Some articles I’ve seen recently got me thinking (while I ate my lunch) about the “digital divide” and our love of devices. So let me take a few minutes to ramble on this subject to you, and I’d love to hear your thoughts.
The first relates to the “digital divide”. kay_gmd alerted me to an excellent post by Seanan McGuire about the problem with ebooks, and the supposed “death of traditional publishing”. The behavior of Congress has gotten us all thinking about the inequity between the rich and the poor, especially in financial areas, but we fail to look at the technological implications. The increasing push to “e-books” (and the corresponding death of the paper bookstore), the presence of URLs everywhere and the push to do everything over the web, and the increasing use of Q-code readable by smartphones has a hidden disenfranchisng effect: it cuts off those that cannot afford all the nifty devices, or the supporting services (cough, data plans, cough) that are required to use them. Thus we further isolate the poor and the non-technical, relegating them to out-dated print media or less effective paper procedures. What is worse is that while we do this, we don’t even realize we are doing it. This divide isnt’ new: I’m sure it occurred when cars were first introduced—and didn’t go away until every family, at any level, could afford them or have an alternative. But we need be aware of it.
The other aspect of our love of devices is the desire for the latest and greatest. Amazon announced the Kindle Fire today. Samsung has new Galaxy players coming out. But what worries me most is Apple’s introduction of the iPhone 5, for the rumor mill is heavy with word that the introduction of the iPhone 5 is going to mean the death of the iPod shuffle and the iPod classic (see here, here, here, and here). I really don’t want to lose what the original iPod line gives.
The original iPod line is more than a dedicated music player. If the music player were integrated into a more multifunction device, I wouldn’t have a problem with that. But there are things that the original iPods give that aren’t in the newer lines. The first and foremost, for me, is storage. I’ve got over 25,000 songs on my iPod and adding more daily. This is over 90GB of music. None, and I mean none, of the newer “touch” players come close to that storage. I know I’m not alone in wanting the larger storage devices; professionals depend on this larger storage every day. Second, these devices don’t require you to look at the screen to manage the controls. Just as with a cassette player, a CD player, or my car radio, I don’t have to move my eyes to adjust my music or the volume. That’s not the case for the “touch” devices—and is significant for the disabled community who either don’t have the vision or the dexterity to work the “touch” devices. Again, the movement to touchscreens is disenfranchising a large portion of our community from being able to use them. Lastly, these devices don’t require a network connection (WiFi, 3G, 4G). I don’t need a data plan to listen to my music. I may need to sync occasionally, but that’s a loading action. All the proposals for the “touch” devices I have seen depend on wireless access: smart applications, etc. I’m sure that Apple will say that larger storage is not required because you can store your music in the cloud, but that conveniently forgets that you have no access to your music when the cloud is inaccessible (such as on an airplane, underground, or in protected installations). WiFi is neither ubiquitiously available nor ubiquitiously free. This is why I really want Apple to retain the iPod Classic (in fact, I’m unsure whether I should stock up and buy an extra one before they go away).
My daughter has recently been pushing to get a smartphone and/or an iPad. She sees them being used more and more to provide the web on demand, in schools, and with all her friends. I’m not sure she realizes why these devices are bad things. I wonder how long I can hold out before we break down and get one.
I’d really like to know your thoughts on the subject?
