This a response to some interesting issues raised by a CNET video on future of the book.
Basically the incoming changes are going to revolutionise the whole concept in a way that the music industry still trying to cope with….see Independent article on music downloading which reveals that illegal filesharers spend more on music thus any punitive measures will actually push music sales down not up….
On offer by Xmas are Amazon’s Kindle…..Plastic Logic’s QUE (if it ready) and Barnes and Noble’s nook
Also in background is the new Apple flat tablet which being rebranded as The Mac Slate apparently….
Finally the next wave..literally could be a transition from the concept of any document, online artwork being closed towards a newer model via initiatives like Google Wave. In this new model the creator and the created become flexible concepts and a ‘conversation’ is constantly in process….like say watching the famous images of Picasso painting his work in the studio…frame by frame..or word by word the creation takes place live through blogs, ed video streaming and image distribution e.g. Hockney’s use of the Iphone and ‘Brushes’ app…
http://brushesapp.com/
One thing is for sure the future is here and nothing can stop the acceleration into new fields that bigger bandwidth and better hardware offer…..this blog a first step on that road..always updated it becomes not just a reflective journal ( hint students) but a ‘reactive’ environment where ideas form, are broken, reform and then passed on…as in the true definition of a university we are starting a conversation….the future is bright but it may not be just orange…