The Future of Print Books
I love books. Growing up I recall spending every spare minute reading books. I was the child who would use a flashlight to secretly finish books in bed long after everyone else had gone to sleep. Even now as an adult I still enjoy reading very much. However, with all the responsibilities of being a grown-up such as work, school, and young children I don’t get the opportunity to read as much as I would like. I’m sure a lot of you can relate. However, my feelings towards print books have not changed. My love of books comes hand in hand with my fondness of bookstores, and it saddens me every time when I find that yet another local bookstore has closed its doors. It is evident that we are living in the digital age and technology perseveres with the rise of digital media and E-books. Consequently, is this the beginning of the fall of print books? Will print text eventually become obsolete and disappear?
I recently have come across a term, the digital native. According to the English Oxford Dictionaries (n.d.), it refers to “[a] person born or brought up during the age of digital technology and so familiar with computers and the Internet from an early age” (para. 1). From my classroom teaching experience, I have found that most of my digital native students do their readings on the Internet and seldom ever read print books. In order to be more cost efficient and environmentally friendly textbooks are now being replaced with online digital copies. I myself do not use a textbook at all for my French classes anymore. In Jay David Bolter’s (2001), Writing Spaces: Computers, Hypertext, and the Remediation of Print, he states that “[a]lthough print remains indispensable, it’s no longer seems indispensable: that is its curious condition in the late age of print” (p.10). Denoting that inevitably that the digital age and its technologies will destroy print books. Will this generation of digital natives then result in the demise of print books?
In Chapter 1, Bolter (2001) shares a passage from Victor Hugo’s Notre-Dame de Paris in which the priest, Frollo states “this book will destroy that building”, while looking at a print book and pointing to the cathedral (p.10). Bolter (2001) makes the parallel that with the creation of the print book came the fall of religious autonomy, and the print book will eventually fall to the rise of digital media. If this is the case, then what does the future hold for reading? I myself have gone from reading print newspapers and books, to using various forms of technology to read the news, books and the like on the Internet. At one point, I even considered myself as someone who was loyal to print books, but after years of resistance I converted to reading E-books with my Kobo after my husband gifted it to me one Christmas. I then question how my children will choose to read in the future. Ong (1982) states that technology and its various forms of digital media will not eradicate print books, but on the contrary create more content. He suggests that they will help to strengthen and change the older traditions of orality (Ong, 1982). Accordingly, so long as peoples’ love of reading does not change, perhaps it does not matter what size, shape or form the books comes in. We can all rest assure that even more books, whether print or digital will be enjoyed and passed on for future generations.
References
Bolter, Jay David. (2001). Writing space: Computers, hypertext, and the remediation of print [2nd edition]. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Digital native. (n.d.). In en.oxforddicitionaries.com. Retrieved June 14, 2018, from https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/digital_native
Ong, Walter. (1982). Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word. London: Methuen
bradley forsyth
June 25, 2018 — 8:54 pm
Hi Amy,
I too share an affection for the printed book. I prefer the feel and aesthetics of a book in my hands or on a shelf and the ease at which I can flip through it. Perhaps we romanticize the print novel because that is how we grew up reading. As you mentioned, it will be interesting to note the preferences of younger generations who have been introduced to digital texts at a young age. I don’t know if the difficulties faced by bookstores can be wholly attributed to digital texts, but also to online retailers like Amazon. I still read fiction solely in a print format, and often order books online either through Indigo or Amazon. Certainly, ordering books online is not nearly as pleasant an experience as visiting a bookstore.
I do have faith, however, that the printed book will stick around for longer than some might expect. I recently came across an article by Alison Flood (2015) which covered comments made by author Neil Gaiman regarding Douglas Adams. Gaiman recounted a conversation he had with Adams regarding the fate of the printed book in which Adams reportedly told him,
Books are sharks … because sharks have been around for a very long time. There were sharks before there were dinosaurs, and the reason sharks are still in the ocean is that nothing is better at being a shark than a shark… Look at a book. A book is the right size to be a book. They’re solar-powered. If you drop them, they keep on being a book. You can find your place in microseconds. Books are really good at being books and no matter what happens books will survive.
Similar to your closing remarks, Gaiman continued by saying,
Ebooks are much better at being two or more books and a newspaper, at the same time. Ebooks are great at being bookshelves, which is why they are great on trains…And stories… aren’t books. Books are simply one of the many storage mechanisms in which stories can be kept. People are one of the other storage mechanisms for stories. And stories, like life forms, change.
I attempted to find some statistics regarding the preference of print versus digital texts to mixed results, but there does seem to be a positive outlook for us printed book lovers. A survey conducted by Gray and Howard (2016) found that the majority of teen library users preferred print books over digital. I’m not sure if surveying only readers that utilize libraries is reflective of the general population, however. Another study conducted by the Pew Research Center (2016) found that a majority of surveyed Americans preferred physical books, and the sale of digital texts on e-readers had stagnated over the last few years, although the number of digital texts being read on multi-purpose digital devices had increased. Unfortunately, the survey only offered comparable statistics since 2012. It would be interesting to find statistics to identify trends over a longer period of time and across different demographics.
