Life Passing Into Web 2.0
March 27, 2007 |
News today from Time Inc. notes the passing of yet another icon of print media. A story from Reuters via Yahoo! News announced Life magazine will no longer grace newsstands with its photography.
We talk a good deal about traditional media coming to Web 2.0, and it is usually really good news for those of us with such high hopes for the new Internet. One has to take a little pause at news like this though, especially those of us who have grabbed up this iconic reservoir of imagery in the barber shop, at the doctor's office or through subscription over the years. Digital media is very diverse, striking and amazing in its own right, but there is something about actually touching the images that is difficult to describe.
Life will continue in its online form according to this news release but the company will lay off around 40 of its workers as they shut down print aspects. Life has been in print since 1936 and shut down for a span back in the 1970's and again in 2000. Time plans to make its collection of 10 million images available online free for personal use.
Life magazine covered the most significant events to the 20th century, and while the news is symbolic of Web 2.0's efficacy, it is also sad to watch some of our history pass largely because of cutting cost. We can only hope that Web 2.0 does not become the Wal-Mart of the digital world, erasing forever the faces that made a great physical community.
You know it is ironic and almost surreal, I did not intend to make any statement in looking for striking images from this great magazine to leave you all with. I was really in a hurry to tell the truth, and as always balancing what is good enough for you with pressures from the literal world. It is fitting don't you think, that these two icons now passed should reside together somewhere in Web 2.0?
Photo Credits: Life Magazine
