Thoughtless Acts

The focus of the next few entries will be upon objects, how we observe them and our relationships with them. I will consider questions like: Why do we value the handmade? Why is an object built a certain way? As understanding these values can help me with my own design work. One way of answering these questions is through close observation. This should be done without preconceptions in order to find out how we are really using an object. Often this involves the consideration of affordances. An affordance is when an object is used often alongside another unrelated object in a way that it was not initially designed for. An example of this would be a coaster used to balance a table leg.

These affordances have been studied by different people, in the essay 'Parallel Universes' by Kevin Henry the way in which we perceive these affordances is considered. Henry looks at the differences and similarities between a designers (Suri) perspective and that of an artists (Wentworth). The affordances the two practices consider are done through a photographic documentation. The photographs are not intended as pieces in their own right but simply as a record.

Suri considers the affordances to be evidence of our subconscious interaction with objects. She sees them as reletively thoughtless acts. This differs greatly to Wentworth as he sees them as much more conscious. He sees them as warnings, reminders and repairs, as things that require some conscious thought. Interestingly however there is more ambiguity to Wentworth's images, he leaves much more up to the viewers interpretation. However in some ways this is not surprising, unlike designers who most often create work which conveys a clear message, artists thrive on uncertainty. Wentworth's photos are often drawn to the poetry of the image as much as the reality of the objects in them.

Wentworth sees his photos as documenting coincidence whereas Suri sees her images as a way of validating coincidence. However both of them discover their insights in the space between taking the images and collating them into narratives. Though the way in which they are collated into narratives again differs greatly. Suri's in a book and Wentworth in a slideshow which he presents in a random order. Both of them however are using photography to expand the narratives. Unlike moving image they demand more from the audience. You can't help when you are looking at them thinking I wonder whats happening just off frame. This interaction with the photographs helps to build a personalised vision of the affordances. Whilst the images themselves create memories and trap feelings within them.

The way in which the designer interacts with the subject is also the way in which I approach a subject, with a more structured eye and a definite message to convey. Whilst looking around for affordances I have already been dismissing some as they don't say what I want. Perhaps I should consider taking a more fine art approach to things and try and push my own boundaries. Try to document coincidence like Wentworth rather than find images to suit my own narratives. This could provide a more organic and perhaps more interesting result.

Physical Objects

The lecture from Ian Roberts centred upon objects and how they are a part of everything that we do. He begins by discussing the notion of an archetype, that we like to take the archetype and create our own version. He offers the example of chairs and table lamps and that their design never differs greatly. These objects unlike mobile phones with their quick moving generations are more static in their design. Wether this implies that they have a greater value? Or that they have reached their limit is something I would like to explore further.

He suggests that objects all have certain rules, language and vocabulary that they follow. Apple offers a good example of how by limiting the vocabulary of an object you can create excellent design. This vocabulary as I touched upon in my summary of Janet's lecture is something undeveloped in e-book design. The layout of e-books is yet unmapped. It lacks a consistent language which is creating the state of flux in industry and the anxiety which comes with that. Once a language has been established for the e-reader it will become much stabler an easier to use. For me this will happen only once someone has made the right sort of reader. The i-pad doesn't quite work as a reader and the kindle still feels quite slow and clunky.

Ian goes on to discuss the difference between craft and mass production. The notion of a value being added by being able to see the makers hand. This is something I have already been considering, along with the idea of authenticity as being valuable. Ian also considers the value of one persons a mundane object to another culture. He offers the example of lightbulbs being collected in India simply as the collector considers them a beautiful object.

Ian also looks at Baudrillard's system of objects. Something that has already been a strong influence on my research. He begins to touch upon collecting and our motivations behind it. He offers the Freudian theory that childhoods latency period and for middle-aged man collecting has the most importance. As the collection acts a replacement for their sexuality. He considers the object as an insentient dog. Something that reflects back the owners feelings, giving them pleasure.

These are all themes that I have begun to touch upon in my strategies of thought essay as well as in my wider research. As there is so much correlation between Ian's lecture and my subject I think that being part of his seminar group will be a great way to deepen my understanding of the topics.

Techno-poiesis

After listening to the various contexts lectures it was Janet Bezzants on Techno-poesis and Ian Roberts on Objects that held the most relevance to my own research. I was however very interested in Millers lecture on Politics in Art as it focused upon feminist themes which I often work with outside of the MA.

