[iDC] Media dies more slowly than some would like

[Raymond Cha]

I was delighted to read Rick Prelinger's intial post and the
commentary that has followed it. I first met Rick and Megan while
working at the Institute for the Future of the Book. Since leaving, I
have also had the opportunity to visit the Prelinger Library, and
strongly recommend that anyone with a few free hours in San Francisco
to visit it. It is an illuminating experience.

Steve Borsch brings up an important point regarding containers. For
centuries, the term book has come to mean both the container and the
information inside the container. Digital media, including ebooks,
blogs and pdf, have liberated the contents of books from the
traditional container of bound pages. We are still gasping to deal
with the effects of this change, which also partially explains our
displeasure with how current ebook readers are confusing experiences.
In the rollout of Kindle, Jeff Bezos has explained that part of our
love for print books is that the container is invisible, we hardly
think about the container through long term use and the fact that it
works very well. On the other hand, there are things that the ebook
obviously excels over the print book, including physical volume and
distribution. If ebook readers could be engineered and used to the
point of becoming invisible, would we still hold an attachment to the
physical pbook?

Of course we would, but our attachment to it would change.  One reason
our attachment to print books is so strong, is that they come out of
an era of publishing scarcity. Publishers could only print a limited
amount of text. Physical bookstores have limited shelf space.  In that
era, getting a work produced by an academic or trade publisher
inferred authority. The published author had gone through a vetting
process and received the industry seal of approval. Although self
publishing existed through vanity presses, these works carried the
stigma of lacking this authority.

Today, the costs of publishing have dramatically dropped. Anyone who
can afford a computer and network access (which albeit still excludes
many people, especially in the developing world, and this point
deserves its own post) can write and publish an ebook.  Digital born
texts can also be easily transformed into print books through print on
demand services such as Lulu.com and Blurb.com, which challenge the
authority of the traditional publishing gatekeepers.

If anyone, with the technical access and the desire, can publish a
book, how will that change our relationship to print books and the
gatekeepers?  Will this strengthen or weaken the role of the
gatekeeper?  Will the long tail effects displace the gatekeeper
because readers can find their authors directly through the Internet?
Or, will the shift to the era of publishing abundance entrench the
role of the gatekeeper because the number of choices is too
overwhelming. (Of course, in that scenario, the gatekeepers may not be
traditional publishing houses and book buyers, but any variety of
entities which are bestowed an authoritative role by readers.)

I am waiting for the blockbuster ebook by someone previously
unpublished, which may reveal the new role of the publishing
gatekeeper and change our relationship to print books and ebooks. By
blockbuster, I mean on the scale of a Da Vinci Code or Harry Potter.
Readers would obtain this ebook via download or print on demand by the
millions.  This book might also be found on online retailers and in
physical bookstores that printed copies for resell.  Many others might
be compelled to purchase their first ebook reader.  For the follow up
book, would the author still need or want to sign with a traditional
publisher?  If millions of people and enjoy a self-published ebook,
how will that change and challenge their notions of authority and
their relationship to print books?

Our attachment to print books is complex. Authority plays one part.
The complexity will only evolve with adoption of ebooks, which will be
gradual with the occasional accelerated push. I agree with Rick's
assertion that is enough room in the ecological of writing, books and
publishing to sustain both print books and ebooks. Both have much
evolving still to do. I am excited to witness the process and further
discussion here.

Ray.

-- 
http://www.weatherpattern.com