Tag Archives: technology

Cell phones

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When were talk about the printing press, it is hard for us to imagine a time before it because it precedes us by many decades. However, while the cell phone is a pretty recent device, it is hard for us to imagine life without it. I often wonder how texting and tweeting has impacted the way we read and write. I found the artist book that came out of the cell phone relevant and interesting to this conversation. In Japan, in 2007, a new “genre” of books emerged. According to this article this was the creation of the cell phone novel. Additionally this reminds me of a young adult novel I admittedly read that was written as a long text message conversation. It is interesting to think that if you traveled back in time and gave the texting book to someone it would be like a foreign language to them.

Reaction to Howard Readings

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After reading the two chapters in Howard, I realized just how lucky I was to be reading from a one pound or less book with a binding and cover. Previously, I never thought of a book as evolving from something else, as a means of technology. Thinking about the future it is sad to imagine the disappearance of books. Growing up, I assumed that books would be around forever; How could you improve a book? But I guess that is how people way back when felt about writings on papyrus, parchment, stone, and clay. Recently, the new craze of e-books has popped up and dented the sales of actual books. Call me old fashioned, but I can not wrap my head around that yet. Even reading short pieces online bothers me. In fact most of the time I choose to print out what I am reading no matter how short, or long for that matter. There is something about the book that is lost when switched over electronically. To me, at least, just having the physical book in front of me with pages that I can highlight, annotate, or even just feel it is there, is important to me. It is scary to think that one day everything may work electronically. Will people even leave their dwellings? What will happen to human interaction- will it all be over a computer? Will we be able to document our writings to display like those we saw on Tuesday? Or will none of it mean very much considering everyone will have access to the internet to view it? Will important things be lost in the presence of too much information?