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.

Baudrillard

Of all the lectures Baudrillard was one of the few philosophers that I was already familiar with. This is because in my proposition for the MA I had already made reference to his work. In this was I knew that this was potentially going to be one of the texts for the focus of my essay. The reading that we focused on was upon seduction and it had many potential applications for my own work on publishing in new technology.

One of the notions discussed was how places like Disney Land and Las Vegas appear more ‘real’ than our everyday lives. Baudrillard argues that their upfront artifice, their knowing fakery is truer than the deceitful constructs we live with day to day. Seduction he argues is a purely surface thing, purely visual. These surface things distract us from thinking too much about something. The plastic chips in a casino for example make great use of this. We play with our fake money, it stops us from thinking about it too much.

This fake money also uses the one of the other aspects of the seduction game. The key rule to seduction is to never say that you are seducing. As soon as you say that’s what you are doing the seduction ends. The gambling tokens are a way of avoiding saying exactly what you’re doing and so spoiling the game.

Seduction also fits in well with Deleuzes notion of a world in movement. Seduction is the action or process between two things. For Baudrillard the world is moving between seductions. We are always striving for fulfilment, but it’s the its act of seduction not the pay off that we want. As in consumerism, it’s the lusting for an object that we enjoy but once we have it inevitably there is then another that we want. In this way we live in the illusion that once we have the object we will be happy. But the desire is internal and is always there. For Deleuze we are constituted of desire.

Consumerism has moved into a stage where there are so many options and brands that we no longer buy something for its function but because we want them. There are so many versions of everything that we now buy into an experience. The product says something about who we are, its real function is to describe our personalities. This has lead to more and more elaborate adverts. In some ways we are now in a backlash against them. There are some ‘simple’ adverts being used more and more now that look back to the function of the object. These ad’s do however still employ seduction in order to sell. They flatter the consumer, you can see through the nonsense in the adverts, you know this does what you want.

This return to selling function reflects the general trend for a desire for authenticity in our society. This is something shown in design through the use of handmade typefaces for example and cut-out style illustration. It reflects the growing strength of Art’s and Crafts highlighted through programmes such as ‘Kirsty’s handmade Christmas’. There is a general feeling of Nostalgia in design, a hankering for simple times past. Here seduction is still used to sell an artifice, an idealised nostalgia of our times past.

Despite the move towards digital technology in the publishing industry nostalgia is still being used as a powerful selling tool. This is most apparent in book cover design. The first place that books try to seduce us. They do this through offering a glimpse, a teaser of the content of the book. This surface seduction is a powerful selling tool for publishers. The new nostalgic covers being used to sell classic penguin books is a good example of ‘simple’ design in action. The covers use a highly graphical design with a limited palette of black white and orange, which harks back to covers from when the books were first, released. A closer comparison however to the original designs reveals a certain amount of ‘tidying up’ in the new covers. This nostalgic style uses surface seduction just as much as modern cover design does.

Another way in which publishing uses seduction is through the use of genre. The cover styles of books use genre and stereotypes to sell. The stereotypes offer us clues as to what we are in for. The repeat experience is sellable, as earlier discussed we are constantly being seduced by something and so the next version of something we enjoy will always appeal. In this way an author courts the reader. They build a relationship with the reader and so you make a personal connection leading you to collect their work. Authors and stereotypes are equally important in both digital and physical book selling.

In some ways you could think that just seeing or reading the book would be enough to fulfil a seduction. Often people who have borrowed a book and enjoyed it will still desire to own the book. There is a certain amount of control gained by owning an object. It is yours to access whenever you want and isn’t tainted by the use of others. Also going back to the notion of us buying things, which reflect our personality, owning a book says something about who we are. Having a bookshelf of our books says a lot about our interests and personality. It lends us an amount of gravitas; books are believed to make us look wise and knowledgeable. In this way the value of a physical book is arguable higher than the value of a digital book. Others cannot see the books you own on a digital device. A digital device says far less about who we are as a person and simply carries less of us in it. The version of a book you own, hardback or paperback also says something about how much you value the book. This is something again that is lacking in the digital edition. In many ways the value of a book as a physical object is something difficult to put into the digital version.