The Death of Print?

Posted by Adam Cheasley on 4 January 2007 | 0 Comments

A couple of articles (online and in print) and discussions have got me thinking lately about the future of printed media and the direction in which all media is moving. The first was an interview in the latest issue of Creative Review with Bill Buxton, Microsoft's principal researcher. The first thing that caught my eye was in the sub-heading, he says "Soon...we will use interactive experiences in as many diverse ways and as often as we currently use paper." This is quite a broad statement and I think in terms of frequency, I know that I use my computer more than I use paper, but does this tie into the "Death of Print"? His basic argument is that in the near future, LCD screens will be as through away as paper. I've got to say that at the moment I don't think Stephen would be too happy if I through away my 30" Apple cinema display.

The second was a discussion on the computer arts forum about this very subject. One poster was quoting Moore's law saying that the development of online and 'virtual' media is exponential and that this had to equal the death of print sooner or later. Personally I have to agree with another poster who mentioned that science has been predicting a 'brick wall' for a number of years, which I'm inclined to believe.

In my view, I can't see the printed word ever really dying completely. To quote another poster from the forum who put it much better than I could;
"a book somehow has a precious quality of ownership a screen based set of words does not, humans as mammals are tactile, books feel good, screens do not really cut it in that way."