The problem here is one of definition. What exactly is an "e-book". What are "innovations?".
The assumption throughout this thread has been that ebook=novel and that innovation=music or video accompaniment.
Now if you start with assumption "ebook= novel" , you are on firm footing in insisting that plain text is enough. After all, the novel is a form made for several hours of immersive reading. However, move away from the "ebook=Novel" paradigm and the case for non-innovation starts to crumble.
What about poetry? Poetry originally began as an art form meant to be HEARD, not READ. Indeed, I would argue that the default method for experiencing poetry should be AUDIO, with an on/off switch for accompanying text. As it happens, there's an app that may be a model for enjoying poetry- the "Wasteland App. (there's an app for just about anything in the App Store
). From the makers:
Quote:
The Waste Land includes
- A powerful filmed performance of the entire poem by Fiona Shaw, synchronised to the text
- Complete audio readings of the poem, also synchronised to the text, by T. S. Eliot himself, Alec Guinness, Ted Hughes, and Viggo Mortensen
- Comprehensive interactive notes to guide the user through the poem's many references
- Over 35 expert video perspectives on the poem, filmed in partnership with BBC Arena, including contributions from Seamus Heaney and Jeanette Winterson
- Original manuscript pages revealing how the poem took shape under Ezra Pound's editing
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TOUCH PRESS
Just about everyone praises the app as THE way to appreciate Mr. Elliot's masterpiece. One reviewer:
Quote:
You can watch Shaw read for a while, then switch back to the text to check a reference or translation, then go on reading the lines to the accompaniment of Ted Hughes' very different vocal interpretation; the app keeps track of your place as you go. Eliot's friend Ezra Pound played a crucial role in shaping "The Waste Land"; and the inclusion of the original manuscript with Pound's handwritten edits offers a glimpse of that process. These various ways of approaching the text are enticements to the multiple readings that make a full appreciation of the poem possible.
Spending a day poring over "The Waste Land" app made me look at my old Norton critical editions with a new gleam in my eye. Instead of leafing through tissue-paper-thin pages of "Paradise Lost," squinting at the tiny footnotes, it would be so pleasant to scroll through Milton's epic (maybe with Gustave Dore's engravings?), tapping on the lines that cry out for elucidation while listening to a professional narrator vault the poet's enjambments far better than I ever could myself. How about "The Canterbury Tales," with an audio track in Middle English to juxtapose against a modern English translation? I would indeed pay for these, and the enthusiastic reception for "The Waste Land" app suggests that I am not alone.
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SALON
How about plays? Again, it seems to me that the default should be video, with an off/on switch for the accompanying text.
How about
:
Children's books
Textbooks
Manuals
Graphic novels
Nonfiction
Seems to me there's a strong case for innovation in each of those categories.- and indeed innovation of various kinds is ongoing in every one of those categories-just search the App Store or B&N's Children's NOOKBOOKS.
Free your mind from a cramped definition of "ebook" and ideas for innovation will follow.