[WEB4LIB] Re: NYT magazine piece on e-books

[Tom Peters]

Although I don't intend to defend Weisberg's article overall, I do think it
contains some ideas (or at least kernels of ideas) worth considering.  It's
unfortunate, however, that Weisberg chose to use inflammatory language, such
as describing printed books as "dust-catching objects" (Research question:
Which object attracts dust faster:  a printed book or a Rocket eBook?) and
people who are skeptical of electronic reading devices as "literary
technophobes".

Anyway, here are some things I consider worth pondering, IMHO:

1.  attempting to put an new technological development into some sort of
historical perspective usually (or always) is a good thing, assuming that
the attempt is undertaken in good faith and with a knowledge of history.
Public opinion on ebooks seems to fall onto a continuum with the following
extremes:  this is something completely new and different, and this is
something that has happened previously and frequently in various historical
phases of human communication.  An appeal to history often lets cooler heads
prevail.  

2.  Weisberg's observation that "serious and unserious readers alike have
much to gain from the new technology."  I don't know why he divides readers
into two such camps, but for me, one of the more interesting aspects of the
current hubbub over ebooks is the possibility that the new devices and
software hold for complementing "mere" reading of a text.  The facility with
which readers will be able to create hyperlinks within and across etexts,
use a dictionary look-up feature, add notes and marginalia (then search and
share these notes among fellow readers), use audiobooks on demand (i.e.,
switch from reading to listening in the midst of an interaction with a
text), etc. seems to hold some promise, at least in the abstract, if not in
the actual execution.

3.  Weisberg's assertion that the "book is the text's container, not its
essence" resonated with some of my current thinking.  Much of the current
hype and debate about books (both e and p) tends to confuse and conflate the
experience of the text with the experience of the text-bearing device.
Although I've yet to think of some way whereby a human could experience a
text without also, inextricably experiencing the text-bearing device, once
I've read the same or similar text via multiple text-bearing devices, at
least mentally I can distinguish and separate the two components of the
experience.  For example, I've read Huck Finn in a cheap paperback edition,
a nice Library of America edition, and at least parts (e.g., the wonderful
"Ode to Stephen Dowling Botts" section) off my desktop computer screen.
Although each experience with the text-bearing device was quite different, I
still was able to recognize, appreciate, and enjoy the "pure" text.  (Some
theorists about texts may argue that my sense of recognition and sameness is
chimerical.) 

At this point in the development of the *debate* about the future of the
book, I wish I could find a good, calm,
historically/technologically/theoretically informed summary of the primary
arguments for and against ebooks.  Does anyone know of such a document?   

Tom

Thomas A. Peters
Director, Center for Library Initiatives
Committee on Institutional Cooperation
302 East John Street, Suite 1705
Champaign, IL 61820-5698
Phone (217) 244-9239
Fax (217) 244-7127
Email tpeters at cic.uiuc.edu
Web http//www.cic.uiuc.edu

CLI Secretary: Darlene Hutchinson (djhutchin at cic.uiuc.edu 217-244-9239)


-----Original Message-----
From: Sloan, Bernie [mailto:bernies at uillinois.edu]
Sent: Tuesday, June 06, 2000 8:14 AM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: [WEB4LIB] Re: NYT magazine piece on e-books



Roy,

I didn't say WHY the article was interesting......   :-)

You mentioned how TV didn't kill off radio.....another good example is how
neither TV, nor the VCR, killed off the film industry. The introduction of
moveable type, however, did kinda put a damper on the manuscript business!
:-)

I think the current hype about e-books is reminiscent of the hype about the
paperless office some 20-25 years ago. The computer didn't replace
paper....in fact, I believe that paper production is higher now than it was
back then. Some stuff works better on paper, some stuff works better on the
computer. I think the "real world" will continue to be a mix of resources in
various formats, with e-books being good at some things, and paper books
being good at other things.

Bernie

-----Original Message-----
From: Roy Tennant [mailto:rtennant at library.berkeley.edu]
Sent: Monday, June 05, 2000 5:12 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: [WEB4LIB] Re: NYT magazine piece on e-books


Quote from the article cited below:

"In the near future, books will cost little or nothing, never go out of
print and remain eternally available throughout the wired world."

Is this guy on drugs? Hey, the last time I checked music CDs cost *more*
than LPs, even though they were much cheaper to make. Since when is the
publishing industry going to start giving this stuff away? Never go out of
print? If you want any chance to retain copyright in this "wired world"
you must keep a very tight grip on your content. So what happens to this
content when a publisher with a proprietary format goes belly-up?
Eternally available? He clearly doesn't have the first clue about digital
preservation issues.

He spends most of the brief piece saying how much he enjoys his Rocket
eBook (which is fine), and then quickly polishes off the "literary
technophobes" by quoting the most radical and painting them in terms like
"hostile", "misguided", and "jaded". Now here is the kind of informed
debate I expect of the New York Times (not).

This paean to e-books just adds to the pile of hype about e-books and
unfortunately does nothing to prepare people for the *real* world in which
they will find themselves -- a mix of print and digital. Television did
not kill radio for some very good reasons. E-books will not kill print
ones for the same basic reason -- they are simply better at different
things. Then add in all the legacy stuff which will *never* be digital,
and you've got one complicated (but interesting) world. Welcome to real
life, Jacob Weisberg, not the simplistic "wired world" you envision.
Roy

On Mon, 5 Jun 2000, Sloan, Bernie wrote:

> 
> An interesting (and brief) article on e-books from yesterday's New York
> Times Magazine:
> 
> http://www.nytimes.com/library/magazine/home/20000604mag-ebook.html
> 
> Bernie Sloan
> Senior Library Information Systems Consultant
> University of Illinois Office for Planning and Budgeting
> 338 Henry Administration Building
> 506 S. Wright Street
> Urbana, IL  61801
> Phone:  (217) 333-4895
> Fax:      (217) 333-6355
> E-mail:  bernies at uillinois.edu
> 
>