Tag: print media

Categories
motivation Social Media

It Looks Good Onscreen But it Doesn’t Print

My day job is as a Graphics Manager. Occasionally, I will see a job come through that looks fantastic on screen, but it doesn’t print well. If the graphics stayed on the screen, there would be no problem. But when it comes to printing, it defies the physical limits of a printing press.

Bright colors that take advantage of the screen’s vibrance can print dull. An image may have all the needed resolution to look great on-screen. But it can look pixelated and rough when printed. It looks great in the virtual world but put it on paper, and it falls short.

There is a difference between the virtual and physical worlds. The virtual world can look bright and shiny. But when that world meets the physical world, it can be dull and rough.

Beware of comparing the virtual world to the physical one. The highlight reel of social media doesn’t show the troubles someone is going through. A video game may make you look like a fantastic driver… until you get behind a real vehicle! The virtual world can be fun, bright, and shiny. It has yet to replace the real world we live in on a daily basis.

Categories
technology cartoons

What do cell phones and clean water have in common?

Sketch note of cell phones and clean water

Sketch note of cell phones and clean water
kevin@kevinspear.com

I heard a TED Talk this morning from Andrew Bastawrous about cell phones in the Third World and an app that will help diagnose and cure blindness.

What struck me was when he said more people own cell phones than have access to clean water. I found an article confirming that:

More People Have Cell Phones Than Clean Water | The Corvallis Advocate.

That amazed me for several reasons.

  1. In effect, more people have technology than basic health needs
  2. Land line telephones have become obsolete in the Third World before they became widespread.
  3. This probably means illiterate groups have more access to information than ever before.

While smart phones are still rare in developing nations (according to a Pew survey) , it is only a matter of time until this changes.

This is key for publishers and media professionals. Up to five years ago, I was in discussions where we believed most of our customers still didn’t own a desktop computer. Now, we must admit even remote villages in far-flung regions of the world can access technology. It stands to reason a household may be more likely to own a mobile phone than a printed book.

Think of it! Households that may not have a literate person living there could suddenly have access to information that was otherwise out of their reach. This is more than revolutionary. This could fundamentally change how the world thinks.

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Categories
writing

Don’t forget the Old Media

Terry Whalin had a good article on the perils of ignoring print media

http://terrywhalin.blogspot.com/2012/11/building-your-platform-dont-ignore-old.html.

When new technology comes along, we tend to assume it will obliterate everything that came before it. When radio became popular, pundits claimed doom for the newspapers. When TV came on the scene, radio and newspapers where going to be history. And then came the Internet…

But Terry’s article reminds me it is foolish to totally leave print media in favor of the Internet. Sure, newspapers aren’t as large as they used to be, but they are still here. New technology may change the old forms of communication, but the old forms still have their purpose. Ignore them at your peril.