Announcing a New Technology: Built-in Orderly Organized Knowledge

I’m quoting (and slightly editing) an announcement that I just ran across during an early morning web browse (when I should have been programming).

The Built-in Orderly Organized Knowledge device is a revolutionary breakthrough in technology. It is so easy to use even a child can operate it. Just lift its cover! Compact and portable, it can be used anywhere — even sitting in an armchair by the fire –yet it is powerful enough to hold as much information as a CD-ROM. Here’s how it works…

Each device is constructed of sequentially numbered sheets, each sheet capable of holding thousands of bits of information. These sheets are locked together with a custom-fit device technology, which keeps the sheets in correct sequence. OPT (Opaque Paper Technology) allows manufacturers to use both sides of the sheet, doubling the information density and cutting costs in half.

Experts are divided on the prospects for further increases in information density; for now, a device with more information simply uses more sheets. This makes them thicker and harder to carry, and has drawn some criticism from the mobile crowd.

Each sheet is scanned optically, registering information directly into your brain. A flick of the finger takes you to the next sheet. The BOOK may be taken up at any time and used by merely opening it. The BOOK never crashes and never needs rebooting, though like other display devices it can become unusable if dropped overboard. The “browse” feature allows you to move instantly to any sheet, and move forward or backward as you wish. Many come with an “index” feature, which pinpoints the exact location of any selected information for instant retrieval.

An optionally featured accessory allows you to open the device to the exact place you left it in a previous session — even if the device has been closed. This currently optional accessory fits universal design standards; thus, the accessory can be used in devices by various manufacturers. Conversely, numerous accessories can be used in a single BOOK if the user wants to store numerous views at once. Only the number of sheets in the BOOK limits the number.

You can also make personal notes next to the text entries with an optional programming tool, the Portable Erasable Nib Cryptic Intercommunication Language Stylus (PENCILS).

Portable, durable, and affordable, the technology is being hailed as the entertainment and education wave of the future. Its appeal seems so certain that thousands of content creators have committed to the platform. Look for a flood of new titles soon.

The Built-in Orderly Organized Knowledge will most commonly be referred to by its acronym, BOOK.^*

In one of my addresses I suggest that the book’s days may be numbered. It’s merely a speculation, based on the fact that I don’t know. I won’t be making that decision. Our children and their children will. I suggest a future without paper books as a way of shaking loose people’s paradigms, and to make the point that the future we are preparing our children for, is the one that they will invent and choose.

I enthusiastically proclaim my commitment to books (I write and sell them) and my love for the technology and the stores that sell them.

Still, it can not be denied that the nature of information is changing —

• What it looks like,
• What we look at to view it,
• Where and how we find it,
• What we can do with it, and
• How we communicate it.

The clock is ticking toward a day when a whole new set of literacies will be necessary to survive and prosper in an increasingly networked and digital world.

“Internet E-Mail Computer Humor.” Internet E-Mail Humor Collection. 23 Jan. 2005. HTTPJOKE. 8 Sep. 2005 <http://www.httpjoke.com/cpu.html>.