Creating A Virtual Reading Environment for pre-Gutenberg Books

Hiroki KamataEbook 2.0 Forum

Object Technology Institute, Inc. Tokyo

Creating A Virtual Reading Environment for pre-Gutenberg Books

Project Beyond G3

G3 = Gravity of Gutenberg Galaxy

October 10, 2013 at Frankfurt

2013 Hiroki Kamata 2

Two Gs and Manuscripts

West-östlicher Diwan


Manuscript: Embodiment or Tacit knowledge

• Manuscript: all books were manuscripts before printing, however…– It has a certain value, calligraphy and illustration that bring deep

meanings of texts– Helps reading of the texts that inspires imagination and another

creation, in the same form or the other– Coexisted and even collaborated with printing in East Asia

• Recitation: not just a practice but an art form tightly linked with texts and sometimes music and theatre– It requires other person, audience or master, puple– It’s interactive. and social

• Most of the art forms are linked together by texts


Books Must Help Reading Texts

• Reprint, analog and digital, is not enough • No book technology is perfect. Why not improve or

complement by digital• Digital technology must be utilized to help reading,

rather than production• It will rebuild forms of book as a system, or

environment


Gutenberg Book and Reading

• G-book/reading (15th-20th century) is:– Discrete– Static– Non-interactive– Reflective– Silent– Individual– Copyrighted– Personal

• G-book is not the norm for every e-Book!


What's Beyond G3

• An approach toward post-Gutenberg paradigm through revitalization of non/pre-G books and their experiences

– History of books begun far ahead of G and will continue to evolve after G. – There were certain types of books that had unique characters and advantages over G-book

(printing press + hard-binding).– With digital technology, we are entering a new paradigm encompassing every aspect of

structuring, expressing, coordinating, sharing information.– The Project Beyond G3 is to develop "new" frontier of books (media) mainly through the

electronic reproduction, using EPUB3, of the lost types of books and reading existed before and went out with G.

• Goal: Starting with Japanese pre-G books (9th-19th century) and develop a common methodology and requirements for specifications (with EPUB3) and open implementations for the reading environments of pre-G books.


Deconstruction of Books: Before and After G3

• Before G: until 15th Century Europe and 19th Century in East Asia– Scroll– Bound Slips– Codex: handwritten and/or wood block print

• The G Paradigm: 15th through 20th Century– Industrialized production, distribution, commercialization– G-Galaxy Big Bang and Dominance of Codex– Massive destruction of non-codex heritage

• The Web Paradigm: Revival of Scrolls and Expansion of portable e-documents– Hyper document and e-replica (PDF)– Scroll/reflow-able view: HTML, EPUB– Strip: Short Messages (like Twitter)

• Post G: 21th Century and After– Fee structuring, expression, and coordination of knowledge information– Synthesis of different types of books, reading, old and new– Intelligent book: context-sensitive, adaptive, self-assembly, and social


Project Beyond G3 Missions

1. Unbound books from G Paradigm by specifying and designing a pre-G book/reading environment

2. Support Creative Migration toward post-G paradigm: coexistence and synthesizing of types, old and new

3. Facilitate Renaissance of the Cultural Heritage before G: more interactive, dialectical, social, and humane

4. Particularly, Explore Edo (Japanese Early Modern)Publishing Culture and Ecosystem to develop a Virtual Reading Environment Prototype

5. Can be Applied to East Asian and Other Non-European Literary Content


Basics of Edo Publications

• Growth of Commercial Publishing Market and Ecosystem (16-19c)– Published 1,000 titles in late 18th century=n00,000+ copies/yr– Publishers (called hon-ya, means book traders) and self-publishers, too

• =copyright (woodblock) owner=distributor=retailer=lender • Trading new/old books and handwritten books (uncensored)

• Three major cities: Edo, Kyoto, Osaka+ Nagoya

• Three Major Types of Wahon (old Japanese books)– A: Kibyosi hon (wood block printing)– B: Emaki-mono (pictorial book as a scroll)– C. Kanseki (annotated Chinese texts)

• Readers– From intellectuals to plain people– Social reading by the book lovers– Recycle books for generations

catastrophe


World of Wahon


Difficulties in Reading Wahon

• Diversity of Japanese language– Uncertain: no orthography (can’t fix, until now)– Mosaic: Creole? (extensive use of Chinese, and European lang.)– Enigmatical: weak syntax, rich semantics– Disruptive: major change in late 19th century

• How to access Japanese literary classics– through reprint or digital copy– through translation– through reading aloud (by elocutionists)– with tons of glossary, annotation, picture..– with commentaries, introductions, FAQs (by experts and others)– through adaptation, film version, etc.

• We need everything, if they worth!– G Book formats support only a part of the above


Books as an Empathy System

• The World of Tales and stories– Originated in narratives; folk tales, legends…– Generated different versions in different time/place– Elaborated into artistic works by known/unknown authors– Published in book forms

• Unlike G Books, the are – Mostly narrated, mediated, curated by someone– Interactive– Read aloud– Shared in the groups


Challenges

• not a replica, but an environment that support shared reading experiences having lost in G book.

– Gather requirements and analyze– Design prototypes for educational and Commercial implementation

based on open web publishing standards• Networking with Activities for the Digital Humanities

Worldwide and Scholarly Editions– Build a social reading platform collaborating with the

• Key Functionalities1. image view of pages or part of scrolls2. reprint and edit text (scholarly edition, old and new styles)3. annotation (historical, modern, socialized comments)4. translated (moden, foreign)5. read aloud (classic, modern)6. dictionary support (concordance, encyclopedia) and bibliography7. synchronization (with other media and performances)


We Did So Far

• Workshops (Oct. 2012-2014)I. Lost Galaxy of Wahon: An approach toward creative publishing

1. Emaki-mono and scrolling of “time space”2. Kanseki and structured annotation techniques 3. Diachronic Concordance and Issues in Reprinting

II. Functionalities of Books: as a system for knowledge communication4. Digitization of Buddhist Texts and Issues in Scholarly Edition5. Initializing Book: Evolution through Experiments of Renga (Linked Images)6. Encyclopedic Knowledge in the Post-G Age

III. Social Reading Experiences and New “Order of Books”


Key Members

• Konosuke Hashiguchi, Historian and owner of Wahon bookstore

• Tatsuo Kobayashi, Unicode Consortium Fellow, IDPF

• Akihiko Takano, Professor, National Institute of Informatics

• Hiroki Kamata, Ebook 2.0 Forum, OTI, Inc.

• Makoto Murata, W3C, IDPF EPUB Advanced Layout WG Chair

• Shigeki Moro, Associate Professor, Hanazono University

• Toshihiro Anzai, Media Artist

• And Others: Editors