The Humble Kindle

As I was reading Paul Dourish’s chapter ‘Getting in Touch’, my kindle kept coming to mind, and by the time I had finished I was convinced it is a wonderful example of an intermediate tool that straddles the worlds of the traditional box computer and that of invisible computing, of technology that moves out into the world.

Dourish writes that “the move back and forth between electronic paper forms is not only inconvenient but also impoverished” (34) which led Pierre Wellner to wonder “if there wasn’t a way to combine the two world more effectively by augmenting the physical world with computational properties” (34). In a reverse of this statement, I believe that the kindle augments the computer with physical properties. It appears like a tablet, its computer-ness undeniable (and so not falling into the “invisible computing” category), yet in crucial ways it is very much like a paperback. It is the same width and height as the average paperback (its depth more similar to a novella than a novel) and uses “electronic ink” rather than the computer monitor’s backlit display. It has the easy portability of a book and is not as delicate as other electronic tools. Importantly it also serves a single task, reading, and by associating it only with reading its physical book-like qualities are enhanced.

The seam between the physical and virtual is not as invisible here as it is in Durell Bishop‘s marble answering machine, but unlike the answering machine it is a piece of new technology which is widely used and has actually proven its place and need. It is easy to appreciate because its functions (fitting many books in one book-shaped tablet) are obviously beneficial. It does not appear to be trying to sell us something for the sake of cool technology. Because of this it is rather humble, and can be taken for granted, but it shouldn’t be and straddles the old and new.

I was going to write about my early essay research for this post, but instead the kindle’s gotten me distracted!