E- books, trending for the future

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We all know that consumerization affects almost every aspect of our daily lives, it is inescapable. For the most part, most of us will agree that consumerization is liberating and exciting. Recently, one of my books made it to an e-book format (all 586 pages of it). While it is exciting, I also feel a bit of anxiety over it.

But first, the disclaimer- the content and opinions on this blog are mine and do not represent those of my employer.

This past holiday season we saw some interesting statistics regarding electronic media. E-books now represent a significant percentage of all books sold. At one time many of the best sellers were also e-book enabled (mine is not a best seller by the way).

We also have seen much of the content for higher education and middle school delivered on the internet as contrasted to traditional text books.

I have commented many times that change by its very nature is unsettling and that change is inevitable.

Even as I write a blog posting I still remind myself that I seem to have a longing for books. It was noted recently that an encyclopedia manufacture has ceased to publish a hard copy of its encyclopedia deferring to on line. This is of course a sign of the times, gone are the days of brick and mortar, retail stores solely, and the advent of social media for content both personal and business.

I even noticed that much of my son's high school and college content is delivered by the web. Nothing good or bad, just different.

The question in my mind is whether end users will ever again have the "relationship" (for lack of another name) with content the way before.

I do not envision content collections (other than on line) replacing my book collections.

The point of this particular blog posting is to recognize that change has an emotional, not only cost, and practical point of view. I have always stated that the emotional, cultural, social and political side of change clearly outweighs the business case aspect.

Do you agree?

From a common sense perspective, the past always seems more favorable than it truly was or possibly is.

The point of this posting is to confirm that the cost of change includes the ability to adopt change not necessarily embrace change. I have been told by many IT professionals that absorbing content and delivering content is now the art behind IT. Immersive experiences are the topic of the day. Making the output device have the same look and feel as the printed page as an example.

During the holiday we saw a number of new form factors on the market for tablets and content consumption, we will continue to see that.

Existing form factors will evolve and continue to reflect how end user will desire to consume content.

For example, is the form factor for a technical manual the same form factor that I might want if I am reading a non-fiction work of literature?

I blogged some time ago that it almost seems as though we in It need to have a monor degree in psychology, now it may need to expand to include literature and teaching.