence you only halfway understand.) Will a laptop-friendly studdy carrel really keep you isolated enough to write a research paper? I don't think so. I thought that was the point of the Internet: connectivity to everything, everyone, everywhere. There is no solitude, and no room for independent research. You may be sitting alone, but sitting alone with a book, one author, is much, much different than sitting alone with the Internet, with millions of people's opinions at your fingertips. Beneficiary or disadvantageous? I suppose it's all dependent on the student. Personally, I don't think I'd know where to go in a library without books. I'd get lost. What, do I just sit down? Then what? Just start?
The thing that twisted me the most on this issue is the fact that Cushing Academy is replacing their reference desk with a $50,000 coffee shop, which includes a $12,000 cappuccino machine.
...Really?
You're replacing (I assume) good, hard-working, helpful librarians with coffee? Coffee?? Oh, I get it. I get it. Because coffee is helpful, too. Right. Where was coffee when I needed to find Martin Buber's I and Thou? Who do I ask when I'm having trouble figuring out how to run the technology that's supposedly changing my research for the better? Man, that pumpkin latte sure had some great insight into Romantic poetry. I got an 'A' in that class, thanks to coffee.
Growing up around books, it's all sort of hard to stomach (the transition, not the caffeine...or can it be both?). I suppose the generations born after me will find it easier to utilize this sort of drastic change; they'll feel more comfortable in this surrounding. But it is drastic, right? I can't be alone in feeling this way. Are we in desperate times, needing desperate measures? And are we so enamored with the future, we're forgetting the best of the past?
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