I have long been a fan of reading e-books. I got my first PDA back in 2000 and have been trying all sorts of different ways of reading on devices since then. When I was a graduate student I was really converted when I found a way to download my books for FREE, and scroll them so I could read faster! Now I was saving MONEY and TIME!! How awesome is that?
This year is certainly shaping up to be the “The Year of the eBook” both outside and inside of education. A quick look at Google Trends shows an steady increase in search volume for e-books. Although we still lag far behind some of our eastern colleagues, we are even moving up here in the US. Major authors are starting to publish in eBook format and even publishers are publishing books in eBook format.
In the education realm, there is also no shortage of talk about eBooks. Here is a short list of some articles published recently (mostly from InsideHigherEd):
- Jan 19th 2009 – Toward an All Campus eBook (Northwestern Missouri State) – http://insidehighered.com/news/2009/01/14/ebooks
- Jan 6, 2009 – A Year Ahead in Higher Ed Technology (pt. #5 – eReaders Disrupt the College Text Book Market Place) – http://insidehighered.com/views/2009/01/06/gonick
- Jan 1, 2009 – 20 Reasons why 2009 will be the year of the ebook – http://www.gutenberg.com/2009/01/01/20-reasons-why-2009-will-be-the-year-of-the-ebook/
- Aug 26th 2008 – Next Steps for eBooks – http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/08/26/etextbooks
The first one, published today, talks about a University that is moving to eBooks because they are cheaper. I think that is going to be a huge thing this year with the budget crisis we are all in. So… how can we prepare for this in our own institutions?
Article Series
I, like you, have been overwhelmed by all the possibilities and where to start with eBooks and eReaders. But I have tried almost every format and device out there and have learned some valuable lessons. I am thinking about writing a series of posts about eBooks where I go through all the different devices. I will explore the different ways you can read eBooks, the pro’s and con’s, and share some resources for anyone that is looking to get started.
Here is what I have planned so far (in no particular order):
- Kindle
- Sony eReader
- iPhone
- Blackberry
- Windows Mobile Devices
- Java Phones
- Desktop Clients
- Emerging or Planned Reader’s
After that I would like to take a look at programs that are being implemented across the US in schools so anyone that wants to start some sort of pilot at their school will have something to start with.
So… what do you think? What devices would you add to this list? What other things would you explore? What are you already doing at your institutions? Leave your comments below. 🙂
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