Ebooks at Liberal Arts Colleges

Addresses concerns about long term access to ebooks. Suggests ePUB as the least bad option, although DRM is an issue.

Very nice discussion. I'm glad he understands how segmented the market is.

"In the good-old days when print was the only option, students had plenty of free or cheap ways to get required textbooks. Borrow one from a friend. Check out a copy from the library. Buy a used copy for a fraction of the price. Or rent a copy through one of several companies providing that service. But the latest textbook enhancements, which require individual access codes to get to bonus materials online, threaten to displace all of those alternatives. Most access codes are good only for a limited time, and once they are activated they can't be used by other students."

"The wait is over for readers eager to download Kindle books from their local library. Some 11,000 libraries are now offering books for Amazon's ebook platform."

tablet/ e-reader ownership among US adults up to 29% (2 % less than 3 yrs ago)

A huge jump. I hope she returns to ebook content - software - with next one.

"An electronic edition comprised of a selection of scholarly reflections from doctoral candidates on the Digital Arts & Humanities Ph.D. programme, which is part of the Digital Academy at University College Cork, Ireland."

Why iTunes, I wonder. To hit iOS mobile devices? Reduce local hosting burdens?

That's definitely growing. No liberal arts institutions, though.

That's an ambitious goal, 3 years.

"The aim of Inquire is to provide students with the world's first intelligent textbook, says its creator David Gunning of Seattle-based Vulcan. At first glance, the system just looks like an electronic version of Campbell Biology, the tome that forms the bedrock of biology classes for first-year university and advanced high school students in the US. But behind the scenes is a machine-readable concept map of the 5000 or so ideas covered in the book, along with information on how they are all related."

"a machine-readable concept map of the 5000 or so ideas covered in the book" - I'd love to see this.

"Several universities have recently tried a new model for delivering textbooks in hopes of saving students money: requiring purchase of e-textbooks and charging students a materials fee to cover the costs. A recent report on some of those pilot projects, however, shows that many students find the e-textbooks "clumsy" and prefer print."

Very useful piece, perhaps. Quite measured. Usefully open to possibilities.

stats on ebook reading & more from Pew study on future of libraries

"The interactive e-book publisher Inkling has finally released an HTML5 version of its app, meaning that its 150 titles are now available on both the iPad and the Web."

"Textbooks are gaining, though, as publishers take advantage of the popularity of tablets like the Kindle and iPad, expanding their catalogues and offering products like rental digital books that expire after a semester or two. "

"Apple's next big idea of digital textbooks in classrooms equipped with iPads has run into a snag: cost."

Yes indeed. Some of us pointed this out a while back (harrumph). Gotta love that Apple spokesperson's response.

"Barnes & Noble is spinning off its college-textbook and digital divisions into a new subsidiary, bolstered by a $300-million investment by Microsoft, that is aimed at turning more college students on to electronic textbooks."

"For the first nine months of 2011, e-book sales were up 137.9% at reporting publishers, to $727.7 million. Sales at all print trade segments were down in the nine months, though sales of religion products rose 6.6%."

Swarthmore embraces ebooks

Lots of cool stuff there, including Miro and 3d printing.Are ebooks going to be associated with better-endowed schools?

"In this interview, Kno Co-founder and CEO Osman Rashid explains where his eTextbook software is today, where it is headed, and how technology and the private sector will reform education."

"nteractive textbook publisher Inkling announced today that it's struck a distribution partnership with Follett, the largest college bookstore retailer in the industry. Follett, which operates some 900 college bookstores, says it will make "hundreds of titles" from Inkling available to its customers in the fall."

Given that ebooks cannot be loaned, does the shift toward them increase the "digital divide"?

Good, deep question. A few thoughts: -device-specific ebooks certainly are a problem, esp when costs rise -Kindle books can be loaned -American racial minorities tend to make more use of phones (feature) than whites