Questions & Responses on Chapter 5:
This chapter was thoughtful in its presentation of the development of such as the concepts of the encyclopedia and the library. In its discussion of the evolution and adaptation of such encyclopedias as Britannica, I could relate since I have used the online version of this particular encyclopedia on a number of occasions. It was interesting to see how the encyclopedia went from being a discussion of philosophical ideas to the alphabetized topics in popular culture that one sees today. There is no question that encyclopedias have gone from an art form to a lucrative business endeavor in the the "commercialization" of encyclopedias over time. The discussion involving the the development of the library as a storehouse for knowledge and its representations as a citadel of literary significance was also another intriguing aspect. The aspect of the library over history serving as a self-appointed "guardian" of knowledge and texts is interesting in the way that such institutions have used their supposed authority in obtaining various texts. A prime example of this is when Bolter mentions that the library of Alexandria mandated that scrolls found on ships that came into their port were to be confiscated and held at the library. One should also note that the implementation of library databases, though now a seemingly age old concept, has been very instrumental in the effort to making texts universally available. Though one may lose a sense of tangibility in a library database, but by no means is the library institution foreshadowing its demise. Bolter has explicitly displayed the great social significance of the library throughout our society. Overall, Bolter makes a pretty powerful argument in his defined views of the roles of the encyclopedia and the library throughout society and the course of history. —Doug
xxxxx —Farad
“The electronic book” was a very interesting way of looking at how books are being represented electronically, archived, and even purchased electronically. I don’t think that they will replace physical books. I think physical books are nostalgic, fun, inspiring, and smell great! It is hard to say for sure if they will replace them, I think that it could be a possibility, but it will take a long long time for them to be phased out. Books aren’t a fad, they have been around since the beginning of time, and people trust them. It would be cheaper to archive them, or sell them electronically, but it isn’t the same. Having a tangible item is always more appealing. I still buy cd’s and rip them to my computer, rather than just buying them on the computer. That way, I have 2 formats of the same thing, in case one fails. It will take a while for this kind of thing to happen with books, and frankly, I hope it doesn’t.—Jim
Ebooks are definatly an interesting innovation but I really don't think that they will repalace novels. I would much rather read a book. It could be just my generation, my parents brought me up to really love and respect books. Reading is usually associated with relaxing and screens and computers are not relaxing to me at all. It's still really cool to see how the book has evolved over the centuries. I don't think ebooks are a bad idea, they are really useful in some situations. It makes information fast, easy, and cheap to come by. So with things like encyclopedias and medical texts its good to have information constantly updated. I liked how he mentioned the Dewey Decimal System. I remember having to learn that in elementary school. It's completly gone now because computers are such an easier way to find books. I think ebooks and print can coexist very well. Ebooks almost give printed books more value. —Jenn
I believe electronic books will not be as big of a problem for printed books as some people think. e-books, i-books, and any other kind of electronic books there are making reading easier to navigate as well as much more organized. for instance, you can type a word or phrase and it will bring you to the specific page or pages. however, there will always be tradtionalists who, like me, believe electronic books diminish a book's true identity. this includes the design of a book's cover, spine, and the actual pages of a book. I agree that an all encyclopedias' success is diminishing due to the growth of books and electronic books. no matter what the subject is, someone will write a book about it. however, encylopedias will always be a good resort to readers who want the basic facts about the subject without an author's own recollection and opinions. —Justin
xxxxx —Katy
The age of the electronic book at first glance seems revolutionary. Everything anyone could ever need right in the palm of their hand. The is no need to go to the library, search through book stacks or go to a book store and look through books. But I am afraid that this can be dangerous. Although it may be easier and less time consuming, I think it makes our society more apathetic. The same goes for the electronic encyclopedia. I don't think it is right that we use this type of technology. The future of our society is in trouble. We are basically dumbing our culture. I mean don't get me wrong, I am definitely guilty of using the online encyclopedia Britannica, but I don't use it for everything.
