More online community: Internet entrepreneurs have recently declared that the social layer of the Web has been built- as in, entirely completed. Though much can be read into that thought, social networks have yet to impact how we read the literature, that CS Lewis extols. Projects such as Infinite Summer and 1book140 have begun to create communities of readers online around common texts. When we call for more social reading, we mean that the reading itself—not just the discussion—should connect our respective, raw, and visceral experience to the printed word.
Pleasure of the text: When we say printed, we remain aware of the rise and benefits of e-ink. Whether you’re reading on a Kindle, Nook, IPad, or monitor, you should have the same freedom to add margin notes - aka annotations - which you can share with others in your online distributed book club with engaged readers everywhere. Imagine the benefits of social annotations for books by Gogol, Gladwell, or Godin.
For example, 1book140, which draws over 12,000 readers to a Twitter-based book club, fills its Twitter page with the ultra-brief musings and reflections on topics such as humor, cynicism, and unreliable narrators. A wealth of anotations to the online version of Jonathan Zittrain's The Future of the Internet and How to Stop It makes a good read even better. While social reading network Goodreads doesn’t connect users with annotations, it has attracted over five million users with shared reviews and recommendations. With a recently announced machine learning algorithm, the network will attempt to translate Netlfix’s success with movies to the realm of literature. Goodreads’ success attests to the need for more online book clubs, particularly those that enmesh the best features of online forums with the (digital) page itself.
Implementation: Several e-readers, including licensed hardware and cross-platform apps, offer the rudiments of the social features we’re calling for, but none have yet emerged as clear leaders in the field of social reading. The Nook does not enable social annotation; the Kindle does, though only since 2011. Taking a tip or two from location-based apps, Kobo invites readers to check-in with characters and scenes. Copia offers a cross-platform e-reader and network rolled into none. The latter two, however, have yet to gain widespread popularity. As all of these services improve, we hope to continue to build online community through the pleasure of the text.
Citation: Andrew Magliozzi
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