A Book Is A Book, Isn't it?

A Book Is A Book Is A Book, Isn’t It?

A BOOK IS A BOOK IS A BOOK Isn’t it?

Interviews, questionnaires and personal reflection on the subject.

Ben Kither.

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A Book Is A Book Is A Book, Isn’t It?

CONTENTS 04 06 08 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34

ABOUT QUESTION 1 QUESTION 2 QUESTION 3 QUESTION 4 QUESTION 5 QUESTION 6 QUESTION 7 QUESTION 8 QUESTION 9 QUESTION 1O QUESTION 11 QUESTION 12 EVALUATION LOOKING FORWARD APPENDICES

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A Book Is A Book Is A Book, Isn’t It?

ABOUT

What is a book?

Is the message the book?

When is a book not a book?

How can something become a book?

Can books be digital?

Does a book need pages?

I chose to focus my MA around the question of ‘What Is A Book?’. It’s one of those simple questions that up until recently had a fairly obvious answer. Then books became digital, suddenly a laptop is now a book, a phone can be a book.

So we’re now in an age where the current definition of ‘book’ doesn’t fit with what is available.

I have undertaken preliminary research in the form of interviews conducted with family and questionnaires sent out over the Internet to friends and colleagues. The results of these questions have been evaluated and are now present in this book.

The book has been designed to show a different persons view to each answer, with my own personal view on the question and also an evaluation of the answers received.

No final answers have been reached yet, please contact me if you have any questions or anything to add.

This book is also available digitally at: http://issuu.com/ben_kither/docs/bookproject2

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Q1

Do you read often? If so what do you read? Fiction, non-fiction, novels, magazines, online content, etc.

NAME: Soroosheh Hamadani AGE: 29 OCCUPATION: Designer and MA Student

“I do read magazines, books and online content on graphic design.

I read novels too when I am free”

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My response This question was asked to get a better insight about my interviewee.

First of all, the question gives a look at how informed the rest of the answers are going to be. By seeing what kind of literature read most often by the interviewee I can then gauge how relevant their answer may be. For instance someone who solely reads hard back novels is unlikely to think that online content counts as a book.

Secondly it gives a chance to see how the interviewee classifies what a book and reading is in their own words.

If someone was to say they read photo albums and zines of hand drawn illustrations then they are likely to give a completely different set of answers to someone who states they read novels daily and newspapers on the weekend.

Soroosheh gave a pretty standard answer.

Nearly all bases are covered. She reads all the main conventional categories of literature, yet isn’t an avid reader.

“I read novels too when I am free” is an interesting statement. The novel still seems to be seen as the definitive way of reading. Many people gave similar answers, as though reading novels when they can will be better received than solely reading magazines or online content.

With that in mind it’s obvious that before any other questions are asked people consider the bound novel superior to online content.

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Q2

Do you think packaging/cover is important? Do you agree that you can’t judge a book by its cover?

NAME: Sarah Stapleton AGE: 23 OCCUPATION: Graphic Designer and MA Student

“If I’m browsing the bookshop for nothing in particular, just looking, I will only pick up the book that I find the cover interesting on. So I suppose in that sense the cover design is very important, but if there was a book I knew I wanted to read the cover might not matter so much.”

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My response “You can’t judge a book by it’s cover” seems to be the most gone against statement ever devised.

Almost everyone asked said that they judge a book by it’s cover.

Several people did say that they know it’s wrong to judge by cover alone.

However, when a large proportion of my interviewees are from an arts background it’s to be entirely expected.

It’s also worth noting that most of the interviewees say they will not take the cover design into account if the author is someone they respect.

Knowing that people are only swayed by design in a positive aspect is interesting.

No one said that they would be put off a well recommended book, or a book by a previously enjoyed author if the design wasn’t good.

I take this to mean that people see design as a way to judge an unknown book, yet are ready to see past the cover.

My Mother and Father were the only people who gave specifics of the type of design that puts them off, mentioning, ‘Mills & Boon style novels, Chick Lit and Red Tops’. I shall ask what in particular turns people off in design terms when undertaking further questioning.

The idea of packaging and format was glossed over by most interviewees. The few people who did talk about packaging differed quite a bit.

Hannah said she wasn’t against the idea of a digital reader, but preferred printed books. Where as Liz was completely against digital, saying that if she is going to be reading more than 1,000 words off of a screen she will have to print it out.

I’m happy with the answers for question two and am glad to see that people can see beyond design, despite its initial attraction.

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Q3

Would you call content created for e-readers (i.e. the iPad, Kindle, Galaxy Tab) a book or a text? Do you agree with the statement ‘writers write texts, not books’?

NAME: Shauna Askew AGE: 22 OCCUPATION: Graphic Designer

“I guess it is... The point of a book is to hold text for you to read, it’s all there. It’s just an evolution, a more convenient way, but it loses the same experience, I enjoy getting books from the library or charity shop, and they all have different smells, creased pages, you wonder about who held it in their hands before etc. It’s more tangible, more human.

