HoloBook Final Project

Purpose:

Any book lover knows the movie never comes close to the magic of the book and while TV versions come closer, they still can’t compare. Why settle for watered down, inaccurate replications when we can have the fully realized version in the palm of our hands? Introducing HoloBook, the holographic reader that renders 3D visuals using the Kindle. The HoloBook combines the technology of audiobooks with holograms to create a movie right on the pages of your novel.

When the typical book lover is asked why they enjoy reading, usually the answer is they want an escape. They want to live in worlds where anything is possible and you can be anything. Books have an amazing immersive quality and the best reading experience is when you completely forget that there are even words on the page and all you can see are the descriptions and hear the dialogue. The HoloBook will allow readers to experience this on demand.

Audience:

With the growing young adult genre, there are now more books targeted to young people today than ever before. As there are so many YA novels out there, we as readers know that only a small, select handful of the most popular books and series will be turned into the movies and TV shows. This would give the HoloBook the largest pool to draw from and have the most new material create from.

The YA genre targets people fourteen years old and up (Williams) and differs from a ‘teen’ novel in the way that it is more likely to deal with topics of “sex, tackle challenging issues and adult relationships, and feature swearing” (Williams). The YA genre appeals to a wide range of people with its numerous subgenres and appeals to more than just teens. Some research shows that YA novels are bought more frequently by adults than teen in some cases (Williams). YA has a more fluid audience than most genres, giving us the largest customer base.

Specifications:

The product will be an add-on available for purchase on new Kindles and uses the reader technology to process the words on the page to create the images projected from micro-projectors under the surface of the glass. The images will be full color and the story will be read out via a small speaker in the bottom corner or through headphones, volume adjuster is located near the speaker. When not in projecting mode the HoloBook can be used like a tablet to access the social book site, GoodReads, allowing the user to easily update their progress and find discussion boards for the book.

The HoloBook will use a micro-USB charger that will plug in near the speaker. The battery will be lithium ion and made to hold about a three to four hour charge with adjustable settings to increase and decrease brightness and quality of the images. The brightness of the holograms will be easiest to view in indoor lighting and best in dark rooms. The battery is made to hold the three to four hour charge at max settings.

This will have to work with new books coming out and will be created by a graphic designer (or author with design experience) who will work closely along side the author to create their vision. The HoloBook’s detail will be determined by the author and the artist, clearly the more detailed, movie like versions will take longer amounts of time and possibly more than one artist. They will be released after the original book has been released just like a movie would be.

It will be sold like Whispersync where the audio version will be purchasable in combination with the visuals. With Whispersync, the eBook version and the audio version are sold together for only a dollar or two more than buying just the eBook alone. Looking at the average price of Audible books, without a membership, being between fourteen dollars and thirty-nine dollars (Audible.com), adding the visuals would probably increase the price of the typical audiobook to forty to fifty dollars. The narration will be done professionally for the highest quality story reading. Currently, there are two different ways to listen to eBooks with Kindle. The first is Audible which is done professionally, the second is text-to-speech technology which is a experimental feature of Kindles that uses a “remarkably human sounding for a computer-generated voice” (“Let Your Kinde”) to read the text out in a monotone voice.

A possible addition to make the HoloBook easier to use is gesture technology. The current technology for gesture tech for a product like this is in existence. It is called GestTrack3D, which “lets you control interactive displays and digital signs from a distance with hand and full body gestures” (“3D Depth Sensing”) which acts like Kinect technology and only differs in that the distance from the screen does not matter. The gesture tech would make it so the book could be paused, played, fast forwarded, rewound, and highlighted to go back later on the eBook version. As the technology for the HoloBooks because more advanced it may even allow for interaction with the characters and the setting.

Advertising:

The HoloBook will be marketed to people between the ages of 16-25 using advertisements targeted to social media websites like Facebook, Twitter, and GoodReads, and commercials for YouTube. The HoloBook will be advertised to appeal to book lovers and to movie lovers alike.

The ads will be similar to those of movies and be put especially on YouTube where teens spend hours upon hours of watching of video content and will be most likely to see it. GoodReads advertises the newest books along the sides and on banners, usually they are stills but some are videos. GoodReads would probably where the advertisements would first appear because it is a site intended for book lovers who would most appreciate this. Since the book will be movie-like, playing previews for the HoloBook before movies in theaters. The commercials would be about the same length of a movie preview and contain about the same amount of “teaser”.

