Yesterday my son sent me his latest work accomplishment - the link to his NC State Women's Tennis Media Guide http://www.gopack.com/fls/9200/YEARBOOK/2009-10/2009-10%20Women%27s%20Tennis%20Yearbook/index.html. Sadly, as a budget cutting move, many colleges are refraining from actually printing their media guides...opting instead for the virtual world of the Internet.
While I found the program that allows you to "turn" the pages like an actual booklet very entertaining...I found myself wanting more.
I wanted to hold the media guide in my hand. I wanted to run show it to my co-workers and drop one off to my mom on my way home. I wanted to use it as a tool to interact with PEOPLE, not alone with my computer. I wanted to lie in bed and read its content to learn more about the girls on the team. Then I could surprise my son with my infinite knowledge and ask relevant questions about the team.
As it is, I may go back to the link once or twice. I will pass it on to my mom via impersonal e-mail. But this media guide will never reach its full potential. It will sit in a link in cyberspace.
It will never cause people to actually interact. It will never be physically handed off from one person to another. It will never be studied. It will never be treasured and pulled out of a trunk to share with another generation. Isn't it a shame? I guess that is the price of progress.
Many hugs,
Kathy, The Printer
P.S. Yes, I get the irony of musing about the loss of the tangible as I blog away in cyberspace. I believe the Internet and print are both great tools of communication that need to work hand in hand.
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