Daniel White

The digital age has been around long enough for most of us to be at least minimally acquainted with the lingo, but apparently that isn't so. I had a telling illustration of this today via a chance interaction in a store. Allow me to expound on this.

While waiting for my package to be prepared, I overheard a conversation between an elderly man and the man behind the counter. The store is one of those that provide not only shipping services, but fax preparation, computers for preparing short documents and assorted tools to prepare small booklets. It's a great all-in-one spot for some people, but for others it is a place of confusion no matter the efforts to help.

I heard the discussion as the man was first directed to the correct paper weight for his intended use (he had selected a too-heavy stock for a laser printer), then a blank look came over his face and that of the guy behind the counter. What caused this absolute lack of connection?

The man had written a book some years ago, had it printed at this shop and now wanted to revise it. Simple, right? No, not simple at all. Receiving no solution for his quandary, he wheeled on his heel and began to head for the door as I stepped forward. Never having been a Girl Scout I am, nevertheless, willing to offer help when I can. I thought I might be able to help him.

I began with a simple question. "What is it that you want to do with your book?" He looked at me as thought I had just broken into his home, but stopped and briefly explained he wanted to revise his book. "They're telling me that I have to scan all the pages and then revise it, but I can't do that." My next question was pretty elementary. "What type of software are you using?"

"Software? I don't know anything about that." I explored a bit more. "What digital format is your book in and what do you want to do with it? Perhaps make it into an ebook?"

"Now you're way over my head," he explained with no hint of a smile on his face. "I don't know what scanning it is or how to scan it. I don't know what to do." I tried to offer some suggestions about how his dilemma might be resolved but he wouldn't hear any of it. His mind was made up. He lived in this world of computerized activity and he didn't even know what "digital" meant.