Lately, I've been reading on a lot of blogs and web sites about the potential changes in the publishing industry. The main focus is what impact the digital media will have on it. Digital media has already had an impact on how we get our news and in part caused the demise of some print newspapers.
Some people out there seem rather hysterical over the idea of digital e-readers like Amazon's Kindle or Apple's iPhone. As if it spells the death of literature. Personally, I don't see it that way at all. Does the written word have less impact if it is on a screen then in an old dusty hardcover tucked away on a back shelf of some library?
You can go with the aesthtic appeal of the hardcover or trade paperback. The feel and aroma of a book is unique and appealing to a lot of people. Going into a bookstore and being greeted by the scent of paper is something comfortable and reassuring. Something that the screen can never capture. An old dog earred copy of a favorite book isn't the same as a book marked pdf or blog.
On the plus side of technology digital books allow greater distribution and is also cheaper. Especially when it comes to rare or out of print books. True this can also be a con on the side of technology since every body and their brother can distribute their book regardless of quality.
I am not opposed to digital books. I put it on par with Guttenburg's press. Prior to his invention books were written and bound by hand by scribes and monks. Their distribution and content were controlled and limited. When the printing press began that is when political, social, and religious progression began. It helped bring thought and ideas to the People. I'm sure there were members of society opposed to the printing press then as there are those opposed to the digital book today. Whether or not digital books will stir up the burning embers of a new revolution is highly debatable, yet it has the potential.
Other then books there is talk of how the computer will soon replace pen and paper when it comes to comic books, and possibly in the proffesional artist arena. I am not opposed to digital art, and in fact like quite a bit of it. I can see how it is a time saver in comics and animation and graphic design and typography. Yet, I do not see for a moment any proffesional painter or sculpter or printmaker dropping their traditional tools altogether to pick up the optic mouse. When photography started gaining ground someone once claimed that Painting was dead. Regardless, the field of painting in the traditional means is very much alive. The truth of the matter is that both Painting and Photography have influenced each other. Whether it be cropping of an image or perspective or use of lighting and color the influences of each medium is there. Digital art is different in that it imitates other mediums. Whether trying to pass itself off as watercolor or pen and ink it has no true voice of it's own. It's always trying to be something it is not. As the younger generations grow up with computers and programs like Photoshop in existance and constantly improving I think that digital art will eventually develop it's own voice. What that voice and style is I am not sure, but I think that eventually it will be it's own. No one will confuse it with a charcoal drawing or digital photo. Perhaps I will not live long enough to see this come about, but the progression and emergence of a new medium is an interesting one to see develop.
In the end there will always be paper books, just as there is style vinyl records being pressed. Comics will still appear in print but not as often and limited quantities. You cannot eliminate the niche of collectors from the comic book industry. The allure and obsessive quest to have a mint condition #1 issue of whatever or double gate alternative cover Art. Traditional Art will always have a place in galleries and museums and personal collections because despite our advances in technology we still are flesh and blood. We still crave the physicality and tangibility of canvas and paint. The presences of marble and chisel.
The day we loose touch with this is the day we lose touch with our humanity resulting in an empty existence which values nothing other then the latest technological marvel.
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