Print This Blog!

The advent of digital communication and technology has affected production and distribution. It has made many things easier including the creation and distribution of many kinds of media. It has hidden drawbacks, however as well. For example, digital media is rarely converted to physical media and lacks many of the attractive tangible aspects of a medium like paper.

The goal is to create a digital medium that can be distributed electronically yet only viewed physically. In practice this means you cannot see the document on your screen, but is visible when printed out. It is in a sense, a form of Digital Rights Management. It does not restrict copying, but it restricts your ability to view it as you please.

An example of this can be seen at my blog (http://blab.magicseth.com/) in the entry titled "Print Me!"

This particular instance is implemented using CSS and HTML. CSS are cascading style-sheets which allow the presentation of HTML to be specified on a per-media basis. In this case, a rule is added which hides some content when viewed on the screen, and other content when printed.

The CSS code is:

    <style type="text/css" media="screen">
        .printonly { display: none }
    </style>
    <style type="text/css" media="print">
        .screenonly { display: none }
    </style>

Then, to hide something from the screen add:

    class="printonly"

to an element or vise-versa.

Obviously this scheme is not fool-proof: you could read the source of the page, your browser may not render style-sheets, or you could just look at a print-preview. Another version of this technology could be embedded in PDFs. A PDF version would be more versatile and effective in distributing paper-only information

This technology has multiple effects, uses, and ramifications. While I definitely do not want more trees to be cut down, I want people to start thinking about other costs of an increasingly technological society. This technique can be used to reduce the amount of time people use the computer, as they would read content offline. It also increases the cost to view the information. As opposed to the very low cost of viewing information online, this process requires a time investment, and a monetary investment for printing. This is a novel model in which payment is made for content, but not to the producer.

As the result is a tangible, persistent artifact, it is likely that it could further distributed along channels that are not reachable digitally. There are also subversive applications. A deceptive website could change key words in a letter to your senator when printed out. It could also be used to promote ecological awareness, for instance by adding a "use recycled paper" watermark when printed.