1. Readers ...

Edward J. Valauskas, Chief Editor, First Monday, wrote: "Because of flicker and other factors, we lose up to 40 percent of the information presented on a computer screen. That information loss is actually greater for above average readers. We also read more slowly on a computer compared to paper, up to 25 percent to 30 percent more slowly."

But today's reader is not the reader of the future. An adult who learned to read in the U.S. with Dick and Jane reads with the highest comprehension any text that is written in New Century Schoolbook (the typeface of the Dick and Jane primers). If that same adult has a child under fourteen, the child may well have learned to read with the assistance of the many reading programs available to Mac and PC owners. The child's ability (and willingness) to read on-screen is quite different from the parent's.

At this time, many readers demand to read printed documents, which an Acrobat PDF file delivers gracefully. This need for a printed document may not continue past this generation of readers and this generation of monitors.

Although as Valauskas points out, screen-based and paper-based products currently serve different needs, the reality is that the needs of future audiences will change.