Change, For the Better

Going along with my last post, if you're interested in the future of reading and the bound book, I recommend checking out the if:book blog.

The blog belongs to The Institute for the Future of the Book, a "New York-based think tank dedicated to inventing new forms of discourse for the network age". Most of the posts contain a lot of text, but it's a lot of text full of interesting ideas and important news regarding the book's printed pages.

I really hate to hear people say print is dying. I think The Institute for the Future of the Book and the video I posted yesterday make it clear that evolution is not death, it is opportunity.

I was pleased to hear a related story on NPR about the journalism industry (CLICK HERE to read and listen to the story). As a recent recipient of a journalism degree, I can almost promise you that not a week has passed since I started in this industry without a person telling me I had joined a dying trade. But in the story, Geneva Overholser, director of journalism at the USC Annenberg School, calls the changes in the industry "a renaissance, a re-creation", not a depression. I've embedded the story below, it's only 5 minutes, and encourage you to take those few moments out of your day to take a listen.




It seems to me the people who say print is dead are the people who had no interest in print, news or good design in the first place. Those who already have those interests will evolve along with the print industry to create even greater materials but I seriously doubt print will ever truly die. I am at least confident I will never see the end of it.