Q4. When publishing changes, so does society. Investigate and compare the impact of two publication technologies, one pre-1900 and one post-2000, on a specific aspect of society (e.g. education, politics, creative industries, science, entertainment, social relationships).

As modes of publishing change, so does society. However, as society develops, so do these modes of publishing to keep up with the constantly evolving world around them. The printing press, a pre-1900 publication technology, and digital tablet devices, such as the Apple Ipad, post-2000 publication technologies, have had a significant positive impact on education. Both these revolutionary technologies, are comparable in terms of their positive impact on education, as they were both ahead of their time, altering the concept of reading and enhancing the audience’s learning experience. The difference in these technologies on their impact on education is that the printing press published printed books, where digital tablet devices further enhanced our educational reading experience through the ability to add video, images, and interactive links, which was not possible with traditional books.

The printing press, had a revolutionary impact on literacy during its time, transforming educational practices. Brunning states the significant impact of the printing press on society in that it is; “…comparable to the impact of the information revolution” (Brunning,2012,pg.294). As society was developing, new forms of publishing was needed to better education, “At the beginning of the 19th century, in order to satisfy the new needs for information and education, more books, administrative publications, and soon, newspapers were required, and consequently more paper to be produced” (Febvre & Martin,1997,pg.44). The printing press was very efficient, as it had consistent spelling and grammar, which greatly influenced reading and writing skills, “…this consistency enhanced the overall reading experience” (Arthur,2004). The printing press had a positive impact for the education of society as a whole, in that it significantly increased literacy, in that the availability of books allowed for different classes of society, not just the elite, to better their education, “…the printing press increased literacy by making print available to the general public” (Arthur,2004). This availability reinforced the education of the middle class, which previously did not have access to books. Not only this, but higher quality books, mass production, and the decrease of book expenses, expanded the education of everyone (Arthur,2004). The invention of the printing press allowed for this education barrier to be broken between the elite and middle class, in that the availability of printed books, increased the literacy of society as a whole.

The printing press transformed the idea of who could be well read. Before the invention of the printing press, books were not available to the middle class, as they were very expensive, leaving only a small portion of society being educated, “prior to the printing press books were very expensive because it was such a laborious task to hand-scribe a book. This created a situation where only the elite were able to afford books and thus only a small percentage of the population knew how to read and write”(Arthur,2004). This technological change to printed form, significantly reshaped who could read, write, and publish, which used to be members of the clergy, however shifted to students (Brunning,2012,pg.295). Although, this technological impact rested upon people being able to read for themselves. For example, before people were able to read the bible themselves, they depended on “speech acts” given by the clergy, in which the Catholic Churchs’ authority rested on, for their understanding of faith and religion (Brunning,2012,pg.297). However, with the printing press, people were provided with, “…a new communication medium thus allowing political and religious views to be disseminated widely” (Arthur,2004). This act of distribution helped significantly in educating the population about important religious and political matters. Overall, the printing press had a major impact on education, whereby, “…the printed book was a new visual aid available to all students…the book was literally a teaching machine where the manuscript was a crude teaching tool only” (Arthur,2004). This revolutionary technology of its time, changed educational practices dramatically, in giving people, “…a new visual aid to learning” (Arthur,2004). 

Digital tablet devices, such as the Apple Ipad, have had a positive impact in today’s society on education. As today’s society develops, more efficient technology, has been produced to cater for our technologically advanced world. The very concept of a book and how we access them has dramatically changed, in making them more readily available to suit our needs, “The notion that you can have the book instantly in front of you in a device and read it, is a really big change. I think that one of the things about books has always been that for a lot of people, there was an obstacle to be overcome. You had to go to the store. You had to ask for the book. And if the book wasn’t there, you had to wait for the book…no longer is that the case. You think you want to read it. If you have a device, you can be reading it within a minute…” (National Public Radio,2010). In today’s society, new forms of publishing have developed to cater to this idea of having access to information anytime and anyplace, “wireless technologies are revolutionising education, transforming the traditional ways of learning and teaching into ‘anytime’ and particularly, ‘anyplace’ education” (Barker,Krull,Mallinson,pg.1). Studies have shown the positive impact of tablet devices on education in increasing communication in the classroom, and supporting group project work in that information can be attained from internet access while working with your peers at the same time. The portability of the Ipad allows for learning to be extended outside of the classroom, for example on a school excursion, because of its convenient size it can be easily carried between classes with ease. The Ipad is a great device for collaboration, in that students can aggregate and distribute information easily, through various media platforms, such as email. These studies have also shown that students are more motivated using the Ipad for educational purposes, than they would be for traditional books. Students were recorded as being excited and more motivated in their learning and wanting to figure out how to use the device, making their education more interactive, “…learner participation increases and they appear “more engaged in the process” (Barker,Krull,Mallinson,pg.2). 

