Our E-Books Are Reading Us (WSJ 6/29/12)

Wall Street Journal article by Alexandra Alter, "Our E-Books Are Reading Us" is worth reading, sharing, and discussing.  http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2012/06/our_ebooks_are.shtml

As publishers and authors learn more about how readers read, which books they read faster, which lines are highlighted the most by readers... it will change what readers are offered. That is not necessarily a good thing. Think I'll stay offline book-wise and keep my reading choices a little more to myself. On the bright side, it might help text book publishers learn how to better engage students. My suggestion is to reference good books -- such as historical fiction, science fiction, collections of best science articles -- throughout a textbook.  Serious students will be enriched. Others might just stumble upon some really great reads.

Here's how Alexander Alter's article starts...

"It takes the average reader just seven hours to read the final book in Suzanne Collins's "Hunger Games" trilogy on the Kobo e-reader—about 57 pages an hour. Nearly 18,000 Kindle readers have highlighted the same line from the second book in the series: "Because sometimes things happen to people and they're not equipped to deal with them." And on Barnes & Noble's Nook, the first thing that most readers do upon finishing the first "Hunger Games" book is to download the next one."  more

BlogBooker

Interesting -- I don't have time now to experiment with BlogBooker, but this might be a good way to capture this and other blogs for historical purposes...in  book format!

The GOOGLE Book Settlement & The Future of Reading

Here is a well-written article on "5 Ways the GOOGLE Book Settlement Will Change the Future of Reading" by Annalee Newitz. Annalee is the editor-in-chief of a blog called io9: We Come From the Future.

This is an overview of the impact of the copyright law and its challenges, related to books. "Book Monster" illustrations are colorful.

Annalee lists several ways copyright will change, thanks to the newest version of the Google Book Settlement (aka: GBS 2.0):

1. It may become harder to find information online about books from your favorite writers.
   
2. You will find yourself reading free books online, by authors who have disappeared. And Google will make money when you do.
3. Google will be competing with Apple and Amazon and everyone else to be your favorite online bookseller.
4. Libraries and bookstores will become the same thing.
5. Pulp fiction will make a comeback in unexpected ways.

25th Estate: this is Where We Live

Here is a video by Aptstudios called "25th Estate: This is Where We Live", created for HarperCollins. "Over a thousand books were used to make the film, which was shot over two weeks in a makeshift studio in North London. Twenty animators worked in shifts to get it made, often sleeping under the set itself." Open it full screen and enjoy.

This Is Where We Live from 4th Estate on Vimeo.

Storyist - Software for Novelists and Screen Writers

Here is Post #1 after two days touring Mac World exhibits in San Francisco on 1/8 and 1/9. I hadn't visited Mac World in years. I focused on finding fun, cool tools.

Storyist is software especially designed for novelists and screen writers. As a reader, I often wonder how a writer or storyteller organizes all the details, characters, and research before or during the writing of a book. Now, after seeing this cool software, I could see myself possibly taking the plunge or at least helping a writer with the research for a book or screen play. In addition to a word processor with page layout and index cards, there are storyboards and a database of sorts to track your characters, plot, and settings. California-based Storyist is a cool tool to show friends and family who are writing "the great American novel" or with teachers who may want their writing classes to experience a structured writing tool.

Congratulations to CEO and Storyist developer Steve Shepard and Managing Editor Christina Cary. This blogger was impressed.

Mobility@Your Library - #8 Publishing

Here is #8 of 10 categories of how libraries use mobile devices.

#8- Publishing. Mobile reporting and more. Library Conference bloggers. Library Legislation Day bloggers. Government and School Board Meeting bloggers. Here are some examples of cool tools.

• Gabcast – a podcasting and audioblogging platform to create and distribute audio content to mobile devices.
• GCast - run by the same people that run GarageBand.com.
• Blogger on the Go – blog from anywhere.
• Mobango – download anything to mobile phone

Many of these Mobility @ YourLibrary categories and examples overlap. See also #4-Assistive Technology and #5- Productivity Tools.