Review Printing Digital Sarzana and Jean Alain Pierrot in Publie.net What I ran the day it went online to purchase this ebook on the site Publie.net François Bon. The topic, the authors, the publisher, all encouraged me to download.
Before I share with you, dear readers, my own impressions of these prints, I allow myself a few remarks on this act of purchase, these reflections, all personal and only my opinion, having do with this passage from the printed edition to the digital edition, which concerns us all, even our concern for some.
P irst point: when I buy a book from a bookstore or even a supermarket, I'm under no obligation to relinquish all my identity, fill in "my profile". I understand full well the requirement for this interface, as with other interfaces booksellers, including to secure online payment by credit card, you can identify the buyers. Notwithstanding, we all know, with Amazon, Apple, Google, et cetera, it is undeniable that our buying behavior will be more and more cards with the practices or derived from m-commerce (mobile commerce), called to develop.
D ECOND point: the book itself. On the book itself, I missed two elements at once.
The first is the back cover! I do not here retrace his history, we all know it has not always existed as to which we are accustomed today. There might be room for innovation here, simply and intelligently, for example, by placing an equivalent to the fourth form of a box at the bottom of coverage, or pre-coverage (?) Ebooks.
The second: a subtitle. I think that beyond the wit of the title, a subtitle was eloquent welcome, although for the microcosm cogitate on this orb, the authors' names are enough to get an idea, quite clear and engaging.
Finally, the presence of blank pages at the beginning caught my attention. What sense for a publication to be read on a screen or a tablet reading?
And then, of course, dematerialization plays his tricks. Without visual perception of volume, difficult to estimate a priori the number of pages and the average time that I spend reading.
For the rest, I recognize a good editing job, with no more shells than in the traditional print edition.
But getting back to basics ...
Continuity or rupture?
B lthough obviously I advocates a transhistorical dimension to the forward-looking approaches of the book and publishing, discovering, upon entry in a setting that to one side, those who see the digital publishing an "extension of the past," and another, those who see it as a "decisive break in the history of the printed book," I was rather charmed. I hoped for answers.
But closing the book (sic, for it was an ebook!) A few hours later, I only had additional questions.
Notwithstanding, it is clear objectively I think that this little test, line by line, line reflections whose relevance and style are undeniable, however.
I can also resist the desire, pleasure, to deliver here a small selection:
"We often feel that a Chinese wall between publishers and librarians. They benefit from the change to a Japanese screen. "
" At the same time it restricts the scope of the book extends that of the digital work. "
" [...] for some time, the future of digital book publishing and new forms remains hidden by the development of the book scanned and contraction of the printed book. "
" One thing is certain: the library will be most affected by a profound change, it can not manage alone. "
" Previously, we bought before reading. Perhaps some will read before they buy. "
" In any case, the homothetic copy appears as a transitional stage, probably necessary, but certainly not enough, and hardly deserves some attention. "
And finally:
"The digital designer is not in the copy he allows, but in his communication open. . QED.
M ais, if there should be one and only one reason to read this essay, it would certainly be relevant and illuminating for his retrospective analysis of Google's strategy (its first part: "Google and the Digital Syndrome ", with" The Four Ages "literary" Google ": The primary age: Google Print; Secondary Age: Google Book Search, The Tertiary: the draft comprehensive agreement; Quaternary Age: Google Editions).
A book that deserves its title!
D onc, let's be clear: all this seemed like a reflection, certainly interesting, but, for example, far less structure than that of Marin and Pierre Mounier Dacos in their book, "The electronic publishing "(The Discovery ed. Collection Insights, March 2010).
It feels right, throughout the trial of Jean Sarzana and Alain Pierrot, their real concern, what concerns them both, and this is precisely what, in essence, makes the interest of this reading Perhaps, and indeed the title of their last chapter: "The share of book paper," and what they express in the end as follows: "In what state the printed book he emerges from this cluster of problems? ".
An inventory, photo end 2010 of the print edition and face scanning with Schmilblick digital book that taunts. And this hope that keeps coming up, that the book could be digital eventually, could be a complement, not substitute, the printed book. Is this credible? Is this possible? As new reading devices installed in supermarkets between toothpaste and books and that the generation of 04-06 year begins (at home, at home, and only for certain it is true) to learn to play on iPhone and iPad?
Personally, I would, but, honestly, I do not believe it.
A first-class burial?
P erhaps the authors would not they have stayed with both feet and thought into this. Take a step backwards in the history of the book, to take two steps forward, raised hopes that But their introduction.
For only would this not, in fact, in the state, a first-class burial of the printed book?
I do not know what to think of these hesitations (starting with mine!), Nor how to understand them. I can not distinguish the voice of Alain Pierrot (which I occasionally am pleased to attend), that of Jean Sarzana (which I have crossed paths only once while we were working both a roundtable at Poitiers I think).
I also wonder what thinks François Bon, thinker and actor This (r) evolution of the digital book and now editor of this book accurate, this book in particular, which I think eventually as well enigmatic impressions.
And besides, that they answer all three to the question: "Is this a book? .
Clearly yes, and yet printed or scanned or digital in the sense of enriched, increased networking and whatnot.
I read a book, although I would have preferred to read printed and bound, rather than one of these tablets in some respects frustrating.
Anyway this is, I think, is a book that, in retrospect, a landmark in the uncertain times we are experiencing, or who simply happen, like a soap bubble in a sunbeam. As for everything else: the future will tell.
