Written March 22, 2010
This paper will examine the digitalization of written literary works, including scholarly works and other non-academic texts such as fiction, and the potential impacts this technological advancement will have on the individual and on society as a whole.
Not only are academic journals and scholarly articles being experienced via electronic interfaces, entire textbooks and novels are now being published electronically. Moreover, it is no longer only the publishers, software producers and market research firms who are excitedly anticipating electronic distribution, “announcing an ever-shifting series of commercial ventures and alliances to produce material for electronic distribution”, but “authors are also exploring digital books as new means of reaching audiences”.
A collaborative comparative analysis of e-readers offers a background on the subject, “The idea of the e-book, loosely defined as books that were read on small, portable computers, first emerged in science fiction fifty years ago, and it became a realizable vision as developments in technology allowed for smaller, more portable and yet more powerful computing devices... The first dedicated e-Book device seems to have been the Sony Bookman, introduced in 1992, after which followed releases of e-book devices from many companies through the decade” (Gingras et al. 3).
Various texts have been published online for years, including newspapers, magazines, and periodicals. Now, all kinds of texts are available in digitised form and “[a]t the turn of the century this digitalisation of the written language finally reached the book publishing industry” (Hillesund).
This shift from paper to screen, once portrayed as futuristic science-fiction fantasy, is becoming increasingly predominant in the realm of literature and publishing. Clifford Lynch raises fundamental questions pertaining to this inevitable shift, and points out that “…the elimination or suppression of the book…has been a staple of science fiction for decades, even fundamentally apolitical films such as the early Star Trek movies incidentally celebrate printed books as charmingly archaic collector’s items”. Electronic books are no longer a sci-fi fantasy; they are constantly being modified and improved to appeal to the masses, and will likely soon dominate reading practices. What does this say about our future, and the future of the printed book?
Leanna Gingras and her colleagues discuss the new technology’s struggle over the past decade as the e-book had gotten off to a rocky start, but things are finally looking up. The first prototypes were “expensive, proprietary and not user-friendly”. Barnes & Noble launched an e-book store and Stephen King began to do some exploring, releasing new novels for sale online. Despite these initial attempts, which did indeed prop up “the burgeoning industry early in the 21st century, e-books died in 2003 in the dot-com bust due to ‘inadequate reading devices, the lack of a robust catalog of available titles from publishers and pricing issues’ (Herther 46)”. The e-book industry has proceeded cautiously since then, growing gradually. “In 2007 it grossed $28.8 million in wholesale e-book sales, a substantial increase from $10.8 million in 2005 (IDPF), and projects an annual growth rate of 20-40%. Currently the industry is optimistic, as the recent spate of e-Readers shows, but it is still in the early stages of development and faces competition from other technological options” (Gingras et al. 3).
Consumers purchase electronic books online, receiving a digital copy of the text in return, to be read using a digital device which accommodates this emerging phenomenon. Technological advances in light-weight, portable digital devices allow consumers to carry with them countless books, access virtually any text, at any time from anywhere, paying a fraction of the price of a material copy. “E-books have characteristics that in some ways supersede those of traditional books, being more flexible and accessible than paper books will ever be. E-books are a new, self-contained medium that will have an enormous impact in time on society” (Hillesund, 1).
Nicholas Carr questions the implications of the internet and new technological interfaces in his article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” He admits to appreciating and benefitting from the obvious advantages of the internet, stating that “research that once required days in the stacks or periodical rooms of libraries can now be done in minutes”, and that for him, as for others, “the Net is becoming a universal medium, the conduit for most of the information that flows through [his] eyes and ears and into [his] mind”.
However, “as the media theorist Marshall McLuhan pointed out in the 1960s, media are not just passive channels of information. They supply the stuff of thought, but they also shape the process of thought.” Carr reaches the conclusion that “what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away at [his] capacity for concentration and contemplation”. “Computers and networks have changed society and our way of thinking and living” (Hillesund, 1). Not only is the way we read changing with these technological advances and the utilization of screen interfaces rather than traditional printed paper, the way we think is also changing, and that is frightening.
