As the world continues to progress and develop at an ever-increasing speed, so have mediums pertaining to information. Nowadays, due to the widespread use of the Internet and new technologies such as portable iPhones, many have gone so far as to claim that the traditional medium, books, has lost its intrinsic value in modern society. Nevertheless, although I feel that factors such as inconveniences, high financial and social costs involved and lack of interactivity with regards to the book have all led to the diminishing value of the book in recent times, it still retains some place in society due in part to its credibility and accessibility as major reasons.
Ever since the Internet was created by the United States Advanced Research Project Agency (ARPA) in 1958 to regain a technological lead over the USSR, and later spread to the masses, it has increased exponentially in popularity and usage in recent times. According to a study conducted by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the number of people connected to the internet worldwide has increased from 2 per 100 inhabitants in 1996 to 22 per 100 inhabitants in 2007. Plus, new technologies such as smartphones have been on the rise. On the other hand, revenue sale in the book industry have seen little rises in the previous years. Books had once been an integral part of mankind until a few decades ago, and its decline now has gained momentum over the years. Several factors have contributed substantially to this, in my opinion.
One is the convenience of the new mediums in contrast to books. Due to inconveniences associated with searching for information in books in the bookstore or library such as the time and effort involved, people are beginning to turn to faster and easier methods. The rise of Google, MSN and Microsoft’s bing.com have resulted in more effective and efficient online search engines, where any searches can come up with results pertaining to keywords in a matter of seconds. Just recently, Google released a revamped search engine, wanted to even 2 to 5 seconds of search time. Such continual optimizations have led to more people turning to online mediums to search for sources of information and entertainment rather than books. Furthermore, the development of portable digital devices like iPhones has allowed for easy searching of information or entertainment on the move, without worrying about the burden of lugging books around. One digital device, the size of a book but much slimmer, can contain more than 20 e-books, and only limited by its memory capacity. Therefore, as such, the book has lost its place in modern society, with other mediums
taking over, such as the Internet and new technologies due to the inconveniences that book pose.
Another factor is the financial and social cost of books as compared to the alternatives. Books require consumers to pay at the market price so that the firms operating in the book industry can maximise revenues and stay competitive. Thus, in some cases, books are much more expensive when contrasting with those online due to publishing costs, copyrights management, shipping, etc. In contrast, e-books have begun dominating the market at the turn of the century. Furthermore, they are cheaper substitutes, where studies conducted have shown that there are presently at least 2 million free e-books online. Although some online sources require nominal fees, citing reasons such as digital rights management, the overall costs are still lesser as compared to print materials. This is because searching, purchasing or shipping of the books require not only money but also time and effort whereas searching for online materials is much faster, possibly more efficient. Therefore, due to comparatively higher costs involved, other alternative mediums have gained more recognition and prominence, and books can thus be said to have lost its place in modern society.
In addition, the lack of interactivity of the book has also contributed to the declining book industry. Books are print materials which encompass only the author’s sole viewpoint or perspective pertaining to the issue at hand. More often than not, the comments in the book rarely look at other points of views or in different perspectives, thus causing many to feel a lack of immersion when reading a book as a source of information or entertainment. On the other hand, the expanding prominence of the Internet has given rise to new forms of communications like the development of discussion forums. These online platforms can then serve as effective places for the discussion of certain topics with different people so that everyone is able to understand viewpoints from across the world, say for example, what one Chinese feels about the policies in France. Such interactions can improve knowledge of global perspectives and also expand understanding regarding the issues, thereby allowing them to learn more from the online posts rather than from books. This is evident where discussion forums have come to become an integral part of countries such as Singapore with brightsparks and kiasuparent forums acting as widely popular platforms for discussing education issues within the community. Hence, the lack of interaction has resulted in the book losing its place in modern society.
But, the book still can be said to retain someplace in society today. This is because books are known for their credibility and accessibility. In most instances, books are written by credible writers and verified countless times by editors before being certified for publishing into the market. Such strict regulations with regards to the books show that books still form a significant part of society today by providing trusted information. However, online mediums do not have those regulations in place, instead, the internet is prided for being interactive and allowing anybody to change or modify content. One most notable example is Wikipedia.org, where anyone, regardless of who is capable of changing the information on any topic they desire. Therefore, the question of Wikipedia’s credibility has been raised by numerous sources, where Jorge Cauz, president of
Encyclopedia Britannica Inc commented on September 8, 2004, Washington Post article that Wikipedia’s information is rarely reliable. Therefore, books are able to retain some degree of place in society.
Plus books are also much more accessible as compared to online mediums. In most developing countries like some rural parts of China, India and Nepal, books are the only source of information. This is because those areas have not been connected to the World Wide Web and thus lack the online aspect. Thus, they are only capable of accessing books but not those that are on the Internet. Hence, books are still of much importance in many areas of society today.
Nevertheless, online mediums do not necessarily to suggest a lack of credibility. There is indeed a degree of unreliability, but such sources can be much more informative than that of books. This is mainly as these alternative forms of information are critiqued and modified frequently, sometimes by people who specialize in those fields. One significant example would be the Huffington Post, an American news website and content aggregating blog. In addition to columns by core contributors, The Huffington Post has over 9000 bloggers, ranging from politicians to celebrities to academics to policy experts, who contribute in real-time on a wide range of topics. Such learned and differing expert opinions on the issues at hand can prove to be an effective source of information and hence, also not necessarily very unreliable. Therefore, online mediums can also be
credible.
Furthermore, although many rural areas are subjected to the lack of connectivity to the Internet, extensive studies conducted have shown that many governments worldwide are taking steps to implement Internet services. In the developed countries alone, the number of connected people has risen from 0 per 100 inhabitants in 1997 to over 17 per 100 inhabitants in 2007. This is evidence that internet access has risen exponentially over the years, and thus books will not be the only accessible medium, and therefore, other alternatives are also able to hold someplace in modern society today.
In conclusion, the book has lost some ground in recent years not only due to its lack of interactivity but also the high costs and inconveniences associated with it. But although the book is still seen to be able to retain some place in society based on its credibility and accessibility, I feel that its hold on the people will continually be eroded by the increasing usage of the alternative mediums as sources of the information world.