Editor’s Note: This post is by author Luke Bergeron and is from his blog mispeled. It is reprinted with his permission. – Paul Biba
So, I’ve been watching a lot of Star Trek lately, specifically Deep Space 9. I don’t know why, but I’ve been powering through the seasons at a decent rate – 2 or 3 episodes a night. I’ve been enjoying it – I love that Star Trek always makes me excited to experience technology that doesn’t exist yet. I don’t mean the far out stuff like warp drives and transporters, but the little stuff that doesn’t seem that far off.
It was watching so much Star Trek that got me interested in the Apple tablet, something I already talked about extensively in a previous post. Characters in Star Trek carry around data pads that are strangely close to what I want out of a tablet.
In the Star Trek future, everyone uses their tablets to read. Books, manifests, technical manuals, whatever, but the fact is: the characters are reading, rather than viewing multimedia content. I know that it’s fiction, but it still surprises me that the show’s writers chose to portray people in the future as readers of plain text. In reality, I doubt plain text will be the outcome of the e-book movement.It’s not that people don’t read. They do. However, the place for one-way, plain text is dying. The Kindle and other e-reader’s might be doing okay right now, but if other companies come out with something more multimedia friendly in the same form factor, a multimedia device that supports e-books, I’m willing to bet Kindle sales will slow quite a bit.
Physical print is dying, there’s no mistake about that. Newspapers are closing all over the country because they can’t sell enough ads or copies to stay in business, because everything is moving online. And once things move online, they become graphical, pretty, interactive, editable, and comment-able. People have come to expect this, and that’s why a multimedia tablet in an e-reader form factor would do better than the Kindle or any forthcoming Barnes and Noble device, because it would support music, movies, and books with interactive features.
It’s about the technology. Right now, companies are focused on taking print books and moving them to an electronic device. But that isn’t enough. Physical books still have many advantages over e-books – they’re light, easy to read, the battery never dies, they are shareable, don’t have DRM, and are free from the public library. Those features are hard to beat, and trying to move books onto a device without offering people advantages over top of what the current technology (books) supports isn’t enough.
All Amazon does is make books available on a device, with the only enhanced feature being immediate delivery. One good feature and a new list of drawbacks (battery life, DRM, the dangers of owning a 300 dollar device I plan to take to the beach) isn’t enough. The medium demands a new type of content. E-books should be more than print books read on a screen.
E-books need more interactivity. I want to be able to read a book then be instantly able to participate in a discussion about the book, right from my device. I want forums devoted to the book, or the ability to tag comments in the book and share them with my friends. I want to buy (or borrow, preferably) a book and see the comments my friends made about it via a social networking interface built into the device. If my buddy reads a copy of Jim Butcher’s Storm Front and thinks page 57 is awesome enough to comment about it, I want to be able to access his comments right from the reading interface, and be able to respond.
I want to be able to read a classic like Shelley’s Frankenstein and see the annotations by famous literary scholars, if I choose to follow them, almost like the tagging system photo websites use. I want to be able to read a new novel right after it comes out and share my thoughts about that novel with my friends who are reading it too.
I want interactivity built into the book and I want to do it all from the device I’m reading on. The current e-readers don’t come close to that. The e-ink technology, while impressively imitating the experience of reading a print book, can’t support that level of interactivity. The refresh rates just aren’t up to par. A multimedia touch-screen tablet with the choice to optimize the display settings for reading text is probably a better option, unless e-ink vastly improves and can handle more interactivity.
New technology is built on creating a two-way street, and the companies building e-readers need to take advantage of that. Instead, they are focused on making e-reader devices as close to reading a print book as possible, which is the wrong way to go. They need to approach authors about writing for an e-audience. They need to focus on enhancing the reading experience on a device, not just recreating it. Because they won’t win that battle.
Getting people to embrace a new technology is all about the “killer app” concept – the new feature that necessitates a move from the old tech to the new. Social networking, annotation, interactivity built into the text of the book: all these things might not be the “killer app” that makes people switch to e-books on a device, but they are a start.
Interactivity in a book is something humanity has never done very well before – hand written notes in the margins, footnotes that take up the whole page, or separate handouts from professors, none handle interactivity as well as a simple web hyperlink. So if books are moving into the digital, it’s time to update the way this interactivity is handled. Imagine the possibilities for education alone: professors could join a group with their students and comment on aspects of the book they want to draw students’ attention to. Teachers could use book forums to discuss works with their students.
And imagine the possibilities for authors: fast feedback, right from the fans. Right now the music industry is changing, going online, and indie artists are better for it. It’s easier for them to reach their fanbase, connect with them, interact with them, and hear what fans want. I’m sure some authors wouldn’t embrace this type of interaction, but I imagine many would.
