1. Resurrecting the
Ebook: A media
archaeological
excavation of the
Kindle’s development,
1930-2007
Simon Rowberry
Simon.rowberry@stir.ac.uk
@sprowberry

2. What is an ebook?

3. Two common myths about ebooks
“Fans hail [the Kindle] as
a moment for the written
word that bears
comparisons with
Johannes Gutenberg
[…]”
- FT, 21 November 2007

6. Theory of digitization

12. The Gutenberg moment of digital publishing
“I have no doubt that within
ten years, as many people
will have Rocket eBooks as
PCs. The first edition of the
Rocket eBook is the
Gutenberg Bible of the
computer age.”
- Jack W. Lasersohn (2000)
"[Afternoon] is to the
hypertext...interactiv
e novel what the
Gutenberg Bible is
to publishing."
– Toronto Globe and Mail
(1992)

14. Brown
1929

15. Ángela Ruiz Robles, c.1960

16. Dynabook, 1972

17. Emilio A. Fernandez 1989

18. Hypertext as electronic book Sony Data
Discman,
1992

19. Haruki Tsuchiya 1992

20. Motorola
1996

21. So why did the Kindle succeed when
others failed?

22. Savvy Acquisitions

23. 3. Continuous Paper
Electronic Paper

24. 3. Continuous Paper
A Trojan
Horse

25. Resurrecting the
Ebook: A media
archaeological
excavation of the
Kindle’s development,
1930-2007
Simon Rowberry
Simon.rowberry@stir.ac.uk
@sprowberry