A comic about the Ipad

This comic made me think about our class:

http://xkcd.com/728/

Implications of Digital Reading

I believe that this course could be truly fascinating in regards to the unforeseen implications of digital reading/learning. I am an economics major and have read several different studies by economists on the kindle (e.g. Kindle readers are typically more literate, and economists also wonder how children who grow up without the presence of books will perform statistically as compared to those who do grow up with books in the house). The iPad holds even further implications for reading and learning than the Kindle. My academic interest lies in Behavioral Economics, so this course could be super neat for me. I will find the links to these studies and post them here. I can't wait until Wednesday!

AM I BEHIND?

I was on the airplane coming back home from my study abroad trip to Costa Costa when I noticed a kid no older than ten years old using an iPad. Sitting there watching him experiment with the computer seeming to know exactly what he was doing was pretty strange to me. Here I am at twenty years old just trying to become accustomed to Apple products and the kid on the plane appeared to have it mastered. At that moment I thought to myself, "Am I behind?"

Maybe I shouldn't be surprised by the kid on the plane with all the new electronics marketed to the pre-teen age audience. Kids five years old and older are playing with their Nitendo DS and listening to their iPods. It's a definite upgrade from the Nintendo and portable CD players that I knew when I was their age. With all the new advancements and new technological domination experienced by the Apple company, I guess it's only normal for me to feel left behind as a PC girl in a Apple products/Mac world. Who knows.

I now see that we must not allow ourselves to be left behind a fast paced technologically driven world. It all still seems so strange to me where education is moving now. Book companies have made their books available online in their entirety and libraries are even moving towards allowing people to view books in their catalog digitally. Although, as a student it makes what I have to do easier and my pocket happier, but what's next? Will students be required to only use their textbooks over the internet? Will learning become totally digital? These types of technological advancements don't seem like much of an advancement at all once you think about it. People seem to become completely withdrawn from the world around them and stuck in a cybermania with their electronics. It reminds me of how my friends look once they've become glued into their iPods and iPhones. They look like they've been sucked into a cyberplace of no return. When you speak, they don't hear you. Not even the loudest noise can pull them away from the screen!

However one may view the outcome or current state of the technical world, the fact remains that all of this is happening now without any signs of slowing down. It's either we "advance" with it or be left behind.

Not so Senile after all

So despite my grumblings and misgivings about giving up the experience of reading from a book versus a digital impostor, I've begun to rethink my hesitancy.

As some of you know, I am spending the school year teaching ESL in France. This sounds all exciting, and it is, but with the crackdown on checked bags and my needing to use several different venues of public transportation, I'm having to prioritize my belongings on what to bring. I don't really care about fitting enough clothes, and I don't plan on bringing any beauty products or gadgets. What I am agonizing over is how many books I can bring. There's french dictionaries obviously, but what about my lazy days of reading in cafes? Books get heavy very quickly--especially when I plan to read Dostoevsky and Proust. And it's absurd, of all the things I'm nervous about with moving to France, it's what books I can take.

So, I have been researching kindles since I can cover many of my classics for free and with one lightweight contraption. The main drawback to that is that the more gadgets I have with my space cadet consciousness while wandering around Europe, the more likely it is that I'll have something stolen. I have two months after my job ends to travel around Europe (by myself, mind you) with little money. My kindle will be pretty great to keep up my reading, but if I lose it then I have nothing to read. It's about as bad as someone not only stealing your camera, but stealing your camera with sentimental pictures.

What say all of you? Should I invest in a kindle so I can keep up my reading while wandering, or should I simply utilize the libraries of France?