To parallel comments on Distance Education versus Traditional Education
let me tell you what is written in The New York Times today (July 2, 1998,
page G1). Here are advantages and disadvantages of ELECTRONIC versus
TRADITIONAL BOOKS. I guess I could find similar pros and cons for the
automobiles versus horse driven wagons, about a century ago. Will
electronic books replace traditional books? That is the main issue of
the article (by Peter H. Lewis).
A paper book is:
1) lighweight
2) portable
3) inexpensive [?]
4) high resolution
5) practically unbreakable
6) easilly annotated with a pencil
7) requires no battery
But:
1) its pages are static rather than dynamic ( once printe
they can not be updated)
2) fonts and type sizes are fixed
3) not readable without an external source of light
4) topic selection is limited
5) paper is subject to yellowing
6) production of paper is environmentally unfriendly
7) content is volnarable to rampant copyright violations.
8) no animated illustrations
9) no on-line connections to references
10) hyperlinking or built-in dictionaries
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Physical reality does not have to agree with our ideas. But in physics
our ideas should agree with that reality.
Ludwik Kowalski
kowalskiL@alpha.montclair.edu, Math. Sci., MSU in New Jersey
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