The progression from "ebook" to "enhanced ebook" to "book app" in the early 2010s - a time when ebooks felt cutting edge despite their relative marginality - illustrates an awkward coming-of-age stage in digital publishing. Like a teenager discovering music/politics/philosophy/love, book publishers seemed to believe that with each new form of digital content, they might finally break into the center of some unfolding revolution. The history of the world was finally reaching its pinnacle, and the right combination of audio/video/text would bring publishers right into the middle of things...
Today, publishers and readers alike may have a better sense of the larger context. "Born digital" creations no longer exists only on drawing boards in creators' offices, but are embedded in the way our society functions. When we look beyond the twinkle of a digital image - something now ubiquitous in many societies - we remember the immutable value of storytelling and recognize the long and unfolding revolution in global and individual inter-connectivity. With this, we may even envision a new kind of story-telling.
Less than a decade ago, publishers thought that by putting virtual pop-ups and folding cut-outs on the digital page, ebooks would reinvent reading. Many of the earliest "enhanced ebooks" were aimed primarily at child-parent audiences and their features were trivial, game-like options spaced within the illustrations of a narrative.
Enhanced ebooks for adult audiences included nifty touchable graphics or audio-visual additions. Later, it was assumed that by referencing a user's GPS, the "relevance" of the ebook would be intrinsically enhanced. Often these capabilities demonstrated a kind of a task-capable app inside of a "book app" rather than a single enhanced narrative.
By putting the ebook back into context - why do we read and what do we value today - we gain a much richer vision of the potential of an ebook. Inter-textual references, up-to-date external information, and a narrative that allows a reader to interact with human communities - these traits could represent creations made by "more-mature" digital publishers, those who see beyond the twinkle. Moreover, such an ebook might embody a kind of "digital book" that is truly relevant to grown up readers.
By internalizing what worked and dusting off the tired sparkle of what was once considered "revolutionary" (animations, touchable graphics, sound-bites), ebooks are now ready to contribute to the timeless purpose they share with their analog ancestors - to help people find meaning and sense in their contemporary world.
(Post for 9/11/2015)
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