Gathering Information-Notes 2

"The Future of Reading." Issues & Controversies On File: n. pag. Issues & Controversies. Facts On File News Services, 19 Sept. 2008. John Carroll School Library, Bel Air, MD. Web. 24 Sept. 2010.

• Reading on the internet has proven to decrease a person’s memory and concentration

• The internet can have false information and because of the way search engines use “hits” to determine the listing of websites “’may decrease the total diversity of ideas and sources in the public domain, for everyone is looking at the same high-ranking, highly accessible, most easily available sites.’(sociologist, James Evans)”

• The increase in reading online instead of actual books can lower incomes, employment, and test scores

• Some say the internet and e-books are just the next step in the evolution of reading like the invention of the printing press

• Information is quicker and easier to find online and if you are careful you can access many accurate sources

• There has been a decline in literacy rates of adolescents and adults

• The use of technology is often linked with the decreasing literacy

• Books are more linear and laid out while blogs are scattered—some believe this makes books help us concentrate deeply on one topic at a time and others think that life is not organized so the helter-skelter technology prepares us better

• The internet might be altering our able to focus on a book and our whole thinking process because the way it allows us to skip around so often

• There have still been very successful books printed lately that are widely read, but books sales are starting to slow down

• Online articles allow us to read a summary or quickly scan instead of spending hours reading whole books—therefore some people read online to avoid reading books

• “…the medium in which on receives information is at least as important to the recipient as the content itself....’each…has its own intrinsic effects which are its unique message.’(McLuhan)”

• Reading a book is thought to be more cognitively enriching, making one ruminate, make connections and inferences, and use their imagination

• Online documents can have questionable statements and poor grammar

• Traditional reading is also linked with success—people who read traditionally are said to have better jobs, exercise more often, volunteer, and are said to be overall more productive, but technology advocates say that the internet has more diverse material and more views than a book