Since it is readily apparent that many learners are using electronic media it is appropriate that those of us who are interested in self-direction in learning turn to what is believed to be one of the most important sources of learning in the future. While it may require the passing of a generation for us to make a significant move away from paper based books, increasing availability of electronic readers supplemented by action, color, and sound is likely to overcome some of the resistance to electronic media. We are in a period of change that is unequaled in the history of the human race. Perhaps the 15 th century following Johann Gutenberg s invention of movable type provides the example that is most similar to the current time. Even though European civilization was changed in important ways within one hundred years changes in other parts of the world occurred more slowly.
Contemporary change is much faster, more profound, and more universal.
Few, if any, areas of the world have escaped the impact of what I am referring to as the information age. The information age is not only concerned with the geometric multiples of increasing information. The actual explosion of information is abetted and facilitated by the electronic technology that contributes to it, by making it possible, while also distributing new information instantaneously. Books, while convenient in portability and soundly anchored in our cultural artifacts, have disadvantages that will become more problematic in the future. Electronic technology will overcome the static state by providing access to information via multiple senses.