Abstract
Object of the study: The broad object of this study is the academic field of the book and the book as an area of interdisciplinary teaching. Purpose: to prove that the 21st-century cross-media and hybrid media ecosystem emancipates Book Science from the rest of the sciences in whose objects it can partake only as a constituent using one of its elements, properties or attributes. Tasks: to identify and summarise the theoretical and methodological differences between conventional Book Studies and the specific Book Science; to update and conceptualise the understanding of the book as a traditional means of communication in the light of the modern perspectives of digital transformation; to offer a framework of an innovative media science of the book. Hypothesis: Returning to the matter of the book as a medium, the hypothesis to be tested in this study is: “the book is set to be vindicated as a basic scientific category and be studied by a science of its own as an agent of communication, while the scientific book – as a communicator of “good” science. Methods: analytic and synthetic processing of primary and secondary resources, the selective monographic method, systematisation and summarisation of data from scientific-methodical and normative-legal documents on the issue examined. Results: Based on a working hypothesis, this study provides theoretical knowledge in Book Science and proposes points of support toward future fundamental and applied research in Book Science. Significance of the study: Overall, our findings suggest that 1) the research on the new theoretical views about the book will facilitate an increase in the academic interest in book-related professions, encourage the design and update of university curricula and programmes in Book Science, to support interdisciplinary research of book and digital media culture; 2) it is expected that the present text will provide the factors militating against the introduction of innovations in higher education and doctoral programmes in Book Science insofar as books as products of the publishing industry, and thus subject to market forces, drive back business interest in higher education toward book-related professions; appropriate measures to overcome the challenges outlined have been suggested.
Highlights
At the heart of the present research lies the commitment to outline a clear scientific doctrine – comprising both theory and methodology – of the study, explanation and future development of the phenomenon “book”, which brings to the fore new knowledge about the book as the oldest existing medium or the oldest means of mass communication
This conceptual framework unites the accummulated archaeological and historical evidence on the book as the first medium shaping the pattern of mass communication, which has subsequently become a key agent in the social communication system and today represents the most unpredictable factor and object of the media industry
The author’s proposition is that the book needs to be vindicated as a general scientific category by means of an innovative Book Science, allowing it to be studied by all sciences in its two fundamental aspects: form and content, as text and as a medium
Summary
At the heart of the present research lies the commitment to outline a clear scientific doctrine – comprising both theory and methodology – of the study, explanation and future development of the phenomenon “book”, which brings to the fore new knowledge about the book as the oldest existing medium or the oldest means of mass communication. The present work comes as a result of the author’s long-standing and purposeful research which began with a dissertation entitled “Reading – anti-manipulation filter: Individuality and audiovisual manipulation” defended for a doctorate degree in 1999 No research work has been made public that is solely dedicated to the book as a means (technology, invention) of communication, i.e. explaining it in the unity of the genesis, process and result thereof
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