Whenever the subject of reading the Bible comes up, there’s this beautiful mixture of terms. Some would refer to the content, while others about the literal bound pages. Since we’ve already talked about the future of publishing and bible software, let’s take a look at the literal book and some possibilities that the two already spoken for areas will have towards this definition.
Digital Isn’t to Be Assumed
Much like we are seeing on the side of publishing, the future of the book is that of the book being a digital container before it reclaimed as a print one. This doesn’t mean that everyone will always default to a digital bible, but that the ease of getting, annotating and keeping content will fall first to a digital construct than that of an analog one.
Don’t agree? Let’s take a similar position as Fraser Speirs who has embarked on a project where grade school-aged kids have been given iPads and as an educational community, are learning the good and bad about the book being first digital. Here’s something that stuck out from a recent post that you should probably also consider here:
#4: Won’t the children lack “proper” computer skills?
Define ‘proper’, ‘computer’ and ‘skills’. Now define them as commonly understood in the year 2023, which is when a pupil starting today will leave school.
I’ve never taught to specific software packages and never will. Of course, we have to use actual real software, but there’s a big difference between “teaching Excel” and “teaching spreadsheets”. Don’t forget we still have MacBooks and iMacs too.
This is a constant tension in educational technology: do you teach for the current “business environment” or do you teach for learning? I prefer the latter. I’m not doing this just to produce the next generation of cubicle fodder.
A child graduating our school this year started school when the Apple Pippin was still current. How can I possibly know what specific technologies will be used in their career? It’s beyond absurd to even pose the question.
In some respects, going digital will look like this. In the meantime, we can see going digital meaning that our Bibles in content take on this form of being digital, but then we use devices such as the iPad or BlackBerry Playbook to augment the print text with a set of digital reference materials.
Flipping Screens or Waving Lights
Once we get past the initial hardware of the device, we have to start thinking about interactions and input. In this post-iPhone era of mobile computing, everything starts with the touch and swipe methodology. And we’ve seen that when it is executed well – and content follows – that the experience isn’t just pleasing, but it also offer a heightened engaged experience (re: Flipboard for the iPad)).
There are a few examples towards what this can look like, but here are a few that I think are closer to the current decade than many others. The first is a conceptual mobile interface from Mozilla Labs called Seabird. The second a user experience video from TAT displaying how someone manages several screens in the year 2014 in an environment that’s meshed and connected with contextual information – to this video, concentrate on the interactions of the person at the workstation as that follows our discussion more closely.
As we can see here, the idea of a physical device is more or less falling away, and the point is the best ways to interact with the content. I will agree that some of the possibilities describe usage scenarios that are at best very optimistic, but then again, what were you doing with mobile devices six years ago versus now (that would be when MMM started compared to today)?
Paper’s Re-purposing
I have to admit, I only know a few people that really like the feel of paper. Most people only know how to get information from a paper, and so that’s where their mental models are stabilized. And as such, there’s a good chance that paper just won’t go away, but it will find a more valuable purpose (replacement and transformation; an example of this in progress here).
Take a look at the periodicals section of any bookstore. Now run your hands over various magazine, ignoring the content, but paying attention to textures, colors, and the feel of the paper. Notice something? The magazines that you take hold of denote this feeling of permanence and quality that’s just not matched by other magazines. Take a feel of those pieces that are published quarterly versus monthly or weekly; notice how these feel. There’s a weighter feel, they are thicker and the paper stock is notably better. This is the future of paper, and specifically when it comes to Bibles, we can expect to see some similar transformations.
Not that we really need more versions of the Bible to choose from, but we will see better quality versions. I’d argue that we might see a trimming of some of the fluffy versions, and see more attention to type and detail since paper will have to fight for that more ingrained role – a return to the family Bible perhaps?
Still Carried, Less Stigmatized
I don’t think that every context will be fine without carrying a Bible, even in today’s rising tide of those who preach from their iPad, there are questions about whether a traditional print Bible is more comfortable for the viewing audience or not.
What is clear though is that the traditional definitions of a book are being challenged, and this is good. We should now begin asking questions around whether its fine or not to just have the text in traditional places for show, or spoken for in digital devices where the proof of it is displayed in our lives and communities.
A physical Bible still makes a pronouncement towards where you stand and whom you stand with. And even between those ground which disagree about how to interpret, there is an understanding that if a Bible is present, that a conversation can begin.
