Reading in a Whole New Way | 40th Anniversary | Smithsonian Magazine - 5 views
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Elias Rumley on 17 Nov 10Right away, skimming the page, I feel that there needs to be more pictures. E-readers struggle to keep their attention to text for an extended period, so pictures will help break the monotony. -
J.Randolph Radney on 17 Nov 10This is a great idea, Elias. Do you have some particular pictures in mind?
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American prosperity and liberty grew out of a culture of reading and writing.
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Very strong statement. Perhaps a tad over-reaching, but it is effective in demonstrating the writer's belief that literacy is key in culture.
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As digital screens proliferate and people move from print to pixel, how will the act of reading change?
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Clearly states the general topic in a simple and easily understood manner right away
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Books were good at developing a contemplative mind. Screens encourage more utilitarian thinking. A new idea or unfamiliar fact will provoke a reflex to do something: to research the term, to query your screen “friends” for their opinions, to find alternative views, to create a bookmark, to interact with or tweet the thing rather than simply contemplate it.
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In ancient times, authors often dictated their books. Dictation sounded like an uninterrupted series of letters, so scribes wrote down the letters in one long continuous string, justastheyoccurinspeech. Text was written without spaces between words until the 11th century. This continuous script made books hard to read, so only a few people were accomplished at reading them aloud to others. Being able to read silently to yourself was considered an amazing talent. Writing was an even rarer skill. In 15th-century Europe only one in 20 adult males could write.
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The first screens that overtook culture, several decades ago—the big, fat, warm tubes of television—reduced the time we spent reading to such an extent that it seemed as if reading and writing were over. Educators, intellectuals, politicians and parents worried deeply that the TV generation would be unable to write.
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It's interesting to see that, at one point, professionals believed writing would become a rare skill and the rarity of literacy would regress back to ancient times.
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Pixels encourage numeracy and produce rivers of numbers flowing into databases.
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Very strong imagery, that effectively contrasts the pixels (which are small and humble) produce a river (usually powerful and comparitively large) of information.
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Books
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But screens engage our bodies. Touch screens respond to the ceaseless caress of our fingers.
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The most physically active we may get while reading a book is to flip the pages or dog-ear a corner.
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The most physically active we may get while reading a book is to flip the pages or dog-ear a corner. But screens engage our bodies. Touch screens respond to the ceaseless caress of our fingers.
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or dog
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pages or dog -ear a corner. But screens
