Letters, feedback, get it off your chest: 3 February 2010

One reader gets behind James Cryer's call to promote print outside of the industry, while another reader reckons its time for printers to move with the times. What's your opinion?

Re: Print myths busted at LIA seminar
I applaud Philip Lawrence telling us about the convenient lie, but it’s
wasted on the wrong people.

Let’s get him or some other top industry mouthpiece on the morning shows and tell the public why it’s rubbish that the banks want to stop your paper bank statements to save the environment, and that it produces bucket loads more greenhouse gas when you print it out at home – or even view it on your screen than being produced commercially and mailed to you!
Or so I’m told …

Clyde King

*******

Re: Industry activists target anti-paper website

I have already posted comments in response to the muted changes in marketing practices and ‘self-concept’ required to survive in today’s world of electronic publishing. I thank Andy McCourt for focussing our attention on facts and not relying on emotional attachment to the way things ought to be as this seems to underscore many of the contributions on the subject. More information like this needs to come to light.  I baulk at challenging the position of such a knowledgeable and respected industry observer however, I get the feeling that our response is too often shaped more by the perceived threat these new modes of IT bring because we are not part of the process. I wonder what our perspective would be if we had more ‘ownership’ of these newer modes of information technology that followed print.
 
Once you step back from the perspective of a having a ‘vested interest’ in print alone and see yourself as part of a Graphic Technologies industry things start to change. To take it further imagine how you would see the world if you won lotto and didn’t have to work again! When (a poor fool like me) does this I start to think about the state of the planet, the number of people in the world, the impact of human habitation and  their consumption. I will never understand the complexities of the global warming debate but I DO know that I want a clean planet enriched with natural beauty for future generations to enjoy. One that it is in better shape than when I came into this world. I want my impact to be ‘revenue neutral’.
 
In order to do this I need the truth and that means unbiased, accurate information. Hopefully, some of that will emerge from the investigation into the industry’s carbon footprint initiated by the ISO TC 130 (International Standards Organisation Technical Committee for Graphic Technologies). Hopefully, it will be unbiased, accurate, truly scientific and highlight the benefits, as well as the disadvantages, of a wide range of media, not just print. This is not in anyone’s long-term interest. In the interim I will continue to develop my web publishing and multimedia skills to complement my expertise with print.
 
Mark Stegman