Why are we building book-a?
Book-a began on late 2009. Since then we’ve been working on a new type of format and editorial support that can unite and promote dialogue and critical reflection on subject matters we are interested in. We began to imagine something called book-as: open and flexible books, even changing books conceived as processes rather than as objects.
Initially, the idea was to "open" books by using new information technologies to offer creative options to the readers before and after publication. Gradually and at a time when ICT had extended books and democratised edition to such an extent that more editions and copies were produced, reproduced and circulated than were read or used, another question started to weigh heavily on our minds. Although the disappearance of the “traditional” figures of author, editor and reader has led to fabulous productive and creative opportunities, it has also contributed to the disarticulation of the labour of "caretakers" of books, content and knowledge which these agents shared.
A book that does not accompany, that does not advance, that does not affect…simply does not exist!
This concern for books as live processes that need care before, during and especially after production is what has motivated us to create and construct the book-a platform. How can books in construction be transformed not only into open books but also into live and sustainable books? Why not to create from zero a new library on the cloud with remixable contents? Why not to build a library-club thought not as an archive but as a garden? A garden where contents are cultivated.
Contents growing from zero and being crowd-funded, cultivated and sustained by their creators and supporters.
That's the goal of Book-a.
Please click here to learn more about what book-a is. More about how does it work and what does book-a offer. More about the contents and collections. More about the team and contributors. Acknowledgments.