I imagine there will be factors other than reader preference influencing the future of physical books, such as environmental factors, demographics, and cost factors for publishing companies. I hope and suspect that the physical book will continue to coincide with digital formats and not be “pushed to the cultural margin” as Bolter (2001, p. 6) predicted. Bolter seems to largely discuss changes to narrative regarding web pages and hypertext, and does not wholly predict the rise of e-readers in preserving linear narrative structure. I’m sure many readers prefer the feel of a physical book while in the comfort of their own home, but prefer the convenience of digital texts while traveling, for example. I wonder, however, if the ease at which authors can self-publish and the volume of published works to which this leads, as well as our growing infatuation with digital content that is quickly digestible is leading to the popularity of texts that are both shorter and perhaps less complex.
This is all of course in relation to the physical book and personal reading. We can already see the demise of the printed newspaper and in the field of education there is a growing push for free, accessible online learning materials to combat the high prices of textbooks.
References
Bolter, Jay David. (2001). Writing space: Computers, hypertext, and the remediation of print [2nd edition]. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Flood, A. (2015). Douglas Adams made me a writer: Neil Gaiman salutes his friend and inspiration. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/mar/04/neil-gaiman-douglas-adams-writer-genius.
Gray, R. & Howard, V. (2017). Young adult use of ebooks: An analysis of public library services and resources. Public Library Quarterly, 36 (3), 199-212. Retrieved from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01616846.2017.1316149.
Perrin, A. (2016). Book Reading 2016: A growing share of Americans are reading e-books on tablets and smartphones rather than dedicated e-readers, but print books remain much more popular than books in digital formats. Retrieved from the Pew Research Center website: http://www.pewinternet.org/2016/09/01/book-reading-2016/#the-share-of-americans-who-have-read-a-book-in-the-last-year-is-largely-unchanged-since-2012-more-americans-read-print-books-than-either-read-e-books-or-listen-to-audio-books.
kimseto
June 26, 2018 — 10:21 pm
Hi Amy,
I can certainly relate with you on your feelings towards printed books. Turning on my Kindle leaves me feeling like something is missing from my reading experience. As much as I love the convenience of this piece of technology, there is nothing that can replace the scent, or simply the tactile sensation of a bound paper book. For environmental reasons, I have been trying to adjust to reading papers and taking notes digitally. It still shocks me when I see my students reading their novels and writing essays off of their phones! Occasionally, they ask if they can type their in class responses claiming that they can think and write better than with pen and paper.
Some would agree that there are greater perks to composing a piece of writing with a computer. For instance, one can jot down their thoughts much quicker and there is the added bonus of spell check (although some may contend that this would only deteriorate our spelling skills). The same can be argued for the perks of reading on the Internet. When it comes to consuming the news online, there are a multitude of options available. One can customize their news feed, watch it on video, listen to audio clips, scroll through a series of gallery pictures, etc. They don’t have to handle cumbersome newspapers that are often limited to static black and white print. Bolter (2001) posits that with every new medium that arrives, what is replaced is often improved upon. While it seems like the newspaper industry is dying, I don’t think the rise of digital medium will eradicate paper bound books. The stories and memories evoked through the pages of books can be more powerful than any digital medium.
References
Bolter, Jay David. (2001). Writing space: Computers, hypertext, and the remediation of print [2nd edition]. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
chris clarke
July 5, 2018 — 5:49 pm
Hi Amy,
I imagine most of us in this program can relate strongly to growing up with a book in their hand whenever possible. I make that assumption, but it is probably not a safe one in the coming years. If it hasn’t been made clear yet, I predict the unveiling of our documentary assignments in the coming days will reinforce how fluid communication has been throughout our history. Certain technologies like the printed book have endured for centuries without signs of faltering, but even they must change over time. I equate it to changes occuring in the English language. I often cringe when I hear what new words have been added to the Oxford Dictionary or when I observe the spelling abilities of most students these days. I’m using an antiquated measuring stick to judge these changes due to my own past and beliefs.
If we look to the printed book and compare it to its digital cousin, the ebook, the fundamental components and functions remain the same. The ebook provides a way of connecting the readers to the heritage of print (Bolter, 2001). They both allow for the masses to access information more readily than they did in the past, and they still convey the same meaning regardless if the words were written in ink or in code. The written word has progressed through many different media and it’s no surprise it’s passing through another one. What will be interesting is if this audio-visually dominant culture we’re entering into will have any negative effects on the written word? It may diminish for a time, but maybe that’s just so it can become retro and hip.
Bolter, J. (2001). Writing space: Computers, hypertext, and the remediation of print [2nd edition]. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.