Animation would be just the ticket to spice up many a nonfiction book—especially textbooks on, say, physics or auto mechanics.
E Ink earlier said this was a goal. And the video to the left demonstrates the advantages of such an approach in the AM300 developer’s kit.
How much better to see tech in action than just read explanations!
Newspaper angle
The newspaper industry and others could also benefit from moving ads and other animations, particularly when color is available. The animation-color combo just might show up in E Ink machines costing less than $200, in the next five-ten years. In fact, we’d really be talking full-motion video—short movies, in other words.
Granted, that’s a mere guess, but plausible; got any opinions of your own on this? And what about other technologies? Or the possibilities for cellphones? Or even low-power laptops and tablets with touch screens? Touch is already a feature of the new Sony Reader PRS-700, which uses E Ink and has a much faster refresh rate than earlier machines using similar technology.
The big challenge will be for newspapers and others to show restraint and not overwhelm the readers with high-tech huckstery, which could lessen the joys of text.
The fiction angle: I’m more excited about animation for nonfiction, but for what it’s worth, here’s information on a fiction-related video experiment at HarperCollins (not involving E Ink). It’s video of an author, not mere animation. But you can imagine animation as well—for, say, manga comics.
Related: YouTube page, Engadget, earlier TeleRead items on E Ink
Housekeeping: Yes, I’m back, but for only limited periods. We urgently need volunteers to do lively, well-informed posts and handle technical matters such as the back-office functions of WordPress. TeleRead reaches tens of thousands of people a month, especially in key fields like the publishing industry, and has been cited by prestigious publications such as the Christian Science Monitor. Meanwhile major thanks to Paul Biba and other community-minded e-book lovers who are already helping. Prospective volunteers can reach Paul at readingelectronically @ gmail.com
Welcome back! It is great to see your byline again, and it is wonderful that you are feeling well enough to write an article for TeleRead.
The E Ink technology requires moving small white and black particles that are suspended in a fluid. This requires considerably more time and energy then simply switching the state of a transistor in an LCD display I suspect. One of the touted advantages of E Ink displays is long battery life. Will moving images substantially reduce battery life?
Garson, that’s an excellent question about the possible trade-off between moving images and battery life. Thanks! I hope someone can give us a definitive answer.
Also thanks for the welcome-back. I need to focus on getting well—the pneumonia still rages—and on the forthcoming novel. So I can’t contribute as often as before. But I couldn’t resist that pointer to the new E Ink video.
Meanwhile my appreciation to you for your own posts! I hope other well-informed people will follow your example and write for us—not just read us. They can use the same material in their own blogs and meanwhile reach a bigger audience.
David
Good to have you back, David! I look forward to your contributions again. Take care!
Welcome back, David.
I agree that there are cases where video or other media can add to the richness in a book–repair manuals, books about music, language books, etc. come to mind. One concern I have is that books are one of the few creative pursuits that a single person (author) can create. If you want to create a video game these days, or a movie, you need a huge budget and a large team. Which means fewer choices and more conformity.
I’m not saying video isn’t good, just that if we run, pell-mell into requiring its use where it doesn’t add much, we may risk a part of what makes books so wonderful.
Rob Preece
Publisher, http://www.BooksForABuck.com
Good god! A Rothman post. And on the day Dave Farrow was released from the DataVision window.
An X-File!