The Future of Books

I predict that the future of books is going to significantly change by generation.  Books are a form of media, and the standard of media consumption is changing dramatically by generation.  While I don't believe that books in print form are going anywhere soon (roughly the next 50 years), it is evident that each coming generation is less and less attached to the printed consumption of media.  Even toddlers nowadays are fixated on brightly colored and interactive ipad displays.  If this is their nurtured standard of media consumption from such a young age, I believe print will quickly become obsolete.  The toddlers of present still have parents and current systems in place that still value print.  But I believe the slow phase-out of print has already begun.
Motion, with video and auditory sensory stimulation, is going to take precedence with the coming generations.  It is a much more automatic and easy form of communication.  While this may seem tragic to intellectuals both present and past, there is a growing literary group who believes written language communication will be totally non-existent in the future.  I believe that the e-book is just a stepping stone in this direction.  I believe the ebook will be equivalent to the cassette-tape—only relevant for a short period of time.  When getting into future projections of technology by current notable experts, the consumption of knowledge is predicted to dramatically advance and improve through the emergence of bio-technology.
In the near future, the book offers a very particular experience both physically and intellectually.  The turning of physical pages and objectification of knowledge in physical form is something many humans have grown very attached to as a pleasurable experience.  Intellectually, the actual reading and comprehension of plain text requires much more work on the part of the brain—a sort of meeting in the middle—to fully grasp the author's message, which will be the downfall of the book for future generations.
I believe that books are here to stay for at least our lifetimes—though not for long after.  While they may achieve some sort of nostalgic revival as the vinyl record is encountering now, at least after one hundred years, other quicker mediums of communication will replace them and reduce them to a thing of the past.

My Prediction of the Future of the Book

A few years ago I was a library student worker at Weber State University. I spent my days with books  shelving them, helping people find them, and pulling them when they needed repairs. I was promoted to special collections where I took care of books hundreds of years old that were never checked out, and rarely moved, they just sat there beautiful first editions,  a time capsule of their past.

Another part of my job was scanning books and digitizing them so that they could be read digitally without ruining the originals. At the library that was their future.  The beautiful hard copies on a shelf rarely touched, and the knowledge within them digitized for the world to see.

It is my opinion that digital ebooks will be how books are read in the future.  We will all have a tablet or kindle packed  full with the reading material we desire to engulf.  Apps such as Oyster, Netflix for books,  will become more popular. Where you can look over a database of hundreds of books online and just get what you want to read, all at the graze of your fingertips. Digital databases of libraries will also grow allowing for echeckout on needed reading materials.

Of course there will be the purists, the ones who will seek  out the beautiful hardback, who love the pleasure of thumbing paper between their fingers and smelling freshly printed ink. Similar to those who love listening to old vinyls, they will treasure each book,  constantly dusting and caring for them, displaying them proudly for the world to see that they have not given up on their treasures. 

A treasure on the shelf and the knowledge on a computer, that's where the future of books is going, and it is already happening. So say farewell to those enormous textbooks and their back pain, and splurge on the originals of your favorite series, their price will be even higher soon. 

Authors creating Apps rather than Books

One thing that's bothered me about many of the articles we've read about is that rarely are the authors talking about how it is to create an enhanced eBook - rather, we look at what the publisher is thinking or how to make it marketable to consumers. But in the Forbes article of "Are Apps The Future of Book Publishing?" I was intrigued by what the creators of the stories had to say about the creation of Enhanced eBooks. As I've been thinking of ideas for my Enhanced eBooks, I've been more interested in how the creators are thinking - not how to market their ideas.

When Andi Buchanon said to not put so much in, I completely agreed. I think the authors of Enhanced eBooks should be the ones indicating what to do for the story, not necessarily the publishers or the developers. The authors were right - reading is one of the few activities where you, the reader, are able to invent your own world, full of your own sounds and pictures. Enhanced eBooks can help foster some thoughts, but it can hinder others. Yet, while the article referenced Chopsticks, it seems like none of the other authors were thinking of Enhanced eBooks as anything but whizzed up books - instead of thinking of what books can be, they were all still stuck in the idea that a book has to be only text and pictures. Chopsticks is an inventive way to present a story - but it seems like none of them were interested in creating stories like that.

