It's a Book, Jim, But Not as We Know It

I’ve long been interested in how our relationship with text is changing as the means of producing it changes. For many people, the term ‘ebook’ means the same text you read in a book, displayed on the screen of a eReader, an iPad or a computer.
For designers, illustrators and computer programmers, and even film-makers, it’s something that potentially means much more than that. You can already see this revolution happening in the form of websites and experimental books on things like the iPad.
Here’s the best example of this potential that I’ve seen so far – demonstrated by Mike Matas on TED (the video’s less than six minutes long). Now, if you just want to read a novel, you wouldn’t need all of these functions of course, but as a tool for passing on information – for teaching, it’s superb. Check out the comments below the video, from all the tech-heads who think this doesn’t go far enough. Some people are never happy!