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You know, I think reading long texts on a screen is a skill. You need to practice - we had to learn to read paper as well.
by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Wed Jun 17th, 2009 at 03:04:28 PM EST
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Maybe.  But staring at the screen too long makes me ill.  Plus I'm relegated to a desk-top.  Plus you can't jot notes in the margins.

"Pretending that you already know the answer when you don't is not actually very helpful." ~Migeru.
by poemless on Wed Jun 17th, 2009 at 03:28:08 PM EST
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I am finding that reading free texts on my monitor screen has its advantages. With a 17"+ screen and zoom control legibility is no problem.  I don't particularly have a problem with eye fatigue, and being able to hyper link to a footnote has its advantages.  I can keep the on-line texts I frequent most in a bookmark folder and easily insert excerpts into compositions, vs. having to type and proof read.  Many older texts are available free online.  I have yet to find an adequate substitute for my old habit of inserting bits of paper at the top of pages of interest, so going back in a long text is a pain, but I am much more favorable to text on video than I would have thought a few years ago.

"It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
by ARGeezer (ARGeezer a in a circle eurotrib daught com) on Wed Jun 17th, 2009 at 03:31:18 PM EST
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Zoom control is important. I normally make the text really big so I can sit well back from the screen and read.
by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Wed Jun 17th, 2009 at 03:33:28 PM EST
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I think the part of the problem with diaries like this is psychological - the format of the site encourages substantial, but not too long, diares. I started reading it with no idea how long it would be, found it very interesting, but didn't have time to study it carefully once I realized that it looked as though it would never end. A warning that it is long might help (but I might just skip the warning...). Another possibility might be to split the diaries inyo several of moderate length, and post them with a short interval between them. That might even encourage people to discuss the content of the diary, rather than its form.
by gk (gk (gk quattro due due sette @gmail.com)) on Wed Jun 17th, 2009 at 04:08:03 PM EST
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