Yes, yes, yes, it's all great, BUT will anything ever measure up to holding a physical book, smelling the newly bound pages, caressing the shiny colour illustrations, flipping through the chapters without getting middle-finger paralysis and stretching out comfortably to read for pure pleasure?
Granted, it's a great way of hunting down loads of information in a hurry, from many sources, and without even moving from your computer chair. I was wondering if this generation of cyberkids are getting the complete picture of the information they are seeking? In our day (said mother grundy!) we had to locate, for example, the actual country we were working with, trawl through atlases to find it (thus learning about others on our way) and choose relevant encyclopedias based on what we wanted to portray. Now, they just type the name in (if its misspelled it is automatically corrected!) and information comes pouring in. Not having done the research are they aware of what factors are important and unique or does the end justify the means? Are they rushing through life with a smattering of knowledge in the quest to get as much of it as possible? Could they be taking some information out of context? Sure, their assignments will be beautiful works of art with downloaded pictures, fancy texts, links to other sources, maps and amazing technological techniques.
Regarding research, however, this is an ideal way to have access to information from many different sources. Different peoples' ideas are instantly accessible which allows for more creative thinking and even better ideas to emerge.
It all boils down to provide the facilities and resources which suit the individual who can use it whichever way he chooses. Libraries are very good in this regard and the North Shore Libraries vision in particular is the epitome of catering to each users needs and wants, physically and emotionally.
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re your notion that in the old days there was serendipitous learning, but now there aint as it all just pours in.. Well, how ironic, because others have criticised the Interweb for being the exact opposite: far too serendipitous. Distracting.
Bad at both ends?
Well, for what's its worth maybe try this: pick a country on Wikipedia. Note the way each article is structured - each country is put in the context of its neighbours, each of which is itself a click away. You can get the benefits of a focused serendipity.
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