Trista di Genova on Reading on Paper and Reading on Screens

An online interview with American writer Trista di Genova in Taiwan:

[BACKGROUND INFO: Trista di Genova, MSt, Oxford University. Her award-winning blog "The Wild East": http://www.thewildeast.net/news
Her YouTube videos: http://www.youtube.com/digenovafilm]
1. Since reading on paper is very different from reading on screens,
do you think that at some point we might need a new word in English
for "reading on screens", yes or no?

Yes. It’s a good thing I read so many books before the Internet age. I may never read another book again!

2. If YES, can you suggest any possible words for this new word: maybe
scanning? screen-reading? screening? any other words you can think of
that might work well here, words or terms?

How about ‘e-perusal’? Web perusal. I’d like to suggest ‘e-gandering.’ ‘To take an e-gander’? Electronic gandering, electronic gandering, or ‘gandering’ for short.


3. A futurist inthe USA , a very well known person, tells me:
"Screening" is not a new term, but this might just be the time that it
catches on, given the imminent arrival of Apple's iPad, and other
devices. The last time I heard it -- screening -- in this way -- was
back in the late 1990s when the RocketBook and Softbook made their
debut, but the term didn't do any better than the products did."
do you agree with him that THIS might be the time SCREENING catches
on, based on your 2008 academic paper? Yes or no or comments?

No. Too dull a term.

4. This fururist told me "This time around, screening is a clever and
useful term capturing the fact
that the experience reading on a screen is fundamentally different
from reading on paper. Not a priori worse or better; just different."
Do you agree with him here, yes or no or comments?

Sounds a bit pompous to me.

5. This futurist also told me ..."So definitley SCREENING is the right
word for the moment in terms of drawing
people's attention to the vast literary shift about to wash over
us....Do you agree that we are now witnessing a vast literary shift
about to wash over us? YES NO MAYBE? COMMENTS?

It’s already hit. Everybody – at least most of the developed world -- reads online now.



7. Does reading on screens hamper or hinder our critical analysis
skills of what we are reading?

No, if we’ve already developed critical skills we have the tools we need to check, cross-check sources, have other, wider perspectives…While reading online, however, it is easier to get distracted by things such as banner ads, related links of interest, or the constant demand for multi-tasking…

8. If in the future most reading is done on screens, from computers to
iPhones to Kindles to even textbooks on screens, could this hurt the
critical thinking skills of young people to think, analyze and asess
information?

Yes, if they get stuck in mindless online activities such as gaming, gambling and so on.

9. Do you think people will be reading on paper surfaces anymore in
the year 2050? in the year 2099?

Hope not. Although as a writer, I don’t know of any more fulfilling a feeling than to see my work in print, in a chapbook or book form.

10. Are you willing or ready to say goodbye to MR PAPER, and greet
the SCREEN AGE with a complete open-minded welcome?

For the most part. But let’s keep our favorite texts handy for reference. Reading as memorabilia!