Re: [TUHS] (no printed copy) (was (no subject))

Re: [TUHS] (no printed copy) (was (no subject))

[Norman Wilson]

I'm not sure why people, even in a group devoted to history like
ours, focus so much on whether a journal is issued in print or
only electronically.  The latter has become more and more common.

On one hand, I too find that if something is available only
electronically I'm more likely to put off reading it, probably
because back issues don't pile up as visibly.

On the other, in recent years I've been getting behind in my
reading of periodicals of all sorts, and so far as I can tell
that has nothing to do with whether a given periodical arrives
on paper.  If anything, electronic access makes it more likely
I'll be able to catch up, because it's easier to carry a bunch
of back issues around on a USB stick or loaded into a tablet or
the like than to lug around lots of hardcopy.  The biggest
burden has been that imposed by PDF files, which are often
carefully constructed to be appallingly cumbersome to read
unless viewed on a letter-paper/A4-sized screen (or printed
out).  HTML used to be better, though the ninnies who design
web pages to look like magazine ads have spoiled a lot of
that over the years.

Since I often want to read PDF files when travelling (e.g.
conference proceedings while at the conference) I finally
invested in a large-screened tablet.

Even so, I have a big pile of back issues of ;login:, CACM
(until ACM's policies, having little to do with the journal,
recently drove me away), Rail Passenger Association News,
and Consumer Reports waiting to be read.  And sometimes I'm
months behind on this list.

My advice to those who find electronic-only publications
cumbersome is to invest in either a good tablet or a good
printer.  I have and use both.  There's no substitute for
a large, high-quality screen, and sometimes there's no
substitute for paper that I can flip back and forth, but
I'm fine with supplying those myself.

I'm still looking for a nice brass-bound leather tablet case,
though.

Norman Wilson
Toronto ON

Re: [TUHS] (no printed copy) (was (no subject))

[Dave Horsfall]

On Tue, 6 Apr 2021, Norman Wilson wrote:

> I'm not sure why people, even in a group devoted to history like ours, 
> focus so much on whether a journal is issued in print or only 
> electronically.  The latter has become more and more common.

Well, curling up in bed with a good PDF just doesn't quite feel the 
same...  It's also handy in a waiting room (no battery to go flat and not 
having to rely upon a WiFi connection) and also when waiting for the local 
bus.

> On one hand, I too find that if something is available only 
> electronically I'm more likely to put off reading it, probably because 
> back issues don't pile up as visibly.

I know the feeling :-)  I'm slowly working through my bookmarks.

-- Dave

Re: [TUHS] (no printed copy) (was (no subject))

[Tomasz Rola]

On Thu, Apr 08, 2021 at 03:32:20PM +1000, Dave Horsfall wrote:
> On Tue, 6 Apr 2021, Norman Wilson wrote:
> 
> >I'm not sure why people, even in a group devoted to history like
> >ours, focus so much on whether a journal is issued in print or
> >only electronically.  The latter has become more and more common.
> 
> Well, curling up in bed with a good PDF just doesn't quite feel the
> same...  It's also handy in a waiting room (no battery to go flat
> and not having to rely upon a WiFi connection) and also when waiting
> for the local bus.

Curling up in bed with e-ink based reader and pdf can be better than
curling up with 2kg-worth of hard book. I know, I do it.

As a huge fan of nonkindle reader, I have sdcard slot and do not have
to connect it at all. Batteries used to last at least a month. This
display type is really low power. I have recently bought a colored
e-ink reader, I charged it up about 35-45 days ago, read for at least
ten hours a week, and batt meter shows 40% (chances are, it is not
calibrated yet, I am still to discharge it to the end). As of colours,
this feels really like working prototype, they claim 4096 colors which
probably means 256 colors on "colored look-through display" times 16
shades of grey on classic e-ink display underneath. So, color is just
to spice it up a bit but not very useful at the moment... Albeit it
depends on content. Art photo no, sci articles maybe. They should come
to 65k one day, then I will be happier.

