Yes, I am “older than dirt.” I remember not only the days before the internet but also those when computers were behemoths that required buildings to house them. Yep, the horse-and-buggy days of modern technology.
I love the resources that the technology has put within my reach.
And I fervently pray that I will never have to do a manual layout of lettering for a carving again ( before PCs). Or complete pre-internet research on an owner’s weird, small production run, one-design boat for a portrait. What a nightmare it was. Running around to specialty libraries. Working with bad photos, or make telephone calls to builders who retired in 1965.
Admitting it goes against my grain as a professional woodcarver, but I have resorted to YouTube videos on occasion for information on techniques I’ve never tried before.
All the above being true, I have restrained my use of the resources. I’ve resisted “borrowing” woodenware designs from the many available sources. Haven’t you noticed a certain sameness in some design areas? And I’ve learned to be skeptical of oft-repeated “wisdom”—it lends credence to the trope that if it’s repeated often enough, it must be true.
The internet is a tool, and we shouldn’t let the tool determine the nature of our art or craft. It’s just a tool we need to utilize—not be utilized by. Regarding this wonder, we should, as the ancient knight in the Indiana Jones movie suggested, “choose, but choose wisely.”
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I agree, while the internet is a wonderful tool. It is vital not to forget the old and true ways to do things. To handwrite is to pour ourselves into every letting in a way typing cant for example. A thought provoking post, well done.
I look on the Internet as a library.
It really can be a great library, and I use it for that purpose. But the reason I still have all those books is that I find that there are amazing voids.
OK, so researching some maritime topics, like the history of steam yachts, is a bit esoteric. But it points out that the internet is not complete, and if we take it as a compendium of human knowledge, we will be missing anything that was not thought of for inclusion.