From the “kids get off my lawn!” department:
It bugs me when people treat social media as a final destination. Social media is part of a circuit that’s completed through personal interactions. Terms like lifestreaming imply that someone’s whole life is online. And, well, it’s not.
This adds to my growing concern around online’s unintentional negative impact. Take reading for example. Part of my attachment to print media is nostalgic. And I realize that the newspaper industry’s failure to evolve its business model is bringing its current pains.
But Andy Lark points us to an article noting how we read can impact our critical thinking.
Back to my nostalgia, and the point of this post…at the Mercantile Library’s First Annual Cincinnati Blogger convention, I spoke with the library’s Executive Director, Albert Pyle, about the demise of the card catalog.
While computer tracking of the books is more efficient, card catalogs offer the reader a form of discovery and I’m told sometimes contain more information about each book than most library computer systems.
The Mercantile Library cannot afford to keep its card catalog as up to date as they would like. And as a result Pyle levels a challenge to anyone that feels passionate about the card catalog system. “If you like it so much, then use it.” Point taken.
As we lose tactile experiences like the card catalog and print media, do we lose (discovery, an extra level of information) as much as we gain (efficiency, accuracy)? Or am I just showing my age?
Card Catalog – Use it or lose it uploaded by prblog
tags | public relations | PR | media
Innovations happen. Old ways of things get bumped off. New ways of doing things are better, but inevitably they cause us to be nostalgic for the old ways. Smart marketing firms market the old ways to old people who use the new ways but will buy their stuff because nostalgia is a very powerful force, bringing us back to an idealized time in our lives, evoking memories from a better/happier/weirder time.
So it goes with the card catalog. Not sure how marketing firm will market this, but don't be surprised if there is a commercial about them at some point.
Posted by: Dave | 08/01/2008 at 07:08 PM
I'm with you on the tactile experience of reading actual books, getting lost in the labyrinth of books of a big library, and... smelling books. I love the smell of books. OK, not the very old ones that make you sneeze :)
But discovery and the extra level of information? I don't think so. Good systems such as amazon.com enable more discovery than browsing through library cards or even shelves. I often do my book research on amazon.com, find the ISBN, then get the book from my university's library. So it's OK if library systems don't have detailed records. And I don't have to tell you that the amazon.com page for a book quite often contains those very many extra levels of information... What I do miss though is being able to browse the book as much as I want to.
But it's OK. It's not either/or. TV didn't really kill the radio star.
Posted by: Mihaela V | 08/02/2008 at 11:39 AM
Dave and Michaela - Thanks for the input. I think marketers are tapping into nostalgia...always have really. It makes sense and eases the issue of "losing" things.
And while I agree it's not always either/or, my concern is that it's headed that way. I can honestly live without the card catalog. Will hate to see newspapers disappear. I'll get over it. It's not the end of civilization obviously.
Posted by: Kevin Dugan | 08/02/2008 at 11:53 AM
I don't think you're showing your old age. I'm in my twenties and I still feel the same way about print media. In fact, anytime I'm having a difficult time writing, I return to a notepad and pen, and my thoughts become more clear and easier to convey. There haven't been enough studies on the subject, but there is definitely something to be said for the way we process information differently when experienced on paper vs. digitally.
Posted by: Angela Seits | 08/04/2008 at 03:49 AM