Kindle 2 !

So it appears that Amazon has initiated the next step in the digital book revolution by enhancing and evolving their Kindle product into the “Kindle 2”. A New York Times article, published today 2/24/09 entitled “The Kindle: Good Before, Better Now”, gives a fairly detailed evaluation of the product, its changes, and new features. At times the article appears to provide more of a raving advertising service to Amazon, but it is also pretty informative as to what has changed within the product.


Will Amazon’s upgrade attempts be in vain? Or will their second take on the Kindle spark a digital literature revolution for good?

This article can be found here, at the following URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/24/technology/personaltech/24pogue.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=kindle&st=cse

Judging by the pictures on the New York Times’ article, the first thing that really pops out to the consumer about the enhanced Kindle 2 is its new, sleek interface. The new look is definitely eye catching and appealing from the get go. Yet, the article suggests that this was done in an attempt to mimic apple’s appearance which has obviously been successful in the past. I would say this is a pretty accurate assessment of Amazon’s attempt to draw in more consumers to the product; the Kindle looks like it could easily have been manufactured by Steve Jobs himself.

However, the majority of the Kindle 2’s new features do not just revolve around appearance. It appears that Amazon’s idea of what truly enhances their product is its ability to simulate the feel of reading a real, physical book. This really does give me the impression that the concept of digital literature will breakthrough only after a proper meld of physical readership and digital convenience takes place. The New York Times emphasizes the product’s lack of screen illumination, battery consumption, glare, and eyestrain to make the reader/consumer feel more familiar with the Kindle as if it weren’t a screen to read from, but rather more like an actual book. The Kindle has been upgraded to further extend its reach towards physical books in other ways. The E-Ink feature, although not a new feature to the Kindle, comforts the user with its striking similarity to print ink found in physical books.

As previously stated, the Kindle is attempting to combine the comforting features of old, traditional books with the convenience that new, digital e-books have to offer. One of the more intriguing, convenient features the Kindle 2 has to offer is its free Wi-fi capability. Another feature that appears to rival with the I-Phone, the Kindle is able to connect to the internet and download books from anywhere. The best part? Its free, unlike I-Phone broadband service. The Kindle is also equipped with a useful web browser to optimize its convenience.

In the end, the Kindle 2 appears to be an extremely handy e-book reader that has many other convenient features to offer. If any product has the ability, or at least the momentum, to start an e-book revolution, the Kindle is it.

Digital Literacy - Young Children Growing Up Digitally Competent

For my first E-Ink blog post on the digital presentation of the written word I am going to discuss the concepts revolving around digital education of the next generation of students.

It is pretty clear that American culture is progressing towards a new, modern epoc of screen culture. This era will reflect a time period in which a basic level of digital competence will be necessary in order to properly obtain information and remain competitive in job markets and the like.
I read the following article from the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/16/books/16libr.html?scp=2&sq=librarians&st=cse) last week entitled "In Web Age, Library Job Gets Update" and found it to be very interesting, mainly because it seems to support the notions that a digital culture which includes digital literacy does diminish our general attention spans and capability to remain engaged in reading, yet encourage reading at the same time

However, the main focus of the article is a librarian’s efforts to get a younger generation to read through methods of digital education. These methods include internet research education and lessons on PowerPoint and media creation. The article frequently gave the impression that children, who often resist the efforts of their teachers to get them to read, are more likely to become engaged in reading if it takes some digital form like interactive online encyclopedias. This is quite possible due to this younger generation’s early exposure to digital media that previous generations had not.

It is interesting to see that this how the role of the librarian has begun to evolve into the role of “information literacy teacher”, as described by the article. This role of information literacy teacher prepares students to properly utilize the internet and its vast, complex array of digital multimedia that comes with it

In the end, this article shows us that digital literacy may be the only way to keep students engaged in reading. While this may not be as great as reading actual physical books and magazines, it is still the fact that young students are reading which is most important.

However, will this preference of digital literature in young students cause an endless cycle of attention deprivation? Or will the interactive nature of digital literature increase readership in our youth? Only the future will tell.