Overall, it’s no secret that e-books will eventually win. Instant publishing, over-the-air delivery, and the environmental advantages are all benefits people want to see. But without interactivity and the focus on a more graphical interface, a way of enhancing books with new features, the “killer app” aspects just aren’t there yet. Amazon and others need to get with the program. Until they do, people probably won’t migrate to e-books or e-readers en masse.
Keep on keepin’ on,
Luke,
Though I understand your point about interactivity, I don’t think it is an absolute necessity when it comes to enjoying art, music or literature. Sure, there are those who like all the notes and tidbits they can get, to take in while they enjoy the content. But there are as many who want to enjoy the content by itself, and save the third-person notes, “pop-ups”, forum links, etc, for later… or never. (These are the same kind of people who Tivo a TV show to avoid the distraction of commercials.)
Part of art is its intent. Some art, like some literature, was intended to be enjoyed in isolation of other media. As our tools develop, new forms of literature that depend on interactivity are growing and developing. But older artistic works don’t necessarily have to have interactivity foist upon them, and in truth, some might be worse off for the experience.
Either way, it’s usually up to the reader how they want to experience something, and they should have choices, whether it’s intense interactivity… or none at all.
“I want to be able to read a book then be instantly able to participate in a discussion about the book, right from my device.
I want forums devoted to the book, or the ability to tag comments in the book and share them with my friends.
I want to buy (or borrow, preferably) a book and see the comments my friends made about it via a social networking interface built into the device. If my buddy reads a copy of Jim Butcher’s Storm Front and thinks page 57 is awesome enough to comment about it, I want to be able to access his comments right from the reading interface, and be able to respond.
I want to be able to read a classic like Shelley’s Frankenstein and see the annotations by famous literary scholars, if I choose to follow them, almost like the tagging system photo websites use.
I want to be able to read a new novel right after it comes out and share my thoughts about that novel with my friends who are reading it too.
I want interactivity built into the book and I want to do it all from the device I’m reading on.”
‘…you want…’ That’s a pretty sorry attitude.
No one wants to pay for it, especially for someone else’s wishes. Tablets and other kinds of devices that can do all of those things have been around a long time. Just because a few people want it doesn’t mean that, for example, Shelley scholars or forum moderators will drop everything and set up comments and fora for your convenience. All of those things ‘you want’ require other people to do things to please you. How much is it worth in kilodollars per year to you?
The hardware already exists. When do you plan on putting up your cash and your time to _do_ all of these things ‘you want’?
Disgustedly,
Jack Tingle
I support each and every statement from Luke Bergeron: we need to BE ABLE to interact, regardless the particular degree of interaction you choose to have with the device. Why throwing over the board all functionalities likely to be included on a device, just because certain people just want to read the book as a dead trees one??? Let’s empower the people to think outside of the box, and be able to choose to get back inside.
I don’t think online newspapers are killing print because they are “better” in that people can comment on them, or even follow links in them. I think they are killing print because they are faster and they are (mostly) free. Quite frankly, a lot of the comments I see on newspapers stories are way out there. I am not sure having a freely available platform for public opinion really adds to the value of a news story. Kooks tend to be much more “vocal” (in a figurative sense) than moderates.
And I really, truly don’t want other people’s comments in my fiction. I don’t usually bother with the “commentary” on movie DVDs, either. I want to watch the movie or read the book untainted by anyone else’s opinion of it. Besides, after a while, the flood of comments after a story makes that feature unhelpful.
If there are enough of you folks clamoring for interactivity, then it will happen, but I don’t see it happening all that soon, not for fiction books. There is no “they” deciding what technology is available. There is only the question of what people are willing to pay for and how much they will pay.
I think the case for eBooks does not depend on this type of interactivity. After all, paper books lack it and they manage to sell. eBooks are better than paper books in a variety of ways (more portable, more capable of being stored, less demanding in terms of physical storage, less demanding on the environment, more immediately available) which is why eBooks continue to grow market share. The question, to me, is the one Jack asks…how much are we willing to pay for these additional features, where payment may be monetary or it may be spacial (you can do these things on a laptop, but a sub-tablet-sized device can only do some of them).
Something to think about, though. If you buy, say, Twilight, you’ll be able to interact with millions of fans (which is a little scary considering the qualities of this novel, at least from my perspective). If you buy a book from a small publisher, the list of interactors will be small. Would interactive books mean increased consolidation of the market? I do mean this as a thought question, not an answer. Perhaps less well-known works will eventually benefit from interactivity compared to the information overload from the best-sellers.
Speaking personally, I tend to read Amazon reviews, etc. either before or after I read a book. I can’t remember the last time I got excited and involved in the story and had to pull myself out of it to see what other people said.
