I have been impatiently waiting for this moment for what seems like decades. The Institute for the Future of the Book just released a very early version of Sophie, its software for publishing networked books.
I immediately downloaded Sophie, then took some text from an essay I’m working on and placed it on a page. Well, not quite immediately: I was initially mystified, so I watched the movie. That cleared up a few issues.
I still haven’t figured out the most fundamental action, which is how to move this book from my computer to the Web; I am not sure what a “flow” is, or how big it should be; even after watching the movie, I don’t quite grasp what most of the boxes and menus actually do.
But the moment I launched Sophie and saw its white screen, I felt the intimacy and familiarity of writer, page, book. Like watching Brewster Kahle leaf through the books in the Internet Archive, I felt a twin frisson: old and new word tools wed like strands of DNA.
Step away for a moment from the latest 2.0 geegaws, and spend a little time with a tool that may become part of the great chain of literary being.
Posted on this day, other years:
- April Showers Bring Link Flowers - 2008
- ALA Election Results So Far - 2006
- ALA Corrects Mueller's "Big Lie" About Patron Privacy - 2005
- Thanks for Code Validator Suggestions - 2005
- Pew Piqued by Podcasting Pokes - 2005
- FRL Spotlight Review: Indigestion - 2005
- Letter to ALA from OLOS on Gay and Lesbian Rights - 2004
- Gay and Lesbian Librarians Seek ALA's Help - 2004
- First Anniversary of the ALA Web Site Roll-Out - 2004
