The relativity of transience
11/03/2013
When we talk to passionate classic car magazine collectors and paper fans, we always hear that the online medium is very transient, that tomorrow you won't be able to see what you read today. In contrast, a printed magazine is more tangible, you can put it down and read it years from now.
Of course this is true, but it is also not true. The longevity of printed magazines is at least partly an illusion, because who is able to find an old article in a reasonable amount of time if they can no longer remember exactly in which year and which issue the report was printed?
In contrast, all Zwischengas articles since the very beginning, which was almost three years ago, can be found at any time and in a matter of seconds, and can be read and enjoyed again in their entirety (sometimes with many hundreds of pictures, original documents, etc.). They are also getting better and better, because we are constantly adding to and correcting earlier articles. And they are getting better and better thanks to more and more links and cross-references. Paper cannot do this; a printed error remains until the last issue has been disposed of or has rotted away.
But, as we have said before, we also love classic car magazines and enjoy leafing through books, but for searching and for extensive image and sound archives, there is no alternative to intermediate gas. And with the "personal archive" we have introduced, every reader can also mark their favorite articles and will be informed in the not too distant future when the report has been improved or changed.
