On Christmas and Technology

 

Christmas has always been a time where lots of people get certain types of objects as gifts and adds momentum to technological and cultural trends. This year will be the gust of wind behind e-readers and tablet computing. With it will go old notions of reading and writing. Reading will be more social and transparent. Words used to reside on pieces of paper hidden between two hard covers. Now anything can be highlighted and shared.

I am still amazed while e-reading I am seeing highlights of other people, and what is potentially being shared. As authors realize that this is happening, the quality of the writing will inevitably change, and will make the book even more controversial and important than it ever was. McLuhan never goes out of style.

Christmas Gifts May Help E-Books Take Root