The HoloBook will change the way people read books. It creates a new, visual way to enjoy our favorite stories, to see the magic and mystery up close and personal unlike anything we see on the market today. Currently there is nothing on the market like HoloBook as it combines the best features of movies and audiobooks to bring a more immersive experience to the reader. The immersion aspect of this product is possibly it’s most important. People use books as an escape from reality, the more immersive the technology the better. Book lovers will no longer have to struggle with interpreting and envisioning what an author is trying to get use to see. And unlike movie versions, the author doesn’t have to compromise their work to make it more suited to the silver screen.

Prototype

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y60mfBvXCj8 (Projection Video)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGiwROBW5fM (Explanation of Different types of holograms we have currently)

Work Cited:

Chauncey Frend. Imagination Forge: Holographic Display Technology (S1E1). N.p. Film.

“How to Download a FREE Whispersync for Voice Each Month with Amazon Prime | Lia Belle.” liabelle.me. N.p., 5 Sept. 2014. Web. 6 May 2017.

“Let Your Kindle Read to You with Text-to-Speech.” dummies. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 May 2017.

VirusKiste. Hologram Project by Kiste. N.p. Film.

Williams, Imogen Russell. “What Are YA Books? And Who Is Reading Them?” The Guardian 31 July 2014. Web. 6 May 2017.

Pitch: HoloBook

Any book lover knows the movie never comes close to the magic of the book and while TV versions come closer, they still can’t compare. Why settle for watered down, inaccurate replications when we can have the fully realized version in the palm of our hands? Introducing HoloBook, the holographic reader that fits over the pages of any book and renders 3D visuals. The HoloBook combines the technology of audiobooks with holograms to create a movie right on the pages of your novel.

The product will be made from damage resistant, light weight plexiglass with built in reader technology that processes the words on the page to create the images projected from micro-projectors under the surface of the glass. The images will be full color and the story will be read out via a small speaker in the bottom corner or through Bluetooth headphones. When not in projecting mode the HoloBook can be used like a tablet to access the social book site, GoodReads, allowing the user to easily update their progress and find discussion boards for the book. The HoloBook will use a micro-USB charger that will plug in near the speaker. A single charge will hold for 3-4 hours. The HoloBook will be like a movie where it is released after the original story to allow time for the author to coordinate with artists.

With the growing young adult genre, there are now more books targeted to young people today than ever before. The HoloBook will be marketed to people between the ages of 16-25 using advertisements targeted to social media websites like Facebook, Twitter, and GoodReads, and commercials for YouTube. The HoloBook will be advertised to appeal to book lovers and to movie lovers alike.

Careers in English

This was the first career fair for English that I have gone to and it really helped to open my eyes up to the possibilities that are out there. The speakers were all informative and clearly excited about their work and had a lot to say to us. The advice they gave was really helpful, particularly the advice they gave on internships. When I think of careers in English I usually only think about things like editing, writing, and journalism however, the four panelists all had diverse careers and in things that I had never thought about as ‘English’ careers.

For me the most helpful thing was their reassurance that even if your first job right out of college doesn’t work out, life isn’t over, there are plenty of opportunities out there and something will stick. I’ve always kind of had it in my head that if I can’t find the career I want right out of college or find that I don’t like what I’ve decided to go into, that I’d never be able to find something better. But each of the panelists said that they had kept up a variety of careers since college until they settled into their current ones.

Questions for Andrew Stauffer

Will there come a point when all of our books, past and present, will become digitized?

Libraries and their resources are free to use but many databases require a paid subscription or a subscription via the university to use the material. Will we ever do away with this?

Does a digitized book still hold the same meaning as having the physical copy in hand?

Why do we teach annotation today?

Transcription of Manuscript L

(Places with question marks are words that I could not decipher the hand writing so I just put what I could make out)

