Networked book 2

The networked book is a form that helps us reconstruct and understand the prolific and increasingly granular world of information that surrounds us. Moreover, the networked book sets up formats that are often designed to update continually, incorporating new information and reconfiguring the book to accommodate new content and present it coherently.

Jonathan Harris' 10 x 10 [2] builds its content from RSS feeds. The piece selects the most frequently used words from the major news networks to assemble an hourly "portrait" of our world. This visualization tool represents a type of structure that we will soon see in networked books. The human editor/programmer creates the search and visualization function and the machine then collects, edits, and presents text and images according to criteria built into the program. This type of "book" format depends on granular content that can be "manipulated and reaggregated" by a tool.

The Networked Book is Social

Social software environments create spaces for communal authorship. They allow raw, unedited content to be collectively assembled within the nascent form of the electronic book itself, facilitating a gestational space for content to evolve from spontaneous discussion into an edited "book" according to the activity of the social network.

LiveJournal [3] is a useful model for socially networked books. See also McKenzie Wark's GAM3R 7H30RY 1.1, an open book experiment produced by the Institute for the Future of the Book.

The multiple-author forum creates a different kind of thinking environment. Individual points of view are mediated by multiple voices. This may allow for a more democratic approach to issues and a multifaceted rendering of topics not possible in the single-author print model.

Networked book 1

A networked book is an open book designed to be written, edited, and read in a networked environment. It is also a platform for social exchange, and is potentially linked to other books and other discussions. Wikipedia is a networked book.

The Networked Book is an Open Book

The networked book maintains an open structure during all or part of its creation. For example, Lawrence Lessig's, Code: Version 2.0 used a wiki to open the editing process for the second edition of Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace, in order to "draw upon the creativity and knowledge of the community. This is an online, collaborative book update; a first of its kind. Once the project nears completion, Professor Lessig will take the contents of this wiki and ready it for publication." In other words, at some point the book was declared finished, and closed to further input and adjustment by the community. Another example of an open book structure is the popular Wikipedia. This online wiki encyclopedia is entirely and indefinitely open.

The Networked Book is Structurally Granular or Disaggregated

The networked book manifests a certain "disarticulation of the body of text" and "disaggregated/reaggregated" structure as described by Raffaele Simone in his essay, The Body of the Text.[1] "Disarticulation of the body of the text occurs when the text generated by an author is not perceived as closed to external interventions, an entity to which the author can have access only to read (or, to use an information science image, in the manner of ROM, that is "read only"), but as an open entity to which one has access—for purposes of both reading and writing. When the text is disarticulated it is perceived as an entity which can be disaggregated (broken apart), manipulated, and reaggregated (reassembled) without damaging the text per se or the author."

Comparison of e-book formats 10

Comic Book Archive file
Format:     compressed images
Published as:     .cbr → RAR     .cbz → ZIP     .cb7 → 7z     .cbt → TAR     .cba → ACE

A Comic Book Archive file or ComicBook Reader File consists of a series of image files, typically PNG (lossless compression) or JPEG (lossy compression) files, stored as a single archive file, for the purpose of sequential viewing of images, especially comic books. The idea was made popular by the CDisplay image viewer; since then, many viewers for different platforms have been created. Comic Book Archive files are not a distinct file format; only the file name extension differs from a standard file of the given archive type. Some applications support additional tag information (like artists or story information) in the form of embedded XML files in the archive, or use of the Zip comment function.

Multimedia eBooks
Format:     Eveda
Published as:     .exe or .html

A multimedia ebook is media and book content that utilizes a combination of different book content formats. The term can be used as a noun (a medium with multiple content formats) or as an adjective describing a medium as having multiple content formats.

The 'multimedia ebook' term is used in contrast to media which only utilize traditional forms of printed or text books. Multimedia ebooks include a combination of text, audio, images, video, and/or interactive content formats. Much like how a traditional book can contain images to help the text tell a story, a multimedia ebook can contain other elements not formerly possible to help tell the story.

With the advent of more widespread tablet-like computers, such as the smartphone, some publishing houses are planning to make multimedia ebooks, such as Penguin[17].

Comparison of e-book formats 9

Broadband eBooks (BBeB)
Format:     Sony media
Published as:     .lrf; .lrx

The digital book format used by Sony Corporation. It is a proprietary format, but some reader software for general-purpose computers, particularly under Linux (for example, calibre's internal viewer[15]), has the capability to read it. The LRX file extension represents a DRM encrypted eBook.

SSReader
Format:     SSReader
Published as:     .pdg

The digital book format used by a popular digital library company 超星数字图书馆[16] in China. It is a proprietary raster image compression and binding format, with reading time OCR plug-in modules. The company scanned a huge number of Chinese books in the China National Library and this becomes the major stock of their service. The detailed format is not published. There are also some other commercial e-book formats used in Chinese digital libraries.
 
TealDoc
Format:     TealDoc
Published as:     .pdb

TealPoint Software's proprietary reader for Palm OS. In addition to its own format, it opens plain text and PalmDoc files. Newer versions of the software include an editor for Palm OS. Embedded images must be converted to TealPoint's proprietary TealPaint format. The format uses HTML like tags for formatting and has been reverse-engineered for 3rd party programs to edit and convert to/from TealDoc format.

