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The view from the fifth

The return of page turn? 

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Why is it that despite having access to every published word in the western world via my laptop i always find time on a saturday to schlep to the corner shop and get a real life paper, usually the Guardian. I can get all the information i want online but weirdly none of the enjoyment I get from flicking through the exact same content in paper form.
 
Describing this to Nick who sits more or less opposite me I found myself using a kind of vertical motion for the way i dive in and out of a web based paper and more of a casual left to right wafting for the offline version. 
 
Everyone knows that one of the deadly sins of digital is a web based page turning device. Somehow though web design has become too efficient, too much emphasis has been placed on search and one-click access to the content you want and there is no way to find the stuff you didn't know you wanted.
 
Irritatingly it's Google with last nights launch of Fast Flip (http://fastflip.googlelabs.com) who've gone the furthest to providing a solution. It still relies on search as a starting point but the 'most viewed' option creates a pretty eclectic read and the simple left and right flicking action neatly re-invents the page-turning device.
 
As we get cleverer with data and we seek greater relevance with our messaging we mustn't forget that there is an enormous amount of stuff customers don't know they want but would lap up if they came across it. I just learnt the sexual position that Cosmopolitan readers have voted the 'naughtiest' for example (up against a wall - to save you a search) which I never knew I wanted to know.
Published Sep 15 2009, 01:42 PM by Geoff Gower, archibald ingall stretton...
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The view from the fifth

A series of attempts to predict the near future from within archibald ingall stretton...
 

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Geoff Gower, archibald ingall stretton...

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The view from the fifth

Member since: 15 Jul 2009

Last login: 20 Oct 2009

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