There were a couple of digital technology related letters to the editor in yesterday’s Globe.
Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff’s comment on finding holes in mobile broadband coverage will probably attract the greatest attention.Ā It is a letter that mixes up mobile and fixed coverage, highways and buildings. Most importantly, the Oppostition Leader’s letterĀ fails to address the majority of Canadians who are off the ‘net: those who have high speed service at their front door but haven’t subscribed.Ā
But,Ā I would prefer to look at a letter by Joanne Mackay-Bennett written in response to a Margaret Wente article (Like It Or Not The Book Is Dead).
E-readers win hands down for being āon task,ā but what about the long, slow gazing at illustrations while being read to as a child? Or the quizzical lingering upon first seeing the brightly coloured letters of a new word? The remembering of a friend each time I see her inscription on the inside cover of her favourite book, of a grandmother who gave a book that had opened her own young mind, or a father whose insightful letters were tenderly bound into a book for his son.
Just because an electronic reader can accommodate thousands of titles does not necessarily mean that it is always the best form factor. There will certainly be slobber proof and droppableĀ e-readers developed in kid friendly primary colours. But, a paper book will have special meaning for an older cousin reading bed-time stories from a book with their personal stick-drawing annotations.
As the letter writer concluded, E-readers may have gigabytes, but real books have memory.