Wikipedia:School and university projects/Open Source Culture/FutureoftheBook

The Institute for the Future of the Book


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The Institute for the Future of the Book was founded in 2004 to investigate the book as a social force and its evolution in the digital age. The institute regards the printed book as the "heavy-lifter" of intellectual thought in human history, and investigates ways in which that printed form will/has already translated to the digital screen. How does that translation change the heavy-lifting of the information, as well as the information itself? What new opportunities arise from this transformation?

The mission of the Institute for the Future of the Book is to play an important role in developing the form and function of books in the digital era.

"While it may be argued that the form of printed books (pages bound together by a spine) was inevitable, the new screen-based books has no such inevitable physically-imposed form. The challenge confronting us is to develop new forms that empower both authors and readers and enhance intellectual and social discourse throughout society."

One goal of the institute in particular relates to open source culture, that of their investigation into "what is the best way to take several thousand years of analog culture into the digital era in a way that respects the original form but that also exploits the potential of emerging technologies to help readers see, hear, and read better?" That balance between the oriignal form and the use of technology for communication and collaborative creation is also at the root of developing an open source culture.