Found an interesting interview with Margaret Atwood (via @TheFutureBook on Twitter). Atwood seems to think there's too much focus on ePublishing, which is not all that different from other forms of publishing. Writers write, publishers publish writers, readers read. The rest is just quibbling over media. That may be too simple, but I like the perspective. I find myself reading in all kinds of media these days. I'm not abandoning books or other print media, just adding eReaders, smart phones, and quite a lot of reading on my desktop or laptop. What is interesting from my own perspective, though, is how much of what I read is free. I can see why publishers would be worried. Who's going to be willing to pay for content when so much is freely available.
But even more interesting were some of Atwood's comments about the future of reading. She alluded to the possibility that other media would perhaps displace reading as a prime leisure activity. And that is something I also suspect will happen, so long as other options are easily available. I can imagine a future in which literacy is very minimal or marginal. U gt by w/ 1 or 2 wds & a bnch of symbls & abrvs, filling in with pics and other media where needed! And for entertainment all you really need are movies and games. Reading is such a primitive way to communicate. When you think about it, it's all based on code. Other media present experience much more directly.
On the other hand, what would happen if we discovered in a not too distant future that there is no longer a stable online alternative? Perhaps we are living through a golden age of Internet technology that will ultimately break down because of technical issues related to an emerging lack of interoperability, or (perhaps more likely) power shortages or at any rate a lack of inexpensive electrical power, or a growing tangle of legal restrictions on content and the free flow of information? One thing in favor of books, they're portable and don't require much except an ability to read the code to derive enjoyment from them.
We always imagine the future will be very different from the present, and sometimes it is. But sometimes it's also very different from the future we imagine. I guess that's what's so worrying about the present moment. Nobody knows what's going to happen next. I just can't help thinking books will be around for a while longer, both online and in printed versions. It would be nice if they were all free, but how would that work?
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