David Beer examines the evolutionary advances and transformations the MP3 has instilled on music, as well as collecting, archiving, and listening practices. His analyses and arguments can be used to make a similar connection to the evolution of the book as it enters its new digital age, as the claims he makes are applicable to this technological advancement as well: “In this context of relative mass and escalating appropriation we are faced with a series of pressing sociological questions concerning the transformative capacities of these technologies” (71).
Beer argues that we have begun to think of music in a new way; “recontextualizing music”, as the prevailing MP3 form situates music as a virtual entity, rather than its original physical existence and presence. This shift from vinyl record, tape, or CD to digitalized recording has the potential to completely obsolesce the physical version of music; “reconfiguring of music”, and therefore alter the concept of music collecting and archiving. Furthermore, the MP3 player enables individuals to carry their music collections with them wherever they go, bringing music into public spaces, which had once remained in the confines of private spaces. This shift from bulky stereos and cluttered CD collections to convenient, mobile pocket-sized pieces of plastic which have the capacity to hold an ever-increasing amount of music (Beer, 71).
Beer’s claims are applicable to digital books, as MP3 players have done to music what digital books will do to written texts. MP3s and MP3 players have rendered vinyl records, tapes and CDs obsolete, and digital books and e-book readers will similarly replace printed books. The reconfiguration of written texts as virtual rather than physical also implicates book collecting/archiving; and the e-book reader is recontextualizing written texts by moving them out across the spaces of everyday life, a process that transcends boundaries between public and private zones. While it is true that one can easily read a printed book in a public space, the e-book and e-book readers allow access from any location, enabling users to access any book they choose at the tap of a finger, without having to remember to bring along a book, and without having to always carry them around.
Beer points to Katherine Hayles’ “conceptualization of ‘incorporative’ and ‘inscriptive’ practices allied with Apple’s own theory of the iPod as an ‘iconic interface’ cultivating an auratic ‘veneer of simplicity’” (71). Beer explains that Apple and companies of the like are producing ever-increasingly simplistic devices, which operate as a screen or window into these complex networks. The simplicity of these devices appeals to users. No one has the time, patience or energy to fiddle around and learn how to use their new phone, computer, MP3 player, etc., so manufacturers have begun to produce overly simplistic devices which are attractive to us, and simultaneously disable users to tamper with the technology. This new simplicity enables users to use the device for its intended purposes, while disabling users to make changes and alter the intended usage of the product. Also, while blocking internal access to their devices, companies and manufacturers have eliminated the users’ previous opportunities to have their damaged or old devices repaired or renewed, resulting in them having to purchase a new product.
Lynch explains that in 1999, two years before he had published his paper discussing digital books, “most e-books came from small startups” and by 2001, the year he had written the paper, the field had become “dominated by very large companies like Microsoft, Adobe (which purchased a small company called Glassbook that pioneered e-book reader software and rights management systems to support e-books), and Gemstar” (1).
Innovative handheld devices, such as Amazon’s Kindle and Apple’s iPad, are surfacing as the digitalization of books seems to be increasingly understood as a more efficient and effective means of consuming texts, in terms of searching, accessing, purchasing, storing, and transporting. “Commercial publishing interests are presenting the future of the book in the digital world through the promotion of e-book reading appliances and software” (Lynch, 1).
In order to investigate whether fiction e-books can successfully become part of people’s reading habits, two complementary studies were drawn together: the Visual Book project, “which found that electronic texts which closely resemble their paper counterparts in terms of visual components such as size, quality and design were received positively by users”, and the EBONI Project “which aimed to define a set of best practice guidelines for designing electronic textbooks…[and] can also be applied to the design of fiction e-books…[T]his study suggests that concentrating on the appearance of text, rather than the technology itself, can lead to better quality publications to rival the print version of fiction books” (Malama, Landoni, and Wilson 1).
