Enhanced Reading

To tie in with our readings for this week, discussing the future of the book, I found an interesting video made made by Ideo, a design firm.  It highlights three interesting pieces of software that allow readers to interact with books - digital books -  in new and intertexual ways.  The first, Nelson, "allows you to see the bigger picture" of text, by letting the reader fact-check the text, view debates surrounding it, and to see what the media is currently saying about the subject of the book.  This ability goes directly against what Reinking talks about in his article when he says that one of the things that the print book does for a reader is the allowance for reflection on the subject without outside influence.

Copland, the second technology, suggests the most relevant books for you to read (in terms of professional development) based on your professional network, and allows for discussion between colleagues at a particular organization.

Alice, the last technology, is geared towards fiction, and allows for a "blurred line between fiction and reality" by inviting the readers to engage with the story by performing certain tasks related to the narrative (being at a physical location or engaging with characters through other forms of media) after which they are rewarded with extra chapters, information, or insights into characters.  (Personally, I think this last one is particularly fascinating, and found myself going 'Wow, I want to do that!)  It's an interesting concept, although I wonder how many authors will be willing to go out of their way to provide the extra content needed for this sort of immersive, interactive reading experience.

http://www.ideo.com/work/future-of-the-book/