You can lend books to people, or give them as presents, they mean more if

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someone has used it etc. Sending a file of a digital book doesn’t have the same sentimental value. Data would appreciate a digital book, but I’m more sentimental.”

My response

In this response Shauna touches on a later question, saying how she enjoys a second hand book and how an e-book can’t replicate the tangible aspects of a printed and bound book.

Yet she still gives a great answer to question 3 with her point ‘the point of a book is to hold text for you to read, it’s all there’. Whether the copy is a digital text or not it is the ability to hold the book that makes the difference.

I asked the question, hoping that the responses would be varied and shed some light on the opinion I have that content created specifically for an on screen format is not a book.

Shauna disagrees with me, but overall question 3 had a reasonably varied response. Most people stated that an e-book isn’t a book. It’s an e-book and there isn’t a cross over between the two.

Some said that content for an e-book can be a book, but almost unwillingly, as Shauna did. I get the impression that

many of the interviewees didn’t want to admit that an e-book could be a book, maybe due to some sort of loyalty to print perhaps.

A recurring answer is that a book needs pages. Some said paper pages, thus completely ruling out an e-book as a book. Some people said that size is important, so on a phone for instance the text is just text, on a page size screen then it becomes a book. Some say that the content itself is what decides between whether it is purely a text or an actual book.

An interesting point was made by Andrew Taviringana who mentioned how you don’t get the same impression of scale with an e-book. With a printed book you can see exactly how far through you are, how many pages you’re through.

No real answer was reached in this question, but I appreciate that. The aim was not to get definitive points so early, more to find a broad range of opinions for me to form my evaluations upon.

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Q4

Are there certain books that remind you of a time and/or place? If yes, do all books have this effect, or just certain ones?

NAME: Anna Frew AGE: 22 OCCUPATION: Graphic Designer and MA Student

“Books like hungry caterpillar that you can interact with, it is very tactile and so is engaging.”

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My response Originally I wasn’t going to ask this question. I had formed my own opinion that everyone must remember reading, or being read to, when they were younger.

Surely everyone has read a book that has resonated with them at some level?

I have many of these memories, from poring over the large scale illustrated encyclopaedia as a child. The pages not much smaller than myself . As I grew older, around the age of seven or eight I became interested in stories of myths and legends and the illustrations of heroic deeds that came with them. Also having my father read me Nicobobinus, Terry Pratchets tale of a boy and his fantastical adventures has left me with vivid memories. The last proper novel I read that really stuck with me was On The Road, by Jack Keruoac. Reading of key protagonist Sal Parise’s adventures travelling through the US during the beat generation seemed relevant to myself whilst on my own travels.

I simply could not understand that people don’t have these connections to

literature in anyway. The people I have interviewed aren’t anywhere near old enough to have been Internet educated in this respect, where are their memories?

On the other hand, perhaps I am expecting too much. The question has done the opposite of cementing my theory that, as children, we react well to tactile books, illustration etc. As it turns out, it seems that very few people actually have great memories of when they were younger.

Most of the interviewees who say that they have a link to a book seem to be saying that these memories are quite recent. A novel read on holiday, or perhaps dealing with themes reflected in their private life.

Something that would not really be changed by the book being on an e-reader or a printed and bound book.

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Q5

Do books you don’t enjoy, find uninspired or feel substandard deserve the title ‘book’? Or do they belong in a secondary category?

NAME: Joe Russell AGE: 22 OCCUPATION: Business and Politics Student

“No. Books can always judged differently by different people... One person’s opinion on a book isn’t necessarily the right one. Bit like films - if most people find a film shit, Nootty can be guaranteed to love it”

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My response This question was poorly worded and it shows in the answers. The idea was to see what people thought of things like photo albums, comics, text books, dictionaries, recipe books. Instead my question, in all its vagueness, prompted people to respond as though I had asked whether a bad novel was still a book.

There are already prefixes available to describe the many niches of the publishing industry. Fiction, non-fiction, graphic novel, text book etc all already exist, so the idea of books belonging in different categories isn’t new at all.

The comic book is one example, another would be the photo album. The adage ‘a picture tells a thousand words’ is highly relevant here. A holiday photo album can tell the viewer a lot without any text at all. What stops that from being a book?

Unfortunately my question failed to get this point home, and I can only really reflect upon what I have received, which is a badly written book is just as much of a book as a well written one.

What I was trying to get at was the idea of how does content affect the overall package? If people refuse a comic book as a book because of its use of image rather than text as it’s primary narrative, despite the fact that it is printed and bound, then content is directly relevant to a book.

This particular example answer comes from close friend Joe, who not only sums up the feeling of most of my interviewees, but also puts it in another context. Our friend Tom (Nootty) never fails to enjoy a film that most people would deem drivel. The same type of person exists in publishing. Some people enjoy trashy novels that others wouldn’t use to prop up a table with, let alone bother reading.

