Ways of the Reader-Hacker
- I, Reader: A Nod to Asimov’s I, Robot
- Robots and Readers: A Tight Coupling of Container and Content
- Does Technology only Extend Thought? Does It also Supplant It?
- Machine Life: The Final Prejudice
- RB-34 Prefers Slushy Novels
- Creative Reading: A Golden String
- Creative Reading by anemone achtnich
- Creative Reading: The Art of Self
- Creative Reading: Thinking with Other Minds
- Creative Reading: The Art of Self, Take 2
- Creative Reading: The Discovery of Other (Thinking with the Minds of Others, Take 2)
- Creative Reading: The Mathematics of Self, Other and Extension
- What Books Changed You?
- I’ve always admired people who, in a pinch, are better than their principles
- Every Extension Breaks a Rule
- The Trajectory of Reading: Creative Contribution
- I Read, Therefore I Write
- What Readers Write May Not Be Literature, But It Might Become So
- “Narrow it down to … the upper left-hand brick”: Phaedrus
- “No one that he knew had ever written a whole metaphysics before”: Phaedrus
- Using a Blog to Draft a Book Idea: 9 Observations
- From Reading to Writing to Publishing with Digital Media
- Birth of the Reader-Writer
- To Read a Book is to Ignore 4000 Others
- Quantity has a Quality all its Own
- The Web is Re-Wiring My Brain
- How the Web Works for Readers: Thin Connections Lead to Rich Connections
- The Accidental Programmer
- Definitions of Hacking
- Ways of the Reader-Hacker
- Ways of the Reader-Hacker II: Breaking the Rules
- Ways of the Reader Hacker III: Two Bright Ideas
- A Hacker’s Reading List
- Ones and Zeros, On and Off Switches, All Sane Systems Require Downtime
- The Information Race and Pushing the Button
- How to Make an Elephant Statue
- Every Story Deserves a Good Ending
- Expressions of Offworld
- “Would I start to resemble a book myself?”
- Myth of the Reader-Hero
- Print is Digital
- Am I Still Chasing that First Reading High?
- Do Robots Read? Yes I Do (Conclusion to “I, Reader”)
- I, Reader: A Book Outline
- Reading List for Next Draft of I, Reader
Birth of the Reader-Hacker, Pt 4.
The reader-hacker is first a reader, then a hacker. The reader still wants good books, often in print, though e-books meet certain needs too. The reader still wants a good story or a proper treatment of an idea. But this reader has discovered that technology increases the chances of finding good books, and extends the reading experience in new dimensions. The reader-hacker may simply be web-savvy, though some have advanced technical skills. It is a new breed of reader.
It is not hard to find reader-hackers at work and play on the web. Here is a whirlwind tour of randomly selected reader-hacker sites:
1. Book discovery. Readers use book websites to read reviews, get recommendations, and discover new titles. Some sites focus mainly on reviews and book news: bookforum.com, New Yorker Books. Some offer creative methods of selecting a book: Reader’s Robot, Whichbook. Many offer virtual bookshelves and other reader services: GoodReads, LibraryThing, Shefari.
2. Interact with authors. Once upon a time the author was a removed entity, interacting with readers only through the publisher. These days authors often have a blog, and readers can dialogue with them as they are reading the book. With increasing frequency, readers can help authors write their books. Don’t like how the story ends? Re-write it. Join a gang to help write a novel. Authors are increasingly giving away full-text, digital copies of their books, e.g., Doctorow, sometimes as podcasts. Fans translate Doctorow’s novels into other languages.
3. Read books on-line at Book Glutton, Open Library, Project Gutenberg, Library of Congress, or the TimesOnline. Search for free books at Just Free Books. Scan your own books to digital format. Mix reading with video (thanks Barbara).
4. Organize your books using citation managers like BibMe or Zotero.
5. Exchange print books with others at BookMooch, rent them from BookSwim, or discover them through BookCrossing.
6. Find books in libraries. WorldCat helps you find books in a local library. Library Elf helps you manage your library loans and holds. Libraries are increasingly providing helpful digital services, e.g., Toronto Public Library’s online book club. See Nicole Engard’s Library Mashups: Exploring New Ways to Deliver Library Data.
7. Use widgets and book APIs to remix book data. It’s not hard to dynamically create URLs to multiple book sites. Many sites provide widgets and APIs for adding their book content to your site: LibraryThing, Open Library, WorldCat. Tech-savvy readers often build their own book widgets.
Or how about, “Birth of the Reader-Maker”. Writing. Photos. Code. Patents. Buildings. Anything.
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