English 680V: Visual Rhetoric in a Technological Age (Purdue)

I do feel the need to provide you with yet another article from my inbox.: "The Prestigious Inconvenience of Print" brought to you by The Chronicle of Higher Education.* Edward Tenner, author of this article, is discussing one of academia's topical obsessions, the print vs. web/e-text debate. Not surprisingly, the print text is presented as the more distinguished form of publishing, although Tenner does give electronic texts some credit. This isn't a web=evil book=good debate. Of course, the printed text does seem to come out on top, being presented as the underdog of the web-based writing world.. For example, "As a researcher, I'm delighted that there's so much free, or usually advertising-supported, content. But as a writer, I'm concerned that outlets are declining as aspirations are rising." and "The Web is simultaneously helping to undermine some of the most socially valuable parts of conventional media." So, there is an aspect of the big bad. Tenner's concerned that newspaper readership is lower, but his numbers seem to be based on print readership. I would wager that, if online readers of newspapers' electronic versions were tabulated it would actually show an increase. Additionally, Tenner does see the mutually beneficial aspects of web and text readership. This report in the October issue of the University of Chicago Magazine-- "The more an individual uses books, the more he or she uses electronic-research resources, and vice versa." --indicates that, while electronic resources are used with increasing frequency, the book isn't going away anytime soon. Tenner is relieved.

This article snuck its way into my inbox this morning (courtesy of slashdot). Apparently our friends at Random House/Harper Collins have decided that online access to their books (approx. 5,000 of their current titles) will boost sales and voila! We have searchable and browsable (probably pdf) e-texts. They'll be giving full access through Amazon and Google, in addition to allowing segments to be embedded on pages of social networking sites. Considerig our recent discussion regarding e-books, etc., I thought this would be of interest.