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Are Ebooks a step backward?
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Author and desinger David Barringer offers an interesting, and perhaps controversial, perspective on ebooks in this interview with Design Observer:
EL: One of your books is available on the Kindle — We Were So Ugly We Made Beautiful Things (2003). I bought it for $1.99 and read it on Amtrak. As someone drawn to the physical fact of print, how do you feel about ebooks?
DB: Eduardo Recife of misprintedtype.com illustrated that book and designed the cover, so hopefully you were treated to his work as well. I have no ill will whatsoever for ebooks or Kindle or whatever comes next. I think it's like watching TV on Hulu.com or music videos on an iPod or images on a View Finder. Flexibility and portability are good things.
I do think that ebooks are a step backwards, however. It's like the fax. It's not flexible or useful enough. Handheld computers should have greater power, and the Kindle instead has less. You should be able to access encyclopedias, dictionaries, and other searchable resources, just like we can on the computer or the iPhone. That's where the real benefit of portable handheld units are. Who cares about downloading Twilight? I care about having access to entire online libraries of reference works, maps, and encyclopedias.
I was also caught for days in a blackout in New York back in 2003. It's amazing how much goes out of your life when the power goes out. I learned a lesson about the value of books, as well as the ethereality of ATMs.
Some people argue that books are becoming more like art objects, released from the pressure to convey a narrative and liberated into the world of wacky dimensionality. Sure, it would be fun to attach half a beach ball on the front cover, the other half on the back cover, and inflate them both for the ultimate beach book. But I've seen many friends who are avid readers turn toward their shelves of books and regard them as they would a photo album of their own lives. We take the contents of books into our imaginations, and our personalities are influenced by them. Looking at the books on my shelves, I feel memories bloom, my own life come back to me. Books are triggers for remembering where we have been, and who we are. A book is like a body part, and when you die and your connection to the book is broken, the book dies a little, too.
Barringer's argument seems to be either ebooks are interactive and multi-media or they are a step back. While understandable, this sentiment - why aren't we really taking advantage of the technology - misses some important factors in the growth of ebooks like the Amazon Kindle.
For one, the Kindle has access to a dictionary as well as Wikipedia. But the larger over-looked point here is convenience. With a ebook reader you can take an incredible amount of reading material with you in one small device. And with the Kindle you can wirelessly access material in seconds. For anyone who travels this is a life saver.
The ideal ebook owner reads a wide variety for books for work, pleasure, and self-improvement. The Kindle allows them to take dozens of books with them carry a device only the size of a trade paperback. They can take notes and highlights (and access them online later) and even listen to music. If they are traveling, or just commuting to work, this relieves them of having to carry a bag full of books.
Another element is distribution. Want to read a good book you just heard about, the Kindle allows for near instant gratification. Subscribe to a magazine or newspaper? It is automatically delivered. As with the need to carry large amounts of books with you at one time, interactivity is not the issue but convenience.
This is not to say ebooks can replace physical books. Many e-book enthusiasts love books as books too; whether well designed and illustrated books or just those with a personal connection. And there are clearly categories of books that won't translate to electronic format easily (art, children's picture books, etc.). but where content and convenience meet the ebook is meeting demand. Calling it a step backward seems to ignore some salient points.
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