The Technology of Reading

Glenn Glazer

Fans love reading, from novels to fanzines to progress re ports. As such, we are really excited to bring our Exhibition Event, The Technology of Reading, to Denver and to Fandom. We plan to have a full track of panels and roundtables on the subject, covering everything from ancient calligraphy to how computer chat is changing our language. We will present demonstrations of papyrus and paper making, modern eBook readers and perhaps a few surprises in between. We will also be hosting an exhibit displaying these various technologies and their products.

Beyond that, we are specifically looking for two kinds of people. The first group is those with the skills to present those very fannish technologies of mimeo and hekto. The other group is those who work for any of the various computer reader companies who would be willing to help bring their company's products and presenters to Denvention.

Every session of the Olympic Games gets the opportunity to do an Exhibition Event--a competition that is not one of the regular Olympic sports, but that the organizers feel people will enjoy and want to participate in. Since we are all readers, and since the face of what it means to "read" is changing in our lifetimes, our Exhibition Event for the Denvention 3 Worldcon is a set of exhibits, workshops, and panels on The Technology of Reading.

We plan to have panels and presentations on The History of the Book--from clay tablets to e-books--with discussion on the history of writing media (clay to wax to parchment to paper) and also technology (tablets, scrolls, and codices, moving to print media and then electronic). Other topics will be "Hardcopy to Softcopy--The Move from Book to eBooks," the basics of cataloging (starting with Hypatia and the library at Alexandria and moving forward to hypertext), and the cost-effectiveness of e-publishing.

Workshops will include clay tablet making, using wax and stylus, making papyrus, and bookbinding--with different sessions for children and adults. Exhibits will include some historical manuscript pages, some tablets and ostraca (if we are successful with loans from museums and private collections), and some displays of museum exhibits done in pictures or video. Companies that produce e-books and e-book readers will also be asked to exhibit.

The Technology of Reading special event is proud to say that we have many interesting and unique items planned for Denvention 3. At one of the end of the scale, we are arranging for papermaking and bookbinding workshops. At the other end, we are talking to major eBook vendors like Sony and Amazon to come and present their products. Along the way from traditional to modern, we’ll visit audio books, flash and other technologies. We are particuarly keen to present a demo of hekto and/or mimeo.