How To Make A Book is a custom printing machine and a set of publications that explore the mechanics of open-source systems applied to the analog medium of print. Although printing technology has evolved over centuries, the core of the process has remained unchanged: creating content on blank paper. How To Make A Book proposes an alternative process, taking exisiting publications as the source material for new or derived works by interpreting, removing and adding to the original content.

The printing machine is built around a pen plotter / lasercutter and uses computer vision to analyse the content and layout of existing publications (e.g., books, magazines and newspapers) that are placed in the machine. The printer can then perform operations on the existing content, sometimes by scraping the internet for related content and context.

A set of sample publications created with the machine showcase possible applications: annotating a cookbook with comments and tips from food blogs, making the prevalent use of stock images in magazines more transparent, or creating new stories in books by highlighting or cutting out portions of the existing text.

Photos: Kristof Vrancken

See also: A ditto, online device