What's the Message?

Ken's Blog

Have you seen this YouTube video?...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Weq_sHxghcg

Clever, although I've seen the technique before. But the message is facile. It goes from a young generation who is superficial-brain-dead to one who is profound-and-thinking in a blink.

The reality is that the big fat middle of the bell curve sits half-way between the two playbacks. And where the Web ends up moving them (or do they move the Web where they want to go?) could dramatically affect how smart the next generation is.

How much kids read today, though, compared to us, is very debatable. On the other hand, do they learn more by all the other ways they gather information?...

It all depends what they're gathering.

And how.

And where.

So that message is interesting to talk about. But since it comes from Penguin, perhaps the message was a lot more commercial...

It's a nice viral attempt. If the goal of this communication is to convince us that paper books have a future, they're wrong. If it's that publishing has a future, they're right.

"Paper books" are dead, of course, even if you can still buy them for the next few years, perhaps even a decade or two.

Every old technology "feels warm, feels better." The new technology is perceived as cold, with first versions that are often clunky. But the reality is that better-and-improving performance of every new technology (whether it's horse vs car, or vinyl vs CD) inevitably replaces the old technology (which has evolved to be as good as it can ever be).

"When" is the only question. It can take 5 years, 10 years or 20, depending on how intensely we have bonded with the old tech.

For the e-readers vs paper books debate...

It's just a question of which tablet feels as good as (or better than) a book in the hand. I can't tell you how many times I want to do a "find" on a paper book, let alone bookmark it without damaging the paper, highlighting important bits (without requiring a pen in my hand) and so forth... and store books all in one little space.

An interesting vid.

If the goal was to talk about our kids today, that's truly intriguing.

Grade = A.

If the video is merely the vehicle to get us to believe that books feel good because kids read and like the way books feel in their hands...

Grade = F.

What do you think?

All the best,