10/4/2016 1 Comment BEYOND EBOOKS?
Everyone knows of the struggle for dominance of the publishing market between the eBook and the print book. The eBook comes cheap and offers an easy way to carry around thousands of books without ordering a van but some argue it doesn’t have the same feel as the printed book offering nostalgia and collectability. What is next though? Is it possible that a mutation of both the eBook and the print book could end the struggle? With publishing companies such as HarperCollins, willing to try new things, Charlie Redmayne, head of HarperCollins UK, insinuates during an interview with the Guardian, "Publishers have historically been the most innovative and creative of organizations... But I think that when it came to the digital revolution, we came to a point where we stopped innovating and creating. We thought, we've done an ebook and that is what it is." (2013) Some publishers are looking beyond the typical ebook for a new type of technology to revolutionise the industry and enhanced print book 'Elektrobiblioteka' could very well be this new technology. WHAT IS ‘ELEKTROBIBLIOTEKA’? Elektrobiblioteka, the invention of Waldek Węgrzyn, a student at the Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice, Poland, may very well be the solution to this debate. ‘Elektrobiblioteka’ is both a print book and an electronic interface for its companion website ‘book.elektrobiblioteka.net’. You can use it like you would any other book but when plugged into a computer by a USB you can access animations, videos and quotations simply by touching some of the conductive sections of its pages. The small circuit board in its back cover sends signals to the computer via the USB. IS THIS THE FUTURE OF DIGITAL PUBLISHING? ‘Elektrobiblioteka’ enables its readers to enjoy both the physical aesthetic of the traditional book and have access to a wide range of multimedia when plugged in. But is this enough of a USP to be successful in the publishing market? Created in 2012, ‘Elektrobiblioteka’ hasn’t been adopted by any major publishers. Why? The probability of his book being profitable is low. Primarily Waldek Węgrzyn is an art student, not a businessman. He openly admits that he did not design this product in a commercial mind-set. Describing his book as "totally non-commercial and a bit non-practical”, Węgrzyn uses many complicated and expensive techniques when creating his book including silk-screening, HTML coding, jQuery and extensive book binding techniques. Techniques that would take lots of time and money to recreate on a big scale, increasing the price and therefore deterring a lot of customers. Though it could sell by novelty factor alone in a niche market to a few richer customers, it is probable that the USB lead would too be another deterrent making the product clunky and impractical. WHAT ELSE IS OUT THERE? Some publishers have already adopted very similar digital material into their books, such as QR codes, (square digital barcodes) that when scanned with a QR app on a phone, may link text and the internet together. These codes though a little rudimentary, are cheap and easy to produce unlike Węgrzyn’s work. Manolis Kelaidis, creator of ‘Blink’, first prototype 2006 (6 years before Węgrzyn), has too invented an enhanced print book with the ability to allow its readers access to digital content. By simply touching a word in the book the reader is unsure of, the reader completes the circuit allowing a command signal (through the wireless Bluetooth module in the back cover- no USB lead needed) to a computer to perform a word search. With technologies such as these available, does ‘Elektrobiblioteka’ have a big enough USP to offer the market? BEYOND THE EBOOK? Though ‘Elektrobiblioteka’ could be seen as revolutionary it is not entirely new to its market. Other products will perhaps be more successful because of their refinement, costings and practicability- such as ‘Blink’ with its Bluetooth module (instead of a USB) and QR codes with its ease of use. Publishers will think twice before investing their money and time in a product with such a niche market such as ‘Elektrobiblioteka’. Though this may be the end of the line for Elektrobiblioteka… … who is to say that another enhanced print book cannot take over the market and unite the print book and eBook? A whole new market has been invented- ready for publishers to fully exploit as the technology becomes cheaper and more freely available. REFERENCES:
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1 Comment
Tom Scholes
11/7/2016 02:24:07 am
It's really interesting to read about an innovative tech, even if it's not commercially viable. I could give you good marks for criteria 1,3&5. It needs a bit more external opinion on the subject. Have any tech commentators written about this that you could quote? Do you agree with them or not? I like your tone and language, and the structure is ok too.
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AuthorMy name is Victoria Bush and I am a Publishing Media/Fine Art student at Oxford Brookes. I'm 19 years old and I'm a self confessed bookaholic. I'm going to write 6 short blogs on this website on the realm of 'digital publishing'. I hope you enjoy them! ArchivesCategories |