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Re: [GWL]: Garden Writing Problems



Jeff Ball wrote:

> Barbara Martin makes an interesting and probably very valid point - The Internet allows us to
> consolidate all the basic how-to information in one place and leave it available to the new
> gardener permanently.  If we equate new gardeners to younger gardeners, they are more likely to
> be Internet savvy.  So maybe what we are looking at is a situation in which the Internet covers
> the basic how-to information that has been repeated every year in publication since the 50's.
> Maybe in Florida, with the audience being older folks, then the Internet is not yet an option.

It's true that we could consolidate a lot of beginning gardening material in a few convenient
places - but people still seem to like the comfort (or maybe they are just lazy) or simply asking
those basic questions and getting an answer addressed just to them. I believe that many of the
people who have started to use the Internet to get their information like the fact that it is
interactive - you don't just read and take it in - you interact and ask questions.

One of my jobs is to answer e-mail questions for a large online garden company - usually the
questions their customer service department can't deal with. And I am amazed at how often typing
a single word into a search engine answers that question - yet people prefer to have it done for
them. We know how many people lurk rather than post - but those lurkers are often going back
channel instead - sending e-mails to get their answers.

But your point about age, Jeff- I am not sure I agree that the Internet may not be an option for
Florida. I am constantly surprised to find out how many of my fellow Internet people are in their
60s and older.

And I live outside of Scranton which has the second oldest population in the US - second only to
Saint Augustine, Florida. Yet many of those people are using the Internet.

I think the great divide when it comes to us older folks is less the age than the education. We
are also a University town and a lot of those older demographics come from University-related
people. And they can be real whizzes when it comes to negotiating the Web despite their age.
Carol
--
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