The Ephemeral Nature of Digital Storytelling

A couple of years ago (or was it longer? time flows at a pace i can never understand), I was working on my thesis paper for my MBA - a research project in which I was investigating enhanced ebooks and their viability in the publishing industry. I would like to begin by apologizing to those to whom I promised a copy of the thesis; while I got a great grade for it, I was absolutely destroyed by a huge sense of impostor syndrome afterwards. After that, I was a little embarrassed to share it. I hope that didn't bother you too much. But, that's not the point of this article.

While conducting my research, there was one big issue that came to view when discussing the viability of enhanced ebooks. To put simply: format. 

 

You see, over time, we develop formats and we develop programs that can read them and/or edit them, and over time, we develop new formats and new programs that can read/edit those, and so on. And, as a result, older formats lose their readability. Here's an example: Computers today can't read floppy disks. What if there was an amazing novel that was only ever published on a limited set of floppy disks? Unless someone does the work of transforming it into a more modern format, I guess we'd never know it exists, let alone read it. 

In the same way, enhanced ebooks are a cool idea, but they come with a format or file type limitation. Some ebook readers only read specific file types. For example, you might have an ebook reader which only reads ePUB files, but doesn't recognize MOBI files. Or the opposite could be true. And since we have so many different ebook reading apps out there, many of which have their own file types for security and proprietary reasons, we just have to deal with the fact that some books can only be read using those programs. 

And, if tomorrow we came up with a new file type for ebooks, and moving forward only created ebook reader apps that read that particular new file type, then all previous formats like EPUB and MOBI and etc. would become obsolete. Unless someone did the work of transforming those into a newer format, they, too, may be lost.

Let's put it another way: Are you familiar with the BBeB ebook format? Probably not. It was a format that existed (with three different file types), and there were stories in that format, and now it's obsolete because the company that used it - Sony - no longer uses it. However, two of the BBeB file types are proprietary, so transforming these kinds of file types is even tougher. 

The proprietary thing is also an issue. If companies keep creating proprietary ebook formats or file types, that endangers whatever book is made for those formats. This is especially true if, for whatever reason, the book is released exclusively in those formats. When companies decide to move on to a new format or switch to a more readily-accessible one, like Sony did by switching from BBeB to EPUB, if they don't then go ahead and transform stories in their older, now-obsolete format to the new format they're using, those books could very well become locked away forever.

We don't have that issue with print books, but with digital storytelling, this problem is one that is fascinating from a range of different approaches. 

For example, say you write a fiction via Twitter (or X). And tomorrow, X shuts down. Nobody backed up your story. Your fiction is gone forever. Poof. 

Or, say you write an interactive fiction and host it on a specific website. It's the only copy out there, and after a few years, maybe you've lost your own copies and files. The website shuts down. Unless someone somehow saved it, your IF is gone forever. Poof, again.

You see where I'm going with this?

There's something absolutely fascinating about fiction that could potentially only ever exist in this narrow sliver of time, based on this particular selection of factors, and which could disappear in the blink of an eye, lost to the ages forever. 

And obviously that's not a new thing, right? Who knows what kinds of stories ancient peoples had scribbled onto scrolls or carved into tablets, lost to the ages, never to be recovered? Who knows what kinds of books were published just one hundred years ago that no longer exist today? The phenomenon happens in the real world, too - but there's something about the digital world that makes it a lot more common, and a lot more present.

It's the ever-changing nature of technology, of the virtual world. It's the undulating wave of digital change. We do our best to back things up - but, hey, you really never know. 

And it makes you wonder: Why do you write?

Do you write so that your words survive the ages? Do you write so that in a thousand years, if the world hasn't already ended, humans will still be able to read your stories, to study them, to enjoy them? Is immortality your goal?

Or do you write for the here and now? For this present moment in time - for you and the people of today? 

Consider this for a moment. Consider this long and hard. Because your answer will define a large part of your approach to writing.

If I'm writing for the here and now, I don't mind the ephemeral nature of digital storytelling. I don't mind the thought that Apartment could disappear tomorrow, and nobody in existence would ever be able to read it again. 

But if you write to make sure your name goes down in history - well, then, my friend, I'm afraid there's a very, very high chance it won't. 

Anyway, while you figure that out, let me get back to the topic at hand. Digital storytelling. Ephemeral. Right.

The thing is, if your book is never meant to see the light of day again, that's just what fate has in store for you, and that's that. But let's talk about how we can work as authors to give our stories the best chance at surviving the shifting landscape.

1. Back-ups. Back up your stories and ebooks.

Obviously, your first move is going to be to create back-ups of your ebook files, in whatever formats are available. Put them on a USB or a hard drive or something, but keep them in a safe place, backed up, just in case.

2. Format diversification. Diversify the formats and file types you present your ebooks and stories in.

Offer your ebook in a range of different formats. EPUB, PDF, MOBI, and even HTML formats, to name a few. Going back to the first tip, this also means that you should back them up even as word documents or text files, because you never know what will or won't be readable just ten or twenty years from now - that's how fast this landscape is changing.

3. Print. Print out your books, even if only for yourself.

At the end of the day, there's no better safeguard than a book that has been printed out. If the world ends up losing all access to any digital device tomorrow, it's the print books that will save us. Print your book - even if it's just a few copies for yourself and your close family and friends - and hope that those copies survive.

4. Third-party programs. Use them to help you convert books and keep them from obsolescence.

There are a range of third-party programs that let you convert ebooks and manage them. Calibre is a good example of this - and, actually, I used Calibre to edit and tweak my Apartment ebooks! These are good programs to keep around - and keep updated - because they can be the difference between obsolescence and survival of an ebook.

Final Note

This is a bit of a wonky "lesson" this week, and it might seem a bit dramatic, even, but that's only because we've recognized this issue not just in ebooks but in a range of different file types and have become much more aware of the fact that we need to backup our files. This is a good thing, of course. (Although, to be honest, I could do without programs scraping my blog posts and social media posts, even if it's not for AI-training purposes, which I am 100% against.)

I've been wrapping my head around the 'ephemeral nature of digital storytelling' for a while now, and while I personally don't mind it - after all, humans are ephemeral beings, as are many other creatures, and as are our creations - it opens up a new consideration for the durability of ebooks and digital reading. 

I can't help but feel like this digital stuff isn't going to be around for long.

I can't help but feel like it's good to have a physical, real back-up, something to hold in your hands, if only for yourself. 

And, after all, why not?