The very medium through which we read books has changed fundamentally in recent times. While once they used to comprise exclusively of printed paper, they have been carried over to the digital realm and given the form of e-books. We can’t touch them, flip the pages or feel them but we still read them and perhaps with an even greater appetite. So essentially, books are a part of our computing experience now.
Waldek Wegrzyn, a Polish designer, decided to do exactly the opposite – to make computing dependent upon a book. He connected up the interface of a computer with an electronic book. This way, when you flip the pages of the book, the web pages are also flipped and you essentially control a computer interface with a book.
Wegrzyn says that he was inspired to undertake such a project by designer El Lissitzky. Lissitzky described a book as something which is independent of time and space. Wegrzyn specifically refers to ‘The topography of typography’, a text by Lissitzky which attempts to explore the connection between technology and books.
Elektrobiblioteka is online now but the website is in Polish and if you don’t speak the language, you may have to rely on a translator to get an idea of the content that is available on it.
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