Re-assessing: Purpose of Activities - to open up possibilities

Article:  23 iPad Alternatives to the Book Report

Book Review (or Book Report, in this case) - We'll usually associate it with lines and lines of words. 
Let's re-visit the purpose of the activity: 
- It's about drawing out key ideas from the reading?
- It's about synthesising? 
- It's about developing communication skills?
- It's about cultivating creativity in expression?
... or it's about practising summary skills (which I think that's what the teachers had in mind all this while, especially in my school days)?

With technology use, we could do it differently! and we could definitely do more! So, we really need to be clear of the purpose of the activity, and not be greedy to accomplish too many at one go, else, we may lost sight of what we want to achieve.

The article gives some suggestions how a Book Review could be presented differently. 
Well, this 'model' of thinking is not limited to "Book Review". It could be applied to other contexts too!