Matt. I like your topic, very interesting and timely as what a "book" is and what images on a screen are seem to be in a state of flux. Your posts are well organized which will serve you well in the future. I particularly liked this piece of language: "I want to show you is the potential in both to really say something to the masses. Both are legitimate ways to reach out to a large audience, but they’re tools. They can be used in a good or bad way depending on how you use them." This seems like a statement that can be developed into a claim. I encourage you to begin thinking about who you want to make your argument to, and what you want them to do/think/change

John (claims)

1.) I think you could do well to examine some of the more mundane difference between the two mediums, in order to understand their origins and individual merits. For instance, how have the advancements in special effects allowed people to view and dream in a magical way? Or, on the contrary, how has this visualization hurt young people's ability to imagine?

So, in this way, you can determine the roots of both mediums and determine why it is that they are considered so different when in fact they are both ways in which we communicate and tell stories. 

2.) Another outlook, would be to consider the conventions of each industry and how they affect the medium itself. For instance, if they are both inherently similar ways of reaching the masses, how do Hollywood, producers, publishers and all other sorts of corporate involvement ruin these facets of life for the consumer?

Conclusion

            Now, I don’t mean to be a deterrent for either books or television. I think both offer a good opportunity to expand a person’s horizons and make them think more. But from what I’ve heard there are a lot of misconceptions about the two mediums and people really don’t think about what they’re really saying about either one. That’s the big point for this whole paper. I don’t want to convince you of an argument, on the contrary.

 I want you to think about this for yourself, to form your own opinion on the matter. All I want to show you is the potential in both to really say something to the masses. Both are legitimate ways to reach out to a large audience, but they’re tools. They can be used in a good or bad way depending on how you use them.   

Television - Final

“All television is educational television. The question is: what is it teaching?” - Nicholas Johnson[1]

           

Whether we realize it or not, people take something from television every time we sit down and watch. We’re exposed to a little something that, by itself, seems like nothing and people just write it off as a waste of time. But watching that little bit is like reading one page of a novel. You can’t say from reading that one page that you now know everything about the book. You have to sit down and read the whole thing.  Television can be the same way. If you really want to take something away from it, you have to sit down and pay attention. Be an active viewer. Think about what you’re watching.

---

[1] "Nicholas Johnson." BrainyQuote.com. Xplore Inc, 2012. 14 March. 2012. http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/n/nicholasjo108074.html

Books - Final

“If you would not be forgotten, as soon as you are rotten, either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.” – Benjamin Franklin[i]

Whether you read them or not, books provide longevity to knowledge that no other media can. In this day and age almost anything can be fabricated, and the legitimacy of such things is always under absolute scrutiny. A book, however, has been under such scrutiny for centuries and has gained a technique for providing reliability in if not its state of fact, then in the value of its word.

            People look more closely at facts stated in books than they do anywhere else. They’re not as quick to believe something to read, but they don’t immediately dismiss it. The fact of the matter is, books make people think, and they’ve been doing it for thousands of years.

---

[i] "Benjamin Franklin." BrainyQuote.com. Xplore Inc, 2012. 14 March. 2012. http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/b/benjaminfr133951.html

Books Con Pt. 2

            It’s pretty hard to find a recent article about books. Thankfully, I was able to find one that was within a few years relevancy. It concerned the question of whether or not books were a “dying breed” thanks to television, internet and other electronic media. The article itself held mixed messages, some hopeful, some bleak. “The truth is, it's hard to know,” says John Y. Cole, director of the Library of Congress' Center for the Book. “The question of who's reading, and what they're reading, is still a puzzle.”[1]

---

[1] Jost, K. (2000, June 23). The future of books. CQ Researcher, 10, 545-568. Retrieved from http://0-library.cqpress.com.skyline.ucdenver.edu/cqresearcher/

Books Con Pt. 1

If anything is a sign the books are on the decline, it’s the staggering shrinkage of libraries. “Services have been seriously affected by a 30 percent cut in the materials budget: All spending on nonprint items (compact discs, videocassettes and Books on Tape) has been eliminated; dozens of newspaper and periodical subscriptions have been canceled; Bookmobile service has been discontinued; and the county has ended cable television broadcasts of programming tied to library collections. The final insult comes at 6 p.m.; the library staff, which used to work until 9 p.m., is locking up for the night.”[i]

---

[i] Clark, C. S. (1992, June 26). Hard times for libraries. CQ Researcher, 2, 553-572. Retrieved from http://0-library.cqpress.com.skyline.ucdenver.edu/cqresearcher/