Belle E-books
A new, to me, take on e-books from if:book: [W]hat I’m getting at here is that the e-reader is being treated as though it is a viable vehicle for long-form writing, in a way that ignores the essential fact that long-form writing and reading is rooted in paper, and book manufacturing. So, back to the ...
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E-books and justification
If:book has a really cool article on something that I hadn’t yet noticed (not having a kindle, a sony reader, or an iphone): all of the text on these devices is fully justified. if a computer is going to hyphenate something, it needs to know what language the text is in. This is a job for metadata: electronic books ...
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Bob Stein's Unified Theory of Publishing
The other day, Bob Stein posted a really interesting article at If:Book about his so-called “unified theory of publishing” which tries to address these particular questions: What are the characteristics of a successful author in the era of the digital network? Ditto for readers: how do you account for ...
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The Future of the Online Bookshelf?
If:Book calls attention to Zoomii, a new “virtual bookstore” with titles arranged on virtual shelves, sort of like a normal bookstore. (Well, a “normal” bookstore that faces out every single title.) It is sort of cool to look at and play with, and does start to replicate the browsing experience one ...
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Criticsm of Google's Book Search
Using this essay by Paul Duguid as a basis, if:book takes a look at quality control problems surrounding Google’s Book Search program. As Ben Vershbow asks, “Does simply digitizing these—books, imprimaturs and all—automatically result in an authoritative bibliographic resource?” Duguid’s ...
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