On the other hand, I think digital libraries can be somewhat handy. Especially when a person needs to find a book that is not available at a library near theirs. All you need to do is search a book title and a list of libraries is right at your fingertips telling you where you can find the book. Then that book can be sent to a library nearby. —Krista
The Electronic Book. In order of succession we go from the papyrus roll to codex, early print books, the paged book, to now a days using digital technology. As the book is refashioned through digital technology, we are lessening the sense of closure that belonged to the codex print. This is true because all of these devices that are now being created are paying homage to the codex and other paper-based materials while at the same time, the want to override them and make a product one better. Now about this eBook, unlike a normal book, this electronic device can be reloaded because it is connected to the internet. This is something that you can take with you wherever you go, and is fairly portable. This makes it easy for anyone to be in constant contact with the internet;thus our growing addiction to have anything at our fingertips. The electronic library is nothing new anymore, but now it is something that is growing rapidly! Since it's a low cost, it allows the publication for everything instead of limiting publishing to strictly medical or law. The Electronic Book is going to be a thing of the past pretty soon as we are already advancing day by day in this category. With out technology there is nothing we won't think of next. This chapter points out great examples and in my opinion, they are right on target. —Laura
Chapter 5 was my chapter to present. I have learned a lot in this chapter. While researching for this project we found many books and reading materials online. For example we found people magazine, newspapers from other countries, and online bibles ect. There are advantages and disadvantages to this. The advantages are that all these books online are easy to search, they are generally inexpensive and are fast to find. The disadvantages though are that sometimes these sources are not reliable, it pushes us to take the easy way out which causes laziness and pages on the web can not be "authentic". My dad's girlfriend's son who is in 8th grade has all his books online. Is that crazy or what? No more back problems for him... haha—Lorin
xxxxx —Matt
I remember as a little girl reading books with my grandma. I would pick out a book from the book drawer, sit on her lap, listen to her read, and flip the pages. As I was growing up, books slowly came out on disks for the computer. Now, it's crazy to think that you can get almost any book on the internet. These days, online websites are copying entire texts onto the computer! And the encyclopedia on a disk! It's really weird how those big huge books that we used to have to sift through for information are now electronic and easier than ever to find information in! I'm worried that maybe these electronic books will decrease the literacy rate in our culture because of the laziness required to use an electronic book. I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens next!—Nicole
Is the Rocket eBook the next college text book? I think that the next huge step that universities are going to take will be to require students to the Rocket eBook. This thing is pretty awesome. Not only does it save paper, money in the long run, and it also reduces the weight in students back packs. You can download books into hypertext, read them, make notes in the margin as you go and then even disconnect from the internet for personal use or during reading to save power. It goes anywhere and downlaods the book right to your eBook. There would be no more hard copy expensive text books, easy for teachers to move into a more recent volume of them and not require any ordering of books and also disguard the chance that someone doesn't have a book or they ordered them over the internet and isn't here on time for the first day of class. This eBook is awesome, I wish I had one.—Rachael
xxxxx —Rob
Chapter 5 brings up an interesting point as to how the book has evolved over the years. In going from codex to digital libraries the book has taken on many forms and many organizational strategies have developed further as well. I really found the comparison between encyclopedias and libraries especially interesting. Considering that the book mentions that libraries are a solid structure that holds many books and resources, while an ecyclopedia compresses information into an abridged form, it shows the various ways that information has been stored from past to present, and the movement of how general audiences' intake of information has changed and developed. Overall, it is proving how things are becoming more technologically advanced, and how audiences expect their information organized in various ways. It also gives critical viewpoints and positive viewpoints as to how audiences read into encyclopedias being organized alphabetically, etc. —Sarah J.
“What many have called the ‘information revolution’ ushered in by the computer is only the most recent manifestation of a problem that is now 500 years old. (Geoffrey Nunberg has even suggested that the notion of quantifiable information was particularly well suited to what I have called the industrial age of print and that electronic technology ushers in not the beginning, but the end of this ‘information age.’)” ----- It is interesting to think about the relationship between the overload of information made available at our fingertips due to the widespread availability of information via computer search engines, library subscription services, etc. It can certainly become overwhelming and I agree with Bolter that it wouldn’t be surprising to see it cause an opposite trend, ending the “information revolution” in the near future. On the other hand, we have so much information available to us that the organization and structure of the information we seek to present on the internet becomes of utmost importance, along with the establishment of our own credibility as designers and writers. When I think about this concept with relationship to designing actual web pages, I can see that it is extremely important that information be presented in a professional and intriguing, but very organized structure. For example, if the website my group is creating for the casebook has competing information on the web, those who need information will visit another site if ours doesn’t find the perfect balance between not overwhelming readers with information, but offering enough valuable information that it will be used and appreciated for students or others who want to learn more about the book and its author, social and historical context, etc. If our site contains even the smallest grammatical errors or design problems, it will cause viewers to question our site’s informational credibility and seek another site to find information on the book.—Sarah S.
I thought it was interesting to see that text has evolved in style over time to as it progressed from very basic to more elaborate in illumination manuscripts and became more basic again. Even today we are able to chose from various fonts and even create our own within our computer. In speaking of illuminated manuscripts, Bolter also points out that in the past text and imagery could be intermingled. However on the computer this becomes non-existent. Text and images are always separated and defined with white space between.—Stephanie
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