Tablet devices, such as the Apple Ipad, alter the very concept of what a book is and how we experience new ways of reading. The Ipad allows for interactive learning, significantly enhancing education, through embedded pictures and videos, which cannot be done with traditional books. Tablet devices are also more environmentally friendly, in that teachers don’t have to worry about wasting paper, with paper handouts. Students and teachers nowadays prefer the digital format over the traditional textbook, because it’s more exciting, interactive and convenient having a portable device which holds many different purposes, further benefiting their education. The reliability of tablet devices in having a long battery life greatly benefits students and teachers, in having this constant access and availability of information within the classroom. Also, the Ipad starts up quickly which is important in class, so no learning time is wasted in the classroom. Tablet devices are cost efficient, especially with university students who can get a discount, as they are wanting to make the technology available to everyone to experience the educational value it provides. As we live in a technological and visually stimulated world, the integration of multimedia within the Ipad, such as pictures and videos, stimulates interactive learning. For example, high quality video footage of news reports, accessed through youtube, can be shared around the class for discussion. The ability of tablet devices to have social network connectivity is essential in education, in students being able to voice their opinions and create educational discussion, by connecting them with other students from around the world, through various media platforms, such as Youtube, Twitter, and Blogger.com (Gliksman,2011).  Overall, digital tablet devices, such as the Apple Ipad, have had a significant positive impact on education in today’s society, by catering to students educational needs. 

Both the printing press, and tablet devices, such as the Apple Ipad, can be compared and contrasted in terms of their impact on education in society. Both of these technologies can be compared in that they were both ahead of their time and revolutionary in terms of their advanced technology, having a positive impact on education. Both the printing press and the Apple Ipad had a similar positive impact in enhancing the reading experience for students. The printing press was very efficient, having consistent spelling and grammar in that; “…this consistency enhanced the overall reading experience” (Arthur,2004), which was essential in developing the necessary writing skills for students, as at that time, only a small percentage of the population, knew how to read and write, creating, “…a new visual aid to learning” (Arthur,2004). Digital tablet devices, like the Apple Ipad, alter the very concept of a book and how we experience new ways of reading and learning. Like the printing press, the Ipad, enhances the reader’s learning experience by creating a new visual experience, with the ability to add pictures and video, forming new ways of learning interactivity. This portable computing device allows for immediate access to internet as well as many different applications, which allow students to have this concept of ‘anytime, anyplace,’ “The notion that you can have the book instantly in front of you in a device and read it, is a really big change…” (National Public Radio,2010). This portability of tablet devices, is comparable to traditional books, which were considered as a portable, private instrument, making it convenient for student to carry between classes, however carrying too many books becomes an issue. 

Both technologies are considerably cost efficient, in that the printing press made the process of making books easier, and so became affordable to the general public, greatly impacting education in society. Apple Ipads are considerably affordable for the advanced technological device it is, compared to many printed textbooks, having uni student discounts in making education more accessible to students. Both the printing press and the Apple Ipad allowed for the distribution of ideas to be shared. The invention of the printing press, provided people with, “…a new communication medium thus allowing political and religious views to be disseminated widely” (Arthur,2004). This act of distribution helped significantly in educating the population about important religious and political matters at the time. Tablet devices allow for social networking media platforms, allowing students to voice their opinions and create educational discussion, by connecting them with other students from around the world, through various platforms, such as Youtube and Blogger.com (Gliksman,2011). Although, the overall impact of both technologies on education was positive, they can contrasted. The difference in these technologies on their impact on education is through the ‘medium,’ in that the printing press published printed books, in which people had to go the store and buy, compared to tablet devices, which make it easier for students to download a book within minutes within the comfort of their home. Also, digital tablet devices further enhance our educational reading experience through the ability to add video, images, and interactive links, which was not possible with traditional books.

