Google defines Legacy Media as “traditional means of communication and expression that have existed since before the advent of the new medium of the Internet.” An example of this legacy media that struck me when I understood the concept of legacy media was the book. Following Google’s definition, books are indeed very traditional and date back to ancient times during which books were used as a means of communicating and recording information. Books still serve the same purpose hundreds of years later. However, they have rapidly begun to be replaced because of the growing technology that records the same information that would usually be recorded in books to be recorded on a computer which stores the information for much longer.

Personally, I loved books as a child. I would read for hours at a time and stay up with a flashlight underneath my blanket to avoid getting in trouble. However, as I grew up I would always tell myself that I would read this book that looks really good but I could no longer bring myself to do it because why read the book when I could read it online or find out what happens, online. In high school, I was a part of the IB Program which emphasized research and discovery which forced me to go to research libraries and look up the books and read through them to find the information that I needed for my papers. I was always so surprised by the amount of information that was still stored in the books. However, a lot of the information was in the “electronic library” which made it slightly easier to complete my research from the comfort of my room.  For some topics I didn’t even have to go to the library because all the information I needed was on the internet.

Websites like scholar.google.com and galileo hold a ton of information which made it easier to do research without having to go out looking for the book. If this option didn’t exist, one would definitely have to use books. I actually think that the value of books sort of goes down because so much is online now that no one feels that books are important. I wouldn’t say that books are no longer important or would eventually stop being used. However, I would say that a majority of books and the information that they hold, especially record books might eventually all be transcribed so that IF there comes a time where a book cannot be located, its information is not totally gone.