From the Electronic Book through the Hyperbook to the BOOK*

SUMMARY

The electronic book is one metaphor for the various exciting products of an emerging fourth generation of media–hypermedia. This fourth generation is characterized by information stored and transmitted by extrasomatic devices. The hyperbook, embodying the unfamiliar principles of hypermedia within a familiar form, is one tool to help invite the general public into this fourth generation. It could be considered as a transitional tool, until the emergence of the BOOK–the electronic version of the hyperbook.