I have been a member of the World Future Society for several years now. As part of my membership, I receive their excellent publication, The Futurist: A magazine of forecasts, trends, and ideas about the future. All three of us (myself, my father, and Carl—Sharpie doesn’t read, so he doesn’t count) read each issue from cover to cover. The current issue has a particularly fascinating selection of articles, including cyber crime in the Year 2025, business education in the future, and part 1 of an in-depth study of consumer trends. The issue also has an article titled “The 21st Century Writer,” by Patrick Tucker. Tucker talks about the radical changes occurring in the print media and in publishing in particular as “free” web books, newspapers, magazines and other publications reduce their paper products and increase their Web presence. Here’s a link to the Web site: http://www.wfs.org/futurist.htm Note that The Futurist publishes both online and in print.
In his article in The Futurist, Tucker looks beyond the format of books and newspapers and magazines, questioning the future of the written word itself. The article is actually not as depressing as I thought it would be. Tucker gives us some perspective, from the world-changing technology of Gutenberg to the survival of written culture.
This subject is so timely, given the announcement this week from two top newspaper executives (one at the LA Times and one at the Chicago Tribune). They are resigning as their bosses (who have never been journalists) want less real news and writing and more quick bits about celebrities, and want them to do it with minimal newsroom staff. For this NPR story, listen at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92545071
In his article in The Futurist, Tucker looks beyond the format of books and newspapers and magazines, questioning the future of the written word itself. The article is actually not as depressing as I thought it would be. Tucker gives us some perspective, from the world-changing technology of Gutenberg to the survival of written culture.
This subject is so timely, given the announcement this week from two top newspaper executives (one at the LA Times and one at the Chicago Tribune). They are resigning as their bosses (who have never been journalists) want less real news and writing and more quick bits about celebrities, and want them to do it with minimal newsroom staff. For this NPR story, listen at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92545071
No comments:
Post a Comment