It's true. If we were to look at this in the same frantic and frightened way the rest of the literary world was looking at it, we could be easily led to think that print journalism, fine art, photography, and basically any other print you could think of, was now in jeopardy of becoming extinct. Which- is outright ridiculous.
I don't see the thought of all physical forms of art being abolished any more ridiculous than the thought the death of book format. Literature, is, in fact art, right?
Further into the essay, Rushkoff presents several efforts publishing companies made to attract buyers to the art form: archival paper, choice typeface and design, limited editions. The thought, care and consideration going into these pieces of art are only making them more valuable to reader, right? We're just advancing the art form, right? No one is going around saying, oh well, better make these things poorer made, skim on the quality (with the exception of zines and their guerilla tactics, of course). Think about it. How cool are 8-track and record players? How many of you have splurged on these "ancient" art forms because they represented something rare and treasure-ful?
Yeah, we may not be there just yet but I see this wonderful booming technology age as being the dawning of an appreciation of simpler forms, a step closer to the day that blogs will be the commercial equivalent and society will yearn for a more tactile, personal experience.
"Computers haven't made people read less; they make us read more," Rushkoff writes. And our audience hasn't disappeared; it's expanded. And, as he argues further on, it is an avenue to reaching readers we may have otherwise not have reached.
The literary world is growing because of the recent turn of events, broadening its horizons into all probable corners of the publishing world. Books have the potential of being the hip downloadable commodity integrated in everyday life while keeping it's prestige tradition of the physically bound art piece which, suddenly, has more value.
Andi White