When re-branding the idea of Enhanced eBooks as Apps, I think this will help both authors and publishers have a clearer sense to create more inventive ways of presenting stories, and not be limited by the title 'book'. By saying Apps, suddenly authors are able to push out of the boundaries of what a conventional book is. Hopefully this will promote them more.

-Vreni

Week 3

In the future, people will still be reading solid, paperback and hard spine books. My prediction is that much of the technological advances that we are seeing now will hit a standstill and people will resort to what they always have, and that is just simple reading out of books. It will allow readers to remain using their imagination, rather than getting all of the visual representation of the story right there on a little screen. However, I do believe that before the time comes where there is a halt in the evolution of books, people will create some amazing interactive books. The words on the page will jump out at you as you read them. There will be holograms that will tell you their story so you can just listen and watch them. I believe that publishers will create a way to communicate with the writer in some way and make stories have alternate endings based on your responses to the writer.

The way people read, however, can't be changed. There is something about simply picking up a book and turning the pages that will never change for people. Certain devices like the kindle are as close to actual books as they can get. I own a Kindle Paperwhite and it is amazing. However, it does not have eye-popping graphics or create a fully interactive experience. It is simply like reading a real book but just lighter and it is nice because it has the ability to light up or get darker depending on the light you're reading in.  The pages are very soft and it feels so much like you're looking at a real book. Trying to read on bright pixelated iPad pages is not the same.

There is a great need for electronic books in schools. I have a feeling that a major change is coming in education due to apps and e-books. And I agree with Steven in that textbooks could potentially become obsolete due to advances in technology. People all learn in different ways, for some it may be visually, others it may be acoustically. The way apps and interactive books are set up can easily allow for the user to choose with way they want to learn the information. I might be through touching the screen and taking quizzes, or going through and taking notes along the side while reading. There is so much possibility through technology to allow students of all ages to learn in a way that works for them. They may be going home to read out of screen-less books after school, but during school we can create a way for them to choose how they want to learn through apps and interactive text books. It could propel our education system in a very positive way.

The Future of Books is in our Pockets


I think one of the coolest things happening in our world is the constant evolution of technology. Growing up, I remember when the laptop was first starting to be massed produced, and how everyone was excited because instead of a 50 pound desktop, you could now send emails from the comfort of your couch with a mere 35 pound laptop on your lap. As the laptop evolved, Palm Pilots were the cool new toy, and a light-weight, hand-held device was just what the general public wanted. With iPads and iPhones, the whole game was changed.

Now, we are starting to see more and more books read digitally on devices. The Kindle and Nook really helped shape the game for digital reading, and of course like all other things, Apple was right there to perfect them. Now, iPhones come standard with iBook already installed. This leads me to believe that the future of books, lies in our phones.

In the reading : The Renaissance of the Interactive Book", the author mentions the Enhanced eBook "Alice" and how it has made such an impact to our reading society. This was the first eBook I had ever encountered, and with it I understood the future of reading was going to be interactive. With books and video games meeting in the common ground of enhanced eBooks, we can reach an audience that no longer believes in reading regular books. This has lead me to believe that the future of book, and in particular textbooks, lies in our smartphones and tablets.

Image how many trees can be saved if all of our books, newspapers, and magazines were completely digital. With the whole "Green" movement, I personally feel like this is not only a possibility, but will come to fruition within the next decade. I strongly believe that in the next 10 years, all of our reading will be digital. Image instead of lugging around 5 super heavy textbooks to all your classes, your biology, history, foreign language, and math texts book all fit weightlessly in the comfort of your pocket. I personally believe that with eBooks and Apps, textbooks will soon be obsolete.

Can an ebook evolve?

In this past reading, it was refreshing to get a sense of how books started and see where they are headed now. The article I found the most interesting was the one about why ebooks haven't taken off. To be honest, I do feel like ebooks have a lot of potential, but we're just having a hard time to find the best way to implement them.  I do agree with article and wish that there was a way to get enhanced ebooks across all platforms of tablets instead of just being on the iPad.

Another solution, which I did mention in class was to create and app that everyone can download like the Kindle app. It's downloadable for androids and apple products and it stores books from a cloud! That's the best part! If all enhanced ebooks were located in one spot and uploaded from a cloud without taking too much memory, enhanced ebooks would be much more of a bigger hit.