Therefore, as society develops, modes of publishing change to keep up with the evolving world around them. The printing press and digital tablet devices, such as the Apple Ipad, have had a revolutionary, positive impact on education. The invention of the printing press has significantly impacted the education of society, as only a small portion were well educated, however this idea of who could be well read changed with the invention of printed books, becoming accessible to the general public. Digital tablet devices, such as the Apple Ipad, have also had a positive impact on education, in that it alters the very concept of what a book is and how we experience reading, through its ability to add pictures and videos, creating a whole new level of interactive learning. Both these publication technologies are comparable in their positive impact on education and how we experience new ways of engaging with our learning. However, they can be contrasted through their print vs. digital format, in that we can gain more of an interactive, educational experience with video and images, that cannot be done with traditional books. 

Word Count:  2,054

List of References  

-Arthur, Peter (2004) ‘Text Technologies: The Changing Spaces of Reading and Writing: The Impact of the Printing Press’ <http://educ.ubc.ca/courses/etec540/Sept04/arthurp/researchtopic/index.htm>

-Barker, Andrea, Krull, Greig, Mallinson, Brenda (2005) ‘A Proposed Theoretical Model for M-Learning Adoption in Developing Countries,’ Rhodes University, South Africa, <http://mlearning.noe-kaleidoscope.org/public/mlearn2005/www.mlearn.org.za/CD/papers/Barker.pdf>

-Brunning, Halina (2012) ‘Psychoanalytic Reflections on a Changing World,’ London,<http://books.google.com.au/books?id=WyTkC-amPgQC&pg=PT253&dq=impact+of+the+printing+press+on+education&hl=en&sa=X&ei=TabJT7OxNvGZiQexmsGuBg&ved=0CEgQ6AEwAw#>

-Febvre, Lucien, Martin, Henri-Jean (1997) ‘The Coming of the Book,’ Paris, <http://books.google.com.au/books?id=9opxcMjv4TUC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#>

-Gliksman, Sam (2011) ‘Assessing the Impact of Ipads on Education One Year Later,’ <http://ipadeducators.ning.com/profiles/blog/show?id=5840223%3ABlogPost%3A11112&commentId=5840223%3AComment%3A11008&xg_source=activity>

-National Public Radio (2010) ‘E-Book Boom Changes Book Selling And Publishing’, December 21, <http://www.npr.org/2010/12/21/132235154/e-book-boom-changes-book-selling-and-publishing>

Aggregation plays an important role in how we collect and distribute our data within the publishing world. Aggregation and distribution of data go hand in hand in how we utilise information within everyday life. For example, UNSW if filled with different forms of publishing in which each student aggregates the data that is being distributed around campus. Forms of publishing, such as Uni Directory maps, signs, and clocks co-exist together in making a uni student’s life run smoothly and more efficiently in that time is important as we lead busy lives. The directory map, placed around campus, distribute directions in which we aggregate and use the data to find our way around more efficiently. The large sun dial, used as a clock reference, within the Quad, distributes time in which we aggregate and use to make our way to class efficiently. These are examples of important forms of publishing, in which uni students aggregate information that is being distributed, and use to make their busy lives around campus more efficient. 

Our task for this week, was to choose our favourite form of publication, in which mine is Youtube. Youtube is a popular media platform, in which it publishes videos. The videos are created by any individual, in which they can publish any form of data for a global audience, where different “communities” are formed, based on what data is published through the person’s videos, for example, there is a beauty community, which deals with data, such as hair, makeup, and fashion. Youtube is a form of publication in which it distributes certain data/information through videos, where anybody viewing them can aggregate this data and use it within their daily lives.

This week’s reading, Paul N. Edwards’ A Vast Machine, deals with concepts, such as ‘data friction’ and ‘infrastructural globalism.’ Infrastructural globalism is about “…creating socio-technical systems that produce knowledge about the whole world. It may be driven by beliefs about what such knowledge can offer to society…it is a project: a structured, goal-directed, long-term practice to build a world-spanning network, always including a worldwide epistemic community as well as a technical base.” Youtube is placed within this concept of ‘infrastructural globalism’ in that it’s a technological platform where videos publish data knowledge about the world to a particular community or society as a whole, in which we then aggregate this knowledge on a global network scale.

Edwards also explains this concept of data friction, as being the efforts involved in making data global. As data constantly goes through the processes of aggregation and distribution, the notion of ‘data friction’ will always exist. The kinds of ‘data friction’ that would be involved with Youtube, would be issues dealing with copyright and ownership of data, for example, getting permission to put music within your video, otherwise you risk your video being taken down, and so your data is not being made global.

The processes of aggregation and distribution of data is essential within the media publishing world, in how we utilise information on a daily basis.