> >On one hand, I too find that if something is available only
> >electronically I'm more likely to put off reading it, probably
> >because back issues don't pile up as visibly.
> 
> I know the feeling :-)  I'm slowly working through my bookmarks.

-- 
Regards,
Tomasz Rola, who lives in self made hell with walls of unread
magazines, books and God only knows what else, new hardware, old
hardware, lost hardware...

--
** A C programmer asked whether computer had Buddha's nature.      **
** As the answer, master did "rm -rif" on the programmer's home    **
** directory. And then the C programmer became enlightened...      **
**                                                                 **
** Tomasz Rola          mailto:tomasz_rola@bigfoot.com             **

Re: [TUHS] (no printed copy) (was (no subject))

[Nemo Nusquam]

On 2021-04-08 01:32, Dave Horsfall wrote:
> On Tue, 6 Apr 2021, Norman Wilson wrote (in part):
>
>> I'm not sure why people, even in a group devoted to history like 
>> ours, focus so much on whether a journal is issued in print or only 
>> electronically.  The latter has become more and more common.
>
> Well, curling up in bed with a good PDF just doesn't quite feel the 
> same...  It's also handy in a waiting room (no battery to go flat and 
> not having to rely upon a WiFi connection) and also when waiting for 
> the local bus.

In this informal survey, I side with Dave, though I prefer to read in my 
comfy well-lit chair with tea/coffee/cocoa.  (A very similar thread was 
aired on MO last year.)


>> On one hand, I too find that if something is available only 
>> electronically I'm more likely to put off reading it, probably 
>> because back issues don't pile up as visibly.
I fully concur -- I tend to completely forget about them.  Have 
advertisers actually tracked how many readers look at their ads in print 
vs. digital?

N.

>
> I know the feeling :-)  I'm slowly working through my bookmarks.
>
> -- Dave

Re: [TUHS] (no printed copy) (was (no subject))

[Adam Thornton]

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I have one main reason I now prefer an electronic device to paper in most
cases: I can make the text as big as I want on a tablet, and my near vision
has deteriorated wildly as I've aged.  Sure, I also have reading glasses,
but it's really nice to just be able to enlarge the font.

On Thu, Apr 8, 2021 at 6:52 AM Nemo Nusquam <cym224@gmail.com> wrote:

> On 2021-04-08 01:32, Dave Horsfall wrote:
> > On Tue, 6 Apr 2021, Norman Wilson wrote (in part):
> >
> >> I'm not sure why people, even in a group devoted to history like
> >> ours, focus so much on whether a journal is issued in print or only
> >> electronically.  The latter has become more and more common.
> >
> > Well, curling up in bed with a good PDF just doesn't quite feel the
> > same...  It's also handy in a waiting room (no battery to go flat and
> > not having to rely upon a WiFi connection) and also when waiting for
> > the local bus.
>
> In this informal survey, I side with Dave, though I prefer to read in my
> comfy well-lit chair with tea/coffee/cocoa.  (A very similar thread was
> aired on MO last year.)
>
>
> >> On one hand, I too find that if something is available only
> >> electronically I'm more likely to put off reading it, probably
> >> because back issues don't pile up as visibly.
> I fully concur -- I tend to completely forget about them.  Have
> advertisers actually tracked how many readers look at their ads in print
> vs. digital?
>
> N.
>
> >
> > I know the feeling :-)  I'm slowly working through my bookmarks.
> >
> > -- Dave
>
>

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Re: [TUHS] (no printed copy) (was (no subject))

[Norman Wilson]

Nemo Nusquam:

  In this informal survey, I side with Dave, though I prefer to read in my 
  comfy well-lit chair with tea/coffee/cocoa.B  (A very similar thread was 
  aired on MO last year.)

=====

I should point out that, having at various times spilled hot
chocolate on a tablet and on a paper book, it is much simpler
to recover when it's a tablet.

And a cat can flip pages for you with either technology.

Norman Wilson
Toronto ON
(Curled up on the couch with my laptop, cat just left)