One big roadblock for environments hoping to improve on the book with fancy interactive elements: they all require reading on a screen! And reading on a screen is almost universally terrible!
I've been getting increasingly worried about this—seems like a serious threat! (con't)
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For instance, expert readers generally read non-linearly, but object permanence issues really inhibit that on screens. (notes.andymatuschak.org/Maintaining_mu, notes.andymatuschak.org/Continuous-scr)
In many cases (eg. on e-readers) *performance* issues inhibit expert reading! Wild! (notes.andymatuschak.org/Poor_performan)
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Of course there are on-screen features which enhance expert reading… but on balance, I'm pretty reliably a worse reader when reading on screens.
Not thrilled about needing to solve those problems in addition to all the tools-for-thought ones! What do you find promising here?
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I’m really getting a lot of your notes. Have you shared anywhere how you’re currently writing them?
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Tell me you're working on a book. I'll pre-order right away.
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Thank you for that kind thought. :) Perhaps foolishly, I'm working toward instantiating these ideas in a structured environment, rather than on explaining them abstractly.
You might enjoy this "mini-book" on related topics from last year.
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Replying to
This is so terrific that I’m reluctant to ask something as mundane as what tools do you use? Should I just use a wiki?
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Ah, that's kind. This is an area of active research for us, so I'm afraid the answer is: "an ever-evolving collection of prototype software." Bear's a decent approximation—I started there. I'd have used a wiki, but they're all web-based, which I'm allergic to for serious work.
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