Five Minutes With: Daniela Rosner, Design Researcher, UC Berkeley

Five Minutes Interview at London Design Festival: “I don’t see books disappearing. They will continue to evolve and transform.” Daniela Rosner is a design researcher interested in how new technologies figure into creative production. One of the projects she has been working on is ‘Fine Bookbinding’ which incorporates traditional binds and electronics as well as the Arduino open source platform for prototyping.

Q. What do you think will become of books?

Hard to say, but I don’t see books disappearing. I imagine they will continue to evolve and transform, as they have from the very beginning. In light of e-readers and e-books, it’s unclear what we mean when we talk about them: the metal case, the microprocessor, the e-reader software, the digital file, all of the above?

Q. What is your favourite book? By author/photographer, design or publisher?

I have no favorite book, but “The Unbearable Lightness” of Being by Milan Kundera has been a on the top of my list for a while.

Q. What was the last book you read? Or published!

“Designing for Re-Use: The Life of Consumer Packaging” by Tom Fisher and Janet Shipton.

Q. Finally: Kindle, PDF, HTML – or print?

All of the above, which makes consolidating notes a real challenge. Even when I’m reading a kindle displaying a PDF, accessing an HTML file, rendering a digitally scanned page of a printed book. Yes, I’ve done that, too.

Visit http://people.ischool.berkeley.edu/~daniela
More on Rosner’s digital bookbinding project

On 17 September 2011, Sojournposse will be presenting a new event for The London Design Festival 2011, “Whatever is to become of books?” at University College London. Tickets are available on Eventbrite. £1 of each ticket sale from this non-profit event will go towards a photobook app project which supports the Japan Red Cross tsunami drive. Please follow our updates on Twitter at @sojournposseF8, following the hashtags #LDF11 and #storyofbooks. We are also on Facebook and Google+.