But I do still believe that the big bucks for enhanced books is textbooks and learning. Kids have a short attention span and it's a really good way for them to interact with a game and learn at the same time. With textbooks, this can go really viral with college students. Having in interactive book with videos, sounds, and extra information in one book helps a lot! You don't have to search around for extra information when it's right there in front of you.

The best way to get can ebook out is to know your audience and know your content! I was so happy with the UX Magazine article! This is what I'm familiar with and this is what I understand. If you understand your user you can understand what to do with the content you are given. You need to know what their age range is and how well they are able to use technology. What I loved best was when they said to test! This is the most important thing you can do when creating any interactive design is test what you created and see how usable and functional it is. If people don't like it, you go back to the drawing board and recreate it. Don't just send out an app blind. Test it's success rate so you know people will be able use it and use it well.

All the things that I have listed, and I'm sure there are other reasons, but I believe if we can accomplish these goals, enhanced ebooks will be a big success. But if they don't I think audible might steal their shine.

" Anyone with a smartphone has an entire bookstore in his or her pocket."

From being in this class I have really asked a lot of people of how they prefer to read their books. A lot are coming to ebooks. There are many reasons why and mostly its because of one of the readings this stood out to me.  " Anyone with a smartphone has an entire bookstore in his or her pocket." Andrew Shaffer  We are so busy and are on the go so much that we don't read as often as we should.  Future books will always hold paper back. We are so use to this and books have been around a lot longer then ebooks. 

Book or App?

Apps can bring out so much more that the author wants to share. Books help readers imagine on their own. One thing about me is I have been reading a lot of textbooks because I am a student. I been buying ebooks more because they are a lot cheeper then the paperback version. But they are so boring. If the app brought more to my attention I would learn a lot more. I think the future in ebooks in education can really benefit learning.  Reading the app Alice in the wonderland.  I didn't enjoy it on the ebook. It was more distracting then fun. I just really think it depends on what I am reading to choose if I want an app or a book. 

I think ebooks are fabulous. I hope that they grow and improve for us today. Not just for us as U of U students. Also for children. I want them to learn more then when we did in school. They are our future and they can be more created them we are. If you give a child a tablet and let them learn visually on an tablet. Lets go for it. I also hope that the older generations will buy themselves a tablet and enjoy this technology that is new. 

Book App / Wormhole

“Wormholes, or ‘bridges’ as [Einstein] called them [are] the idea of a hypothetical topological feature of space-time that is essentially a short-cut through space and time, potentially linking widely separated parts of the universe (or even different universes)…” Physics of the Universe

It has been said that the web has its own physics. Perhaps, then, the metaphor of a wormhole through the ever-spinning webs of human knowledge has little merit, but if we can envision what one might look like should one exist, I believe it might be the future of the book app. I anticipate that book apps will find their niche in a digital world by making a semi-contained space for a curated collection of original creations and/or synthesized information which retains permeable ties to other bodies of information. These links will be to digital as well as real-world references, a quality most successful apps (aside from some games and works of fiction) demonstrate.

Just as a tree-produced book on a shelf binds together and secures the continued existence of a set of ideas, digital books will be used to keep ideas alive and within reach by storing them together on the screens of our devices. Though the ebook shares this purpose of “containing” with its paper predecessors, it has the potential to change the way we think about and interact with the ideas and information the book holds.

This might explain why ebooks that are designed as a self-contained creation have not caught on; when we’re working on a digital platform, we expect the information and creations housed in ebooks to connect to our world, and all of its virtual interfaces, in real-time. If an ebook does not allow us to interact with others and with the collected knowledge that is the web, it feels as though we have tucked ourselves into a brick-walled alcove just beyond the great matrix of the virtual network. However, book apps are able to create a space which both houses unique offerings and links the reader into the incredibly dynamic and of-the-moment body of wisdom constantly being imparted through the web. In this way, the book app will be able to simultaneously provide a graspable sense of reprise from the overwhelming whir of information and ideas online, while keeping the reader in that moment connected to it.

