Subject: Birding software, birding books
Date: Jan 3 10:25:38 2003
From: Guttman, Burt - GuttmanB at evergreen.edu


I keep being amused and puzzled when I read a lot of requests on Tweeters or
Birdchat for information about whether some birding software does this or
that or the other thing. I grew up looonnnng before the computer era. I
have books. The books have information about such things as distribution
and migration patterns, if that's what interests me, and of course they have
fine paintings of books for identification purposes. Yes, they go out of
date as patterns change, but so does software. I wonder whether anyone who
uses the software can explain why it's so much better than having
books--aside from our society's digital compulsion and its being the In
Thing, while books are now an Out Thing. I use my computer extensively for
writing--word-processing programs have improved and simplified my writing
far more than I could ever have imagined--and I have used the computer for
simple birding tasks, such as making lists and field notes, and recording my
sightings of birds in this way. But what does complicated software about
birds do that would make me want to buy it and spend my time fiddling with
it?

Burt Guttman guttmanb at evergreen.edu
The Evergreen State College
Olympia, WA 98505 360-456-8447
Home: 7334 Holmes Island Road S.E., Olympia 98503