Recalling a recent movie, The Book of Eli, and the scene at the end where the Bible was placed on a bookshelf with several other books of faith – this was the only book that was held in such esteem to not only have the power to cause the issues which backgrounded the movie, but also have the power to restore life to those left behind. The physical book was a sign of the power that we who believe on it carry; but without living what was on those pages, or being able to read it, people were domed to die in their ignorance. Will people believe that not having the traditional, paper-bound Bible that they don’t have the same power to live the text? Or, will engaging the text first from a digital context cause life to happen differently, and with a slightly different hue than it had previously? We’re still early, and that script is yet to be written.
The Evangelical Exegetical Commentary As a Sign of Publishing’s Future
Friday, September 10th, 2010Some days ago, a notable comment was made in reference to the NYT (via editorsweblog.org):
Depending on where you stand in reference to this digital evolution of content, that could either be an ominous sign, or the most blatant one yet that things are changing for publishers and readers alike. For Logos and the contributors of the Evangelical Exegetical Commentary, such a comment isn’t so much a sign of the times to come, but a reality that’s worth tackling head-on.
As far as what I’ve been able to research, the Evangelical Exegetical Commentary’s claims of being “the only major evangelical commentary to date to be released first in a digital format instead of print” is a powerful one indeed. Here we have a reference desk that has traditionally taken to conventional models of a larger collection bring broken up into volumes, and sometimes even into abridged versions, that’s now going the digital route. And if going the digital route, we might want to get a hold on a better understanding of what exactly a book is.
From the perspective of a publisher, a book isn’t just the content in between the cover, it’s the entire system of author development, compensation, and marketing that leads readers into the experience the author or publisher is trying to convey. For readers, content is a lead into a moment of imagination, contemplation, and education. Are we truly at that point where the aims of the reader outweigh the traditional aims of the publisher (or even author)?
The Evangelical Exegetical Commentary takes an approach we talked about in our report on the future of Bible software. A completely digital-first production, the commentary will be released as part of the Logos library. This makes it accessible through all of Logo’s currently supported software platforms (Windows, Mac, iOS), but also makes it accessible though the Biblia API Project and website – taking the commentary from something defined by pages and volumes, to something that can be combined (mashed-up) with other software, content, and imaginations (depending on the developer’s whims).
This does bring to light issues of citation (how to do so when going digital to digital, or digital reference to print-first access), and would then authors need to become analysts in the vein of learning how to read the analytics related to how their content is being used. But, I see these points as areas where publishers have an ability to get up to speed and take the lead. Enabling authors not to just product an audience for their content, but leading them towards growing their audiences by having better tools and more refined information to better direct content to them.
For the curators and contributors of the Evangelical Exegetical Commentary, including the folks at Logos doing the development work, this will be a notable mark in terms of how content will be distributed and presented. We can be sure that there’s going to be some base level of interaction and immersion that the Logos software suite will create for this (especially considering the wealth of multimedia components that will bolster the textual content). I wonder how (if) those in the Body with gifts to chop and mix content will also take this commentary series and explore other types of interactions with the content that go beyond display-and-click. How will learning curriculum be affected by this, and will such a commentary (or the next projects at Logos and other places in similar scope) usher in different teaching methods around learning, citing, and contributing to these traditionally locked tomes of information.
Or, will this have the negative effect of leaving access to content only to those who could afford it (device, data connection, subscription to Logos, access to commentary)? Will denominational affiliations curb the use and promotion of such content because while the content is malleable, people aren’t being taught how to critically think and compare in the midst of it?
There are a number of questions that this move to a digital-first offering brings. But, we’d be remiss to not pay attention to the paradigm shift. The Evangelical Exegetical Commentary and Logos are taking a huge step in doing this, and in my opinion, this should eventually be creditable for all. There are questions to be answered, but these are better met head-on, rather than in reaction to the change that’s already happened.
For more information about the Evangelical Exegetical Commentary, including the volume list and how to pre-order, visit their website. According to the Evangelical Exegetical Commentary website, the first publishing should hit next year, with the entire publishing schedule completed by 2019. That’s a long time in digital terms, a lot can and will happen by that point.
Tags: API, Bible, Biblia, citation, Commentary, education, Evangelical Exegetical Commentary, John Dyer, Logos, metadata, publishing, resources, The Future of Bible Software Report, The Future of Bibles Report, The Future of Publishing Report
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