The Death of Paperbound Books? by Shannon Dyck

By a TeleRead Contributor

Editor’s Note: The following is reproduced, with permission, from The Mark, a Canadian Web publication. And speaking of Canada, check out a post on the E/P generation gap—by the Toronto-based Ficbot, who interviewed her dad. – Paul Biba

For the last few hundred years, paperbound books have been the dominant form of communicating the written word. Now it may be time for e-books to flourish. In the past year or so, I’ve heard increasingly that books are beginning to be replaced by more "modern" forms of communication; some say this out of worry, others out of excitement. Although I don’t dispute that technology is in fact changing the way people communicate, I wonder if people are really ready for e-books to take centre stage.

In this age of e-everything – e-mail, e-newsletters, even e-friends – it only makes sense that the next step is the e-book. Like a lot of other technology, the e-book offers benefits. For example, e-books mean you’re getting more books for less weight while also having the ability to download files (e.g. newsfeeds, PDFs or photographs). Pretty handy for people in their day-to-day work or school life.

That said, competing options frequently find ways to co-exist because certain mediums work better for certain situations. For example, although it’s difficult to dispute the fact that live music tends to provide more quality of sound than listening to the same music replicated by an iPod, an iPod is still a great alternative. If I had the option of having a string quartet follow close behind me on my walk to school, I would choose that option over my iPod; however, until that happens, I am quite happy listening to the muted bass of my iTunes collection through my mini-earbuds.

Maybe paper and pixel can find a way to share centre stage. On one hand, people have to look at computer screens often enough these days that paper is a nice break. For example, the e-book might be a hard sell for the Saturday morning newspaper reader who enjoys sipping their cup of Joe whilst flipping the pages of an oversized publication. On the other hand, when given the option between carrying numerous books that add up to half a person’s body weight and a 10-ounce e-book that can store approximately 80 books (plus numerous other files), the choice is obvious.

Just like painting or drawing will never be replaced by digital art, printed materials are likely to never be fully replaced by digital versions. Even though there are numerous websites from which digital books can be downloaded (and in a variety of languages, too), the selection of digital books is nowhere near as vast as the selection of printed materials. No doubt those avid readers may enjoy the option of over 19,000 free, out-of-copyright books at Gutenberg.com, but what about that rare book of poetry you bought at a second hand book store? Or the historical tales of an early archaeologist during his expedition into the unknown? And what about all those children’s books with colourful, interactive pictures that are adored by kids and parents alike? There are so many written and illustrated documents that may never make their way into the digital realm because their quality is totally dependent on their medium.

Although I don’t believe that paper forms of communication or the written word will ever disappear, it is naïve to think that our current culture of books, language and writing will stay the same forever. Just because my generation and many generations before me have cherished and valued books, does not mean that future generations will. For example, the internet started off primarily text-based for a text-based generation. However, it has not stayed that way; technology just keeps trekking into new territory. The face of the internet is transforming into a picture- and video-based realm and will likely transform into something completely different somewhere down the line. The rapid changes taking place in our world could lead to a future with totally different values and modes of communication from today – maybe the words on this page won’t hold meaning at all.

So, will paper books become obsolete? I cannot answer that question. Will e-books replace them? I cannot answer that question either. What I can say is that there is definitely a place for e-books in our day and age, and likely for many generations to come. At the same time, paperbound books are such an integral part of our past and present that it is hard to imagine a future without them.
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Shannon Dyck is former Vice President, Student Affairs, for the University of Saskatchewan Student’s Union

 

 

Top image credit: CC-licensed photo from Striatic.

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