The first thing that Mod says at the beginning of his
discussion is that in order to think about the future of the book, we have to
think about the future of all content and the connections between the platforms
where the content is published.
Two features of the future book defined by Mod, which I
found most intriguing, were the authorial shift and the artificiality that takes
place in the digital format.
Mod explains that digital books can be constantly updated in
real-time. Time itself becomes an active ingredient in authorship, he says. Mod
uses Wikipedia as an example of this. Wikipedia is a collaborative form of
authorship and it is continuously evolving.
Books on the other hand, have more of a sense of permanence.
The words are embedded in the paper, unchangeable once the book is printed.
What exists on the pages today will remain there tomorrow and the next day and
the next day. Books are reliable.
Does this mean that digital books are unreliable? Mod says
once the format changes from print to digital, the books become artificial. Books
in the digital format may only exist that way for an instance because they can
constantly be updated.
The most memorable claim that Mod makes towards the end is
that Digital has more of a promise of shared experiences. This is not to say
that printed books do not allow for shared experiences, but the possibilities
are greater with digital.
No comments:
Post a Comment