Friday 7 October 2011

Books

Talk of product interface has got me thinking about books, and more specifically - books vs. e-books.

Whilst I feel interface is an important concept, I believe it is only one side of the design pyramid and therefore it cannot be unquestionably prioritised over things like function or the environment. For example a car has a wonderfully comfortable interface, however public transport, whilst less comfortable or personal, is a much more environmentally friendly concept.

The printed book falls into a similar vein as public transport. A printed book has very low embodied energy, lasts for decades if not centuries, and can be entirely recycled. The hardware required to read e-books however have a very high embodied energy, contain toxic heavy metals, and are only somewhat recyclable. 

The interface of the printed book seems a little cumbersome in comparison to say an e-books ability to allow word or phrase searches and provide access to hundreds more books. But at what cost? I think in this case, at least until the hardware can be made sustainably and open-source software, the printed book represents a far better solution.

Nicholas Avery





8 comments:

  1. Humans are very adaptable creatures. We can design interface just for use by us, or we can design interface for use by us and everything else on this planet.

    Nick

    p.s. can someone please do a post on the interface of the word verification images this site uses to eliminate spam? Why make them so hard to read???

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  2. yes, i agree with you nicholas, i found that boos have much better interface, e books have only the visual texture and i just enjoy touch different types of paper.

    response to spam, i think those things are just too common and useless. Sometimes junk emails have virus and this cause their impression down. Any things like that won't be attractive to people.

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  3. Nick, you say that books can last for decades or even centuries, but surely e-books in their digital form have the potential to last forever? And although, these hardware used for ebooks have a higher 'embodied energy', these products are often versatile and can be used for other purposes (let's not get into that swiss army knife syndrome conversation again). Books are often just books. Books also not complete saints in terms of environmental damage. Many books are often not made from recycled paper, and many trees are destroyed to make the pages of these books. Not to mention, not all books are sold, and 'energy' have been wasted in making these. e-books are only needed to be created digitally once.

    Products used for e-books such as iPads and Kindles are also more portable than their hardcopy counterparts. These products also have to ability to store thousands of books that can be accessed anytime at your own accord. Library e-books can also be accessed online nowadays, which saves those extra trips to the library.

    But from a person who sometimes uses electronic version of text books to study, I will always prefer to use a printed text book. It is a lot easier to navigate yourself and find your place. Flicking between pages is a lot easier than scrolling up and down. You're also not doing damage to your eyes form reading off a screen for long periods of time.

    And ultimately yes, I do agree, they should invest into making these products more sustainable.

    -Phi Do

    ps. those verification images are so annoying! But I don't think that they're that hard to read.

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  4. Interesting post, Nicholas. I think the printed book will always have the upper hand in novels. I know that when I read a novel it's not just the content of the book that draws me into reading, there's something about that tactile experience of reading a printed novel that makes it what it is. Like Will said, it's always nice to have the visual and sensory experience with a nicely printed book.

    Although the Ebook tries to replicate this experience, I feel they may have a better future covering textbooks, or material where that experience is less sought after. The ability to search phrases and access to other books, as mentioned, would seem to go well with educational material where info on a specific topic or further info is needed, rather than a novel.


    Cynthia

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  5. Thanks for commenting Phi. I know books do have an 'embodied energy', but I think this number is a far lesser one when we consider the business models behind the two products. Books are printed then sold, and only few get re-jigged with a second or third edition. E-books on the electronic medium however are seriously prone to being continuously 'upgraded', because as Robbie said the design process is never over. We know that this paradigm is fuelled maybe initially by a designer's best intentions but subsequently by the free market and the potential to get rich. So this is why I'm opposed to the idea, I hate the thought that the product I'm buying will be outdated in 2 years and then I'll be pressured into getting the next gen version.

    Nick

    p.s. Oh and I have a friend studying creative writing who told me the future of the bookstore could be small shops that don't stock books but have a small printing press. Thus you go in, buy a book (probably from an e-catalogue) and in the afternoon go collect your copy. Each bookstore might do their own cover art, and transportation costs go essentially to zero (just the bike ride to your nearest printing press!).

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  6. Nick, have you ever thought that the reason you find it difficult to ready those spam blockers is that you yourself may be part spam? Some kind of spam/human hybrid?

    As to the ebook debate, I am definitely sitting on the fence with this one. For me the pros and cons for both are about equal.
    I will say this though, one thing a kindle will never have is that new book smell... ahhhhhh.

    Sam

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  7. I'm thinking I'm part robot, Sam, might explain my radio and lamp designs...

    The software of a book (the idea) lasts forever, the technology (printed and bound) lasts decades. The software of an e-book lasts forever, the technology (at least in our current consumer market) lasts a couple of years.


    That's all I got,
    Nick

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