I am now apprehensive for his general health – he still lye(?) the Benefit of Exercise(?); Exercise!(?) returns the doctor I never heard that he lyed (?) any; he might for night(?) I know, walk to the Alehouse – but I believe he was always carried home again. It was however unlucky for those who delighted to echo Johnson’s Sentiments – that he would not endure from them today, what he shapes he had yesterday by his own Manner of treaty(?) the subject made them fond of repeating; and I fancy Mr. B— has not forgotten that though his friend one Evening in a gay Humour talked in Praise of Wine as one of the Blessings permitted by heaven when had with Moderation, to lighten the load of life and give Men strength to endure it; yet when in Consequence of such talk, he thought fit to make a Bacchanalian Diseonese(?) in its forever Mr. Johnson contradicted himself somewhat roughly as I remember, and when to assure himself often: (cut off word) he added there words- you might allow me sir at length that it produces Truth- in Vine Verities you know sir —that’s replied Mr. Johnson, would be lye: left so a Man, who knew he was not a Syar (?) when he was sober. When one talks of giving and taking the lye familiarity, it is impossible to forbear recollecting the Transaction between the Editor of Ojian and the authors of the Journey to the Hebrides: it was naught of value (?) to me however, that Mr. Johnson never bore his antigorite the lightest Degree of Ill Will, he always kept those Laurels which belonged to him as a Writer separate from those which he had to do with as a man: but I never did hear him say in private one malicious Word of a sublick (?) enemy, and of W. Macpherson I once hear him speak respectfully — though his reply to the friend who asked him if any Man living could have written such a book is well known, I have been often rejected — Yes sir, many men, many women, and men Children. I enquired of him myself if their story was authentic and he said it was: I made the same enquiry concerning his acct. of the State of Literature in Scotland, which was rejected up and down at one time by every body—how knowledge was divided among the Scots like bread in a sieged Town, to every man a mouthful, to no man a Belly full.

-Samuel Johnson (Possibly)

Letterpress Demo Reflection

I really enjoyed the letterpressing demo, it was a unique experience that I will probably never get again. Getting to work with and learn about how text used to be printed made me appreciate the methods we have today a lot more but it was really cool to make the sentences and utilize what we learned in typography to understand the placement of everything and also appreciate the way the text looked once printed. We even got the chance to learn what they used to do when letter would wear down, to some degree at least. I think one of the things I found most interesting was the simplicity of the mechanics of the press. Even though the press we used was not one of the first ever made, as we discussed the first ones made had the press come from above, I still expected some degree of difficulty. However, the press was pretty simple. There was only a minor difference between inking the machine and printing with it and that was done by a simple flip of a switch. Making the ink gradient was fun even though it only worked for about two presses before the inks mixed completely.

If I get the chance I would love to take the class just because I find things like this fascinating. Even though this is a skill that I will probably never use again I had a great time learning about it and taking in the experience. It really made me appreciate modern printing and the way that the invention of the printing press made books more widely available to the public rather than just keeping them just for those who could afford them or make them for themselves.

Quill Pen, Copyright, and Project Gutenberg

Quill and Ink

The earliest form of writing that is closest to the pen and paper we have today was developed by the Greeks (Bellis). They created writing styluses out of bone, metal or ivory, predating the quill by about 200 years. The quill was introduced in about the year 700 CE and dominated the writing scene for thousands of years (Bellis). The quill is made from a bird’s feather and is strongest when plucked while the bird is alive. Typically, the feather is plucked from a “robust bird” (Tillotson) such as a goose. The left wing of the bird was favor because the curvature of the feather was more ideal for a right-handed person (Bellis). A good quality quill can be used for about a week before it must be replaced and must be sharpened by a special knife, this is where the term pen-knife comes from (Bellis).

The make the pen “it was usual to cut back the plume of the feather and remove the barb, or feathery bits” (Tillotson). This process makes the quill easier to write with and hold. The quill was then placed in hot sand to strengthen the barrel and a pen-knife was used to remove the point (Tillotson). This allowed the scribe to hollow out the inside of the quill and sharpen the nib. The quill was very fragile and became dull easily, which was an issue when the quill was first invented because of the expense of vellum.

Ink was invented by a Chinese philosopher and by 1200 BCE was a common place item in the world. Originally ink was made from the ashes of pine needles, lamp oil, and a gelatin mixture from donkey skin (Bellis). A more stable ink compound was later invented, made from composites of iron-salt, nutgalls, and gum.

The impact made by the invention of the quill and ink can still be seen today. The invention of the Greek styluses, Roman reeds, nibs, and quills ran parallel to the invention of paper. As paper quickly changed and become more commonplace, simpler writing implements were created. The quill was invented in response to the invention of fibrous paper in China which was easier to make and less expensive than vellum and animal skins. Once paper became more easily accessible, people needed a faster, more reliable implement to write with. As paper processes were perfected and paper was made widely available around the 14^th century by paper mills in Europe, the art of writing with a quill became more wide spread and easily accessible to the general population. The mechanics of the quill have been perfected and were eventually replaced with a more sturdy and trustworthy implement, the steel nibbled pen (Tillotson) around 1822 (Quill Pen [00:00:19]). By the 1800s education rates had also increased significantly and more convenient forms of writing were needed which led to the steel nibbled pen and more stable ink. The modern-day ball-point pen still uses many of the same mechanics as the quill pen, with a longer life span, varieties of ink colors, and better reliability.

