I just noticed that when looking at patterns from books on Ravelry, there is a link at the bottom of the page that says,
“search your local libraries”
which links to the record for the book you are looking at on WorldCat. Very cool.
I spent the last few weeks scanning some very old family photos and it gave me plenty of time to think about the digitization of paper-based media, and why I have such mixed feelings about it.
I appreciate the ability to preserve documents and photos by moving them to a digital format. But at the same time, doing so removes a lot of information you gain by working with the originals. We interact with objects using all of our senses, but when dealing with digital media we are no longer interacting with the object as such, but with the object we are using to access the media.
If I’ve lost you, think of it like the difference between watching a video of something and actually being there. You lose the connection that you have from being part of the experience and interacting with your environment.
I find this extra layer problematic. Sure, you can read the same text you could have read before and you can see the same images that you could before. But not in the same way. Something gets lost because we no longer have that direct interaction with the object.
While waiting for the bus last week I saw a Mack truck go by with Big Mouth Billy Bass attached to the grille. It’s too bad the batteries were dead. Can’t you just picture the thing going off every time it detects oncoming traffic?
I finally watched the Notebook last month. It should have come with a warning or something. After watching several people I loved go through that I lose it every time I think about it.
I’ve had the flu since Saturday and it’s really pissing me off. I can’t get much homework done because of it, and when I take medicine that makes my head so funny that it’s even more impossible. Gah!
I’m still alive. 😉 Just up to my ears in schoolwork. I’ll get back to you on the weekend.
I hate it when you’re trying to call someone and all you get all day is the busy signal. *grumble*