scar cissue

this summer i was interested in reading
a particular memoir that i had heard was good
by the lead singer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers

I dont remember how it all happened
but i ended up looking around online for
"Scar Tissue" by Anthony Keidis
when i ran across a free ebook.

now this wasnt just any ebook...
it was more a scanned in copy
of all the pages of the book
and then made into a PDF.

i knew that the copy was rather sketch
but it wasnt until half way through
that i realized what was going on.

because it was a scanned in copy
not all of the letters came across correctly
as you can see here:

funny thing is that
the entire book i though that he
was calling drugs "elope"
and it wasnt until i was actually done
that i realized "dope" was transcribed into "elope"

despite all of these other factors
i had been given an opportunity to borrow
a tablet from my work as a demo
and thought this would be a great way
for me to read my "ebook"
and not have to tote around my laptop.

what i am getting at here is that,
while i had read ebooks in the past on a computer,
the difference in actually having a tablet to read on
made all the difference

in fact when i finished "Scar Tissue" i was disappointed
that i could not find another free book that i wanted
to actually read and was interested in

this brings me to my personal thoughts
about ebooks vs print books

first,
i dont think that ebooks will be a "big"
thing until everyone owns an ereader

however, i was surprised at how many of
the local youth that live around me own
kindles and got them for christmas

but second
even if everyone does buy ereaders,
i think there needs to be some sort of
"netflix" for ebooks. or better pricing
on individual books.

because in my mind, i would rather buy
the actual book for $10 than have a digital copy

which brings me to this article posted in the
Denver Post entitled "The New Way We Read"

he makes several points of how ereaders
have completely replaced that of the hard copy book
and how they do a good and better job

but the last point made is one that makes me so sad:

"PRINT BOOKS:Collecting rare books, including first editions and antiquarian books.
DIGITAL BOOKS:There's no equivalent so far. Hermitage owner Bob Topp says he sees quite a few new customers who've become fans of an author after reading several digital books.
"It's a whole new group of people discovering a new world of older books, a dimension they never knew about," he says.
"They come into our store, and the look in their eyes is 'Book! I just gotta touch a book!' They've read the e-book on the plane, but now they want a book they can hold in their hand."

This makes me so sad! but it raises
a very interesting point which he states in the opening paragraph:
"E-books have increased the purchase of print books"

which is interesting and i think proves 

that ebooks and technology can never 

completely replace the actual product

because we depend so much upon the human experience

this makes me want to go out an buy all of my 

favorite books in hard copy

because i also have a feeling that 

print books are going to go up 

in price more and more as the ebook 

becomes more popular.

and print books become

more and more rare

just something to think about. 

but perhaps i am wrong?

me the digitarian

for those of you from byu, you know i am taking a digital culture class
for everyone else- i am taking a digital culture class: English 326

to begin, i wasnt ever planning on taking this class.

one. i dont need it.
two. i didnt have time in my schedule.

#2 changed when i got my american heritage waived
... those of you from byu, I know right!
... everyone else, lets just say i am one in a million

#1 changed, semi-related, since i no longer needed american credit
i now could justify taking 326 and not needing it

flash forward. digital culture.
i have been mulling over this
and what it means.

this is something that is hard to pin point
into just one single phrase

something that is hard to give a definition.

i feel that i myself have always been
rather tech-savvy.

thus i just coined the term
DIGITARIAN.
(its already on urban dictionary
so i suppose i cant claim all the credit)

i am married to a computer man
i have grown up always having
the latest and greatest cool gadgets
and i have always been good with computers
oh, and did i mention that for a living
i work with cell phones- more smart phones

so when it came time to enroll for Shakespeare
Dr Burton offered a different type of class
and then later that semester he suggested
I take his new digital culture class
i thought "meh interesting but i dont need it"

flash forward to now.
as per above BAM i am here.

i suppose this mentioned tech-savvy-ness
is what originally drew me all into this mess

this mess we call digital culture
for the lack of better words
i think that digital culture is
US. ME. YOU. WE.

it is this culture where
technology has become an
essential part of our lives

some may say that it rules our lives
but i think it is more true that
we choose what we let rule our lives

and if it does rule each of us
i dont think it is a bad thing

and this is where The Matrix
comes into play....

will the machines we depend upon
end up being what kills us?

as my mom said today (concerning the election more than machines),
"we already know the world is going to end in war
then what does it matter"

and thus i leave you with these words
of wisdom from Morpheus
(speaking of if the prophesy is not true):
"Then tomorrow we may all be dead,
but how would that be different from any other day?"

thus i support that
we should embrace technology because
if our digital culture doesnt take over our lives,
then wont there just be something else?

and this launches us into this fun fun semester
of embracing digital culture
and exploring the great unknown.