A while back the Columbus Dispatch started charging to use their Web site unless you are a subscriber to their local newspaper.
Fortunately, I can now report that they have backed off and the Dispatch Web site is free. It’s a great resource for both Columbusites living elsewhere or those who live in Central Ohio and don't subscribe (or like me only subscribe to the weekend papers).
Columbus Dispatch is a free source of news coverage and more for Columbus and Central Ohio. Along with current news coverage you can find sports, the Weekender online, local food reviews, and more. (Everything this Web site tries to be!)
Then I realized there’s a much bigger issue here: is this the beginning of the end for print newspapers? As a librarian I have been conducting research into the future of paper in an increasingly electronic world and have found predictions that paper is on its way out. While I find this hard to believe (remember, paper has been around for hundreds of years, and when you make information available online what do people want to do? Print it!) I think there will be changes in the way future generations will see and use paper compared to how paper has traditionally been used. Could this be one of those changes?
Will more and more people over time just subscribe to the online version until, eventually, there will not be enough demand for the "paper" paper and it will be discontinued? When will this happen? When we all have high-speed Internet access at home? When wireless Web service means commuters on the COTA bus will hold a Palm Pilot instead of a paper? It is hard to say at this point, but I believe it is an eventual possibility.
Nicholson Baker believes the library world should save old American newspapers as artifacts of American life instead of the current practice of scanning the intellectual content and dumping the paper copy. If newspapers are indeed an endangered species, he may be right. It would important for future generations of Web-worshipers to see how great-Grandpa got his daily news.
My first job was delivering newspapers, so it will be interesting to see what happens, to look back and see if the eDispatch was part of a cultural change or just a way to deliver news in two differing formats.