By connecting the book app to other relevant apps, websites, and people, a book app both brings in readers and sends them out. For example, a book app might also produce images for use on other sites, which can then lead one back to the app. 

The “story” then, no longer follows the long assumed “storyline” paradigm. No longer a linear cover to cover experience, the book app will function according to a “storyplace”. I believe we will soon see that a well-developed book app reads in ways more akin to how we read physical places in our experiences than to how we hear a story. The story to be heard, when we listen, will come across through multiple sensibilities and senses, and can be understood many ways. Regardless, elements of aesthetics and voice will impart a unique meaning, as designed by the author/artist.

I believe the kind of story that lives in a plot line will be an eternal art - the curve of events and tension we are taught in first grade, will continue to exist as they have for centuries. The book app has the potential to also give birth to a new kind of articulation. Like places, the future of the book app is to meaningful interpretation of multi-dimensional and dynamic space. It is this new kind of “story” - born out of the sensibilities and literacy engendered by digital medias - that the book app will “write”.

Post for 9/18

The Continuing Evolution of eBooks

From the readings this week, it's clear that ebooks are still evolving.  With so many options for interactivity, I can see how it's taken so long for the industry to fully comprehend what ebooks have to offer.

My favorite reading was "The Renaissance of the Interactive Book" because it offers information that is incredibly useful.  As the ebook industry has been evolving it has made both positive and negative choices.  By remembering lesson  number one "Know Your Content" publishers will begin to understand that just because something CAN be interactive, doesn't mean it HAS to be.  Alice for iPad is a great example of this.  A child may find the interactive elements quite fun, but an adult reading the book will find that many don't enhance the experience which (which is tragic, because that's their whole reason for existing in the first place).

Different content is targeted to different demographics and the interactions should reflect that.  Interactive ebooks that may appeal to various demographics (such as Alice in Wonderland) will need different settings in order to appeal to everyone in the household that has access to it.  I don't see publishers bothering to publish two completely different versions of an ebook (one for children and one for adults) but rather combining the two into a single product.  Maybe they will have a sort of "log in" screen where the user will choose the "adult" or "child" setting for who is using the product at the time, the book will then adjust to the specific user by adding/removing audio commentary or adjusting the images to adjust for age appropriateness.

 Even further ebooks might have specific log-ins such to identify friends and family that own/share the ebook.  These would appear as "Stacey's" "Jamie's" or "Dad's"specific log in for a book.   Each login will allow that reader to write their own notes, highlight their favorite passages and record messages for other user logins to view and interact with.  Dad could record a hilarious message about dating vampires and leave it for for his daughters to listen to while they read certain passages in Twilight.  Today's society is very connected through social media and I can see that connectivity transferring to ebooks very easily.  Allowing friends or fans to discuss their impressions of a passage or see updated author's notes and thoughts are simple ways for people to share their experiences.

Walking through London and having your phone/ebook relate passages from Dracula to your actual location sounds incredibly entertaining to me.  This also applies lesson number two from "The Renaissance of the  Interactive Book" which expresses the importance of contextual design.

Today's ebooks are not going to be read on laptops or home computers, they will be read on iPads, other tablets or cell phones.  These devices are part of our every day lives and are used in a number of ways, often by different people.  While these functions are cool, I don't think people are going to travel all around their city or take an entire vacation to another city in order to unlock the geographical features of an interactive ebook.  The exception to this could possibly be travel books that provide information linked to books you have read or interesting historical facts as you travel throughout the city.  Traveling through Paris with an ebook on Paris explaining the history of the city at various time periods could be quite entertaining.  Learning about the catacombs and viewing a map of them under the city while you walk over the street to enjoy your morning coffee sounds like a wonderful experience.

In my opinion the really amazing opportunities for ebooks of the future will lie with the way they can tie information with the location in which you're in.  Travel ebooks will provide the user with information before their vacation and continue to unveil it while they are in their final destination.  Imagine how amazing learning about the Colisseum before a trip to Rome and then having new information unveiled while you're walking through it through video, picture and audio would be. 

Kindle's Answer to the Leather Bound Book

Tech blogs are abuzz today talking about a surprise new announcement from Amazon. Yesterday the tech giant announced the refresh to their popular Kindle e-reader line. Both the standard Kindle and premium Kindle Paperwhite will be receiving a boost in their processors and screen resolutions. Both models will also be receiving a significant increase in storage, allowing the largest of e-libraries to be housed on a single device locally.

