If you listen to the media, or to Twitter, or to any technology column, the direction is obvious: more social media, more online services, more technology.
If I searched myself, I would find myself wanting more capabilities, more companies I could reach online, more information when I search, and more online article available.
But I would also find a love of hard-copied books. Of finding my favorite pages and quotes. Of underlining with my pen. Of marking the pages I found interesting. Of printing out my articles so I can properly edit them. Of pasting and taping pictures and magazine articles to posterboard. Of hanging pictures up on the wall.
And so, I find that as much as I love technology, love twitter, love facebook, love online, love my iphone, that those things in no way, shape or form replace or even really substitute the hard copy.
I started to come to these conclusions over the last week after attending a Boston Public Library Board of Trustees meeting. I attended it to write an article about it for the South End News, where I now work as a part-time Staff Writer (hallelujah!).
At the meeting, where President Amy Ryan said that the libraries were moving to put more services online, offer more digital archives, etc, there was an outcry. People (admittedly, older generations) didn’t want more computers. they didn’t want the ability to search online.They wanted to walk into a library with their child. They wanted to check out books. They wanted a librarian they could trust with their children. They wanted a physical location their children could go to be safe off the streets.
And so I wonder if there is a bigger truth to the idea of a digital divide. If not only do some people not have access to digital services, but some would be safer without it. Are the wealthy and the able pushing digital online and social media things because they don’t have something to lose if the physicality of services drops away? What about those that do?
I know I’ve been missing in action for awhile, but if anyone is still out there, what do you think?
You make a good point. The replacement of direct, physical and human (face-to-face) interaction by digital media is a significant challenge for rural communities, too. One does start to suspect that the drive to provide broadband and get people using it, isn’t just to serve a community but to economize on services to that community.