Electronic Publications Versus Hard Copy (Essay Sample)

Analysis of Electronic Publication versus Hard Copy Publications.
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In this age of civilization as well as technological advancements, the world has seen debates on whether the paper documents still hold any significance. Contributions from all sides of the floor regarding this phenomenon have become very familiar. Those who feel that hard copies should be done away with having pushed their agenda forward, and those who feel that they should be retained have opposed them vehemently. It all comes down to one thing, does the means of preserving information chosen by any particular serve them as intended? If it does, it will not matter whether it is in electronic form or in whether in paper. Other than that there are other variables that have to be considered separately for each option.
The electronic publications seem to be winning against the hard copies. However, that is not conclusively true since the hard copies seem to be taking the trophy home on some fronts. According to Renaud (1996), the growth in the information and technology sector has made sure of the fact that the way of communicating has been restructured. That has paved way for the electronic media as well as the mainstream media. Electronic publications are the future of communication globally. Electronic media that supports the electronic publications has made sure that the publications are always available on demand. The electronic publications have beaten the hard copies hands down since in the former one will need to look for the information, and it needs a hands-on approach.
The electronic materials are also very easy to distribute. At a touch of a button, one can disseminate volumes of information to multiple parties. The flow of information in the electronic medium is constant since information is passed back and forth simultaneously. When one is using hard copies, the information cycle is continually broken since one has to wait for the other party to receive and appreciate the content before giving feedback (Renaud 1996). The manual communication is also cumbersome since the papers involved may be too many, and the concerned parties may tire from going through all of them. The electronic medium is, for this reason, able to reach a wider audience as compared to the hard copies that only serve those on site.
The hard copies may have numerous shortcomings, but they are also gold mines in their capacity. They tend to feel real since they are tangible to the users and all other concerned parties. Any person who uses a publication that is in its printed form is more likely to relate to the material and feel some...