The New Media

Last week the Oxford English Dictionary announced it would no longer be printed again.  I have never used the OED in person and, like apparently countless others, find the on-line version much more convenient and less straining on the eyes (unlike the print version you do not need a magnifying glass to make out the on-line version).

On the one hand this heralds some new and )mostly) positive advancements.  More people have access to the internet, either in their homes or in libraries and schools, and the vast amount of information that goes along with it.  Also, the English language now changes at a rate that makes printing a dictionary illogical because of how soon it would become obsolete.

However, I always have found the printed page of these huge old books and the physical presence of reference sections comforting.  You do not get the sense of the immense history of these words and the tradition you are inheriting when you are not pulling a 30 lb. book off the shelf.  You do not get the same sense of the interconnectedness of language when you cannot scan down a page and see a list of words which all come from the same root.  You cannot leisurely flip through the pages, looking for nothing in particular but knowing there are treasures on every page.   Our use of the dictionary will now be subject to the same forces as the rest of modern technology-it will be economical, purpose driven, and isolating.

As an interesting side note, the reason I was a week late in commenting on this story is because I was having computer problems last week and so was without regular access to a computer all week.  A printed book also cannot have problems with its motherboard leaving you without access.