What are
your thoughts?
I
personally feel that a plain old book does the trick on that long quiet night
or on a rainy afternoon or when chilling on the beach drinking coconut juice or
while having breakfast over the weekend in a quiet little cafe. The touch of a
book feels about right. Flipping the pages and running my fingers through each
line feels comfortable. Now here I am blogging on an iPad for an online reading
medium that you are currently engaging.The team at MORRIELAND are working on several projects; some digital and print stuff. However, we are not entirely sure of what people really want. You can tell us to conduct research but I can tell you that no matter how detailed your research can get, it can't tell us precisely what you are thinking. Research is often guided; leading you to think in one of the many directions that the outcome desires. So how is it that we determine what you really want? The answer is we don't. We ask ourselves as consumers and makers of products. Hopefully, we'll have something in common with our thoughts.
As much
as we love a plain old book, we must give credit to technology for bridging a
certain gap. Young readers, that is. With technology driven e-learning products
on the rise, we can't help but get onboard with the idea of reading via electronic
devices. Be it over the Internet or not, these devices are connecting people
and especially children to a wide variety of reading materials. With the latest
buzz on gamification, it is no surprise how children are even more engaged in
learning than they ever did in a classroom.However we are discussing reading. Reading on a digital device called e-book versus the flat, non-interactive and dissolves in water paper we'd like to call a book. Between e-book and a book, there are pros and cons to it. Environmentally, they say a digital book can save millions of trees from being cut down. But what about the amount of energy that a digital device consumes when being charged for power on a daily basis? If the whole world adapts to the digital method, will we have enough energy to sustain our living and economy? So, environmentally, it is equally unsafe but with limits, it can both be practical and valid.
Now let's talk about content. Interactive e-book versus the non-interactive one – flip your own pages and avoid paper cuts – which is also known as a book. On a digital device, books can also be flipped or clicked or swiped or swirled or basically just about any motion it is programmed to do. Sounds like a lot of fun until if you have a steady device. Sometimes, you'll get cute or gutsy animation accompanying a story on every page. But a more common e-book is just a series of text on a white screen inviting long-term poor eyesight problems in the future. It hurts to read an entire novel in a day and in just a few hours your device will run out of power. That can't happen to a book. A book too can have pictures and if creatively done, a few quick flips of pages, you'll get to see moving pictures. But then, you'll be carrying a lot of thick books when you travel. It's hard to pick a winner here too so let's move on.
Games oh
glorious games! The one thing technology can do is social engagement and
e-books are reaping the benefits of this. Read it, play a game and share it.
Play some more, get more points, share it and keep playing. Reading with games
can become very addictive. But are people reading to improve reading, gain
knowledge or to win stuff at the games? A book can also have games in them but
it is for one's enjoyment only. Books such as the Omnibus series can also be
very addictive. Flipping of pages from random clues to solve a never-ending
mystery is a traditional way of engaging one's thoughts. Far less distraction
than a social media type reading. There’re just too many points to consider
that we can't point out which is better.
But is all this technology, concepts and contents any good? In today's society, everywhere I turn I can see tablets and smartphones populating the earth as much as the piling garbage in any given back alley. In case you didn't get it, that is a lot. With that, perhaps it is safe to assume that people are getting access to technology but are they engaging in the contents as well? The better question is that are they engaging in an age-appropriate content? Now that is a whole different topic that we will cover next time.