Work Cited:

Bellis, Mary. “A Brief History of Writing.” About, 13 Aug. 2016, inventors.about.com/od/timelines/fl/A-Brief-History-of-Writing.htm. Accessed 23 Feb. 2017.

Quill Pen: How to Make Everything: Book. Produced by Andy George, YouTube, https://youtu.be/eDbtJOjFv7s, 2015.

Ashreila, Writing, Nov. 17, 2015, accessed Feb. 23, 2017

Tillotson, Dianne, Dr. “The Quill Pen.” Medieval Writing, 11 July 2011, medievalwriting.50megs.com/tools/quill.htm. Accessed 23 Feb. 2017.

Copyright

Copyright issues became a problem as printable media became widespread. Without any laws to protect information, anyone could claim that your book was theirs or your research was their research. Copyright laws have changed the way we can use information and was made significant “by waves of innovation in information technology” (Jaszi). Though the creation of the law was not in response to technology but driven by “social life, economic organization, and cultural outlook” (Jaszi).

Britain was the first to propose a law to protect information with the Statute of Anne. The Statute of Anne was first put into law in 1710 (Jaszi), it was the first law of its kind which became standardized and made international. The statute guaranteed authors of new books a “copyright of fourteen years from publication” (Gomez-Arostegui [Pg. 1249]). It was also the first law of its kind to recognize that by creating a way to protect published information, it would encourage people, especially scientists and artists, to publish their work, thereby growing the industry.

The Statute of Anne inspired the US to create the Copyright Act of 1790 stating that “to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries.” (Katz). The US granted authors the right to print, reprint, and publish their work for fourteen years and renew for another fourteen (Katz), which, like the Statute of Anne, was designed to give authors, artists, and scientists incentive and limit their monopoly on the information.

The Statute of Anne and the Copyright Act of 1790 only protected the authors of those countries. In 1891, the International Copyright Act of 1891, more commonly known as the Chace Act, began the process of providing foreigners protection, it provided that “so long as they complied with the US notice, registration, and deposit of requirements” foreigners could obtain US copyrights for their work (Nimmer).

Originally, copyright laws were used for incentive but today, copyright law “has now become a suit of nearly impenetrable armor that allows copyright-holders to block new works from entering the culture and to dictate how older works fit into our cultural framework” (Hlinak). People use copyright to hold a monopoly over a particular idea, character, or plot. Today, we see this with many of the superhero movies. Now that DC and MARVEL have become popular in not only comics but movies and TV, the companies are buying back the rights to certain characters that they once sold, such as MARVEL selling Spiderman to Sony. It has taken years for them to regain the copyright over the character and they are only regaining it due to the copyright expiring. Another place we see copyright blocks is for marching bands. Bands have to buy the rights to the songs they use and this can cost thousands of dollars. This makes it difficult for bands with small budgets to succeed. This also becomes an issue when looking at Fandoms. Fandoms create artwork, fanfiction, and alternative universes using characters from books, movies, and TV, copyrights certainly come into question when we look at these and authors/artists must put disclaimers on their work to protect themselves.

Work Cited:

Gomez-Arostegui, H. Thomas. “The Untold Story of the First Copyright Suit under the Statute of Anne in 1710.” Berkeley Technology Law Journal, vol. 25, no. 3, June 2010. Berkeley Technology Law Journal, scholarship.law.berkeley.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1853&context=btlj. Accessed 23 Feb. 2017.

Jaszi, Peter, et al. “The Statute of Anne: Today and Tomorrow.” Houston Law Review, vol. 47, no4, Dec. 2010, pp 1013-1021. EBSCOhost. Exproxy.stevenson.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&an=59250718&site-eds-live&scope=site

Katz, Stanley, editor. “Copyright Timeline: A History of Copyright in the United States.” Association of Research Libraries, 2014, www.arl.org/focus-areas/copyright-ip/2486-copyright-timeline#.WK8wOlXyvIU. Accessed 23 Feb. 2017.

Nimmer, David. “Nation, Duration, Violation, Harmonization: An International Copyright Proposal for the United States.” Duke Law, 21 Mar. 1991, scholarship.law.duke.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4145&context=lcp. Accessed 23 Feb. 2017.

