E-books: Revolutionizing book culture.

摘要

Digitized books, or e-books, are increasingly taking hold as a consumer product in the book publishing industry, offering the promise of new forms of content delivery that exceed the limitations of print text. At the same time, e-books challenge the book culture that has been established by print books, which have long been understood by society to be the prototype of "books." Drawing on theories from the fields of reading psychology, digital humanities, and publishing, this thesis explores the ways in which e-books will change how people read, perceive the book as a cultural artifact, and approach publishing as consumers. Based on a survey of people's usage and perspectives of e-books and interviews with publishing industry professionals who produce e-books, this thesis explores the dual potential of e-books: to contest society's essential understanding of the book, and to offer a reading experience superior to what has ever been possible with print books.