When I first heard that National Geographic sells its back catalogs—from 1888 through 2008—in a 160GB hard drive, I got excited. Then I saw a YouTube video of someone who had made the $200 purchase and I got disappointed.
National Geographic's idea of offering a collection of well-written articles and mind-blowing photographs in a high-quality format undoubtedly deserves praises. Plus, the copies take up only 60GB of the entire hard drive, which leaves you 100GB to use for your own needs. But the lack of interactivity in this product seems fundamentally wrong to me. I thought we had established this--merely digitizing print content, even though in a brilliantly high resolution, isn't suffiecient for readers. We want to go back and forth, to communicate, to share--to feel like active participants in a vibrant environment instead of passive consumers.
What's cool about the National Geographic Hard Drive?
- Searchability: A tool called Geobowser enables users to search articles, photographs, and maps.
- High-quality: The high resolution of the text and pictures makes it appealing to readers.
- Fun: The product can be personalized and features trivia games.
What's wrong about the National Geographic Hard Drive?
But in the end of the day, the product is no different than a collection of print copies stored on a shelf in the attic (except for the additional 100GB you get to use). It doesn't encourage users to truly enagage with the content. It is a ready product for you to consume. Because it is not "clickable," you are not supposed to navigate out of the platform to learn more about a subject. You can't give writers feedback. You can't share fun facts with your friends. You can just read and search within the product. I am surprised that the social media guide Mashable covered it and didn't criticize it for its lack of sociability.
Different Platforms Require Different Approaches
Newspapers and magazines fail to innovate in the digital era because they just dump their content on a website, on a Facebook page or on a hard drive, for that matter. But different platforms require different approaches. People want to become part of the newsgathering and, most importantly, news interpretation process. Innovation doesn't just mean using new technologies, it means using a new mindset.
Photo credit: Daniel Y. Go