The biggest piece of news from the press event was the announcement of a new, unexpected e-reader to be added to the line: The Amazon Kindle Voyage.

Touted as the "Rolls Royce" of e-readers. The $200 device offers the exact same functionality as the much cheaper Kindle Paperwhite, with a fun additional, premium features. These features include a glass screen (rather than treated plastic), a gorgeous new body, an ambient light sensor and a new way to "interact with contact" called PagePress.

PagePress will allow readers to squeeze either side of the Voyage to turn a digital page. This removes the necessity to swipe or reach across the device when holding the device with one hand. Also added with the PagePress is a small motor that will provide "tactile" "haptic" feedback upon turning a page. It has been described as pleasant and not distracting.

What is interesting to me about this device is that it offers absolutely no additional functionality than the model that is over $100 less. Other than a few premium features and a very different looking back, the three devices look near identical (as seen above - Kindle on left, Paperwhite center, Voyage on Right). Amazon touts the Voyage as "the e-reader you display on your coffee table."

Considering out discussions in class about the pride we feel displaying books in libraries or special hard bound editions of certain volumes; do we think that a higher end container for your digital, non enhanced content is worthwhile? Is anyone interested this product? Are we surprised as reading habits evolve that such a device would emerge?

What is a book?

This question has been haunting me since our first class discussion. What is a book?!?
The answer to this question matters. Definitions matter. They are the foundation of our understanding of things. They influence our expectations and direct our actions.  Defining the book is especailly relevant as new technologies in enhanced books blurs the lines of our traditional understanding of the book. As we work on creating our own interactive books, I think it's important to return to this question to help clarify our projects. In creating interactive narratives with all the exciting tools that technology offers, we may run the risk of creating a cool app or interactive text based game and losing the essence of the book.

I've posted some thoughts about the definition of the book below. I would love to continue this conversation throughout the semester as we create our books and see if our understanding changes. 

Merriam-Webster dictionary:
 a :  a set of written sheets of skin or paper or tablets of wood or ivory

b :  a set of written, printed, or blank sheets bound together into a volume

c :  a long written or printed literary composition

d :  a major division of a treatise or literary work
(* The dictionary has not yet accounted for the advent of ebooks and enhanced ebooks in its definition)

What is a Book? by Alexis C. Madrigal
"In the Kindle era, it seems pretty obvious. There is an implicit argument in the act of digitizing a book and removing it from the shelf: a book is its text. A book is a unique string of words, as good as its bits. 
But printed books are also objects, manufactured objects, owned objects, objects that have been marked by pencils and time and coffee cups and the oils from our skin. "A book is more than a bag of words," the project's founder, University of Virginia's Andrew Stauffer, told me. "These books as objects have a lot to tell us."
(* This is an interesting article. It discusses the BookTraces project and the physicality of books. There are some interesting ideas about how the social community connects to books in this article also.) 

What Is a Book? The Definition Continues to Blur by Mathew Ingram

"It used to be so easy to define what a book was: a collection of printed pages bound inside a cover (hard or soft) that you could place on a shelf in your library, or in a store. Now, there are e-books, and blogs that turn into books, and long pieces of journalism that are somewhere between magazine articles and short books — like the recent opus written by author John Krakauer, published through a new service called Byliner — and a whole series of ongoing attempts to reimagine the entire industry of writing and selling books. If you’re an author, it’s a time of incredible chaos, but also incredible opportunity."

The Importance of Packaging

Photo by: Jie Savage, Sydney Australia, 2014

In 1945, Penguin publisher Victor Weybright (American) argued graphics and illustrations were necessary for the American market. He wrote "The general intention of our covers is to attract Americans, who, more elementary than the Britishers, are schooled from infancy to disdain even the best product unless it is smoothly packaged and merchandised."

Is it true today? Do you judge a book by its cover?

(Source: http://mentalfloss.com/article/12247/how-paperbacks-transformed-way-americans-read)

Ikea's "bookbook"

"Experience the power of the bookbook! " Ikea's new campaign mocks Apple and the trendy digital books in a funny way.