In a recent train journey with free Wi-Fi onboard, I was shaken by neighborhoods formed by the dozen - certainly hundreds, if computed passengers of other cars - of cheerful, sometimes loud and proud users of iPads, iPhones and all that kind of gadgets that are part of the modern landscape.
Suddenly, someone called my attention. A character absolutely original in this environment. Call it eccentric could be an exaggeration. Oblivious, despite the buzz around technology, he was reading a ... book. That's right only this, paper and ink! He had this air of haughty intellectual occupation. Curious, I reached one eye and could see the stamp of the library where that copy was left, "Musée du Louvre."
That train scene was both challenging and iconic. All of us, involved or not with IT issues, exposed spontaneously ourselves to IQ challenges. More than that, collective imagination was challenged. After all, what instruments - electronic or paper - had more portability? And modernity? And sustainability? And privacy? Questions left in the air, though only one of them were in fact independent of Wi-Fi.
Next cartoon, published in 2007 edition of the bulletin ComCiência sponsored by Campinas State University end Brazilian Society for Science Progress (Unicamp / SBPC), tells something more about the experience reported here!
Back to school
Being back to the classroom usually means that a person is returning after vacations, right? Not always. Often there is no school for those who need it, or there are left school spaces where facing unsufficient demand. Worse when a lack of quality remains. This is the theme of the February edition.