Platforms can be defined as any medium that allows the user to publish data for the public. For example, Amazon.com is a platform for publishing ebooks. Platforms, such as Twitter and Facebook, allow us to aggregate and distribute information, where users are living in a constant world of flow.

Guillaud’s article on Danah Boyd discusses the consequences of living in a world of flow. The concept of the world of flows, suggests that information is everywhere; it surrounds us, “This idea suggests that you’re living in the stream: adding to it, consuming it, redirecting it.” (Guillaud,2010). This suggests that everyone is a publisher, living within the world of flow. Foe example, you can edit other people’s work by adding on your own content on platforms, such as Wikipedia, Facebook. However, a question to be asked is, do we have control over our content? Can we control this flow of information?

Guillaud talks about Danah Boyd’s view of the concept of the world of flows in todays society, “Those who are most enamored with services like Twitter talk passionately about feeling as though they are living and breathing with the world around them, peripherally aware and in tune, adding content to the stream and grabbing from it when it is appropriate…” (Guillaud,2010). She discusses how Twitter users feel a sense of connectiveness with the world around them when they tweet about their personal life. Twitter is a platform for users, who constantly add content, redirect, and consume it through tweets, essentially living within a world of flow.

Boyd talks about this change from broadcast media to networked media, changing this stream of information. With today’s internet age, it is now possible for each person to publish and distribute their own content through a variety of media platforms, giving each of us power to create our own content, instead of the media owning our attention, “Power is no longer in the hands of those who control the channels of distribution, but in the hands of those who control the limited resources of attention.”(Guillaud,2010).

Wesley Dodson argues that we no longer live within the information age, but have reached the ‘Systems Age,’ whereby, “…artificial intelligence have become keepers of the digital sphere,” which involves, “...sensing, collecting, and manipulating data in near real-time with little to no human supervision.” (Dodson, 2009). Social media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter have contributed to this change, in that we live in a social and technological world, where publishing data about our personal lives through these platform has become and increasingly popular trend. 

Media platforms today allow the everyday person have the power to create their own content, publish their own ideas, and distribute information, contributing to living within this world of flow in today’s ‘Systems Age.’

For my group’s visualisation presentation, we have chosen to visualise the whole spectrum of human emotions and the colour psychology behind them and how our emotions are affected through the use of colour in everyday life. We chose to show this through a simple, yet effective colour wheel spectrum, with each colour representing a human emotion that is felt when we perceive that particular colour. Each colour on the spectrum wheel is carefully placed and thought out. The colours are grouped in warm and cool tones. The colours in each group had similar effects on the human emotion. For example, red gives a sense of anger, and yellow gives a sense of anxiousness. Colours completely opposite one another have been carefully placed to show that if we feel one colour, we can’t feel the colour opposite it. For example, yellow and blue are opposite each other, showing us that a feeling of anxiousness and calmness cannot be experienced together.

So, What is the invisible pattern we are going to make visible?

As above, the invisible pattern that we are making visible through our visualisation, is the effects of colour on human emotions and the psychology behind it. The pattern in our research shows that each colour evokes a different physiological reaction in an individual„ which in turn affects our mood and overall performance. 

To what extent does it pre-exist our making it visible? To what extent are we ‘creating’ it via making it visible? Or both?

A quote by Faber Birren explains that, “It is possible to make fairly accurate judgments about the meaning of color preferences and their revelations of personality traits.” This again shows how colour greatly affects the individual’s emotion and personal character traits through their colour preferences. For example, if you wear a particular colour of clothing, you are visualising your personal data for the public to make a judgement on your personality/mood. To a great extent we are creating it via making it visible in that we are trying to put abstract, psychological ideas into patterns that can be visualised.

What difference does it make to publish such a visualization?

Our visualisation hopes to simplify a complex psychological analysis of how colour affects human emotions. It also gives attention and awareness amongst individuals of how colours have a physiological and psychological connection to our emotions and behaviour in everyday life.

In which publics does such a visualization intervene?

The visualization relates to every individual in which we experience the use of colour in everyday life, as explained in my previous examples, and how our emotions are affected through a physiological experience. 

Information graphics is essentially understood as making the invisible, or unknown, visible. It is the visualization of information; an aesthetic of publishing data in the information age. Visualization is an understanding of how archives are used to create forms of content and expression. 

