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Books - A brief
history...
In the early Christian era the codex, the bound book format
which we are familiar with, superseded papyrus and parchment
rolls, offering more effective storage and ease of access.
In the 8th Century,
minuscule cursive letter forms (using small characters, rather
than just capitals) were perfected for both Latin and Greek
alphabets, bringing further benefits of compression and speed
of copying; and, of course, with the introduction of printing
five centuries later, publishing on a truly industrial scale
became possible, with massive implications for every aspect
of communication.
The role computers
play in this area has expanded considerably in recent years
. The use of computerised catalogues and indexes of existing
collections improved their accessibility, while, for publishers,
digitisation virtually eliminated the need for type to be
physically set by hand. Now that fast, cheap random access
storage space is available to every level of computing application,
it is clear that machines can effectively and efficiently
store not only information about books and journals, but entire
texts as well.
Written works are published
and read by thousands, without using a single sheet of paper
or drop of ink. These developments are already proving to
be an important milestone in the history of the "written"
word.
Even so, it seems unlikely
that the proliferation of electronic texts will ever completely
eradicate the urge to keep that hard copy "just in case".
It is hard to believe that there will ever not be a place
for books in the world of the student or casual reader. There
is still a long way to go to make a handheld computing device
as attractive or cheap as a paperback book.
But now that so many words, not to mention sounds and pictures,
are readily available in digitised form, the idea of such
an encyclopædic portable, electronic book as, say, The
Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy,is considerably less strange
and wonderful than it was even a decade ago.
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