future of the book seminar
The first ever credit seminar on the future of the book is about to begin. Tuesdays, Aug 31 to Oct 5, 6 to 8:30 pm, South Conference room, Main Library, University of Iowa
Lesson Plan, session topics,
1. Future of Reading, Aug 31
a. RIT conference
b. affordances of print reading
c. neurology and haptics of reading
d. slow or fast (cross platform) reading
e. tour of bibliography
2. Future of the Book, Sept 7
a. ALA strategic future of print
b. advance of the codex
c. book mimicry of reading devices
d. faculty format survey
e. interdependence of print and screen
f. (guest participation, CBAA Officer)
3. Future of Book Production, Sept 14
a. printing automation, electrostatic
b. image and binding transformation
c. (guest participation, UI Press Specialist)
4. Future of Book Mediation, Sept 21
a. storage, display and life cycle costs
b. academic and commercial views
c. google settlement
d. status of books
e. (guest participation)
5. (optional picnic, Saturday 25)
6. Project work session, Sept 28
7. Project presentations, Oct 5
machine reading
“The historian George Dyson has written that a Google engineer once said to him: “We are not scanning all those books to be read by people.” NYT
The trope of machine reading began with the photocopier. It turned the book up-side down.
print gone in 5 years
Telereaders have projected the disappearance of print books in 5 years. We posted this remark:
You guys are all smoking dirty socks. It is a false correlate to imagine that increasing screen delivery has anything to do with diminishing print delivery. To begin with all screen books have a print version. Even more relevant, screen delivery will compound any number of times without influence of print distribution. Annual print has increased sales consistently for the past eleven years at single digits over a huge installed base. Annual screen delivery has increased from a zero base over the same period. Last year print shot up annually to double digits in part from the new stream of print and publish on demand.
About twenty years ago I was in the back of the room at an ALA “big heads” meeting between research library directors and publishers. One publisher projected that by 2010 only 10% of all publication would be delivered in print (and yet it is still 100%). Ross Atkinson from Cornell immediately jumped up and said that a 10% print titles growth at the rate of increase of the 90’s would project to a doubling of the size of print libraries by 2010….and they would be the real books. That prophesy, based on 10% selection, has come true.
Those projecting the demise of print should watch the exceptionally small niche of books published exclusively for the screen.