If that seems to be the case then not only would I need to look at what is a book from a publishing point of view, but also the way that content is handled.

Yet it is still a book, as it is relevant to someone. Ultimately this question may prove to be far more useful than other, better worded ones.

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Q6

If an online text can be called a book, does that allow other formats of text and image to receive the title? For instance, tapestries, photo albums, cave paintings.

NAME: Maria Mylona AGE: 32 OCCUPATION: Photographer and MA Student

“No. I feel that a book is strongly related to text/image/binding/ printing.”

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My response My response to the answers given is a bit of a mixed bag. On one hand I’m happy to see that the over whelming majority of people believe a book needs paper and print to be a book, on the other hand I have been looking and trying so hard to find other instances were ‘the essence’ of a book can be found that to see them discredited is slightly upsetting to me.

By ‘the essence’ of a book I mean the things that a book delivers, a story or instructions, the power and knowledge that come with language, insight and education as well as entertainment. In my opinion these are what a book can help give to someone and these qualities are shown in the examples given plus many more.

If a book can be an online scroll, then why can’t an actual scroll be a book? One of the greatest stories in Britains history is shown in the Bayeaux tapestry, which includes text, image a narrative and has been educating people for many years.

It does everything you would want from a traditional book. It is also a tactile (to

an extent) format, yet, it is not a book.

If the message isn’t important then can a website, comprised of pages, albeit not conventionally formatted ones, then is that a book? That’s what I wanted to get to the bottom of with question six.

As I mentioned in the opening paragraph, the lack of people who believe that a book can be more than text, image and paper is upsetting. Maybe if I was to speak to them and explain my method of thinking I could convince them that a book is a history of story telling and knowledge. Having said this, the aim of my work is not to convince people I’m correct. It is to see what people think and form an opinion based on the general consensus. I can of course make my own opinion and compare the two, but to put words in other peoples mouths would not prove anything.

This question has made me think more about my practice based research and how I can try and educate people as to what I believe a book is, without pushing my opinions on them.

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Q7

If you needed to explain the criteria that a book needs to fulfil in order to earn the title ‘ A Book’ could you? Is it a cut and dry criteria?

NAME: Hannah Kither AGE: 27 OCCUPATION: Doctor

“Not really a cut and dry criteria, personally a book needs an enjoyable story, written on paper or a proper e-reader that can be ‘snuggled’ with.

Online or on a laptop is not a book as you can’t sit comfortably with it.”

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My response Following on from question six, and how can a book be classified is question seven and what makes a book.

Most people would be able to easily describe what a book is if asked out of the blue. I am glad to see that after only a little questioning, people have taken a lot longer to decide what a book is to them.

Maybe it’s a bit of a repeat of other questions, particularly three and six, which may not have asked the question of ‘what is a book’ directly but got similar results. However, I’m still happy that I asked as I feel it’s important to find out people what they believe a book is in order to see how much substance has been given to their other answers.

Personally I used to believe that a book was just pages, text and/or image, printed and bound. No ifs or buts, or digressions from this formula. However, it’s very hard to deny an e-book its right as a book, furthermore it’s also hard to say that anything that is printed and bound automatically gets the title ‘book’.

This is echoed in the answers I received.

My sister Hannah says how she wants to be able to ‘snuggle’ with her book.

Implying that the format is what’s important and a book just needs to be able to be held.

Others say that a book is pages and paper, some just pages. Some say that it is a completed story. However, it’s fairly obvious that the standard definition for ‘book’ doesn’t really apply anymore.

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Q8

Would an e-reader make you read more? Why?

NAME: Vicky Moore AGE: 26 OCCUPATION: Graphic Designer and MA Student

“No way, they are a pain in the rear.”

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My response A short question with an even shorter answer in Vickys case.

Despite my preference for printed material and the whole design and print process that goes along with it, when it comes to reading, e-readers really aren’t that bad to read from at all.

The Kindle is backlit, light, small enough to hold in your hand and can carry a whole library of books, it should be able to do to printed material what the mp3 has done to the music industry.

Yet, if you speak with actual music lovers, people who live and breath music they will tell you of the virtues of vinyl, the joy of the extra depth of sound, a crackle on an old record, and the sleeve art. To draw this comparison further, the mp3 player, despite it’s small size and huge memory, doesn’t make people listen to music more except for when there simply isn’t room to have a record deck.

These situations don’t exist in publishing.

Having two hundred books on your

e-reader doesn’t really matter if you’re only reading for a few hours a day on the commute, where a paperback takes up no more room than an expensive piece of electronic equipment.

If on holiday, five novels won’t be taking any more room in your luggage than a kindle, charger and socket adaptor. Plus there is much less chance of swapping books if all yours are trapped in an electronic format.

I would have thought that most people would say that an e-reader would make them read more, but the answers are firmly against that view.