However, looking past the initial beneficiary characteristics of digital literature, it is important to consider the impact this change will have on reading. It has been noted that the advent of the internet, and the ever increasing usage of computers and the internet, has altered the ways in which individuals read and think. The nature of the medium allows and encourages users to scan through longer texts, surf from page to page, and also enables users to simply search for unknown and/or forgotten information, weakening their capacity to (and the necessity to) absorb and retain, concentrate and contemplate what is being read.
Will the electronic book render the material book obsolete? Is lending a good book to a friend a thing of the past? Will libraries and bookstores be replaced by iTunes and Amazon.ca? Will individuals increasingly become more and more isolated from one another as these devices enable and encourage less face-to-face socializing and interaction? As continuous advances bolstering technological devices surpass the abilities and capacities of the human brain, while also diminishing intellectual abilities of individuals, will humankind evolve into a mindless, stupid mass, unable to process information? Will future authors condense and simplify their writing to engage with less interested, more distracted readers? Will writing and reading books come to an end, out of disinterest?
Lynch realizes that “the prospects for digital books and e-book readers are beginning to capture the public imagination’; “[Readers] somehow know that the inexorable advance of technology will likely eventually render the printed book obsolete”, and they are eager to voice their concerns, “Much of the discussion seems to be about whether, and if so when, e-books will replace traditional print-on-paper books, and a great deal of debate is infused with sentimental appeals to reading on the beach or in the bath, the joys of finely printed books, and of browsing in good bookstores” (Lynch, 1). “Ownership is the most intimate relationship that one can have to objects” (Benjamin 69, Beer 72).
Electronic publishing of books is the next digital step society is taking. As Terje Hillesund puts it, “it was only a matter of time before someone started to tear the vast quantities of content of books out of their printed paper pages and attempted to generate income in the networks of the new economy”(1). It is worth considering the sociological impacts this development could potentially have on the individual reader and thought processes, society as a whole, and also ideas of culture and history, which have essentially been shaped, defined and preserved through literature. Could this innovation be in fact a step in the wrong direction?
Works Cited
Beer, D. (2008). The Iconic Interface and the Veneer of Simplicity: MP3 players and the reconfiguration of music collecting and reproduction practices in the digital age. Information, Communication & Society, 11(1).
Carr, N. (2008). “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” Atlantic Monthly, 63.Cavanaugh, Terence. "EBooks and Accommodations: Is this the Future of Print Accommodation?" TEACHING Exceptional Children 35.2 (2002): 56-61. ERIC.
Gingras, Leanna, et al. “Comparative Analysis of E-Readers: The Sony Reader PRS 505.” University of Michigan. (2008): 3-17.
Hillesund, Terje. “Will E-books Change the World?” First Monday. 6.10. (2001). Peer- Reviewed Journal on the Internet.
Landoni, Monica, et al. “Evaluating the Usability of Portable Electronic Books.” Symposium on Applied Computing. (2003): 564-568.
Landoni, Monica, et al. “Fiction Electronic Books: a Usability Study.” Lecture Notes in Computer Science. 3232. (2004): 69-79. SpringerLink.
Lowry, Tom. "E-Books: The Next Chapter." Business Week, no.3723 (2001): 76. Reader's Guide Abstracts @ Scholars Portal.
Lynch, Clifford. “The Battle to Define the Future of the Book in the Digital World.” First Monday 6.6 (2001). Peer-Reviewed Journal on the Internet.
Marshall, Catherine, et al. “Reading-in-the-small: a study of reading on small form factor devices.” International Conference on Digital Libraries. (2002): 56-64.
Rich, Motoko. "Off the Shelf, Onto the Laptop, Libraries Turn to Digital Books." The New York Times 159.54829 (2009): A1(L). Expanded Academic ASAP @ Scholars Portal.
Striphas, Ted. "Disowning Commodities: Ebooks, Capitalism, and Intellectual Property Law." Television & New Media 7.3 (2006): 231-60. PAIS International.
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