The Science of Writing

By Jeff Helsel '89

Not since Johann Gutenberg printed the first book using movable type has the publishing industry been so turned on its ear by technology. Books and magazines and even your daily newspaper may soon be coming to you on computer screens or even via television, and a book by Rick Smolan '72 is leading the way.

Flick on the computer and plop down in front of the television set. It's time to read. Read? Yes, read. Electronics and computer technology have entered the publishing industry, challenging conventional ideas about books and adding a whole new dimension to the world of the written word.

When photojournalist Rick Smolan, a 1972 Dickinson graduate, produced his most recent adventure-travel book, he included an intriguing new feature. Accompanying From Alice to Ocean , an award-winning story about Robyn Davidson's 1700-mile trek across the Australian outback, are two compact discs. One can be played on a Kodak PhotoCD player and the other on either a conventional audio CD player or on an Apple computer with CD-ROM capabilities.

The discs look exactly like audio CDs, but they hold photographs, text and videos, in addition to narration and music.

“In building two CD discs inside every copy of From Alice to Ocean —a real first for book publishing—I wanted to show people how an illustrated book might be published in the future and to demonstrate the astounding potential of this technology,” says Smolan.

Through CD-ROM—which stands for compact disc-read only memory—Davidson's journey becomes a multi-media presentation, combining audio, still photography and video images. In addition to hearing a custom-made soundtrack, viewers watching the story unfold on their computer screens also can interrupt the narrative to watch videos that provide tips on how the pictures were taken or that provide them with background facts about the Aboriginal culture.

“The idea is to create the illusion that you're having a conversation with Robyn and the photographer,” Smolan says. “I like the editorial viewpoint, and here you can stop the story at any time to ask us questions.”

The Kodak PhotoCD disc contains photographs and spoken narration that illustrate From Alice to Ocean . The photoCD player is connected to a traditional television set and Smolan says it's already having a major impact on the photographic industry.

“What's fascinating is that Kodak's technology will soon allow anyone to ‘publish and narrate' their own illustrated stories, using a photoCD, at a very low cost,” he says.

The new technology also could pose some interesting possibilities for writers. For instance, novels created for interactive programs could have multiple endings. “ It will give writers a chance to exercise tremendous new creativity,” says Bernard J. Luskin, founding president of Philips Interactive Media of America. “There's going to be more opportunity for everybody—writers, graphic artists, designers … everyone.”

With the opportunity to interact with a story—or perhaps even rewrite it—will books on CD leave their paperbound cousins collecting dust on the shelves? Probably not, says Sam Howe, director of technology strategy at Paramount Publishing. The costs of CD technology are high right now—a Philips compact disc interactive player costs nearly $700 and it takes about $400 to buy either the CD-ROM drive for a Macintosh computer or the Kodak PhotoCD player. And the discs? Another $15 to $60 apiece.

Add to that the convenience factor. Discs for one machine won't play in most others, and televisions and computers generally aren't as portable as traditional books.

“For $4.95, I can purchase a good novel and it doesn't require batteries,” says Howe. “I can carry it in my luggage when I travel and it won't get damaged. It's a rugged, cost effective, easy to use product.”

Paul Mosher, vice provost and director of the library at the University of Pennsylvania , says that new forms of electronic publishing will have to go through a long period of social integration before any winners can be declared.

“If you look at the history of technology, you'll find that after the long sift-out period, they find their niches in society that are different than you first imagined. Computers may offer a supreme technology in certain areas of publishing; however, whether or not people will feel like carrying their personal computers out and placing it on their tummy while they read Jane Austin is another matter,” he says.

Howe says that while books “are the delivery medium today,” the publishing landscape is changing rapidly. Nearly 15 percent of Paramount 's products are now published in electronic form, including CD-ROM discs, floppy discs, online material, video cassettes and video discs.

Philips, the company which introduced the digital audio compact disc player, is now marketing a compact disc interactive player. This device connects to a television set and the five-inch discs it uses load like music CDs. Similar to Apple's CD-ROM, CD-I offers digital video, animation, still photography, music, graphics and text. It also will play audio and photo CDs.

