[GTALUG] Linux Journal, RIP

[Russell]

On February 1, 2018 2:55:51 PM EST, Kevin Cozens via talk <talk at gtalug.org> wrote:
>On 2018-02-01 07:31 AM, o1bigtenor via talk wrote:
>> Perhaps instead of letting us know what you, meaning all the
>individuals 
>> complaining in this thread, can't stand about what it was  - - -
>well let 
>> them know what you do want.
>> You never know - - - you just might get lucky!
>
>I doubt it. I prefer the magazine on paper. I spend enough time in
>front of 
>a computer as it is. The last thing I want to do is have to spend more
>time 
>in front of one so I can read a magazine.

It's a somber fact of modern  publishing that, as the cost of delivering written content goes down, so does the monitary value of that content. 

The first pressing of the Gutenberg bible, as the immutable word of Diety, had the highest lifetime value, others not so much. 

It's kind of hard to take in, that it was the value added industry; 
papermills, press-persons and paperboys etc. who's work it was that created the greater social value. In a commercial sense, it was the larger audiences which drove the costs of presenting writings down. This happened as while world literacy rates went up. 

Digital publishing seems to be at that same stage of renessance. Notwithstanding the temptation to dynamically revise, a la Winston Smith in 1984. There are no hard copies to recall, just dynamically re-update the page. 

A book or magazine is static and unchanging, at least until the Ministry of Truth steps in.

So far in the short term it appears that the Linux Journal will be paying writers for content. That has to count for something.

http://m.linuxjournal.com/content/25k-linux-journalism-fund

For my personal pleasure in reading tho, I prefer paper. For one it's easier on the eyes. 

Also I have several dog eared reference books I would never trade for their digital versions. The simple fact is, that while flipping pages searching for one thing, I learn many other things.

Accidental learning, this is something almost completely eliminated by key word searches of digital documents. 

So yeah, I'd prefer paper journals. I still like stepping out to the library to read old copies of Popular Mechanics. 

This last little 0.2c bit is a little off subject but I'm fascinated with this tech and it's potential.

For the digital millennium, perhaps publishing is the appropriate use for blockchain tech. By this I mean data validation outside of the current cryptocurrency hyperbole. There is real value in subscribing to information validated by Delphi consensus as it is held in a blockchain. 

Right now the Canadian govt is trying out Catena Blockchains to validate complex datasets and track financing. 

https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/government-of-canada-exploring-the-potential-of-blockchain-technology-670113383.html

>
>-- 
>Cheers!
>
>Kevin.
>
>http://www.ve3syb.ca/           |"Nerds make the shiny things that
>distract
>Owner of Elecraft K2 #2172      | the mouth-breathers, and that's why
>we're
>                                 | powerful!"
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-- 
Russell