Print and Electronic Text Convergence

Book excerpt: With the progressive digitisation of the book production processes, we see the emergence of a potentially potent mix of new technologies. Not potent because these technologies are capable of driving change alones, but potent for the commercial and cultural drivers which may work in concert with new technologies to transform the world of books and reading. Central to these technological developments is the convergence of the technologies of etext and digital print. This book examines recent technological changes in book production. Our focus is in part on technological actuality, centred mostly on the digitisation of text and its consequences. Our focus is also on the realm of possibility. Where might these technological shifts lead us? What are the commercial and cultural conditions under which technological possibility might bear fruits? Within this volume we look specifically at the changing definition of a 'book'. A book is no longer a tangible thing; a book is what a book does. It is information architecture. We examine the various manifestations of electronic book readers and imminent technologies, such as electronic ink, including case study on the use of ebook reading devices by a lending library, and speculate about other uses of such devices. We see the convergence of print and etext - manifestations of the same thing - electronically stored text, with the difference demonstrated only in the shift in mindset necessary to accommodate emergent forms of digital text - as information services within a product-service system, the changing shape of digital design and changes in printing technologies from letterpress to the rise of digital printing.