Recently I heard that the New York Times, a.k.a. “the Gray Lady,” is concerned about shrinking circulation. One possible way they are trying to increase revenue is their plan to charge a subscription fee for their online editorials. I think they are going in the wrong direction.
There is striking insight today into the Gray Lady’s apparent intimidation by the internet. The Science Times carried an article on the Waka archaeological site in Peru here. I did a Google search on the name of the professor from the article and quickly found here a marvelous website at Southern Methodist University based on the work of its faculty at Waka. I scoured the NYT article and found no reference to the SMU website – only a mention of an email from the professor. (Please let me know if you can prove me wrong.)
The Gray Lady and other media from the pre-digital past will only be diminished by ignoring and/or rejecting internet resources. If the NYT article had pointed to the SMU website I would have been encouraged to come back often for their pointers. I know better now.
How the best knowledge gets to everybody to learn
