App vs. Paper

So, as I’ve mentioned, I am slowly working on a field guide to extinct birds, partly because  paper field guides are one of the kinds of printed books that are probably going to disappear (like dictionaries, encyclopedias, atlases, travel guides, etc.) to be replaced by easily portable, easily updated apps. One of things that apps are better at is recording and communicating birdsong. I love the ways that writers have translated birdsong into printed language. (See here.) But if what you want to do is figure out, what is that bird over there? And quickly, before it flies away? Then print is probably not the best option at this point.

Then I read this, and remembered that all the fancy technology in the world doesn’t solve our tendency to be jackasses. (and often it just highlights it). What happens if bird sanctuaries have to ban mobile apps?

(Mobile app causing harm to birds.)