Dr. Thornburg (2008a) defines the Rhyme of History as being an affect or impact of a new development that rekindle something from the distance past. E-book rekindling goes all the way back to Plato the classical Greek Philosopher. How do E-books relates to Plato? Well Plato had a great distrust for the written word, stating that words were “silent; they cannot speak, answer questions, or come to their own defense” (The History of E-books, p. 1). If Plato were alive today, he would be flabbergasted at how wrong he was.
We can fast forward to Germany in 1440 and the invention of the Gutenberg printing press;
even though movable type was already in use in China, a few hundred years earlier. The precision of the Gutenberg’s typesetting was the essential element required for western printing. The relatively inexpensive books were produced on paper, as opposed to parchment. This removed the power of the written word from the hands of the clergy and gave it to the educated middle class (The History of E-books, p. 1).
In 1830, Penny dreadful (similar to how modern comic books) made their appearance. In 1930, paperback books came on the scene. Most of these books would not have been allowed within a hundred yards of a public library or a reader of “serious” literature. Today paperback books are considered a legitimate form of publishing (The History of E-books, p. 1).
E-books appearance on the web was easily shared, was stored on a hard drive or storage disk, and quickly began to proliferate (The History of E-books, p. 1). This industry is still relatively young, generally marking its beginnings in 2000; however, its early years have been marked by market hype, investor fallout and slow market development. Today's industry is at a pivotal point: can obstacles to maturity be overcome or will the industry be either subsumed by the larger consumer electronics or web-based industries (Herther, 2005, p.45). The reason E-books are on an evolutionary path is that many consumers had not embraced the concept of reading literature from a computer until Oprah got involved. When Oprah Winfrey announced that Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader was her favorite gadget at that point, e-books met popular culture. Amazon couldn’t keep enough Kindles in stock to meet the demand. Sony also introduced a portable reader using the same e-ink display (The History of E-books, p. 2). V-Tech also joined the band wagon and introduced the V-Tech Reader for children four – seven years old.
E-books rekindle actual printed; bound books that came about many centuries ago. I believe this technology path is sustainable, because by the year of 2020, very few people will be reading from a traditional book and the e-book cost will decline much like the cost of the first calculator. This bring us back to the famous quote by Mark Twain, “History may not repeat itself, but it sure rhyme a lot” as quoted by (Dr. Thornburg, 2008a Vodcast --the Rhymes of History).
Another way to look at the Rhyme of History is through Kevin Kelly speech, “The next 5,000 Days of the Web,” wherein he discusses the ways the Web will be transformed over the next 5,000 days through embodiment, restricting, and codependency (Kelly, 2007).
We can fast forward to Germany in 1440 and the invention of the Gutenberg printing press;
even though movable type was already in use in China, a few hundred years earlier. The precision of the Gutenberg’s typesetting was the essential element required for western printing. The relatively inexpensive books were produced on paper, as opposed to parchment. This removed the power of the written word from the hands of the clergy and gave it to the educated middle class (The History of E-books, p. 1).In 1830, Penny dreadful (similar to how modern comic books) made their appearance. In 1930, paperback books came on the scene. Most of these books would not have been allowed within a hundred yards of a public library or a reader of “serious” literature. Today paperback books are considered a legitimate form of publishing (The History of E-books, p. 1).
E-books appearance on the web was easily shared, was stored on a hard drive or storage disk, and quickly began to proliferate (The History of E-books, p. 1). This industry is still relatively young, generally marking its beginnings in 2000; however, its early years have been marked by market hype, investor fallout and slow market development. Today's industry is at a pivotal point: can obstacles to maturity be overcome or will the industry be either subsumed by the larger consumer electronics or web-based industries (Herther, 2005, p.45). The reason E-books are on an evolutionary path is that many consumers had not embraced the concept of reading literature from a computer until Oprah got involved. When Oprah Winfrey announced that Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader was her favorite gadget at that point, e-books met popular culture. Amazon couldn’t keep enough Kindles in stock to meet the demand. Sony also introduced a portable reader using the same e-ink display (The History of E-books, p. 2). V-Tech also joined the band wagon and introduced the V-Tech Reader for children four – seven years old.E-books rekindle actual printed; bound books that came about many centuries ago. I believe this technology path is sustainable, because by the year of 2020, very few people will be reading from a traditional book and the e-book cost will decline much like the cost of the first calculator. This bring us back to the famous quote by Mark Twain, “History may not repeat itself, but it sure rhyme a lot” as quoted by (Dr. Thornburg, 2008a Vodcast --the Rhymes of History).
Another way to look at the Rhyme of History is through Kevin Kelly speech, “The next 5,000 Days of the Web,” wherein he discusses the ways the Web will be transformed over the next 5,000 days through embodiment, restricting, and codependency (Kelly, 2007).
Thornburg, D. (2008a). “Rhymes of History” Vobcast. Lake Barrington, IL: Thornburg Center for Space Exploration.
http://www.ebookweek.com/history.html
http://www.ebookweek.com/history.html
Kelly, K. (2007, December). The next 5,000 days of the Web [Speech]. Speech delivered at the EG 2007 Conference, Los Angeles. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/kevin_kelly_on_the_next_5_000_days_of_the_web.html
Nancy K. Herther, (2005) "The e-book industry today: a bumpy road becomes an evolutionary path to market maturity", Electronic Library, The, 23-1 p. 45 – 53. Retrieve on January 5, 2011 from: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=1464892&show=html
We learned that with Moore's law, evolutionary technologies start out expensive and gradually become affordable. The e-reader is already so affordable, do you think this signals a possible replacement? Some reasearchers say that smartphones will take over e-readers, because users already have access to their phone and do not need an additional technology (Franzen, 2009). I'm not sure about the future of the e-reader, but personally, the thought of having to read on a small screen is not appealing to me. I wonder if this is another factor to the rise of this technology. Do you think tablet PCs could also make this technology obsolete, or do you think it will continue to advance?
ReplyDeleteMarci
Franzen, C. (2009, October 10). Welcoming the e-reader era [Web log comment]. Retrieved from http://www.theatlanticwire.com/opinions/view/opinion/Welcoming-the-E-Reader-Era-1267#
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ReplyDeleteHi Marci:
ReplyDeleteEvolutionary technology always seems to morph into a new technology. My theory is that e-readers are here to stay. If you notices they now have e-readers that are flatter and larger, but they are more expensive. So what I suspect it that as time goes on people will be carrying around smaller notebooks that will also be adaptable tablets for e-reading.
Hi Marci:
ReplyDeleteEvolutionary technology always seems to morph into a new technology. My theory is that e-readers are here to stay. If you notices they now have e-readers that are flatter and larger, but they are more expensive. So what I suspect it that as time goes on people will be carrying around smaller notebooks that will also be adaptable tablets for e-reading.
Joanne,
ReplyDeleteI think the fact that more than one of us chose the same technology is a direct reflection of how ebooks have taken off...what is even better is that we all took a different approach to the same technology
I think that if manufacturers want to attract older aged readers, using smartphones would not be best. As we age, vision decreases, therefore things need to bigger not smaller. I see the market growing with ereaders in older adults even though it's another piece of technology to transport.
ReplyDelete