- Contrary to Birkert’s belief that electronic mediums are a distraction from the wired world, The New York Times online edition presents a compilation of resources that brings its readers closer to the world at large in a way that expands upon the limitations of the print version.
- “For once the world goes fully on-line, there will be no more history of the old kind. History as we all studied it in school depended not just on the idea of chronological sequence, but also on a fixed coordinates of space and time.” -(Birkerts, 214)
Birkerts believes that once history goes fully online the experience of learning will not only be changed, but ruined in a sense. Students would no longer be learning from a text book, but instead from an online database that would take away the “fixed coordinates” in which they had always learned history. The New York Times online edition does not support this assertion, however, because the Times follows a chronological sequence and also has a fixed coordinates. One can access the website anytime to find the daily paper, or any paper before that. Having such an extensive resource, allows students to expand their knowledge of current events in a way not possible for the normal print edition. The online version gives you access to the daily paper as well as articles that are written and updated throughout the day. Plus, the achieved articles to be seen are truly endless. This allows readers to stay up to date with current events on an hourly basis instead of a daily one. The New York Times online edition actually extends the boundaries in which students and normal people can learn due to the accelerated rate at which they can access the news. Teachers in subject areas, such as Political Science could assign the website to students in order to learn about a new event that is currently in the news. With something so new it would be impossible to learn about it in a textbook because textbooks can take years to write where as the new is post frequently.
- An objection to the Times would perhaps be that some people enjoy the feel of a newspaper within their own hands, and this will never be possible with an online edition. This problem can never truly be solved, but in reading the Times in print as opposed to online the reader gives up their ability to fully expand their knowledge because they do not have access to as many articles.
