The New Generation

[AndyHollinger]

I am an old man. Not really - just 57 - racing age. However, I still think books as reference material and handy, easily used media from which I can gain information. They are easily transportable and require no power or connection. Alas, they are obsolete.

But this thread is not to bemoan their death - I think they'll take a long time to really kill-off; but to ask you for your ideas about their replacement. Students routinely ask me about "where can I find more information" to which I answered, at at least used to answer, with book recommendations.

Realizing that 90% of the battle for EDUCATION, versus training, is to get the information before the intended in an accessable manner - ie one that the intended will actually become engaged, I must now think of websites and the like - the new media to suggest. The problem is there is just so much CRAP out there. The amount of "enthusiast" stuff out there on the ACW is enough to make one ... well, expell one's lunch. Scholar.google.com is a good start ... but where does one go to find REAL history sites and links? I've used some on the GW I've garnered from here ... and some uTube stuff people here have recommended (but as pointed out here, much of it is mislabled and bad - if it's old it must be WWI) ... is there somewhere that rates sites or some way of finding good history from Buff's opinions ...

Alas

[David Filsell]

I like, no, love books. But I remain amazed what electronic media can do and how readily available material is. When I first started research into militry history the first questions was always where the hell to look. Now the computer is the first point to start. You rarely fail to find leads. But as I understand it electronic media is going to place huge difficlties in the future. Will there be collections of letters to trawl? Emails only perhaps andl electronic media eats it all up and will certainlyloose it How do you retrieve stuff in a thousand years when the systems and the equipment that stored it is long defunct? As systems change equipment to use it will vanish. NASA was forced to use the internet I believe to find some old (vital) computer components. As an example I have two thirds of a book on Wordperfect. It may not be important that it's never finished, but I would like to get it onto Word (and retain the footnotes I slaved over). Above all the book, the pen and paper, are democratic mediums - with the new stuff we are locked into the ministrations of the money driven Geekocracy. And Geeks, like politicians, are self selecting, system loving builders and operators - not real people. Here endeth the rant - but what do we do about it now our lives and interests are built around electronic information systems? (ps I still measure in Imperial and had to ask how near 800 grams came to one and a hal pounds this morning in Tesco!)