tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8951599490492075117.post602464469419128190..comments2022-12-28T13:33:39.339-05:00Comments on Matt Pounsett: The End of the Printed WordMSPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06592589764788936474noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8951599490492075117.post-66392631887700337592009-09-05T07:57:06.144-04:002009-09-05T07:57:06.144-04:00It goes without saying that I completely agree wit...It goes without saying that I completely agree with everything you've written here. While I'm glad that I'm capable of retrieving information I need for my more academic pursuits from online sources (making 3am research a lot easier!), I often miss the physicality of sitting on the floor in the library in the abstracts section, catalogues of articles strewn around me, then the hunt through the bound journals for just the right source... And yes, I bemoan the loss of the card catalogue even as I prepare my work library to be catalogued with Delicious software. I have been told since childhood that my book collection is a sign of a hoarding problem. And sure, I don't have to own as many books as I do (on a tangent, I am SO renting a truck), but trust me: having books in every room in the house where small children live creates magic. There is absolutely nothing more incredible than watching reading suddenly click in a child's head, and have him (because this transformational click hasn't yet happened with her) devour every piece of print in sight. My child can read a book (well, some books) unsupervised until 11pm in his room without the concern that turning the wrong page will lead him to internet predators or pornographic images that may distort his developing sexual expectations and preferences (interesting mature idea for a Choose Your Own Adventure book, though), or that his laptop will set the bed on fire, or that his book will suddenly disappear right at the good part when the hard drive chooses that particular moment to implode.<br />I can't imagine the coldness of plastic and wire would act as the same kind of literacy catalyst. Sitting in bed with a child, hitting Enter or Scroll on the MacBook to get to the next colourfully illustrated screen instead of curling up, having her flip the pages back and forth to her favourite parts... Children are the most sensual of us all - their learning is so sensory-based. To remove the touch and smell elements from the reading experience is to render reading to a place of chore or skill development, removing the passion and delight entirely. <br /><br />(OMG, I totally just turned this into a "But what about the children?" argument, didn't I)<br /><br />I'll leave you with something that filled me with the opposite of what the article about Cushing Academy did: <a href="http://blog.shelfari.com/my_weblog/2009/09/neil.html" rel="nofollow">Neil Gaiman's library</a> (and that's not including his <a href="http://digitalcomposting.wordpress.com/2009/09/03/the-gaiman-library/" rel="nofollow">reference collection</a>. As Refashionista would say, Hawt.shannonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05910139957924505838noreply@blogger.com