BoSacks Speaks Out: Local Mobile Search? Hold the Phone
There is yet another fork in the road of the information superhighway where printed magazines and newspapers were once the dominant source of information, but are now being replaced by a faster, personalized, geographically accurate electronic device/service. It seems that each day now I see areas of information distribution where once we were kings and now perhaps dukes, earls and little princelings. Our royalty status is on the decline. Cell Phones are now a source of instant news and information, much like the antique newspapers of your grandfathers. Only quicker and with GPS localization.
I will add another dimension to this that goes beyond just the ease of use. Today's generations do not like to read. Here is yet another example of how they can have the information they want without the need of reading to get it. Pablum information tools. No thinking to get it, and nothing to intellectually digest. This factoid type of information distribution is becoming mainstream. My best guess is that the next generation does know, or has at least heard, some of the current news headlines and world events, but they have little to none of the details beyond the headlines. I don't know if anyone has said this before, but I find this "factoid generation" more then a little troublesome.
Friday, March 11, 2005
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3 comments:
This reading issue is a bigger problem than most are aware of. It is deep and getting deeper. I have no answers, but I see it everyday in the schools.
Young people DO read and enjoy it. The web continues to be a word driven medium. Even many of the video games kids enjoy today require reading, understanding and a sense of story-telling. The issue is not that kids don't read or don't like to read, the issue is enticing kids and adults to read by appelaing to their passions. We may not like it that celeb mags continue to grow while all others are in the dumper, but we can use this information as one of the keys to bring readers to the page -- in print or online. Instead we simply pursue the same old same old in the hope that something will change rather than innovating. Instead we decry the lack of interest in issues of substance on the part of younger readers rather than finding new, exciting and novel ways of presenting "important" information -- in print and online.
It seems to me that people, both kids and adults, are reading less and in different ways. Small pieces of information are digested, and their is an understanding that through the web there are storehouses of information available when needed. The idea of reading as enrichment seems to be moving towards "reading when I need to".
In the past, if you didn't read the paper, or a magazine, the opportunity to acess that information would be largely lost to the consumer. Now all information is recorded and stored and generally available.
Sorry Bob, but there are times when I miss your daily feed only because I know can retrieve it later. Your headlines let me know its available when I am ready to read it. I'd love to get them to my phone.
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