Rob Preece
Publisher
I’m fine with just the book. What somebody somewhere says about Frankenstein is, most likely, not going to interest me, especially not in the middle of reading the book, or even from the device I read it from. There may be times when I’ll want to share opinions, check criticism, facts, or related subject matter found in a book, but subsequent research after the fact is good enough for me. I don’t need immediate access.
My concern is that I simply want a good, inexpensive, ebook reader so I can read books. I don’t like the idea of adding a bunch of features that have nothing to do with reading that keep the prices too darn high.
Aren’t there plenty of online book clubs and places to talk about books already? And as already mentioned, devices that allow you to read books AND access these forums?
Not that I mind if devices are made to sing, dance, and raise your children for you . . . but I want somebody to be working on some good, inexpensive, readers. I just want to read.
And @ Rob, I wouldn’t say ebooks are “better” than paper books. They’re different, each form with attributes of its own. A person might prefer one or the other, and that preference may change with the situation.
I think it’s fairly important to note that these types of “special features” are making their way into movies, both online versions and DVD versions, where they are A) not mandatory, and B) not noticeably increasing the cost of owning or viewing the movie itself. When I watch a movie on DVD, I skip all of the commentaries and other “additional” features. If there’s a director’s cut, I’ll watch that, otherwise the theater release is fine. But I have a son who will watch EVERYTHING. Repeatedly.
And that’s fine. The point is that the choices are there. If my son wants to watch the movie with some actor talking over the soundtrack about what he had for dinner that night and why his love interest would never interest him, so be it. I don’t have to watch it, but the only way we’ll both get our choices is if it’s there to be watched or ignored.
All of the features mentioned here will occur. There is absolutely no question about that. As the technology improves to the point that the costs of adding features, both financial costs and the intangible costs to user experience, they will be added. Back in the days of eight-dot-three file names and memory managers to trick your computer into using the full meg of RAM you bought it, there were people saying “I don’t need italics! It just slows the whole system down. I don’t want to pay for it. I just want an electronic version of a typewriter.” (Yes, I actually remember them saying that to me. I’m old.) But as the costs (including the frustration costs caused by more steps for the blazing-fast 16MHz CPUs) went down, the features were added. And they were adopted, even by the curmudgeons. Now we want hot-key italics in comment forms on blogs (or a button to push. HTML code? What? Why? Where’s my italics button?!).
These features will make their way into books. Perhaps they will even make their way into print books. Pepsi put video ads in magazines – what’s next?
I only hope that collaborative writing across the entire web, when it arrives (and it will), is still only an option. I don’t mind when someone makes a comment about my writing, even if it’s an idiotic comment, but I will mind if I have to let them “help” me write, just because the technology says they can.
At first it would be great to have in the ebooks at least such interactivity as is usual in webpages. Interactivity in the webpages is possible because of scripting. And our beloved ePub format does not support scripting. According to ePub spec, reader agents should not execute scripts included into pages of publication. Spec says that scripting is one of “future directions” of its development. But several years have gone and nothing has been done.
Such approach to scripting and to interactivity in general is, from my point of view, poor leadership from the part of IPDF.
The same interactivity as is usual in webpages? Why?? Why not read on the internet then???? Why this push for EVERYthing to do the SAME things? Why bother with book formats at all?? Read on webpages, that will solve that.
I hate multimedia in my books. I don’t want sound, I can’t stand the idea of a video clip inserted in the middle of my book.
I want something I don’t have to listen to, and that I can take in at my own pace. Something I can turn away from without having to worry about it still playing. Plain text handles this better than anything else.
I do want color and faster refresh rates – on larger screens – because I read a fair amount of comics, and that’s some thing they would benefit from.
However, as soon as someone adds movement and sound, they take away my ability to control the pace of the experience. I hate that.
Ok. “E-books need more interactivity”. Really. But. Interactivity it is not only “be instantly able to participate in a discussion about the book, right from my device. I want forums devoted to the book, or the ability to tag comments in the book and share them with my friends”. Look a Multimedia EBook!
I agree completely with Luke.
I basically want my iphone in a larger form factor with out the phone part.
I want to be able to read books, do research and do my homework all on the same device with a touch screen and stylus. So going to class I take one device.
I don’t understand how apple can cram all of the functionality into an iphone yet e-readers can barely get the touchscreen right.
Of course I could get a tablet pc but the form factor isn’t there yet.
Looks like I will have to wait a few generation for my needs to be fulfilled.
I’d just like to point out my review of Vernor Vinge’s Rainbows End, in which I talk about Vinge’s opinion that interactivity is the wave of the future, and how it hasn’t yet come about.
