The ‘Future Book’ Is Here, but It’s Not What We Expected - WIRED:

Instead, technology changed everything that enables a book, fomenting a quiet revolution.

Source: The ‘Future Book’ Is Here, but It’s Not What We Expected - WIRED

The author starts by lamenting that books, albeit now increasingly digital, have not changed and then tries to claim, really they have changed. Actually, no, what has changed is how one makes money by writing and creating books. You bemoan the fact that books, like journalism, has not changed as we expected and not recognized the reason why is right in your face. As long as the focus is on making money by publishing (books, journalism, etc..) the focus is always going to be on making the money and not on changing the mechanisms of writing and publishing itself.

Dave Winer is passionate about changing journalism and seems frustrated that he just cannot move the needle. The problem is that what he says is translated through the ears and into the minds of the journalists as an attack on how they earn a living. Most people, whether they are coal miners or journalists are not eager to make themselves unemployed by undermining the very way they earn a living.

It seems to me the only way to change a thing is to find new people who are just focused on the thing and not on how to get rich from the thing. If you look back at Amazon, Twitter, Google, they were built by people not focused initially on making money but on changing shopping, keeping in touch with friends, or finding information all the while ignoring the naysayers who asked how Amazon, Twitter were going to make money.