The Future of the Book
It has been 453 years since Johannes Gutenberg published the first mechanically printed book, and recent developments in electronic ink and more user-friendly mobile displays - including the introduction of Amazon.com?s Kindle reader and Apple?s iPhone - have created a market for electronic ?books? that go far beyond ink-on-pulp publications.
As the printed page is giving way to the networked screen, the Institute for the Future of the Book seeks to chronicle this shift, and impact its development in a positive direction. The Institute is a project of the Annenberg Center for Communication at the University of Southern California and Columbia University, and is based in Brooklyn, New York.
Bob Stein is the Director of the Institute for Future of the Book - www.futureofthebook.org.
Stein was the founder of The Voyager Company. For 13 years, he led the development of more than 300 titles in ?The Criterion Collection,? a series of definitive films on videodisc, and more than 75 CD-ROM titles, including the CD Companion to Beethoven?s Ninth Symphony, ?Who Built America,? and the Voyager edition of Macbeth.
Previous to Voyager, Stein worked with Alan Kay in the Research Group at Atari on a variety of electronic publishing projects. In 1996, Stein started the Night Kitchen company to develop authoring tools for the next generation of electronic publishing. That work is being continued at the Institute for the Future of the Book. Stein is also Research Director, Digital Authoring Tools, USC Annenberg Center for Communication.
Moderated by Chris Pfaff, President, Chris Pfaff Tech/Media LLC; board delegate, PGA New Media Council
Jason Kichline is ScribeMedia's project manager. He likes typos, fast food and MacGyver like solutions to life's nagging problems.
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