Some people didn’t like the initial cost, some the idea of carrying another expensive piece of equipment everywhere, some don’t like the idea of a cold piece of technology instead of a tactile book.

Either way, whether they are books or not, e-readers seem to have a long way to go before they convert the masses.

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Q9

Would you say that reading printed matter makes a better experience than just reading online?

NAME: Andrew Taviringana AGE: 22 OCCUPATION: Accountant

“Yes. But advantage of online stuff is videos to illustrate /show highlights of good tackles, goals, tries etc, punches etc.”

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My response I picked Andrews answer because it contained an insight that no-one else, including myself really took on.

The idea that an online format can benefit from so much more than just conventional text and image is really what gives web based media an advantage.

A newspaper can’t simulate a sports match except through a few photos and some text. No matter how many different journalists can comment on an event, from different angles, it just isn’t the same as seeing it for yourself and also being able to see it slowed down and edited.

Having said that, only certain e-readers can do this. For sure the Kindle can not, the iPad can and samsungs Galaxy Tab can, yet the Galaxy Tab has a screen far smaller than a conventional computer, or even an iPad. Also there is a different experience I really want to talk about. The feeling of laying in bed after a hard day and working through a chapter, replacing

your bookmark and going to sleep. The feeling of working through a book and seeing how much is left. Creasing a page to go back to, underlining something that may not make sense.

When on an e-reader, even the method of holding the book is different, and reading from a computer screen is completely different again. A book should be compliant of the readers wish, you should be able to read sitting down, whilst in the bath, on the train, at night. A laptop can’t replicate that and a desktop computer certainly can’t.

Further research shall definitely see my asking more from people who use e-readers more than the people who answered these questions.

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Q10

Do you think that the amount of published material available diminishes from publishings original roots where books were difficult and time consuming to make, and made specifically for a reader?

NAME: Rebecca Kither AGE: 29 OCCUPATION: English Teacher

“There is a lot more rubbish printed these days, but the wider choice is good. Unfortunately print has been left behind by the ‘Playstation’ generation, this leads to stupidity and impatience. People aren’t willing to spend time reading, when they can watch the film. E- readers won’t make people read more, it will just make it easier for people who already read to amass books.”

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My response This question had a different reasoning for asking it than most of the others.

Most of my questions were based around finding out about how people classify a book and how books affect what and how they read.

By asking about the history of publishing I was trying to find out more about how people think about the publishing industry, if they think about it at all.

Of course, to limit what can be printed and what can’t would be almost impossible. If someone believes that a book will have merit it should be printed, even if it won’t appeal to many people. One can be snobbish and say that the endless procession of ‘celebrity’ biographies isn’t worth publishing. Yet there is a far larger market for them than for a philosophical text by Heidegger for instance. Publishing is an industry to make money for the most part, so if the public wants rubbish then it can’t be refused to them.

There will always be independent publishing which acts as a parallel with publishings early days. For instance zine making and distribution rarely makes money, yet is done through passion, it is labour intensive and time consuming, with small runs being the norm.

I don’t wish that publishing was exclusive only to the rich and educated, like it was originally, yet I believe that there is something wrong with seeing literary greats next to Twilight novels.

Being snobbish is never the answer and I’m thoroughly lost at the moment when trying to decide what I’d like to see happen to the mountains of rubbish which is printed and forgotten instantly.

By recycling and reprinting these types of publications the problem is negated somewhat yet, that is not the solution it is a needed by product, created when supply far exceeds demand.

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Q11

Do re purposed books count as books still? For instance, stopping a table from wobbling, or pulping an old book and creating a new one.

NAME: Elizabeth Marsh-Rowbotham AGE: 21 OCCUPATION: Vice President Education at MMU

“There is a three way relationship between reader, story and book itself so if this is still valid then it’s still a book. For instance a much loved but battered old book with missing pages can be used to prop up a table, and it will still be a book as it has a link to the owner. A naff holiday book with no link to the reader maybe not.”

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My response When a book is finished, particularly a novel, is it finished for good? Has it’s purpose been filled and therefore, is it now obsolete?

If it is finished and then used to prop up a wobbly old table is it still a book, or is it little more than a mass of paper.

Much like the paradox of Schrödinger’s cat. If a book is unread and sitting on the bookshelf or desk, is it a book yet or does that come from the reading process?

If books are only books in the reading process do they then stay as a book for as long as the memory of the story inside that book remains?

Liz’s answer of there being a relationship between reader, content and format goes some way to answering these continuations of the original question.

By giving a new lease of life to a forgotten book by re purposing it, in my mind it stops being that book. If you make it so that the information can not

be taken from inside that book, and have no recollection of what may be inside it, then how can it stay as a book?

If the book sits unread on a shelf then yes it is a book, the content is waiting to be discovered, the reader can easily access the content.