Arnell’s article talks about how the use of different lines can visually represent information data; info graphics, “A linking line between entities represents some kind of relationship between them.” He explains the importance of dashed lines in representing movement, paths, etc. In making the invisible, visible, dashed lines have the ability to visually show movement that is of 3 or 4D nature of objects, in a 2D form. This idea of making the unknown visible can be seen through Arnell’s idea of hidden geometry. For example, his toaster image shows dashed lines to outline where the toast is in the toaster. He explains the many different uses of info graphics, such as the use of dashed lines  in graph charts to visually show quantitive information. He goes on to highlight the many different interpretations and representations of lines. For example, “The thicker and more solid the line, the stronger the emphasis,” and,  “A dotted line usually does not indicate “cut here” unless it is combined with a scissors icon.” 

Visualization is not necessarily photograph based images, however the production of data based images, which can often be abstractions of information. It is an aesthetic of information; infosthetics. For example, an augmented shopping trolley handle visually communicates the nutritional and environmental information of a food product through the use of coloured LED lights on the trolley handle. This is very beneficial for the buyer in making informed decisions about their food purchases. 

Information graphics are great in powerfully communicating complex data into simple visual terms. For example, an info graphic can visually communicate calorie comparisons between foods, without the complicated statistics explained through words, but a simple image representation. For example, a side by side calorie comparison image of a serving of seemingly healthy capsicum to that of a serving of fries questions our calories intake, which has a powerful effect on audiences through an image. 

…We all have it, whether we know it or not. Archive fever can be understood as a fever to constantly make more archives. For example, we are constantly changing, adding, or removing archives within our Itunes playlist to suit our changing moods, styles, etc. Within my Itunes library, I have created sub playlists for different styles of music, which can be seen as an example of archives within an archive. Also, every now and again I feel compelled to delete song from my playlist that I no longer listen to that often, in order to make more room for new songs that are in at the moment or I am currently liking. 

Archives are essential within the practice of media publishing, as it is able to store away information from the past, so that it can be used to gain knowledge for the future generations. It is important that in order to prepare for the future, you must have knowledge of the past. For example, a library is a great archive in which it stores away sub archives (books) for people to gain knowledge of the past, which is stored away in these books for future use. 

French Philosopher, Jacques Derrida, explains this idea of archive fever in which we keep producing new archives, that are constantly open for us to reshape, “The archivist produces more archive, and that is why the archive is never closed. It opens out of the future” (Jacques Derrida, Archive Fever, 1994). It is important that archives remain open and never closed, as we are constantly retrieving information from past archives, which remains useful for our future archives. 

The Iphone can be seen as an archive that is constantly open and never closed as newer versions of the phone (such as Iphone 4, Iphone 4s,etc) are constantly being made in order for the user to be up to date with the latest software and technology. There are many different archives within an Iphone, such as conversations through text messages, apps, phone book, notes where your thoughts are recorded and stored away remaining open for you to edit, and photo albums. A sense of authority with the Iphone as an archive is present as you can enable a passcode, which enable only you to know of to access you personal archives within your phone. Archive fever is present within everyone’s daily life as we are constantly inventing new archives or deleting the old to replace with the new. 

Assemblage can be defined by Google as “A collection or gathering of things or people.” In Manuel De Landa’s “A New Philosophy of Society: Assemblage Theory and Social Complexity,” he provides us with examples of an assemblage, where he uses the idea of an ecosystem as a collection of things, such as “soil, sunlight, trees, animals, etc.”

 De Landa discusses the complex nature of an assemblage, through his Assemblage theory, stating that, “…the relationship between an assemblage and its components is complex and non-linear…” (Wikipedia). He explains this assemblage concept through five different categories/roles; the material role, the expressive role, the territorializing role, the deterritorializing role, and the linguistic/coding role. 

Assemblage can be explained further through the Actor-Network Theory (ANT), developed by Michel Callon and Bruno Latour. This theory is described as a “material-semiotic” method, where it “maps relations that are simultaneously material (between things) and semiotic (between concepts)” (Wikipedia). 

This idea of assemblage being a collection of things, can be put together to form a single network. He describes, for example, within a school environment, the relations with students and teachers happen through the assemblage of materials such as desks, computers, etc. He talks about the human (teachers, children) and the non-human (desk, computers) actors assembling together to create a single network within this example. 

In short, this idea of assemblage explained through the ANT, can be related greatly to publishing. The assemblage of information given to the public, can only happen through the use of different technologies. The practice of publishing can only happen with the interactive relations of us, as humans, who assemble information that is then distributed by non human “actors”,technologies, such as computers, newspapers, through to the public to consume. 

