Transmedia SF and Swissnex San Francisco Present "Exploring Books and Transmedia: A Futures of the Book Event"

Online, October 8, 2013 (Newswire.com) - Transmedia SF, a transmedia digital agency, studio, incubator and salon, and swissnex San Francisco, are pleased to announce a joint event - "Exploring Books and Transmedia: A Futures of the Book Event" for the evening of October 22, 2013. This event will open "The Book Lab" exhibition and will include experts' discussions on the future of books and reading from the perspectives of authors, educators, media makers, and publishers. The event will be held from 6:00-9:00pm at swissnex San Francisco, 730 Montgomery Street in San Francisco.

The digital world is disrupting traditional industries, including publishing, and it is changing the way people consume literature, news and other written communications. This disruption has lead to iBooks, eBooks and bite-sized and serialized content meant to be consumed on mobile devices and tablets. This evening event's discussions and exhibition are intended to explore the questions of what the future of books and reading will look like as we move further into our digital and interactive destinies. What will the book evolve into? Do we even still call this a book?

"Ebooks are transitional forms - baby steps, actually - in the evolution of literature," said Jan Millsapps, an author, professor and digital media artist who will present on the expert panel. "I want to see words flying off the pages, pages flying out of books, ideas in one volume bumping up against ideas in another, until there are no books left that behave themselves as traditional literary forms. What we need are more unruly authors writing more disorderly books."

"The multi-screen digital world that we live in today is changing the way we consume the written word," said Beth Rogozinski, founder of Transmedia SF and moderator for the evening's event. "We're at a remarkable time in the history of writing and reading and the current changes may be as far reaching and significant as the advent of the printing press. We are excited to present the insights of our expert panel and really begin discussing what the future of reading, literature and books may be."

"The book of the future is Schroedinger's cat - simultaneously dead and alive. Until we open the box we can only speculate which," said Debra Di Blasi, founding Publisher of Jade Ibis Press. "At Jaded Ibis Productions and our publishing arm, Jaded Ibis Press, we attempt to project further beyond the industry in order to stay enough ahead of the publishing curve as to positively influence the aesthetic/intellectual culture of the book: conceptual, visual, aural and soon olfactory and tactile combined into "books" that reach far beyond the boundary of broken spines and Kindles."

"While some paper books will never disappear, because of the shift to digital, the book has to change and evolve (or die!)" said Etienne Mineur, media producer, art director and Professor or Art at both ENSAD of Paris, ENSCI and H.E.A.D in Geneva, Switzerland. "At my studio (les editions Volumiques), we don't espouse the digital versus the tangible, but instead try to find new creative ways to improve digital experiences with tangible media. We focus on inventing, designing and developing new games, toys and books, focusing on the relationship between the tangible and digital."

While a main focus will be from the perspective of creators, we will also focus on the reader and how the audience helps to determine the future of our written communications with them. "Writers create storyworlds and plots and characters, but readers contribute their own point of view of the characters and the nuances of their personalities. They also contribute the rate at which they experience a story," said Martin Zimper, Professor of Audiovisual Media at Zurich University. "To get a reader-experience on screens, (you should) allow your readers enough room to create their own dreams and imaginations. If you show and explain everything, it's more a television or movie experience. If they have too many choices, it's more a game than a book."

This event is part of "Futures of the Book", a week of discussions about the future of reading and writing in the digital age. It is organized as a partnership between the Berkeley Center for New Media, the Books in Browsers Conference, the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the United States, the Goethe Institute, and swissnex San Francisco.

The event is being sponsored and hosted by swissnex San Francisco. They will provide drinks and food for attendees during the networking portion of the event.

To attend the event, simply register at: https://booksandtransmedia.eventbrite.com

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About Transmedia SF
Transmedia SF is a professional media technology agency and studio that provides strategy, planning, execution and education services that enable our clients and our community to effectively reach customers on all of their devices - anytime, everywhere. Our focus is on divining your core story, matching that story to the needs of your audience and delivering your story via all of the devices and platforms that your audiences use and access on a regular basis. In addition to our consulting and production services, we provide training in transmedia storytelling and brand building, custom and corporate packages and ongoing events and educational opportunities intended to raise the bar on transmedia technologies and make San Francisco the center of the new media revolution.
- http://transmediasf.org/

About swissnex San Francisco
swissnex San Francisco is an initiative of Switzerland's State Secretariat for Education,Research and Innovation (SERI), managed in cooperation with the Department of Foreign Affairs as an annex of the Consulate General of Switzerland in San Francisco.
A public-private venture, we are part of a network of outposts in Bangalore, Boston, Shanghai, and Singapore. Along with individual science and technology counselors around the world, we work on behalf of Switzerland to expand education, research, and innovation. Vital financial support is provided by donors and sponsors sharing swissnex San Francisco's commitment to connecting the dots.
http://swissnexsanfrancisco.org/

About Futures of the Book
Futures of the Book is a week of discussions about the future of reading and writing in the digital age. It is organized as a partnership between the Berkeley Center for New Media, the Books in Browsers conference, the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the United States, the Goethe Institute, and swissnex San Francisco.

http://futuresofthebook.com

The Book Lab Exhibit
Take an experimental journey probing the role of books in the digital era.
When: Tuesday October 22 - Friday November 1, 2013
Time: 9:00 am - 5:00 pm Monday through Friday
Where: swissnex San Francisco

Transmedia SF Meetup
Transmedia SF kicks-off The Book Lab exhibition with a discussion around transmedia and books.
When: Tuesday October 22, 2013
Time: 6:00 pm
Where: swissnex San Francisco

Creating Minds
A full day academic conference on reading and writing in the digital age.
When: Wednesday October 23, 2013
Time: 9:00 am - 6:30 pm
Where: UC Berkeley, Banatao Auditorium

Books in Browsers
A summit for the new generation of Internet publishers focusing on tools for online storytelling, expression, and art.
When: Thursday October 24 - Friday October 25, 2013
Time: All day
Where: Internet Archive, San Francisco

Books in Browsers Hackday
Join fellow software engineers and designers to hack the traditional definition of a book and build new digital interpretations.
When: Saturday October 26, 2013
Time: All day
Where: swissnex San Francisco