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Clive Thompson on the Future of Reading in a Digital World

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Saved by 51 people (-1 private), first by anonymouse user on 2009-05-25


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Books are the last bastion of the old business model—the only major medium that still hasn't embraced the digital age. Publishers and author advocates have generally refused to put books online for fear the content will be Napsterized.

Highlighted by johnfenn3

Books are the last bastion of the old business model—the only major medium that still hasn't embraced the digital age. Publishers and author advocates have generally refused to put books online for fear the content will be Napsterized. And you can understand their terror, because the publishing industry is in big financial trouble, rife with layoffs and restructurings. Literary pundits are fretting: Can books survive in this Facebooked, ADD, multichannel universe?

Highlighted by jmedved

But only if publishers adopt Wark's perspective and provide new ways for people to encounter the written word

Highlighted by rjacklin

We need to stop thinking about the future of publishing and think instead about the future of reading.

Highlighted by msittig

We need to stop thinking about the future of publishing and think instead about the future of reading.

Highlighted by leekevp

We need to stop thinking about the future of publishing and think instead about the future of reading.

Highlighted by rjacklin

on 2009-09-11 by rjacklin

Love the distinction made between publishing and reading! Well put!

on 2009-10-12 by morainium

Well put indeed.

We need to stop thinking about the future of publishing and think instead about the future of reading.

Highlighted by kmitchel

Highlighted by kmitchel

on 2009-05-28 by kmitchel

I really like this editorial, especially this statement.

Every other form of media that's gone digital has been transformed by its audience. Whenever a newspaper story or TV clip or blog post or white paper goes online, readers and viewers begin commenting about it on blogs, snipping their favorite sections, passing them along. The only reason the same thing doesn't happen to books is that they're locked into ink on paper.

Highlighted by willrich

transformed by its audience.

Highlighted by rjacklin

on 2009-09-11 by rjacklin

This the REAL digital revolution.

Release them, and you release the crowd

Highlighted by scmorgan

on 2009-06-03 by scmorgan

And build a community of learners..

Books have a centuries-old tradition of annotation and commentary, ranging from the Talmud and scholarly criticism to book clubs and marginalia

Highlighted by morainium

Book nerds are now working on XML-like markup languages that would allow for really terrific linking and mashups. Imagine a world where there's a URL for every chapter and paragraph in a book—every sentence, even.

Highlighted by taryn930

Stein believes that if books were set free digitally

Highlighted by goodwordediting

on 2009-06-05 by goodwordediting

I'm leaving this comment with Diigo and looking at other comments other Diigo users have already posted. This idea of "professional readers" is already here. It just hasn't been standardized or widely adopted yet.

This would massively improve what bibliophiles call book discovery.

Highlighted by braddo

The few authors who have experimented with giving away digital copies (mostly in sci-fi) have found that they end up selling more print copies, because their books are discovered by more people.

Highlighted by bjornhg

on 2009-05-28 by bjornhg

This, of course, is an essential point if it turns out to be true also if more books were made available digitally.

I'm not suggesting that books need always be social. One of the chief pleasures of a book is mental solitude, that deep, quiet focus on an author's thoughts—and your own. That's not going away. But books have been held hostage offline for far too long. Taking them digital will unlock their real hidden value: the readers.

Highlighted by braddo