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Books are dead.
We’ve all heard it, or perhaps even said it, but the truth is this statement is as wrong as that photo of Carrot Top working out. (You know which one I’m talking about.) Books are far from dead. In fact, there are many bright minds out there working to find new ways to create even richer user experiences with them. Like the hybrid book by Mobile Art Lab in Japan that adds a new level to traditional storybooks. Simply drop in an iPhone and voilà! A great new way for parents to connect with their children:
Then there’s “Out Of The Box,” a hybrid book designed for Samsung to help the technologically challenged learn how to use their phone. (Where was this when my dad got his cell?)
This new breed of book is where traditional and interactive media truly converge. And the evolution has only just begun.
So… still think the digital age will see the death of the book?
Michelle Davey
August 12, 2010 @ 12:43 pm
I agree, books are not dead. The traditional printed novel may have become less popular in this age but as you have showcased, new innovative printed books are just beginning. Oh the possibilities! and way to go Samsung, this out of the book concept is absolutely brilliant!!!
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Curtis Westman
August 12, 2010 @ 1:24 pm
I really can’t help but notice that the book in the first example has absolutely no text in it at all apart from the title. I’d love to think that these interactive storybooks would be able to contend with video games and television to make kids want to learn to read, but the cynic in me just sees another venue for deadening the imagination and shortening the attention span.
C Jones
August 12, 2010 @ 3:52 pm
Is anyone else sick of seeing “page turner” software? I say let a book be a book and let a digital book be something entirely different. They are not the same.
Curtis, I agree. America is having a huge problem with children loosing their creativity because of the way they are being taught in school and at home.
Check out this trailer: http://www.waitingforsuperman.com/
Liam Mooney
August 13, 2010 @ 4:33 pm
Sara,
Thanks for sharing this. Interesting thoughts and videos too (that Samsung thing blew my mind. I laugh hysterically as I imagined my father sitting down doing the exact same thing haha).
We were having a similar discussion earlier this week or last week, I forget now. We were talking about advertising mediums and whether or not the digital age would quash things like newspaper ads or even television ads.
Now, it’s not directly related but still has some relevance.
Call me old fashioned, but I love a book. All throughout university I NEEDED to have a book in my hands. I had a super hard time reading notes or course packs through WebCT or from a prof’s site. I literally had to print everything.
I think books will evolve as you suggest and illustrate and there will always be a place for them.
Then again books make me think of libraries and I remember that in my last year the University was digitalizing their stacks so that the books could be read online to free up space in the building itself.
Then I think about the last time I went to Roger’s Video (last weekend with my brother to rent a video game – first time doing that in years) and I was blown away. I used to work for Roger’s Video years ago before school to earn money for first year keg parties, late night fried food and oh yea, rent and BOOKS!
We had thousands of movies for rent, all of them located right there in the store. Every genre imaginable, dozens of sections and far too much organizing work to do as a staff person.
When I returned the other day (to the same store I worked in for years) my mind melted as I tried to recognize the place. I couldn’t. There were maybe hundreds of movies left, most of which were new releases. The entire operation hinged on retail sales and the other stuff: cable, cell phone, home phone and internet.
Movies and movie rentals were a secondary, even tertiary consideration.
Of course I realize you can get your movies online now, whether legally or illegally, and that explains it all.
Perhaps with the advent of Google Books, the Kindle, the iPad, and other gizmos and gadgets we will see a similar shift.
Now the question is, will the shift be seismic enough to delete an entire medium?
In 100 years from now when all of us old fashioned people are gone (I am ONLY 24!!!) will the 24 year olds of 2110 be reading books?