Flipping Pages on My Computer Screen

I remember some time ago attending a conference that hosted a keynote speaker who talked about the changes brought on by increasing use of technology. He pointed out that many of his listeners probably had children who could program cell phones for their parents with ease, couldn’t remember a time without the Internet and had friends they’d never met with face-to-face thanks to instant messaging and on-line games. For this tech-savvy generation many companies are adapting the way they do business and bringing more operations on-line.

I could certainly relate to the differences the speaker pointed out between just two generations. I’m the oldest of five siblings and, as I’m part of what I like to call a “modern family,” I have a young half-brother and half-sister who are as often as not mistaken for my own kids when we hang out. It’s amusing for me to see the toys they play with that I’d never even dreamed of having as a kid, and their online aptitude boggles even my mind. For instance, by the time he was six, my brother had passed by the Nintendo systems I played with as a child in favor of online gaming. My dad loves to recount the time my brother, as Dad tucked him at bedtime, asked where Finland was. Dad pulled out the globe and pointed and then asked why—only to have my brother explain that he’d made a new friend there.

My half-sister recently got her own laptop for Christmas so that she could have easy access to online games and e-mail like her older siblings. You might ask what a seven-year-old needs with e-mail. Would you ever be surprised.

I guess if you can make friends online, it’s not too much of a stretch of the imagination to think that at some point most of our reading will be done online. I’m old-fashioned enough that I can’t imagine reading something like Jane Austen by the glow of a computer screen, even if it was a screen portable enough so that I could curl up in an armchair with my digital tome. But I also know that it pays to have quick access to resources that provide news or timely information that you want to share. That’s one of many reasons that USGlass magazine is now available in a digital format. You can visit http://www.usglass-digital.com/ to view our March issue or CLICK HERE to read today’s http://www.usgnn.com/ announcement about the launch of our digital publications.

I was surprised myself when I first saw the digital edition in that it follows the same format as a magazine—even to “flipping pages.” By sending the publication via e-mail, versus snail mail, those of you who are always on the road—or know how long it takes to receive your magazine internationally—will receive the latest information the moment that it’s printed. If you are already an avid reader of our e-newsletter, http://www.usgnn.com/, then you know how important it is to have the most up-to-date information from a wide variety of sources. The digital editions of USGlass add that immediacy to our columns and features as well.

Now those of you with an iPhone or otherwise easily portable electronic device will just have to let me know if it’s the same reading through a digital publication as it is poring through the print pages—I mean, you can’t flip down a page online. Although you can tell your clients or colleagues, “You know, I was just reading an article about this very topic … let me just pull it up online …”