If all copies of a book were to be destroyed, yet the stories live on through memory, it is difficult to say that the book itself is also destroyed. If the reader and the story still exist, then the book exists to them. To an outsider with no prior knowledge of said book, then perhaps it doesn’t exist and doesn’t count as a book.

There is no definitive answer here yet, but I feel that further research on this will really help me understand what a book is.

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A Book Is A Book Is A Book, Isn’t It?

Q12

Would you agree with the statement that not reading from a book is like eating from a drip? By this I mean you’re not getting the ‘goodness’ of a book, like not getting the ‘taste’ from a meal.

NAME: Sharon Kither AGE: 56 OCCUPATION: Advisor at C.A.B

“There is a goodness to 2nd hand books, where you get the previous owners input, underlinings, bent corners etc. It gives an additional story to the one in the text. Yet I prefer a new book, the new smell and feel of the paper. You just can’t get that with e-books. I suppose the statement makes sense.”

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My response This is very similar to question ten. The main difference is that this response comes from an actual interview, rather than the questionnaire that received the answer in question ten.

I have been thinking for a while about how there is a certain ‘goodness’ that you get from literature that you just don’t get anywhere else.

Firstly reading makes people think of things themselves without having all details and image given to them. Your imagination is exercised and used whilst reading in ways that no other form of entertainment or education can. You can get lost in a book in a way that you just can’t manage with most other mediums.

To compare reading to food and cooking, another interest of mine isn’t as contrived as it first seems. The base reason that we eat is to get the nutrients that the body needs to survive. The base reason that we read is to get the content of the book.

Whether it is information or amusement the fact remains the same.

As such we could receive all our food through a drip, much like a coma patient.

The body would want for nothing, in fact we may end up healthier than through eating normally. However, there is the act of eating, there is taste, learning new things and techniques.

With reading, perhaps we would learn more or receive more of the story if it was delivered in a different format, but that is not the real point anymore.

The point raised that a second hand book can give an additional story is interesting, as the previous owner is now part of the book. There is now more to it the book than the original text.

I think that the adage I have created has been fun to play around with and inquire about, but is not strong enough to really take forward into my further research as it currently stands.

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A Book Is A Book Is A Book, Isn’t It?

EVALUATION

All questions have been answered and I have had plenty of time to evaluate.

So what have I found out?

I am in a slightly difficult position at the moment, that is that I am passionate about what I am studying and have had my own set agendas as to what I think the ‘correct’ answers should be.

However, I need to take what has been said by my interviewees on board. I was selective with who I asked so I should really be glad to have their opinions.

It has been very interesting to reveal some key points.

1. I am not the only person currently confused by what a book is in the digital age.

2. E-readers are not the saviour of reading that they are made out to be, infact they are despised by many.

3. A book is certainly more than pages and print, even those who seem to have little connection to reading allude to this.

4. There is no set content or format for what is needed to make a book, instead it the unity of content, format and reader that make a book.

A Book Is A Book Is A Book, Isn’t It? 5. I can not disregard online publishing as a form of publishing, despite my reservations about it.

6. People are different and want different things from a book, not only in terms of content. Choice in format is also important. Times are changing and choice is now seen as the norm, not an extra.

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LOOKING FORWARD By taking on board what has been said and making some evaluations I can now plan to go forward.

I have looked at publishings past and present both from my own point of view as well as from the view of a wide audience.

Now I need to look to its future. Further questioning on the subject in a similar way to the interviews compiled in this book should help. I need to go further though, ask people more invested in the industry. For example publishing houses, book stores, paper merchants, printers, digital sites that sell and distribute e-books.

In terms of practice, what I can take forward from this experiment is the need to be very concise in the way that I ask questions, and where possible it is definitely best to conduct interviews face to face.

In terms of theory, I can definitely take forward the idea that content, format and reader are what make the book. That situation is just as important to the idea of a book as the message itself. Particularly how the roles we assume in day to day life lead us to define that what

A Book Is A Book Is A Book, Isn’t It? we are reading is a book, a text, a folio etc. From my questioning I can see that there certainly seems to be an aspect of traditional though dictating what is a book, yet when it comes down to it, no one is really sure why they judge things to be what they are. I shall have to look further and much harder at this idea.

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A Book Is A Book Is A Book, Isn’t It?

APPENDICES

The complete answers from each interview and questionnaire.

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A Book Is A Book Is A Book, Isn’t It?

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS This first section of the appendices covers the interviews I carried out.

Listed in order: Hannah Kither Elizabeth Marsh-Rowbotham John, Rebecca & Sharon Kither

A Book Is A Book Is A Book, Isn’t It?

Questions asked: 1.

Do you read often? If so what do you read? Fiction, nonfiction, novels, magazines, online content etc.

2.

Do you think packaging/cover is important?

3.

Would you call content created for e - readers (i.e. iPad, kindle, galaxy tab) a ‘book’ or a text?

4.

Do specific books remind you of a time and/ or place?

5.