“The print industry has been a dozing industry for a long time, but digital publishing is waking the industry up,” says Luskin. Every major publisher is exploring an electronic publishing division because they don't really have a choice.”

Philips has nearly 100 titles for its CD-I player and it has another 300 in production. Luskin says half of the programs are based on material from books. One of the coming attractions for this year includes a disc that contains the complete works of William Shakespeare.

People who buy a Philips CD-I are offered a free edition of “Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia,” a 26-volume reference set that is stored on a single five-inch disc. In addition to providing text and high resolution graphics, many categories include original video segments. For instance, users can watch segments of speeches by John F. Kennedy or Martin Luther King Jr. They also can watch men landing on the moon, the space shuttle launch and World War II.

“And if you get tired of reading it, it can talk to you,” Luskin says.

But the CD-I player has to be connected to a television and critics say that makes it inconvenient if you want to use it outside the home or office.

Answering the call for a smaller, more portable electronic book player, Sony has introduced the Data Discman. With its own five-inch screen, this miniature CD-ROM player is completely self-contained. It weighs about a pound and it measures about the same size as a paperback novel. The Data Discman plays optical disks that are three inches in diameter.

“The Data Discman is most popular in the educational market,” says David Yaun, manager of Sony's corporate communications. He says most of the 75 electronic books available for the Data Discman are reference materials, such as an encyclopedia, and “how-to” manuals on topics like writing better term papers or improving reading skills.

“I don't think we anticipate the electronic book as replacing the printed novel or printed books,” says Yaun. “But in situations where vast amounts of information need to be accessed in a portable environment, like textbooks inside and outside the classroom, an entire high-school curriculum can be pressed onto one disc.”

Yaun says the Sony Data Discman could become as common as the calculator in the classroom.

“When calculators were introduced in the 1970s, teachers sort of frowned upon them. Now, it's almost a requirement to bring a calculator to class. Knowing how to find information, even text material, is becoming as valuable a skill as memorizing information,” he says.

Computer technology already has become integral in many classrooms in the nation. In some schools, learning how to use the computer keyboard and word-processing skills begins as early as the fourth grade.

“Students are being prepared for a work place where the way information is being used is changing. Communication is so much more advanced and faster,” says Tyler Cowell, an elementary- and middle-school computer specialist for the Carlisle Area School District .

Cowell, a former reading specialist, has created a computer program that teaches students how to improve their reading skills. In the program, students read a story and then are presented with a series of questions. Using a “locate strategy” built into the program, students learn how to find the information they need in a text they've read.

“The concept of what we call reading is changing because mass communication is changing,” Cowell says. “Students in past generations would read information and be done with it. Today, with so much information, there's more emphasis on learning how to process it quickly so it can be used for the task at hand.”

Cowell is looking forward to a time when students will be able to create their own multi-media programs. “I see computers and books working together,” he says. “We not only have to concentrate on books, paper and pencil. There are a lot of media out there we now have to concentrate on.”

Even telephone and cable television companies will play a role in the future of publishing. The so-called “electronic superhighway” is being developed to eventually transmit thousands of sources of information and entertainment into our homes through tiny strands of fiber-optic cables.

As the system unfolds, fiber-optic cables, which now primarily carry telephone conversations and fax transmissions, may also be able to transmit books and periodicals. They could be printed out, loaded into your computer or displayed on your screen.

“People are able to pull information onto a computer screen today through a telephone line, but you need a modem. We're looking ahead to a time when people will be able to pull text onto a TV screen without a modem. Maybe you could dial it as channel 47 on your cable television network,” says Paramount 's Sam Howe.

Just which form of technology will be successful in the future book publishing is another question. “We're seeing a proliferation of technology hit the market,” says Howe. “Many will not be successfully integrated into the marketplace because they won't offer anything that consumers care enough about.”

Book lovers should also take heart from the fact that virtually none of those who gaze into the future are predicting the obsolescence of books in print.

“Electronic publishing is going to be a tremendous asset in terms of access and distribution of knowledge. But print on paper has very special uses, and books on paper will be with us as long as I can imagine,” says Luskin.

This article originally appeared in the summer 1993 issue of Dickinson Magazine , page 8.

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