 |
Date Posted:
Saturday May 24, 2003 08:25:35 PM
|
|
I tend to find the web useful for gather specific information, and perhaps a high-level overview of broader topics, but in general, it doesn't seem as useful as I would like for general learning. There are exceptions, of course, but it has certainaly not replaced books.
Books do still provide substantial amounts of often reasonably good information. On web sites, (1) the information, even if good, often doesn't go very in-depth, and (2) the information might not even be all that good! I think that printed books still tend to be a more reliable source of accurate information, when accuracy is the key.
It also probably differs from topic to topic. Based on my own searches: if I wanted to learn about cognitive psychology, I would do better reading books that searching the web, it seems. (Except for using Amazon.com to read about which books I might want to purchase.) If I wanted to learn about the programmers who designed the old Infocom text adventure games, I would do better reading web sites, because there simply isn't much in the way of books on the topic.
Another issue with web use is attention span. For me personally, it tends to be harder to read at length on a computer screen that to read at length on paper, unless what I am reading is unusually interesting. But this is probably something that different people have different opinions about, and is not a universal fact.
|
