This is the first anthology of perspectives on the future of text, one of our most important mediums for thinking and communicating. Foreword by the co-inventor of the Internet, Vint Cerf and a Postscript by the founder of the modern Library of Alexandria, Ismail Serageldin.
With astounding developments in computer special effects in movies and the emergence of powerful AI, text has developed little beyond spellcheck and blue links. In this work we look at myriads of perspectives to inspire a rich future of text through contributions from academia, the arts, business & tech.
Contributions by Adam Cheyer • Adam Kampff • Alan Kay • Alessio Antonini • Alex Holcombe • Amaranth Borsuk • Amira Hanafi • Amos Paul Kennedy Jr. • Anastasia Salter • Andy Matuschak & Michael Nielsen • Ann Bessemans & María Pérez Mena • Andries Van Dam • Anne-Laure Le Cunff • Anthon Botha • Azlen Ezla • Barbara Beeton • Belinda Barnet • Ben Shneiderman • Bernard Vatant • Bob Frankston • Bob Horn • Bob Stein • Catherine C. Marshall • Charles Bernstein • Chris Gebhardt • Chris Messina • Christian Bök • Christopher Gutteridge • Claus Atzenbeck • Daniel Russel • Danila Medvedev • Danny Snelson • Daveed Benjamin • Dave King • Dave Winer • David De Roure • David Jablonowski • David Johnson • David Lebow • David M. Durant • David Millard • David Owen Norris • David Price • David Weinberger • Dene Grigar • Denise Schmandt-Besserat • Derek Beaulieu • Doc Searls • Don Norman • Douglas Crockford • Duke Crawford • Ed Leahy • Elaine Treharne • Élika Ortega • Esther Dyson • Esther Wojcicki • Ewan Clayton • Fiona Ross • Fred Benenson & Tyler Shoemaker • Galfromdownunder, aka Lynette Chiang • Garrett Stewart • Gyuri Lajos • Harold Thimbleby • Howard Oakley • Howard Rheingold • Ian Cooke • Iian Neil • Jack Park • Jakob Voß • James Baker • James O’Sullivan • Jamie Blustein • Jane Yellowlees Douglas • Jay David Bolter • Jeremy Helm • Jesse Grosjean • Jessica Rubart • Joe Corneli • Joel Swanson • Johanna Drucker • Johannah Rodgers • John Armstrong • John Cayle • John-Paul Davidson • Joris J. van Zundert • Judy Malloy • Kari Kraus & Matthew Kirschenbaum • Katie Baynes • Keith Houston • Keith Martin • Kenny Hemphill • Ken Perlin • Leigh Nash • Leslie Carr • Lesia Tkacz • Leslie Lamport • Livia Polanyi • Lori Emerson • Luc Beaudoin & Daniel Jomphe • Lynette Chiang • Manuela González • Marc-Antoine Parent • Marc Canter • Mark Anderson • Mark Baker • Mark Bernstein • Martin Kemp • Martin Tiefenthaler • Maryanne Wolf • Matt Mullenweg • Michael Joyce • Mike Zender • Naomi S. Baron • Nasser Hussain • Neil Jefferies • Niels Ole Finnemann • Nick Montfort • Panda Mery • Patrick Lichty • Paul Smart • Peter Cho • Peter Flynn • Peter Jenson & Melissa Morocco • Peter J. Wasilko • Phil Gooch • Pip Willcox • Rafael Nepô • Raine Revere • Richard A. Carter • Richard Price • Richard Saul Wurman • Rollo Carpenter • Sage Jenson & Kit Kuksenok • Shane Gibson • Simon J. Buckingham Shum • Sam Brooker • Sarah Walton • Scott Rettberg • Sofie Beier • Sonja Knecht • Stephan Kreutzer • Stephanie Strickland • Stephen Lekson • Stevan Harnad • Steve Newcomb • Stuart Moulthrop • Ted Nelson • Teodora Petkova • Tiago Forte • Timothy Donaldson • Tim Ingold • Timur Schukin & Irina Antonova • Todd A. Carpenter • Tom Butler-Bowdon • Tom Standage • Tor Nørretranders • Valentina Moressa • Ward Cunningham • Dame Wendy Hall • Zuzana Husárová. Student Competition Winner Niko A. Grupen, and competition runner ups Catherine Brislane, Corrie Kim, Mesut Yilmaz, Elizabeth Train-Brown, Thomas John Moore, Zakaria Aden, Yahye Aden, Ibrahim Yahie, Arushi Jain, Shuby Deshpande, Aishwarya Mudaliar, Finbarr Condon-English, Charlotte Gray, Aditeya Das, Wesley Finck, Jordan Morrison, Duncan Reid, Emma Brodey, Gage Nott, Aditeya Das and Kamil Przespolewski. Edited by Frode Hegland.
This is a Future of Text initiative, along with the software Author & www.augmentedtext.info
Frode Alexander Hegland is on a mission to augment the future of text. He is the creator & editor of the celebrated new book The Future of Text, is currently building Augmented Text software for macOS and will hosts the annual Future of Text Symposium. When he is not quoting Hamilton he is most likely ‘flywing’ around the house with his 3 ½ year old son Edgar.
This was a 5-star book with a few 3-star flaws, so averaged to a 4-star rating.
Hegland is a visionary thinker and passionate about the future of text in all it's forms - as a symbolic communication of stories and ideas, as a vehicle for communication, as a medium that itself has a business ecosystem around it. He's clearly thought a lot about potential - both good and bad - that the Internet and computing technologies offer to the future of text and how they might shape it. In doing so, he's brought together a wide-ranging set of essays from like-minded contributors, the breadth of which make for provocative, mind-expanding reading.
There are a couple downsides. First off, I think Hegland's passion and enthusiasm led to him including just too many of the submissions. The book would have been stronger with a culling of some of the weaker essays. Secondly, and along the same lines, there were a large number of student essays crammed into the tail end of the book but with mixed quality.
Lastly, it's a nit but there were a pretty significant number of typos, especially for a book about *text*.
The negatives aside, this is still a compelling read for those thinking about the future of digital platforms, communications, the written word, and text as a technology that underpins them all.
I'm the Editor of this work and author of the introduction as well as an article, and I would just like to thank the absolutely fantastic contributors for making this book the wonder that it is. Thank you from the bottom of my soul. I am eternally grateful to be in your company.
A multi angled view of text, words, writing and what those things become and could become. Innovative thinkers on the topic contribute to this open dialogue.
An astounding collection of essays on everything to do with text and writing, from an eclectic list of experts across many fields. If you want something seriously thought provoking and inspiring, this is it.