Except for their earliest incarnation as clay tablets, books have been printed on various forms of paper, papyrus, parchment, or pulp. But as the printed word becomes digital, it actually is not printed on anything, just represented on a screen. In this case, will the content still be considered a book? Think about how newspapers and magazines are continually changing, how Facebook has rendered the college yearbook almost extinct, how digital photos have done the same to bound photo albums, or what a recorded music album means in the era of the music download. How has content and accessibility changed with these evolution? In the light of all of this, what is the meaning of the bound book in our culture? How do we interpret a lush paneled room full of literary classics, a large glossy "coffee table" book, or a well worn in textbook? Will we still buy books based on their covers if there is no actual paper cover? If the primary reading medium becomes a screen, will we still want to read text on a screen that reminds us of a book, or will the small screen of an iPod or mobile phone suffice?
In this review of Amazon's Kindle, author Ezra Klein wrote in the Columbia Journalism Review that "just as the early television shows were really radio programs with moving images, the early electronic books are simply printed text uploaded to a computer." If that is the case, what will the coming generation make of books? Will the solitary pursuit of reading, as Klein notes, become a social activity, with immediate connections to other readers and the author? Will a book purchase be an admission fee for an ongoing relationship with updates or new chapters from the author.
Printed words on paper, bound together, creates a natural enclosure to the communication of reading. It is just the individual reader interpreting an author's story, long after it has been written. Is that activity the essential nature of the book as a mass medium? Or can the book, with words released from paper, evolve into an entirely new communicative practice?
Very interesting -- I wish you had contributed thoughts like this in class! 10 points.
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