Project on the convergence of printed and digital books.
Over the last decade several attempts have been made to make the information stored in books available on the internet, some proprietary some open source. Even though some of these attempts have been very successful, they usually conform to the old idea of the library in digital form. As long as these works are being stored online, and printed for reading, the concept is simply an evolutionary process in production and distribution, most likely to be taken advantage of by the bookmaking industry in the form of print on demand. My research will focus on the new paradigm of the non-physical book existing in a uniform database environment. The absence of physical limitations and the uniformity of the structure in which the book exists, opens up new ways of thinking about the book. The book no longer starts at the first page, and ends at the last, it can be a collection of quotes, pages or chapters from different books in the library. Like a DJ mixes records, readers or lecturers can recompose text by making connections or by sampling books. The uniform structure allows us to add data to the book, making it more valuable ...