Re: The Digital Future Still Is A Mystery If You Don't Publish 'Immersive Reading'

On 07/01/2012 02:11, Lee Passey wrote:
> On 1/6/2012 2:09 PM, joseph harris wrote:
>
>    
>> On 'immersive' I rather thought he was trying to make a division that
>> was directed to his intended point (which may have got lost), rather
>> than descriptive of reader experience. Immersive to me means  - for
>> reading - having one's imagination captured by content. If so the use of
>> pictures is irrelevant. If, as you suggest (and I think you are right),
>> he meant 'all text', then that seems much easier to use - and more
>> related to his actual article.
>>      
> I believe that immersive reading, in this context, is exactly as it's
> name implies: when you are immersed in the text as opposed to just
> skimming over the top.
>
> Immersive reading tends to be linear; you start at the beginning and
> continue on to the end. Dry, boring non-fiction lends itself to
> immersive reading just as much as high adventure. _Gone with the Wind_
> is immersive, as is _Dreams from My Father_, as is _Banana: The Fate of
> the Fruit That Changed the Word_.
>
> _Apache2: The Complete Reference_ is not designed for immersive reading,
> nor is _The Chemical Rubber Company Handbook of Chemistry and Physics_,
> nor is just about everything you peruse while surfing the web.
>
> A very few people may approach the Bible or the Koran as immersive
> reading, but for most it is not.
>
> Given the relatively long form and start-to-finish nature of immersive
> reading, this kind of work is well-suited to an electronic, hand-held
> format.
>
> Browsing through an electronic document sucks, and very few e-books have
> any kind of a meaningful index, which means that reference works don't
> do well as e-books.

Lee,

I would not argue with your comments based on your interpretation. But 
like Shatzkin you are missing a few things.

Immersion implies being covered by (especially water), whereas Shatzkin 
is initially writing about being absorbed in. There are important 
differences of concept [which I did not point to earlier]. Like Shatzkin 
you then ally technical format and layout with reader intellectual 
response. You both assume only one response to one format or style of 
content.

There are people [I know some] who can be totally absorbed in a 
telephone directory or other lists pf dry facts; equally I know people 
who are totally bored by straight text. Some of the most absorbing 
reading can be where illustration backs, interprets and/or expands 
accompanying text. And probably the most absorbed readers you can find 
are children, yet Shatzkin excludes them from his 'immersive' reading 
because their books are illustrated. As I said he uses a term and 
discusses something else.

Also you both miss large areas of publishing in seeking to make a point. 
The fact there is a large and hungry audience for text-only fiction does 
not deny other audiences,  the complexity or width of the publishing 
business, nor the challenging interplay between formats, content type, 
print and digital, innovation, retail upheaval and economic downturn.

Shatzkin often makes good sense; here we was confused and limited. To 
your penultimate sentence I would add the 'immersive' capability of the 
handheld print book ;-).

And The Koran is absorbing reading for about a billion people, the 
Christian Bible for hundreds of millions, the Hindu scriptures for 
hundreds of millions. All three are source texts for the film industries.

Joseph Harris


------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------
Post a message:   ebook-community [[at]] *
Unsubscribe:      ebook-community-unsubscribe [[at]] *
Switch to digest: ebook-community-digest [[at]] *
Switch to normal: ebook-community-normal [[at]] *
Put mail on hold: ebook-community-nomail [[at]] *
Administrator:    ebook-community-owner [[at]] *

(* == yahoogroups.com)
-------------------------------------------------------Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ebook-community/

<*> Your email settings:
    Individual Email | Traditional

<*> To change settings online go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ebook-community/join
    (Yahoo! ID required)

<*> To change settings via email:
    [email protected] 
    ebook-community-fullfeatured-hHKSG33TihhbjbujkaE4pw@public.gmane.org

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
    ebook-community-unsubscribe-hHKSG33TihhbjbujkaE4pw@public.gmane.org

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/