the+autograph+(roni+sue)

 People collect bits and pieces of stardom and cherish them as some of their most prized possessions. An interesting piece that people collect is the autograph. The autograph, a signature that represents a person behind in the most literal way, is a simple recording of a name that holds meaning for some. What will happen to the autograph as everything progresses further towards a digitally dominated world?

By 2015, sales of eBooks are projected to triple to $3 billion. What does this mean for the autograph seeking masses? Where will authors leave their mark? And where will people store their autograph notebooks when they're technologically obsolete?

But there's a plan! All hope is not lost. An application called "Autography" will make it easy to take a picture with the celebrity and then record an electronic autograph that will be downloadable from the web and superimposed on the bottom of the picture. Weird!

To think about the success of this endeavor, we must analyze the role that the autograph plays now. Rachel Chou, chief marketing officer for Open Road Integrated Media suggests that readers don't care about autographs as much as any type of proof of contact with a celebrity. Is the autograph a lost art born from necessity that no longer exists? With modern methods of communication, an autograph means little. However, a reproducible and downloadable form of an autograph hardly seems authentic.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/14/fashion/14NOTICED.html