Référence : WARREN, John, W., Innovation and the Future of e-Books dans The Journal of the Book, Vol. 6., Num. 1., 2009, p. 83-93.

Synthèse : Écrit par un directeur marketing spécialisé dans l’édition au sein d’un groupe de recherche sans but lucratif, cet article semble bien construit mais pointe vers surtout vers l’interactivité par le biais de l’hypertexte et de l’hypermédia. Moyennement utile, donc.

Mots-clés : e-Books, Information Society, Electronic Texts, Innovation, Hypertext, Open Access, Digital Publishing, Enhanced E-books, Interactive, e-Learning, e-Scholarship

Langue : Anglais

Format : PDF (disponible sur https://www.rand.org/pubs/reprints/RP1385.readonline.html, consulté le 13 juin 2017).

Description existante : « The technological development and cultural acceptance of e-books today parallels the state of the printed book in the 15th century. E-books are increasingly available from a variety of distributors and retailers, and work on a myriad of devices, but the majority remain simply digitized versions of print books. Some devices or platforms include such tools as word definitions, highlighting, and note taking, but many of these tools simply mimic what students and researchers have traditionally done with printed texts. This paper examines three examples of innovative e-books in order to illustrate the potential and pitfalls of electronic publications. The first is a history e-text that includes 1,700 primary-source documents—such as Presidential memos, reports, and even audio and video clips—linked from footnotes, providing a treasure trove of research material to readers. The second is a novella in hypertext form. The third example examines digital textbooks that include multimedia, assessment, and other digital tools. Each of these cases demonstrates creative approaches, business models, and methods of review that point to the enhanced, interactive, interlinked future of the e-book.», trouvé sur http://editions-b42.com/books/lire-lecran/, consulté le 13 juin 2017.

Extraits : « Today, many e-books are merely a “picture of a book”—a book that has been digitized into a PDF, epub, or other format, but a book which provides little value-added, besides portability, search, and access, compared to a regular book. But then, a page is no more than a picture of symbols representing speech (Bolter, 1991) », p. 84; « The delicate balance between authors, publishers, librarians, and readers has shifted, and will continue to evolve with new technologies. While anyone can “publish” online for free, the publisher’s role—if publishers are to survive at all—remains to develop, nurture, and legitimize talent. But the platform will increasingly be digital. », p. 89; « As Rosamund Davies (2008) writes, “In this context of technological convergence, the future of the book, like the future of other media, is cross or multiplatform. To exploit and innovate such platforms successfully, the book needs to be conceptualised as simultaneously content, interface, and platform: elements that can be articulated separately as well as together.” », p. 90

Compte rendu existant : O