IEC 62448
Format:     IEC 62448
Published as:    

IEC 62448 is an international standard created by International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC)), Technical Committee 100, Technical Area 10 (Multimedia e-publishing and e-book).

The current version of IEC 62448 is an umbrella standard that contains as appendices two concrete formats, XMDF of Sharp and BBeB of Sony. However, BBeB has been discontinued by Sony and the version of XMDF that is in the specification is out of date. The IEC TA10 group is discussing next steps, and has invited the IDPF organization which has standardized EPUB to be a liaison. It is possible that the current version of EPUB and/or the forthcoming EPUB3 revision may be added to IEC 62448. Meanwhile a number of Japanese companies have proposed that IEC standardize a proposed new Japanese-centric file format that is expected to unify DotBook of Voyager Japan and XMDF of Sharp. This new format has not been publicly disclosed as of November, 2010 but it is supposed to cover basic representations for the Japanese language. Technically speaking, this revision is supposed to provide a Japanese minimum set, a Japanese extension set, and a stylesheet language. These issues were discussed in the TC100 meeting held in October 2010 but no decisions were taken besides offering the liaison status to IDPF.

Comparison of e-book formats 8

EPUB
Main article: EPUB
Format:     IDPF/EPUB
Published as:     .epub
The EPUB logo.

The .epub or OEBPS format is an open standard for e-books created by the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF). It combines three IDPF open standards:

    * Open Publication Structure (OPS) 2.0, which describes the content markup (either XHTML or Daisy DTBook)
    * Open Packaging Format (OPF) 2.0, which describes the structure of an .epub in XML
    * OEBPS Container Format (OCF) 1.0, which bundles files together (as a renamed ZIP file)

Currently, the format can be read by the Kobo eReader, Apple iBooks, Barnes and Noble Nook, Sony Reader, BeBook, Bookeen Cybook Gen3 (with firmware v. 2 and up),COOL-ER, Adobe Digital Editions, Lexcycle Stanza, BookGlutton, AZARDI, Aldiko and WordPlayer on Android and the Mozilla Firefox add-on EPUBReader. Several other reader software programs are currently implementing support for the format, such as dotReader, FBReader, Mobipocket, uBook and Okular. Another software .epub reader, Lucidor, is in beta.

Adobe Digital Edition uses .epub format for its e-books, with DRM protection provided through their proprietary ADEPT mechanism. The recently developed INEPT framework and scripts have been reverse-engineered to circumvent this DRM system.[14]

DSLibris, a Sourceforge.net project, is able to decode e-books in .epub and .xht format for reading on Nintendo DS systems.

Comparison of e-book formats 7

Libris
Format:     Mobile Information Device Profile
Published as:     .lbr; .bin

Libris is a Java based eBook reader for mobile devices such as cell phones. Libris will run on most Java enabled devices that support MIDP. The reader formats books to fit the device screen, and shows one page at a time using high quality anti-aliased fonts. Books may employ encryption or be unrestricted. Libris content may be produced using the MakeLibris tool. The Libris reader also supports the PalmDoc format.
 
Mobipocket
Format:     Mobipocket
Published as:     .prc; .mobi

The Mobipocket e-book format based on the Open eBook standard using XHTML and can include JavaScript and frames. It also supports native SQL queries to be used with embedded databases. There is a corresponding e-book reader. A free e-book of the German Wikipedia has been published in Mobipocket format.[11]

The Mobipocket Reader has a home page library. Readers can add blank pages in any part of a book and add free-hand drawings. Annotations — highlights, bookmarks, corrections, notes, and drawings — can be applied, organized, and recalled from a single location. Images are converted to GIF format and have a maximum size of 64K[12], sufficient for mobile phones with small screens, but rather restrictive for newer gadgets. Mobipocket Reader has electronic bookmarks, and a built-in dictionary.

The reader has a full screen mode for reading and support for many PDAs, Communicators, and Smartphones. Mobipocket products support most Windows, Symbian, BlackBerry and Palm operating systems. Using WINE, the reader works under Linux or Mac OS X. Third-party applications like Okular and FBReader can also be used under Linux or Mac OS X, but they work only with unencrypted files.

The Amazon Kindle's AZW format is basically just the Mobipocket format with a slightly different serial number scheme (it uses an asterisk instead of a Dollar sign), and .prc publications can be read directly on the Kindle.

Mobipocket has developed an .epub to .mobi converter called KindleGen[13] (supports IDPF 1.0 and IDPF 2.0 epub format, according to the company).

Notably, Eastern European letters with diacritical marks are not supported.

Comparison of e-book formats 6

Desktop Author
Format:     DNL Reader
Published as:     .dnl; .exe

Desktop Author is an electronic publishing suite that allows creation of digital web books with virtual turning pages. Digital web books of any publication type can be written in this format, including brochures, e-books, digital photo albums, e-cards, digital diaries, online resumes, quizzes, exams, tests, forms and surveys. DesktopAuthor packages the e-book into a ".dnl" or ".exe" book. Each can be a single, plain stand-alone executable file which does not require any other programs to view it. DNL files can be viewed inside a web browser or stand-alone via the DNL Reader.

DNL format is an e-Book format, one which replicates the real life alternative, namely page turning Books. The DNL e-Book is developed by DNAML Pty Limited an Australian company established in 1999. A DNL e-Book can be produced using DeskTop Author or DeskTop Communicator.