The Characterization of Digital Books Based on Their Materiality

Abstract

The objective of this research was to map the artifacts that are currently denominated 'digital books', characterizing them through the cross-analysis of the specific resources of the digital medium with the main specificities of printed books. The methodology used included bibliographic review and observation of the subject of study. In this study, the book was perceived as an artifact with flexible properties, deciding, therefore, to propose a series of principles that together can be used to characterize this type of publication, regardless of whether it is digital or printed format. Therefore, the conclusion was reached that the eBook is a digital content with the same characteristics of a book and that in addition to text and image, they can explore digital media resources such as interactivity, sound, video, and animation. Through the predominant characteristics of the analyzed artifacts, the following types of digital books were identified: customizable, PDF, digitized, multimedia and interactive.