Janets lecture focused upon the quest to discover the poetics in material computing. She is concerned with how technology impacts upon our perception of the world. Something that bears relevance to the digital aspect of my research into how we read e-books. She considers the way in which we interact with technology and how this effects the way we understand the world. During the lecture the theme of technology almost becoming invisible emerges. Beginning with a prediction made in the 80's that 'technology will disappear into the woodwork'. Something that I agree with fundamentally, technology is becoming invisible with wi-fi internet being an obvious example. Tech based objects continually become smaller, sleeker and less intrusive. This is true of e-readers in particular, they are becoming less boxy and more intuitive as they progress.

Janet introduces the concept of affordance. That technology has a way of telling us how to interact with it. We recognise signs such as a 'play' symbol for a film. Affordance is something that still needs work in e-publishing. It is often confusing to navigate an e-reader at first. She also considers the 'tacit dimension' a new concept for me. This is the notion that 'we know more than we can tell'. She offers the example of riding a bike. That we can explain the mechanics of riding a bike but not how it feels. This feeling is something you have to experience for yourself. She suggests that the body has its own tacit understanding of something. This is a concept that has implications for reading and objects. Can we really explain the pleasure of holding a book? its weight, scent and the individuality of each copy?

Industry Survey Dec-Feb

Overall there is more optimism in the air. Christmas proved to be good for both analogue and digital. Though sales in physical bookshops were badly affected by the snow. Hardback non-fiction sold well as gifts as well as other more ‘novelty’ books. This ties into a general feeling that the books are being valued as a gift. Even if they are not read, as we value them as the object and the feelings they represent. On the digital side of things Amazon sold an incredible amount of Kindles. This led to some of the more savvy publishers out there timing there books to be available as people unwrapped their devices and looked for something to download.

There are predictions that devices like the I-pad will become more common, as like the I-phone, people will become used to them and what they offer. This will lead to more single use devices dying out as people expect more from their technology. The I-pad remains the toy of young affluent males whereas the Kindle picks up the silver surfer end of the market. Possibly a good place to be as at the moment they are the only ones with any money!

Apple has also released i-books1.2 and with that some illustrated art books. Suggesting that Apps are perhaps not the future of book formats. As such, in terms of e-books themselves developers are finding that it’s best not to create too much functionality within a book. As this had led to too much competition with games, something a book is not and fails to compete with. However inroads are being made into digital illustrated books as the new e-pub format enables text and image to work better together. There are also rising concerns about English becoming a universal language as more books get released via the Internet.

The V&A sets a good example of high quality publishing. With a new set of high-end art books being made to each stand out individually. Special attention has been paid to the physical aspect of the design with delicate detailing along each spine. They also have digital plans as they are now developing app guide books for the museum.

In terms of libraries there is a feeling that digital lending is being misinterpreted as a problem. However the pace of change is making it difficult for them to plan for the future.

With this year being the first that the Children’s Bookseller conference discuses digital it is interesting to note that it may also be the last for the pop-up book. New health and safety legislation due to come in by 2013 looks to make pop-up too expensive as a project.

The rate of decline has slowed in the market overall and on the whole it is the same people buying e-books as print books. Both of which are selling mostly from the bestseller list. This has interesting implications for the industry, as despite the change in format they are still yet to attract new customers and revenue streams. Furthermore there is some stagnation in the way in which selling is going to work as an ongoing court case drags out concerning the use of the Agency model.

Amazon Kindle

In the interest of fairness I read work by Oscar Wilde as my road test of the Amazon Kindle as I had done so on the kindle app for I-phone. Overall, I am pleased with the way in which the Kindle works. I found it easy to get books onto it and the whole thing was intuitive. I really like the way the screen looks in comparison to using it on an I-phone. The e-ink makes it feel much more like a book and it has more of a sense of being a 'page' as it looks m0re permanent. This is also reinforced, as you have to press a button to turn the page rather than swipe the screen. This makes turning the page a more deliberate action, you are much less likely to skip ahead by accident.

As a physical reading experience it's not bad, it's light and so no real effort to hold. You can balance it on a table or lap to read unlike the I-phone which is a real plus. However it's slimness works against in some ways as I often feel like it could easily break. As the books I read travel with me wherever I go they have to put up with quite a beating inside my satchel. It is with some trepidation I have been carrying it around. However it being so light means it is winning the battle with a large tome of a book that I am also reading. I have rattled through Wilde whilst on the go on the kindle.

I also like how I can alter the line length on the screen. Reading from line to line is something I struggle with in large bodies of text. Often I find myself lost within a text so being able to narrow the text made it much easier to read longer passages. This is problem common for dyslexic people so I think the kindle has great scope as a tool for dyslexic students with long texts to read. I know I would have appreciated being able to do that with some of my readings. Also being able to have all of the texts you need in one place in light weight form will also increase its selling points for students.

