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How Would Fort Pursue His Work Today?

Tunn11 said:
Would Fort have been able to do his research without libraries? Would he be able to do as good a job today?
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Why not, there are still huge libraries open. I think he was amazing, not many people have the interest or the patience to do so much research.

Problem being as well that it is much easier and quicker to do research on the internet, rather than locate some rare books and read through them to find the info you are looking for. So convenient to do all this from the comfort of your own home too.
 
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Ronnie Jersey said:
Why not, there are still huge libraries open. I think he was amazing, not many people have the interest or the patience to do so much research.
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Not as many in the UK as there used to be. Funding cuts, political indifference by all parties at all levels, decline in publishing and public indifference and belief that you can find anything you want on google/Wikipedia hasn't helped. ...

If Fort had been researching over here 60 years ago, he would have had access to considerable resources in his nearest town. If he was researching today he would have very little locally and would have to visit a "hub" (God awful new speak) like a County town or London - or use the internet. We are not encouraging talent like his.
 
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Ronnie Jersey said:
Problem being as well that it is much easier and quicker to do research on the internet, rather than locate some rare books and read through them to find the info you are looking for. So convenient to do all this from the comfort of your own home too. ...
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... Initially, professionally I thought it was great for information that needed quick updating, directories, obituaries etc. But websites are often not updated and often have no dates showing when they were created or when any updates were added. If, for instance a firm shuts down they may remove their website but the information stays on other web sites that have copied it.

Also the provenance of the website often isn't clear. If I wanted to propose the theory that the colour green was an alien construct invented by the plantoids of Zarg 3 (it isn't) I doubt I'd have got a publisher in the 1980s; but I can put it on the net now and some idiot will believe me!

Fort at least had a chance of checking his sources.
 
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Tunn11 said:
Also the provenance of the website often isn't clear. If I wanted to propose the theory that the colour green was an alien construct invented by the plantoids of Zarg 3 (it isn't) ...
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How can you be so sure?
 
Tunn11 said:
Not as many in the UK as there used to be. Funding cuts, political indifference by all parties at all levels, decline in publishing and public indifference and belief that you can find anything you want on google/Wikipedia hasn't helped.

If Fort had been researching over here 60 years ago, he would have had access to considerable resources in his nearest town. If he was researching today he would have very little locally and would have to visit a "hub" (God awful new speak) like a County town or London - or use the internet. We are not encouraging talent like his.
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In the US, the public has access to more and better sources than Fort did. Of course, any researcher has to verify his data source. ...
 
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Coal said:
Robin Hood and his Merry Men?
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How did you know? OK green is an alien construct invented by the plantoids of Zarg 3. I can't keep the lid on this any more.
 
Endlessly Amazed said:
In the US, the public has access to more and better sources than Fort did. Of course, any researcher has to verify his data source. ...
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One thing would definitely be different nowadays ... Fort could compile and cross-reference his notes in a database app, allowing him far greater and faster abilities to (re-)locate related items.
 
I wonder if Fort, with his love of skewering orthodoxy, would use modern communication to hunt down the mundane explanations that most anomalous phenomena have, or if he would revel in the more fantastic theories of lizards on Mars rather than odd rock forms, strange creatures washed up on shore rather than rotting sharks and whale vomit.
 
ChasFink said:
I wonder if Fort, with his love of skewering orthodoxy, would use modern communication to hunt down the mundane explanations that most anomalous phenomena have, or if he would revel in the more fantastic theories of lizards on Mars rather than odd rock forms, strange creatures washed up on shore rather than rotting sharks and whale vomit.
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All of the above; but also, I suspect, he would hone in on the well-documented, truly inexplicable. Enough weird stuff happens regularly here on earth, so there is no need to pursue fantastic theories about mars.
 
ChasFink said:
I wonder if Fort, with his love of skewering orthodoxy, would use modern communication to hunt down the mundane explanations that most anomalous phenomena have, or if he would revel in the more fantastic theories of lizards on Mars rather than odd rock forms, strange creatures washed up on shore rather than rotting sharks and whale vomit.
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That's an interesting question ... My guess is that Fort would have pursued a story (or theme) to the point of critiquing any mainstream science explanations offered, but wouldn't go so far as to debunk any of the anomalies he'd documented. I think if he'd found a compelling mundane explanation he'd have set aside the associated anomaly report.
 
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