Do books you don’t enjoy/ find uninspired/ feel substandard deserve the title book? Or could they be in a secondary category?

6.

If an online book can be called a book, does that allow other formats of text and image to receive the title?

7.

If you needed to explain the criteria that a book needs to fulfil in order to earn the title ‘A Book’ could you? Is it a cut and dry criteria?

8.

Would an e-reader make you read more?

9.

Would you say that reading printed matter makes a better experience than just reading online?

10.

Does the amount off published material available diminish from its roots?

11.

Do re purposed books count as books still?

12.

If reading from an e-book you still get the story that a printed and bound book gives, but the whole experience of reading a book is lost, much like eating without taste in my opinion. Would you agree with the statement that not reading from a book is like eating from a drip?

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A Book Is A Book Is A Book, Isn’t It?

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS Hannah Kither

1. Yes to all, magazine and non-fiction novels in particular 2. Not really, prefer a tactile book you can hold but not against handheld digital offerings.

3. No, and yes. Would describe them the same but the feel is different.

4. Yes, holidays, childhood bedtime stories.

5. It’s not just a personal matter, they are still books, just not favoured ones.

6. There is a difference between a story and a book, a photo album is a photo album, a pillar in a temple is a just that. A book needs an illusion to page format.

7. Not really a cut and dry criteria, personally a book needs an enjoyable story, written on paper or a proper

e-reader that can be ‘snuggled’ with.

Online or on a laptop is not a book as you can’t sit comfortably with it.

8. Not in the house, but yes for travel.

9. Yes 10. No it enhances, increased amount of literature available is a good thing, even if all of it isn’t great.

11. If re purposed then no it is no longer a book. If mulched and used again to make a new book of course but otherwise no.

12. It’s all about the story, even when dealing with printed matter you still get badly made books printed on cheap paper, so a specially made e-reader like the kindle isn’t exactly a step down. It’s just different.

A Book Is A Book Is A Book, Isn’t It?

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Elizabeth Marsh-Rowbotham

1. Yes to all, but novels, not as much as she’d like.

2. Cover is very important; hates digital, more than 1000 words should be printed off if not on a proper reader.

3. A book is a manuscript; it becomes a book when the pages are put together.

4. A link to place when reading on holidays and sometimes current events and themes in the book can increase chance of a link being made.

5. A book is a book, different qualities to them, but still a book is a book.

6. It has to be bound and have a cover.

7. As before, plus it has to be paper. There isn’t another word for e-books so it’s more that e-book needs re defining, not ‘book’.

8. As with Hannah’s answer.

9. Yes if reading for pleasure. If reading pleasure for research it doesn’t need to be pleasurable, just easy.

10. Too much disposable publishing, throw away books rather are the area where the kindle will benefit.

11. There is a three way relationship between reader, story and book itself so if this is still valid then it’s still a book.

For instance a much loved but battered old book with missing pages can be used to prop up a table, and it will still be a book as it has a link to the owner. A naff holiday book with no link to the reader maybe not.

12. No people still get the story, just not as much enjoyment, not really correct.

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A Book Is A Book Is A Book, Isn’t It?

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS John Kither Sharon Kither Rebecca Kither 1. JK - Novels, paperback, Newspapers daily (not red tops!)

SK - As John, more novels though.

RK – Same, plus magazines and teaching supplements.

place and story.

SK- As with Rebecca JK – Memory of location and story more than how the book makes me feel or think of.

2. SK- shouldn’t be but is put off by ‘chick lit’ looking books and red top style newspapers.

JK – some bad and good associations exist in cover design. Like a branding in it’s own right. Red tops and Mills and Boon novels are a definite no.

RK – Agree with the above, but got to try and be open to try.

5. All disagree. Books are all books.

3. SK – Needs to be print to be a book.

RK – Specific to net or e reader means a text.

JK – Needs to be ‘relaxing’ and have the same affect on the reader as a book, not just be the same words as a book.

4. RK – Definite memory of books, time,

6. RK – The examples given are all methods of telling a story but they aren’t a book. The way of telling a story can take on many different formats, but that doesn’t mean they are books.

SK- You need to be able to hold a book, binding, print and content need to be present.

JK – Agrees 7. SK – pages and written word RK – and needs to be bound JK – needs pages. A book is a completed story, it can be without text if there is still the story is there.

A Book Is A Book Is A Book, Isn’t It?

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8. RK – No SK – it would make things easier, but wouldn’t really.

JK – No, although could help with readability, so can see its uses.

read to amass a selection of books.

JK – Newspapers are becoming more and more like TV networks, much more manipulation and corporate policy involved. Not Good.

9. All Yes

11. SK – There is a goodness to 2nd hand books where you get the previous owners input, underlinings, bent corners etc.

Gives an additional story to the one in the text. Yet prefers a new book, the new smell and feel. You just can’t get that with e books.

JK +RK – Agree.

