For our literary history class, we are creating an eBook about the Renaissance and Reformation. One could easily question the necessity and purpose of such an endeavor. Indeed, I myself regularly question the intent in teaching this course through the creation of an eBook. One thing I can back on this though is the importance of digital books in this up and coming digital era. Reading chapter 1 of "Writing About Literature in the Digital Age" helped me to better understand the importance of digital books.
Much of today's technology can be found as fabrications of a fictional world. "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" promotes a tiny book that contains many other books with all sorts of information compiled together to make a guide for people throughout the galaxy. We have something very similar to this idea today-- Kindles, iPads, iPhones. All of these either are or contain reader devices that help people conveniently access books, anthologies, videos, podcasts, and any other number of medium used to convey information. This idea was once something that was the mere thoughts of a brilliant fictional author. Now, it is reality. The intent of this to the Hitchhiker was to have the answers to all questions at the touch of a finger. Likewise, we can access the answers to questions we have or to musings that hit us at the touch of a screen.
Our digital anthology can accomplish something similar to this. We could create a comprehensive piece containing our six different topics that comprise the Renaissance and Reformation. It is important to remember that this in an unconventional style currently (though it is gaining popularity). Not everyone will embrace this new age of digital dialogue. In fact, many people will push against it and hinder it from becoming a bigger part of our daily lives. We need to be able to connect ourselves to this digital era and help contribute to it. One way our class is doing this is through this eBook.
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