The Future of Reading: Beyond the E-book
Reading is one of our oldest technologies. Yet we continually recreate it as one of our newest. Reading is at the core of our technological society, more vital than computers, telephones, or the automobile. It is central to our social, legal, cultural, legal, and economic systems. Reading impacts each one of us personally, every day of our lives.
Currently, the ways we use reading are undergoing a huge shift. A paranoia is afoot in our culture: a belief that somehow computers will replace books, and therefore reading. However, computers themselves are dependent upon text. The Internet has rapidly become home to some of the most effective reading (and writing) technologies we have ever produced: email and the Web.
The impact of digital technologies upon reading goes beyond screen-based systems. Nearly all print is now created upon and processed through computers. There is more text now in the world than ever before, in print, on screens, and increasingly, in the physical world around us. Reading has migrated onto clothing, furniture, walls, and even our food. It has become multi-sensory, packed with symbolic meanings stacked on top of the text itself.
As our culture shifts to keep up with both technology and changing views of consciousness and the self, we gain opportunities for experimenting with new kinds of reading experience. Reading and writing in the digital age will continue to be among the most compelling domains for inspiration, exploration and engagement.
Copyright The Reading Lab 2005. Last updated March 20, 2005. Comments welcome.