10. SK – all publishing is good, rather have more publishing of poor books than revert to the exclusivity of previous times.

People have to start reading somewhere and are more likely to be drawn in by a trashy novel than something really complex, which is ultimately a better read.

RK – there is a lot more rubbish printed, but the wider choice is good.

Unfortunately print has been left behind by the playstation generation, this leads to stupidity and impatience. People aren’t willing to spend time reading. E- readers won’t make people read more, it will just make it easier for people who already

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A Book Is A Book Is A Book, Isn’t It?

INTERNET QUESTIONNAIRES This second section of the appendices covers the questionnaires.

Listed in order: Vicky Moore Soroosheh Hamadani Sarah Stapleton Anna Frew Maria Mylona Andrew Taviringana Joe Russell Shauna Askew

A Book Is A Book Is A Book, Isn’t It?

Questions asked: 1.

Do you read, if so what do you read for the most part, i.e. Novels, magazines, online content, newspapers etc

2.

Do you think packaging is important? Do you agree that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover?

3.

Would you call content made specifically for a digital reader (iPad, Kindle, Galaxy Tab, the Internet) a book?

Or is it just text? Do you think a text needs to be printed to be a book?

4.

Do you have memories attached to a specific book/ reading? If so how do they relate.

5.

Do you think that a book that you don’t enjoy/ find no value in, still qualifies as a book, or do you think that they belong in some sort of secondary category?

6.

If an online book can be called a book, despite its lack of publishing, does that mean that other formats could earn the title ‘a book’, for instance cave paintings, tapestries and pillars of Egyptian temples all tell stories, yet are not published.

7.

Could you explain the criteria that something needs to fulfil in order to be called a book? Is it an obvious answer to you?

8.

Would a digital reader make you read more?

9.

Would you say that reading printed matter makes for a better experience than reading online?

10.

Do you think that the amount of published material (some of which is never read and mulched) available diminishes from publishing’s original roots where books were difficult and time consuming to make and were made specifically for a reader?

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A Book Is A Book Is A Book, Isn’t It?

INTERNET QUESTIONNAIRES Vicky Moore

1. I read magazines and books on graphic design.

2. Packaging is important yes but no you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.

3. iPads etc are not books, I think it should be printed on paper to be a book.

4. Only memories with books are Enid Blyton to my childhood.

5. Yes they still qualify as books 6. I suppose it could be argued.

7. Yes it is obvious answer to me...pages, paper and a cover.

8. No way, they are a pain in the rear.

9. Yes. 10. No, I think that books should be

published for everyone to enjoy and have access to.

A Book Is A Book Is A Book, Isn’t It?

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Soroosheh Hamadani

1. I do read magazines, books and online contents on graphic design. I read novels too when I am free...

8. No

2. I think packaging is so important in marketing strategy to glamorize the product in order to attract customer’s attention. In my personal opinion I don’t judge the book by the cover.

10. No I think books should publish for anyone who enjoys reading and feeling it, to avoid making our life so digitally, miserable and dull.

3. I don’t like to read books on digital gadget. I love to feel the book, smell it and touch it.

4. Only the books that I had read when I was teenager.

5. Yes I think they are the same as book but there isn’t any connection of interest and I would classify it to other group.

6. I called it as digital text.

7. Yes it is

9. Yes

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A Book Is A Book Is A Book, Isn’t It?

INTERNET QUESTIONNAIRES Sarah Stapleton

1. Magazines mostly, novels if I have the time but not often and I read the news online in the morning.

2. If I’m browsing the bookshop for nothing in particular just looking I will only pick up the book that I find the cover interesting on. So I suppose in that sense the cover design is very important but if there was a book I knew I wanted to read then the cover might not matter so much.

3. I think its just text, a book needs to be printed for me.

4. I cant think of any right now, I can remember where or in what situation I read certain books but I’m not sure that’s what your asking, ill get back to you on that one.

5. No I think its still a book if I don’t enjoy it.

6. No they are simply narrative, the online books still try and look like or give the feel of a book, don’t they? They still try and show the turning of a page and page numbers, I think?

7. Something you can hold in your hands, with a front and back cover and pages on the inside. A book has a feel to it when you hold it that you don’t get online.

8. Depends how easy it would be to access. The downside of a book is that its sometimes annoying and heavy to carry around with you and once you’ve read it you have to go out and buy another from a shop, if it was easily accessible to get hold of a new book what ever situation your in then maybe.

9. For me yes, I don’t like reading off a screen that much. If there is information I need for something and it’s a large piece of text then I will print it out and

A Book Is A Book Is A Book, Isn’t It?

read it. There’s something about reading off a screen my eyes don’t like. There is comfort in sitting and reading a book and its more personal.

10. No I think its just moving with the times.

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A Book Is A Book Is A Book, Isn’t It?

