Each spring when we hold Tech Forum, we have some great speakers come out to talk about the latest in book publishing, data, retail, and technology, so we thought we’d share some of those talks in podcast form. A series of Tech Forum talks will be available right here on the blog throughout the summer, or you can subscribe on your podcast app of choice by searching for BookNet Canada.
Our first episode features our 2015 keynote Kevin Ashton with his talk, “How to survive the Ebookalypse.”
Are Canadians still reading?
At this year’s Tech Forum, Kevin Ashton presented on new technology and “How to Survive the Ebookalypse.” He began by saying, “We live in an age of paranoia about reading and publishing, but that’s actually not a new thing.” Undeniably, the industry is in state of transition and print sales are down. But much like the invention of the paperback format, technology will not destroy reading. Instead, Ashton argues, “Technology is feeding literacy and literacy is causing a need for new technology.”
Creating is ordinary
It’s the end of reading as we know it (and Kevin Ashton feels fine). The author and coiner of the term “the internet of things” will be coming to Tech Forum on March 12 to tell us how we can all survive the Ebookalypse.
In the meantime, you can read about the very ordinary, human act of creation in this excerpt from his new book, How to Fly a Horse: The Secret History of Creation, Invention, and Discovery.