The fact that you can very easily put your own work onto the Kindle is also a great plus. Something which is much more difficult with apple products. This is very useful for presenting my work for assessment. Using the hack 'Calibre' also has great potential. This is a programme which allows you to turn any online content into an e-book. For example a blog. This means I can put these blog entries straight onto my Kindle for assessment in an organised way, without time consuming reformatting.

I find the internet usability on the kindle quite cumbersome, however this is an e-reader primarily so for the function of finding books to download it's fine. This differs to the I-pad which for me is an internet using device primarily and an e-book second. This is also reflected in the way things can be laid out on the different devices. The PDF version I have of my ‘zine on the kindle looks pretty terrible. The text is hard to read as it becomes very small on the screen. The layouts also no longer work as it was designed as double page spreads. The kindle also has an irritating habit of trimming the white space on a PDF. This means that some of my designs are suddenly closely cropped and look very different to how I intended it. I am looking into other ways of coding my work in order to overcome these problems. Ideally I would like to find a way of having the books user editable but still in an attractive layout.

Oscar Wilde - On The i-phone

Reading 'The picture of Dorian Gray' by Oscar Wilde turned out to be a surprisingly useful in many ways. Firstly for my SOT essay and the concept I am developing of becoming-book. However I initially only got Dorian Gray as it was free on the kindle app on my i-phone. I got it as an experiment to see how reading on my phone would work and wether I could read a whole book on it.

As it turns out yes I did read the entire book on my i-phone but it wasn't a smooth experience. It was great for occasions when I stranded somewhere (usually waiting for some form of public transport) and I needed entertaining for an hour. But as it operated as a touch screen turning the page fast became irritating. Particularly as sat on a very cold platform my finger quickly became an icicle as I could not turn the page with a glove on! Also the small size of the screen meant that turning the page was frequently necessary, and as the the screen would go dark if you didn't read the page fast enough it lead to a very hands on experience. I also found the way in which you hold it to read was quite difficult, it almost always required two hands. Unlike a book you couldn't prop it up on your knee or table as its smaller size makes it illegible on a flat surface and too small to balance on a knee. Of course as your other hand is almost constantly engaged in turning the page this leads to rather awkward reading positions. Therefore shorter reading sessions as you end up rather cramped. The other obvious problem with reading on an i-phone is that it's a light source. This leaves you with strained eyes and a blossoming headache after a while. The other problem with it being a light source is that it saps the battery very quickly. So even if you can put up with the other irritations of reading it the phone rapidly runs out of battery.

However despite all of these problems I did manage to read the whole book. The convenience of it always being on me outweighing the other problems. Though I think that the excellent writing of Oscar Wilde was undoubtedly a factor. As it is unusual for me to not have a book with me and on occasions I would leave the other book behind in favour of the i-phone. But ultimately given the option to read 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' in a paperback or on an i-phone the paperback would definitely still come out the winner.

Publishing Industry Overview 09/10 - 12/10

The mood is that of ‘it’s here’. In comparison to an industry survey I did before starting the MA last December. It is now a fact that digital is here. The mood is much less speculative and more accepting. There are still a lot of concerns mostly around how the publishing industry will continue to make money. There is a great deal of fear that giants such as Google and Amazon will simply take control. There is also a move into an agency model way of working that although met with negativity is believed to be a way of counteracting this.

Technology is moving forward quickly as it always does. The advances are affecting the quality of e-books, which is impacting positively on their sales. E-books matched the sales of hardbacks for the first time on Amazon. The need for a standard and cross-tech format is still very apparent however. It still feels like a new industry and there is a lot of fear about being left behind.

Interestingly PrintWeek is far more concerned about environmental issues around printed books then Bookseller. This is perhaps because the media they focus upon is mostly viewed as the less environmentally friendly. Unsurprisingly PrintWeek also had to most positive things to say about printed books, however this does not diminish its meaning.

There is still a feeling that books will continue to be valuable in printed form. It is suggested that people desire something tangible and trustworthy. The physical book is something to be relied upon and more unique than the oversaturated digital world. This feeling of oversaturation is also brought up by Julian Tait in the interview I had with him. He highlighted the ‘not mass produced’ label is found more are more on modern products. The individuality and connection to the process of making a physical object is something we engage with. Luxury printing and high quality books continue to sell well in the recession. Again highlighting our want for bespoke and beautiful things.

Overall the industry feels to be in a state of flux. There is a lot of worrying but also a sense of optimism and excitement. There are legal issues that need addressing so the publishing world does not go the same way as the music industry but people seem to be aware of this. The development of Augmented Reality is something to get excited about and to engage with. Also the possibilities of non-linear narratives commented on by Julian Tait and Bookseller are definitely things to be looking out for over the next few months.