INTERNET QUESTIONNAIRES Anna Frew

1. Novels and design books 2. Packaging is important; I own some books just because they look nice.

3. I would call it an e-book not just a book. On smaller devices it is just text (iPhone) 4. Books like hungry caterpillar that you can interact with, it is very tactile and so is engaging.

5. It is still a book.

6. No, they don’t have pages.

7. It needs pages.

8. No, though as I mostly read when I’m travelling it would make that easier.

9. Yes, particularly reading for pleasure.

10. No we still have specialist hand bound books, there will be still be quality in amongst the quality.

A Book Is A Book Is A Book, Isn’t It?

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Maria Mylona

1. I read mostly novels, magazines and online content. Don’t read newspapers.

2. For me packaging is not important for all types of printed material. For books it is important but I have bought a book, thought the cover was lame, just because I liked the writer.

3. For me, it depends on the type of the content 4. I do have memories but normally they are related to either the person who gave the book to me or the location from where I bought it.

5. I think a book is a book no matter how I like its content. Surely there are books that their content is of low standard but they are still books.

6. No. I feel that a book is strongly related to text/image/binding/printing

7. The answer is not really obvious to me 8. No. I don’t like digital readers.

9. Yes 10. Confused by question

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A Book Is A Book Is A Book, Isn’t It?

INTERNET QUESTIONNAIRES Andrew Taviringana

1. Online content- the independent, the voice-online news, BBC news and sport.

Newspapers- Metro.

2. Packaging is important. Makes things appealing. I agree shouldn’t judge a book by the cover but we all do it. No one has time to be reading the whole book to judge it.

3. Yea digital readers are whack if reading a book. You wanna get a feel of how much progress you are making by looking at the pages.

Smaller texts like blogs etc are ok on digital readers.

4. Not really.

5. Still a book, someone else may like it.

6. Yes. No. Don’t know, maybe.

7. A long text that has a point. But not

news/blog type stuff.

Not sure if its an obvious answer 8. No. Not good for eyes. No feel of how much progress I’m making my holding the pages. The thing may need charging while I’m on a bus.

(Not that I read on buses). But if it’s a short piece like a blog/news/article then digital readers are ok. Not as damaging to the eyes.

9. Yes. But advantage of online stuff is videos to illustrate /show highlights of good tackles, goals, tries etc, punches etc.

10. Not sure I get the question. I’m just gonna say yes.

A Book Is A Book Is A Book, Isn’t It?

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Joe Russell

1. Online content (online newspapers in particular) 2. Yes packaging is important.

digi-reader (Amazon kindle advert)!?

Also, if you lose a book, gutted but you can buy a new one for £4/5.A digi-reader is about £150.

3. Yes I would still call digitally specific texts, a ‘book’.

9. Makes you feel more immersed in the content.

4. No memories in particular sorry...

10. -

5. No. Books can always be judged differently by different people. One person’s opinion on a book, isn’t necessarily the right one. Bit like films - if most people find a film shit, Nootty can be guaranteed to love it.

6. No don’t be ridiculous.

7. A book is - a major division of a long written composition 8. No - they look like an overpriced piece of shit. Who wants their dog licking their

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A Book Is A Book Is A Book, Isn’t It?

INTERNET QUESTIONNAIRES Shauna Askew

1. Usually 2 books on the go at a time, often non-fiction. Read quite a bit of online articles and forums too.

have the same sentimental value. Data would appreciate a digital book, but I’m more sentimental.

2. I guess you shouldn’t really judge a book by its cover… But you can’t always help it; they say it only takes 3 seconds for you to make your mind up about things. And someone has had to design packaging, so they should have put thought into it and done it right!

4. I’m sure there are lots, just little things, memories of sitting in certain places whilst reading certain things, and things seeming like such a coincidence.

3. I guess it is… The point of a book is to hold text for you to read, it’s all there. It’s just an evolution of it, a more convenient way… But it loses the same experience, I enjoy getting books from the library or charity shop, and they all have different smells, and ripped/creased pages, you wonder about the people who held it in their hands before etc. It’s more tangible, more human. You can lend books to people, or give them as presents, they mean more if someone has used it etc.

Sending a file of a digital book doesn’t

5. Yes if the world was entirely filled with duplicates of me, but it is not, and everyone likes different things, and every book was written by someone and so it’s imported to at least them. It will always be there. Maybe someone in the future will appreciate it.

6. Hmm no I would still say it needs pages. They could be under the umbrella of story, which book is linked to. Maybe ‘book’ loosely. But not really. But really, does everything need to be stuffed into boxes? Things are what they are.

7. I think I’ve covered this in q’s 3 and 6

A Book Is A Book Is A Book, Isn’t It?

8. No. 9. Yes 10. Sometimes it meant that only the very privileged would publish books, so only their points were spread, but now its so much easier for people to publish books, it just means freedom of speech is more equal, anyone can have their say, or pick of what is out there.

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A Book Is A Book Is A Book, Isn’t It?

A Book Is A Book Is A Book, Isn’t It?