Η ψηφιακή τεχνολογία επιφέρει μεταβολές και στον χώρο του βιβλίου με την εμφάνιση βιβλίων σε ψηφιακή μορφή. Η πολυμεσικότητα, πολυμορφικότητα και γενικότερα οι ολοένα αυξανόμενες δυνατότητες που προσφέρουν, μεταβάλλουν γοργά το τοπίο στην αγορά και διακίνηση του βιβλίου. Το άρθρο προσεγγίζει τα ισχυρά στοιχεία του έντυπου βιβλίου, την προστιθέμενη αξία του ψηφιακού βάσει των νέων λειτουργιών καθώς και τις κυρίαρχες πρακτικές και αναδυόμενες τάσεις των δυο μορφών με βιβλιογραφική ανασκόπηση στο πεδίο. Έμφαση δίνεται στην παιδαγωγική διάσταση έντυπου και ψηφιακού βιβλίου ενώ παρουσιάζονται εισαγωγικά τα νέα περιβάλλοντα ανάγνωσης. Οι προτιμήσεις των αναγνωστών σε συνδυασμό με τις μορφές και τα επιχειρηματικά πρότυπα που θα κυριαρχήσουν, θα καθορίσουν τη μορφή του βιβλίου τα επόμενα χρόνια.
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There is a vast volume of data transported in the digital era of our times as the access is easier than ever before. Digital technology brings changes in the area of books like the appearance of e-books. People spend more time reading than in the past though this time is more often given in reading digital texts (Liu, 2005). The procedure of editing and printing traditional books, especially academic books changes fast. A new digital form of books appears with many variations according to the context and the mood, while it challenges the printed books. There are also challenges concerning their domination in the market.The book is not just an object, but also a way of communication in handmade, printed or digital form. A book is not necessarily a final product, but a special “data architecture” (Cope, 2001: 7, as in Sargeant, 2015), a specific way of structuring data that may offer the possibility of engaging creatively the reader to form it in a dynamic way or at least to use it. The e-book, is a book in digital format, that is published in order for the stakeholders to read it via a reader device, a computer, a mobile phone or a smartphone, also a tablet. The existence of a printed book is not a prerequisite for an e-book, even though it may be delivered in both formats or it may be the digitized version of a previously printed book. Since e-books are available in various formats in computers and mobiles, a big variety of operating systems is shaped in order to use PDF, MOBI, EPUB files. They use ebook cataloging program as the Caliber and they often need supplementary devices for reading as BeBook Reader, Sony Reader, Kindle, in strong relationship with the distribution company.The traditional books on the other hand do not demand any special reading device and they do not consume electricity. Readers understand and describe their experience in reading books based on qualitative characteristics of the printed books influenced by cultural expectations developed over the years. The e-book challenges these expectations (MacFadyen, 2011) as it can offer multidimensional experiences aiming at the development and cultivation of skills related to the critical and creative thinking. The book is exposed, is visible, easily accessed by a large number of stakeholders anywhere, anytime (van der Velde & Ernst, 2009). Besides from the moment a book is placed on a shelf in someone’s place, it’s endued with an indisputable sense of ownership and its owner can use it anyway he wants. On the contrary, there is a big issue about the copyright of e-books that influence and block their diffusion and their resale.The digital texts offer the chance to track down easily more information in other texts or resources. So as the reader reads a text, he has access to more information, if he wants it. Some though think that links, for example, distract readers’ attention and they don’t allow a deeper approach and deeper understanding of the subject or the story evolved in the text (Liu, 2005). Furthermore e-books offer the possibility to detect easily other texts forming a general view of what’s at stake on a problem, but this approach may be superficial sometimes. There is a developing discussion on the issue of understanding and the necessary time that someone should spend to cope with digital texts. Some researchers think that reading a text in a digital form is more time consumable than in print, though the time spent in printed texts dives the time needed to better understanding. Other researchers argue that there is no difference in time needed or understanding in depth in any case, printed or digital text (Kim & Kim, 2013).The key features of e-book expand the capabilities to defuse information to people with certain characteristics like people with educational difficulties (Liu, 2005). There is a special type of e-books developed, the audiobooks, that they offer the choice to switch among reading / listening. An e-book can be evolved under certain circumstances into an educational material appropriately design with unlimited options of transformation so as to offer not only information diffusion but also opportunities of personalized learning adjusted to every learner’s needs in a way that the reader may control the pace, the location and the time of his / her involvement with the material. In this paper the notion of the book in the digital era is discussed and in a way redefined, new forms of books are presented and their advantages. The pedagogical dimensions of printed and digital books are highlighted while the new reading environments are briefly introduced.Technological environments that diffuse and offer various digital alternatives are roughly presented together with indicative market measures in European Union countries. Practices and trends related to books and e-books are noted down at a table aiming to a more comprehensive record. Plus, the paper approaches the strong elements of the printed book, the added value of the digital book based on new functions as well as the dominant practices and emerging trends of the two forms. Key findings of a recent research (OSDEL, 2017) are presented highlighting that “the part of digital books has been increased initially with impressive pace in the market, but the last one or two years it constantly decreases”. More than ever, mostly the young people are exposed to information and material that does make meaning for them and they have the chance to develop new skills even in an informal learning context beyond formal education. Maybe instead of focusing on one or another form of reading, we could see one form as the evolvement of the other (Coiro, 2011).It is important to focus on the added value of the reader’s / user’s involvement with an e-book as a qualitative and enriched evolvement of the printed book on an aesthetic and learning level taking for granted the democratic choice between the two forms. Nowadays the libraries tend to buy e-books because they can be read by many readers at the same time without their physical presence at the same place. The appearance of books in digital form changes the book landscape in the digital era. The multimodality, the polymorphism and, in general, the ever-increasing possibilities that e-books offer, are rapidly changing the landscape in the market and the books’ trade. The reader's preferences along with the styles and the dominating business models are going to determine the format of the book in the coming years.This is the point that opens this paper. Then comes the growing discussion and conclusions coming from books/e-books’ use till today focusing on the added value of the reader’s / user’s engagement with them. The paper end up with the conclusions related to their current use focusing on the added value coming from the reader’s / user’s engagement with the books or the e-books.
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