From href="http://www.mdefeo.com">Michael DeFeo: “I’d have to say that
I’ve become addicted to both sources, internet and print. Obviously, the web
provides the much needed daily fix while a magazine can be carted around rolled
up in my back pocket. Although wireless laptops are becoming more and more the
norm, I still prefer to read lengthy articles from paper… I also prefer the
look and feel of paper. Printed magazines can offer thematic editions of related
work or artists… they have more time to construct and edit articles,
interviews and layouts (at least compared to blog sites). Some sites like bozack
nation and bloodwars offer online versions of their printed relatives. As
previously mentioned by Breed, for print to keep up they need to offer extras
like limited edition prints, stickers or special packaging.

Magazines
have one advantage that the internet can never provide… it satisfies the
collector in some of us that like to hoard and catalog our magazines… slowly
constructing our street art libraries.

The internet also has a very
important advantage over the printed magazine… it can provide viewers with
new, unknown work from far corners of the world that would harldy have a chance
at getting an appearance in a magazine. This is one of the many in a long list
of reasons why Wooster kicks ass…”

From Carl Newby in Cape
Town, South Africa: I find print a strongly tangible medium, much
greater than the net which is stuck behind a screen ... for that reason I don’t
believe that print is in clear and present danger of extinction. Magazines serve
as an immediate reference for me, similar to my bookmarked sites I guess… but
I still find print a more accessible medium. Maybe this is just desperate
justifications because I am doing a publication at the moment…. hmm.. that
could be it… personally though I find that print and the internet serve a
different reference. where In net I will visit a virtual community where I can
stop off and get uploaded/refreshed on what’s happening at that very moment,
further expand my networks by interacting with new artists on a boundarieless
plain. Print I am limited to personal emotions. I can not directly interact with
the page, click on a link to speak to the artist/see more of their work…for
this reason print stays with me for longer because I have to interact further
then the direct session if I want to find out more… I have to get onto the
net.. maybe its a happy medium? perhaps print will purely become used as an
introduction to landmarks on the internet, a booklet with 10 000 links to
various sites, in a number of fields.. a directory of sorts, with some
imagery… hopefully not. no sense.

From Delarge:
“I agree witrh Breed - who put it very well - I see this scenario
similar to having a copy of an album or owning the original. The web is the
copied album, whilst it works… it’s just not the same as owning the
original.”

From fastpolitiks: “On the internet vs print debate,
personally I can see the validity and appeal of both. Of course I love magazines
and zines (we wouldn’t spend so much of our spare time producing fastpolitiks
zine otherwise) and both provide an excellent outlet for showcasing work by
artists. On one hand, the internet has an edge over print so far as the amount
and speed that work can be showcased. Because of budgets, space constraints etc.
it’s not possible to showcase that much of an artists’ work in a print zine,
whereas on the internet anything is possible - you could upload hundreds of
pieces and have thousands of viewers every day.

For me, though, my
heart will always be in print. Nothing beats waking up to find a magazine
through your mailbox or in your local magazine shop, then lovingly flicking
through it and poring over each page. Maybe that’s just me. I agree that it’s
more important for the ‘package’ nowadays (free gifts - but not gimmicks,
packaging etc) with print magazines, certainly it’s something we at fastpolitiks
have been discussing and hope to make more of in the future. It’s not possible
when zines start out to do this because of lack of funds, so you’ll find mainly
larger, financially backed magazines will offer ‘better’ packages and so on,
which in turn attracts buyers and money to be put back into the magazine. So it
can be a vicious circle. It can be frustrating sometimes, but we live in the
blind hope that content, writing and passion will attract people to the smaller
zines which are made just as passionately as the larger magazines. Maga/zines
need to be something the reader can cherish so they need to offer that something
extra to the reader - the content on the internet is fairly ephemeral and
disconnected whereas a magazine can be kept forever. I can never feel as
connected to a computer screen than I can to a lovingly produced printed item. -
matt fastpolitiks, UK Keep up the good work guys
team fastpolitiks”
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