Hum (Jan 2014)
DISTRIBUTION OF KNOWLEDGE FROM PRINTED TO E-BOOK
Abstract
Book is affirmed as a metaphor for the world of knowledge and it has greatly influenced on the knowledge content not only as a keeper and carrier of the same, therefore future of the book and its varieties is not a discussion about some product future but an issue of directing processes which form cultures and civilizations. Will the printed book have the same future as candles after the light bulb had been invented? Will the writings digitalization greatly influence on democratization, mobility, availability, knowledge visibility, which is preserved and distributed in both of these forms or will the e-book with its multimedia interactivity and multidimensionality greatly influence not only on distribution but also knowledge? Current offers and readership rating of e-book in Croatia suggest that it is yet to take hold. State policies also do not have real intentions for supporting e-books. Support has started, but only symbolically, tax regulation does not equalize printed and e-book what certainly does not help promotion and support of e-book in Croatia.