The concept of publishing is understood as to make something not public, public. Nowadays, everyone is considered a publisher, as we now have the ability to publish whatever content for the whole world to see on the web. Today, modes of publishing has significantly changed, expanding though different platforms, allowing the user to upload and share content in new and creative ways. 

Traditional modes of publishing, such as print publishing (books, newspapers, magazines), are seen as more of an individual experience as we are unable to interact and communicate back with the content that is written on a page. However, modern modes of publishing, with the rise of the digital age, allow us to gain a more collective experience through different platforms as we are able to reciprocate this form of communication and publication as electronic forms of publishing allows us to do so. For example, we are able to comment on a person’s post on facebook, twitter, and youtube, and to really engage with discussions on online forums. Modern modes of publishing allows audiences to interact  with each other collectively, rather than gaining a more personal and individual experience you would have reading a book. 

 Youtube can be seen as a successful publisher of videos. Users can upload, share, and comment on,  like or dislike a video. Videos uploaded to Youtube cater to pretty much everyone. The publication of videos can be seen as having a collective experience as people are able to interact with each other through the medium of videos, and there are even “community” groups, such as the beauty community on Youtube, where beauty gurus and anyone interested in beauty discuss their favourite products, upload tutorials, etc. However, there are problems with the publishing process of content, in terms of payment for creative work. There is a debate about how to make money with free content. Some Youtubers use advertisements in their video or “sell” a company’s product by giving it a great, and sometimes fake, review in order to make money off their videos, converting Youtube into a selling platform where their published views make money. 

 Facebook and Twitter is another great example of how a collective experience is formed through these modes of publishing. Facebook users publish content about their private lives via an electronic medium, accessed and viewed by the public. People are able to comment, post, and upload photos and videos. Twitter also achieves this sense of collective experience as personal content, tweets, about yourself is made public. For example, many celebrities use Twitter as a platform for allowing their fans to get to know them better through their tweets and photos, where fans are able to comment and interact with these. 

Modes of publishing has significantly evolved over the years from traditional, individual experiences (e.g reading books), to more modern and digital collective experiences (Facebook, Twitter, Youtube). 

       Today, the concept of what constitutes a book, and how we read a book has changed dramatically. The evolution of reading has changed from traditional print books to ebooks. The truth is that the world around is changing, growing, and moving vastly each day, and so technology must advance if we want to keep up with the world around us. Print publishing has significantly been transformed by media platforms, such as, eReaders, including Apple’s Ipad. With the rise of the digital age in today’s media, we question the future of traditional print based publishing in modern society. 

       Social contexts have undergone major transformation and change, and so different modes of publishing have evolved, from traditional print publishing to modern electronic ways of publishing content (Wikipedia, Publishing, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Publishing). Without a doubt, ebooks have transformed the future of reading.

       Ereaders transform the way we read a “book.” Yes, they are more efficient and exciting to play around with, but there is something more personal and precious about flipping through pages of a physical book that is yours to keep forever, being able to do whatever you want with it. 

     In John Naughton’s, ‘The original Big Brother is watching you on Amazon Kindle,’  (http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/jul/26/amazon-kindle-book-deletions), he describes the stark contrast between having specific amount of freedoms when owning a physical book and doing what you want with it, in comparison to owning an eReader, like Amazon Kindle, which restricts the amount of freedom a reader has due to terms and conditions they must comply with; “I own my copy of Nineteen Eighty-Four and can do with it what I wish. I can, for example, lend it to friends, family and students. I can, if I wish, tear out pages… and so on. But if I had purchased an electronic copy of Nineteen Eighty-Four to read on my Kindle device, I would have none of those freedoms.”        

     He highlights the downside of owning an ebook, in that technical issues could arise from using it, such as self deletion of your books, which in turn hurts the enjoyment of the reader. As a reader you want to feel in control and safe knowing that you will always have that book sitting there, waiting for you to read it, and not all of a sudden without warning delete itself, because of technical glitches. 

      However, eReaders are fantastic in incorporating different social aspects within a device. We live in a very social world, and eReaders uses social media, like Facebook and Twitter, to make reading more communal with friends and family. Jenna Wortham’s reading, ‘Social Books Hopes to Make E-Reading Communal,’ (http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/11/social-books-hopes-to-make-e-reading-communal/), describes the use of the social books app for eReaders, to alter the experience of reading, in that you can share though about a book with friends via social media sites like Facebook, by posting notes. 

      In today’s technologically advanced world, it is inevitable that we will be seeing more of eReaders being used, and we thus must adapt and move forward as technology evolves, and in turn transforms different social contexts.