Hlinak, Matt. “The Impact of Modern Copyright Law on the Creation of Derivative Literary Works.” Review. Communication Law Review, Northwestern University, 14 May 2006, commlawreview.org/Archives/v8i1/The%20Impact%20of%20Modern%20v8i1.pdf. Accessed 28 Feb. 2017.

Marvel Studios Logo. JPG file.

Project Gutenberg

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books (ebooks) created in 1971 by Michael Hart. It was used to encourage the creation and distribution of ebooks. The idea behind Project Gutenberg was the idea of “Replicator Technology”, which essentially means that once a book is on line, it can be replicated as many times as need demands, creating an infinite supply of that book and can be stored anywhere (Hart). The ebooks created by Project Gutenberg are made in the most simple forms to use and are readily available, which allows for any device to run and search the files.

Texts are made to be 99.9% accurate, according to Hart, and does not create authoritative editions of the texts and editing is up to the preferences of the proofreaders (Hart). It is more important to create something easy to use that everyone has access to than to create something completely accurate.

Project Gutenberg’s philosophy of “Replicator Technology” has become wide spread. Amazon, Barnes and Nobel, and other companies have taken advantage of this idea to create an infinite supply of books and media for people to use and enjoy. This idea has become so popular that we now have audiobooks available the same way, both abridged and unabridged. Hart’s philosophy has also expanded into music where we now have programs like iTunes, Spotify, and other programs that allow people access to thousands of artists and albums. While not all of these are free to use, many offer “discounted” prices on their products.

With the invention of eBooks, copyright laws have become somewhat easier to manage. Copyrights must be filed with the US Copyright Office, paperwork must be filled out, and a fee must be paid (Lovett). The danger of eBook publishing is people impersonate original authors and publish their work as their own. Originality is easy to prove with word processors which give the exact time and date stamp of the original document.

Works Cited:

Hart, Michael. “The History and Philosophy of Project Gutenberg.” Project Gutenberg, 7 Apr. 2010, www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Gutenberg:The_History_and_Philosophy_of_Project_Gutenberg_by_Michael_Hart. Accessed 23 Feb. 2017.

Lovett, Anita. “When to Copyright your eBook.” Anita Lovett & Associates, 18 June 2015, anitalovett.com/2015/06/18/when-to-copyright-your-ebook/. Accessed 28 Feb. 2017.

Sauers, Michael. Project Gutenberg, 26 Aug. 2014, JPG file. Accessed Feb. 23, 2017

Inevitability

“There is absolutely no inevitability as long as there is a willingness to contemplate what is happening” (pg.25)

This particular quote caught my attention while reading The Medium is the Massage because of how true it is for today’s political climate. The quote reminds me of the phrase “history is destined to repeat itself” which has been true numerous times over the centuries and people theorize will be true again today with the election of President Trump. Many people are comparing Trump’s election to that of Adolf Hitler in the 1930’s in the way that he was popular and fairly well liked and his political ideas were seen as positive things at first, sort of like a story character who we like at first but as their intentions are revealed. I’m not saying that I agree with these people one way or the other, however they raise good points particularly with Trump’s racial views. If people aren’t willing to take a moment, step back, and think about the decisions Trump is making, we may end up reliving one of the darkest moments in history.

Writing in Clay

1. How does writing force us to deal with the technology at the same time they are trying to get the writing done?

While writing on the clay tablets I realized how much I had to slow down and really think about the words I was putting down on the page but I also found myself concentrating on the shape and formation of the letters and the spacing of the words for the writing to be legible. When using a computer you don’t have to think about the shape or formation of the letters but rather the position of that letter on the key board and how far you’ll have to move your finger in order to strike that key to make the letter.

2. How does technology effect the content of the writing as well as the writing process?

Writing in the clay no only makes you slow down while writing but take into consideration the space that you have to write in. It makes you use shorter, more concise language in order to communicate your thoughts and ideas onto the page where as with a computer you don’t need to conserve space because you have unlimited area to write in.

3. How does the type of writing done influence the technology they are using?

The type of writing we can do today is largely influenced by the technology we have. Word programs make writing easy and accessible to anyone so we are able to quickly create anything we want. When using clay tablets writing was very restricted and not everyone had the ability to read and write so it was reserved for though of the upper class that could.

4. How does the technology effect the way we read a document or text?

When reading from a clay tablet we have to focus more on the letters and the formation of them. When we’re looking at a printed document we are able to look at the ink that gives contrast to the medium its written on which makes it more visible.