"The technology of the printed book engenders certain notions of authorial property, authorial uniqueness, and a physically isolated text that hypertext makes untenable. The evidence of hypertext, in other words, historicizes many of our most commonplace assumptions, thereby forcing them to descend from the ethereality of abstraction and appear as corollaries to a particular technology rooted in specific times and places. (Landow, 260 as quoted in Comm & Cyberspace)."
These sections dealed with virtual reality and in the case of chapter 15, the last days of the book. I believe people are more intriqued by the computer and therefore book and magazine or overall print sales are suffering. This fascination with cyberspace is due to the ability to interact. Rather than just getting information from a book, an entity that is unresponsive to your feelings and thoughts, we can now interact with the information and share our thoughts, explain why we agree, or disagree.
However, I do not believe that print is dying. Of course, it is not as popular as it once was because it is no longer "new" and because the younger generations have been raised on digital technologies and not books. However the book will always be around because there is a feeling of trust and truthfulness with print, which is what I believe Landow was saying.
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ReplyDeleteI agree with you Caressa, but I feel that I should defend the younger generation. I'm not a fan of books, reason being I get bored easily. Making books digitally, is not only new, but its very helpful. When reading, everybody interpret book in different levels. By making books digital the text can be hypermedia for the reader to gain further understanding, and something generate their own alternate ending.
ReplyDeleteSo I am the opposite to Rich, I love books! And I feel that there is something magical about turning the page of the book. It saddens me that we are seeing a 'phasing out' it seems of books, but I think that they will never truly be away. People will want to hold a book in their hands no matter the cost in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteLandow is talking about the sense of authority associated with print, and how hypertext works in an entirely different way, opening the text rather than closing it off, asking for participation rather than acceptance of its authority, and replacing stability with flux.
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