"'Go-Green, use electronic media to read books'. I've been trying to implement this since long. It just doesn't seem to work. There is an intangible factor to reading from books which can just not be simulated on this screen. The screen is fine to read casual stuff like news articles, but when it comes to reading books and serious text, nothing matches the paper-back book."
If your experiences with reading have been similar, let us try to churn this new concept.
Some of the major reasons why reading on the screen is not as good are:
1) The disconnect between reader and the text comes from the vertical screen away from you and the third element (mouse) handling the way we read. In contrast, a reader is so very connected with the text when "handling" the book, and it makes it so very easy to learn new concepts and refresh/retain them!
2) You can't handle the pdf/doc the way you do your book. You can't underline, highlight, or scribble anywhere you wish on the e-document the way you do on your book.
3) Other handy facilities like placing bookmarks in the book and folding pages to refer back are so useful.
The good news is that the the signs of above said issues fading out have started coming. We have all the right hardware in place, but are perhaps waiting for the right software. The first problem cited above has been addressed by the likes of iPad, which allow a user to connect with the document as he holds it in his hand, flips pages using touch of his fingers. Still, the comfort zone is far from prevalant. Why?
A software that could allow users to read documents and underline/highlight/mark/scribble using a felt pen(very much a reality) and auto-save any changes made on the fly is just what we need. To all software developers this could sound like a trivial piece of software. Truly so, we really need a trivial simplistic solution. As said earlier, we have all the technology and hardware needed to achieve this; we are just waiting for the right initiatives from the software industry.
Being able to use electronic devices to read books and take notes just the way we've always used paper appears to be coming close. This article is an appeal to technology developers to take the necessary steps to create the needful and help penetrate the same to the masses.
Let's Go-Green!
