LatinaLista — It wasn’t that long ago that doomsayers predicted the end of print books given the rising popularity of e-readers. After all, how can something as archaic, as bound-type-on-paper, even compare, or stand alongside, to today’s technology?
A new literacy campaign from Brazil highlights how traditional print books cannot only complement today’s technology but glean a new appreciation from readers who want both innovation and the traditional.
As part of the Tweet For a Read campaign, Brazil’s Penguin-Companhia publishing house created an electronic bookmarker that tweets readers a reminder when they haven’t finished reading their book. The bookmarker contains a light sensor, a timer and a miniature wifi-enabled computer. The light sensor detects when the book is closed and a timer monitors for how long. If it’s longer than a week for the reader to resume reading, a very special reminder tweet is sent saying it’s time to get back to the book.
What makes the tweet so special is that it’s written in the style of the author or incorporates relevant phrases from the book to motivate the distracted reader to finish the story.
It’s yet another way that technology makes us accountable for our actions, or in this case, inaction.
PENGUIN BOOKS | Case Tweet For a Read from Rafael Gonzaga on Vimeo.
