five hundred years of backlog
The latest
Kirtas scanner is a beauty evoking the speed, action, flexibility and precision of the Heidelberg windmill jobber. In a curious way it is a printing press, reprinting books.
If Google Print does even partially succeed in conversion of research library books it would be wise to invest in the paper making and edition binding industry. Google Print and many other applications of the Kirtas book scanner will result in massive enterprise in print-on-demand services.
The surge in books-on-demand would come from the larger market for “books in print” provided by the Google imaging. Companies large and small like
Lightning Source or
Acme Books will realize a whole new production stream. They will quickly build Amazon like fronts to meet the demand and build on it.
Such an emergence will also factor into the future of the book regarding paper vs. screen reading. It would be ironic if the most massive effort to bring books to the screen actually resulted in their reprinting.
Bet you a quarter .
short story
Ever wish for the short version of the incessant ramblings at FotB? Here is the quick,
convenience package.
flavors of meaning
Advocates for the paper book often contend that the ìmaterialityî of the book is an attribute lacking in screen presentations. Whatever this materiality, the purely physical qualities are not crucial, but the materiality of the meaning is. The formats color or flavor meanings, in paper but no less in the immateriality of screen presentation. The large quilt of the paper newspaper or the chosen aperture of screen news each change the meaning of the dayís events.