Doug Johnson

The Future of Books Revisited
Head for the Edge, May 2000

(See also, The Future of Books and Turning the Page.)

One of the best things about reading science fiction is that it helps reduce the shock of the future. These compelling stories often offer fascinating glimpses into a not terribly distant time.

First, let me qualify what kind of science fiction I’m talking about. My favorites now are not the spacemen vs. bug-eyed monsters type adventures I read during my misspent youth, but those that extrapolate from our current technologies and social conditions what we may very well soon encounter.

Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea showed how industrial technologies would one day allow us to explore inaccessible parts of our world. George Orwell’s warned us in 1984 about technology’s power over privacy and history. Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game uncannily predicted how anyone regardless of age could have a powerful political influence using the Internet. And William Gibson’s Neuromancer offered the first glance a virtual world that could be every bit as real as a physical one.

Neal Stephenson’s novel The Diamond Age is another one of those sci-fi books that punch us into the future. Fiona, the book’s youthful heroine, is assisted through a very rough childhood by a most unusual book-like device titled A Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer. This wonderful tool is a library and self-paced tutorial that offers her just the right skill, bit of information, or advice when needed.

Wouldn’t it be nice if all our students had such a book! Heck, let’s not stop at just giving our kids an e-book, but let’s give them a whole e-backpack. What might such device contain? As I go shopping for my kids next Christmas, I am certainly going to look for all these features in a single unit:

An e-book. I visited this topic in an earlier column, “The Future of Print,” way back in 1995 (1).With the advent of electronic paper (2), downloadable texts (3), and the ubiquity and increasing speed of the Internet to transport digitized tomes, we are now closer than ever to the e-book of my dreams. My student’s e-book will contain teacher-customized textbooks, research materials, and of course the latest Harry Potter episode. Not only is the e-book convenient, but it eliminates the health risks associated with little bodies humping over weight bookbags.

An e-notebook. The e-backpack certainly needs a means of storing notes, papers, and teacher-generated study materials. A small keyboard, microphone for voice input, and touch screen all should be available, plus a wireless port for the teacher to beam in the latest assignments and returned papers. Let’s make sure all these documents can be easily and logically organized, stored and recalled when needed. Enough memory and perhaps that great 5th grade mythology report could be used again in 9th grade. Or this could become a K-12 portfolio documenting the exploration of a series of related topics, each assignment building on the last? A constructivists dream.

An e-organizer. Adults certainly use electronic organizers like Palm Pilots (4) to track their hectic lives. Those appointment calendars, to-do-lists, and address books are also useful tools for kids who need to keep track of assignments, projects, practices, meetings, and orthodontic appointments. One of the kindest things we can do as educators is help our kids get and stay organized. The world is not kind to those who aren’t it seems.

An all-purpose e-card. The function of a library card, lunch ticket, petty cash, and sports pass should all be handled by the student’s e-card. With the needed password (no let’s make that thumbprint) the e-card will electronically transmit the needed data to the appropriate computer at the circulation desk, admission gate, or pop machine. Get an automatic recharge through Dad’s bank account each month, of course. Let’s get the kind that will unlock school lockers and the backdoor at home too.

An e-communicator. Why be tied to the desk when sending or receiving email? The e-backpack has to serve as a mobile communications device capable of transmitting both sound and data, including digital video. Wireless of course. Apple’s iBook (5) with its ability to send and receive data from anywhere in a classroom or library may well be a prototype. Now how do we stop students from passing notes in class? Or videoconferencing?

An e-tutor. Although Fiona in The Diamond Age didn’t know it, her primer’s power and usefulness were because the lessons were planned and monitored by a caring human mentor. My students’ e-backpacks will be carrying the experience, judgment and wisdom of as many human beings as they need. It will be the portable, student-oriented version of LM_Net, KidsConnect and the Global Schoolhouse Network and will surround the young users with caring adults who can offer thoughtful help when necessary.

So how do we keep this magical device from being lost, stolen, or left on the bus? I am not yet ready to make little Borgs of our students yet – no implants please! (Although looking at the number of nose rings and tongue studs I see, imbedded technologies may not be that off-putting to the students themselves.) Perhaps something wearable? A wristwatch type CPU. A holographic display, video camera, and small speaker built into eyeglasses. Perhaps the display can project a virtual keyboard as well? One day that twitchy kid in the back row may be twitchy because she’s paging through The Hobbit, solving a chemistry problem, or drawing her friend a valentine.

I’ll keep reading my science fiction novels. The latest I’ve finished, Michael Crichton’s Timeline, supposes quantum mechanics will one day be able to send objects through time. Hmmm, just think what that will do for interlibrary loan. The book may show up a few minutes before you actually realize you need it. Now that you know, the shock should be less when it actually happens.

1. <http://www.doug-johnson.com/dougwri/future.html>
2. <http://www.parc.xerox.com/dhl/projects/epaper/>
3. <http://www.ebooknet.com/> (among many others)
4. <http://www.3com.com/palm/index.html>
5. <http://www.apple.com/ibook/>