The Future of Reading Part II
arlier this year when acclaimed singer Bjork released her latest album as a stand-alone app Biophillia, there was a lot of chatter across the blogosphere that app-albums (or whatever one would call them) would be the new wave of music. Needless to say that didn’t happen (or at least not really yet), but the idea itself has implications for the future, not just of music, but of reading as well. What if books rather than being on a shelf were stand alone apps much like how Apple previously handled magazines? What if each other had their own app with their books, background on the books and in depth goodies that were completely exclusive to the app? What if each book was completely interactive and drew the reader into the world the way only the latest technology can? This isn’t really a new concept, actually a lot of authors are working on making apps for themselves, but most interactive books seem to be only childrens books. But why? If you haven’t already heard of augmented reality books, get ready because I believe that they might become the future of reading as we know it. 
Augmented reality combines the psychical book with digital content. (Almost like a QR code but from what I can tell a bit more complicated than simply taking you to a website or twitter). The biggest problem with all new technologies like this is that it’s niche and at the moment still far from becoming the new normal any time soon. Only a few books have even been made into Augmented reality, but the idea of the interactive book app is something I’ve been thinking about for a long time. Consider something like the maps one see’s in a book like Game of Thrones or Wicked. A certain amount of interactivity could allow the reader to view a 3d rendering of said worlds rather than simply a 2d map. The closest thing we have to a mainstream version of this sort of augmented reality reading is J.K.Rowling‘s Pottermore. It’s close in the sense that you get to experience more of the series than ever before thought possible, but still not quite the same because it isn’t based on an app and it doesn’t combine the psychical book with the game/website itself (though I wouldn’t doubt that will be coming soon).
I bring this up mostly because I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. I’ve even tried to attempt to learn Apple’s X-Code system for building an native iOS app at one point but it’s complicated and even with Apple’s own tools it would be of some use if I actually knew HTML better than I currently do. I have a lot of ideas of what I’d like to see for the future of reading, but unfortunately I’m in no position to attempt them myself. Not yet anyway.
Sound-off: What do you think about books/authors as stand alone apps? Is it a good idea or just another fad?
