I saw an article recently (in the March edition of the British Journal of Photography) raising questions over the future of traditional print magazines. With more and more people accessing information online print is struggling, the journal itself just having returned to a monthly format after 146 years as a weekly. Subscriptions are becoming cheaper and cheaper. It has recently been announced that from June this year The Times and The Sunday Times will be charging for access to their online sites, following the decline in newspaper sales. There is no question that the internet has opened up information, its wide-reaching, global readership allowing for rich discourse and learning, but the article raised interesting questions on the limits of internet based publications. The internet provides people with the opportunity to follow the stories and articles best aligned with their interests, with related articles often suggested for further reading, but does this ease blind sight readers from what else is going on? Where as magazines are about “showing readers something they don’t already know”, widening their knowledge in all sorts of directions, are internet based readers restricted?

I’m not sure if I see internet based publications as hindering people’s wider knowledge, people will always gravitate towards articles which interest them most, and they will always flick past the ones which interest them least. I don’t think the format of an article has much effect on whether some one reads it or not. I personally spend a lot more time looking at online publications than I ever have print, down to a combination of ease of access and funds, and I follow a wider variety of publications with wider ideas and subjects. In terms of online art publications I generally find them quite diverse and though I might read more articles on sculpture than video installation I would do that regardless of the format. However as much as I might use online resources more I think there will always be a place for print, especially with art publications because they aren’t just read once and thrown away, they stay relevant.