As for me, I rather like watching movie commentaries, documentaries, special features, and so on—but I do it after I’ve watched the movie. Likewise, I wouldn’t mind the ability to read a book with user annotations, such as by a wiki—after I’ve read the actual book itself. I wouldn’t want the annotations to get in the way prior to that, however.
Chris, I’m the same way with MM content, though I often buy DVDs of movies I’ve already seen, so I often watch some or all of the MM content before actually re-watching the movie or TV show. But during? Never!
And I think anyone considering interactive content should be judicious about what content they throw in there, and how. I mean, we’re talking about literature… I don’t need to actually hear Georgio Moroder’s music to his movie remake of Metropolis to enjoy the original book. If you’ve got a link to it, by all means, include it in the Afterword. That allows optional access, but doesn’t overly stuff a small book file with additional media.
Interactive books are called web pages. Some people just enjoy the singular, immersive experience of reading: grant us text.
I find it amazing to think that all the multimedia in the world actually will substitute for a good book? Reading a book and watching a video are two totally separate activities, as is discussing a book with friends… Of all the things discussed here that might be interesting is the idea of linking the book with expert commentaries… kind of turning a novel into a wiki about itself.
But that being said, a novel is a novel… if you fundamentally change the format (by adding significant multimedia content to it that is integral to the story) then you might have art, but you no longer have a novel.
A novel is fundamentally a written work, ultimately meant to be read (Sorry to all you fans of audio books :)… You are certainly entitled to enjoy novels that way). It is in fact an interactive exercise with the author. The author provides the text, and using that text, the reader turns the novel into their own story, imagining what the characters look and sound like, how the events are portrayed. The more that is given to us, the less there is for the reader to do. Ultimately whether it is in the 21st century or in Star Trek’s 24th century, if their is no reason for the simple text novel, then our society, our culture will have lost something very special indeed.
Oh one final thought, the reason that plain print will remain a valuable resource well into the future is simple… for some things POP (Plain Old Print) is best. When I want to get news fast, I don’t want a video, I want a printed story… the video might take 2-3 minutes to watch, I can read the story (or at least skim it for the highlights) in 30 seconds. Likewise, if there is something I don’t understand, I can slow down the pace until I do understand it.
to Bill McHale.
“A novel is fundamentally a written work, ultimately meant to be read”
Look at the Multimedia EBook.
http://www.eveda.org/cult
“A novel is fundamentally a written work, ultimately meant to be read”
very insightful.
I don’t want the text to be filled with splash pages and flash graphics but I do want the device I read the text on to allow me to manipulate information and connect me to other forms of media. That way I can tailor my experience to fit my needs and you can do the same for your needs.
to Aaron.
My needs are completely realised in Multimedia EBook. The text, music, images, dynamics, interactivity, online resources. For the novel – other forms of media? The device for aggregation of news?
I was trying to check out that link but it didn’t seem to be loading. I will try again.
No offence Iouri, but what is that suppose to prove? It does nothing to take away from my post. A novel is what it is. I am not saying that multimedia works have no place in our culture, or that they can’t be great art (Though I have yet to see one that is)… they simply are not novels, and very well may not be books either (I have yet to decide on that).
Heck, multimedia books have existed for years… you can find them in the Children’s section of book stores. In my youth they came along with records, now a days they might even play themselves, and they are filled with pictures. You know what? After a certain age, we leave them behind — not only do we not need the extras, but we find them distracting.
When I want to read a book, I want to read a book. Ultimately I don’t want the extras that might distract me from the core activity of reading a book. I don’t want too many images (Thats what graphic novels are for.. which are a different), or music, or speech… those are details for my mind to fit. Its why I want to read a novel before I see a movie based on the novel… after I see the movie, its those images that dominate my imagination.
—
Bill
Certainly. It agree. I apologise. But…
Multi-media EBook allow to combine, add to text, possibilities of emotional influence of music and the image. As though at cinema – have added the dry text, and possibility to operate action. Music – is not scoring. Pictures – are not imposed images. Not to distract, only to add some other levels of perception.
But we have books with pictures all ready. Except perhaps for some minor illustrations (and of course the cover), they are generally eschewed by novels. Why? Because they are both unecessary and unwanted by readers of novels.
Reading a novel is a very different activity than watching a movie. If you start adding multimedia content then why stop short of making an honest movie?
When I read a book, if I want music, I will play my own music, either on my music system (ipod, computer or whatever) or in my head… if I need pictures, my imagination will provide them.
In a good novel, whether a literary masterpiece or a genre pulp, the text is not dry, it is an invitation for the reader to live a new life in their imagination. Nothing else is needed.
—
Bill
OK. I do not call to refuse books.
If to do E-books, it is not necessary to create clones of paper editions. Modern reading devices and Internet can add to the usual book charm of additional possibilities.