Kids Like E-Books, Parents Do Not

I found this article on the Huffington Post website today and I thought it was interesting considering all the discussions we have had about children's books being on e-readers. This article states that kids want to read e-books, while 80 percent adults would rather still read a physical book.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/29/kids-like-ebooks-parents-_n_743010.html

I also think it is interesting that J.K. Rowling does not want to have the Harry Potter books be available as e-books. The article says "she prefers her work to be read on paper."

Traditional Textbooks vs. The iPad

While reading the news this morning, I discovered details about a plan between several Virginia schools and Pearson to launch an iPad-based social studies program.

As participants in the first program of this type, seventh and ninth graders will rely solely on Apple’s iPad instead of traditional textbooks throughout a 12-week period. According to a Mac Observer article, students will be able to use four U.S. and world history apps designed by Pearson to create their own customized textbooks, play interactive games related to class lessons, and take tests.

What do you think about this plan? Would you have enjoyed using an iPad instead of a traditional textbook? I was always a complete history nerd to begin with, but I do think that using the iPad, supplementing the written material with games and quizzes along the way, would have made the experience much more engaging and memorable.  

As this project progresses, it will be interesting to track the results in terms of how learning is impacted, but also to see how other more logistical concerns are addressed. For example, given the high cost of the iPad, is it really feasible for a school district to consider providing one to each student? What types of accountability issues does this create, in terms of students damaging or losing the devices, not to mention cheating? How will their peers, who don’t necessarily have access to iPads and have to go on using traditional textbooks, react? Will there come a time when students are required to purchase iPads for class, the way many of us were once required to purchase graphing calculators?

I guess only time will tell.

-- Heather Walrath

(Photo Credit: Pearson)

Authors Feel Pinch in Age of E Books

This is a really great article from the Wall Street Journal about the economics of e book publishing, for anyone interested.

Little Anecdote For You Guys...

Something happened the other night that I thought I'd share with you guys, since it's relevant to our recurring overarching conversation about e-books v p-books (not a huge fan of that term, by the way. Is it too entrenched to coin a new one? Something to think about).

So my boyfriend is a computer programmer and a graphic designer, and if it ain't code or a book about code, he ain't readin' it. I've tried lots of approaches to changing this. I got him a copy of Candide with a really cool comic-book type cover, I got him a Murakami novel since he'd translated some Murakami for a class once, I got him a book about the same subject as his undergrad thesis...etc. But he never made it past the first few pages of anything I got him, preferring instead to build his O'Reilly library and read PHP guides online.

Recently, he bought an iPad, and so far it's been quite the love affair - he brought it home after his first day with it at his office and said he already couldn't imagine doing his job without it. I was so focused on playing with the beat-making apps that I didn't even notice he'd downloaded a Kindle app, as well as a couple of other e-readers.

The other night I was sitting out on our porch when he came outside holding his iPad, looking very solemn. I asked him what was up, and he said, "Here, I wanted you to read this," and handed me his iPad.

What I was looking at was his Kindle reader, opened to Dave Eggers's first book, And You Shall Know Our Velocity. He had highlighted this little passage that he wanted me to read. I read it, and said, "This sounds pretty good."

"It really touched me," he said, sounding kind of surprised at himself.

So, here we are, y'all. Hard evidence that not only can a person be truly touched and affected by something they've read on an e-reader, but that e-readers allow a person be touched by a novel that hasn't cracked one open since college. Food for thought!

Free E-book of the 1906 Chicago Manual of Style for Download

Of all places, I learned about this via a tweet from Roger Ebert's Twitter account, @ebertchicago:

http://twitter.com/ebertchicago/status/25819640387

The University of Chicago Press is offering a free e-book download of a facsimile of the 1906 Chicago Manual of Style. According to Ebert, it's available today only, so be sure to get it while you can!

http://www.press.uchicago.edu/ebooks/free_ebook.html

You have to enter your email address to receive a download link, and download Adobe Digital Editions if you don't already have it on your computer. I followed all of these steps on a Windows-based machine and had no problems.

It's obviously a cool thing for anyone who is interested in old editions or editing, but there's even a little treat for any typography nerds (like me!) around page 125 where they display various type specimens and ornaments that were in use at the time.

Celebrate Reading!

Happy Banned Books Week, everyone!

http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/bannedbooksweek/index.cfm

Discussing "The Shallows" Chapter One-HAL and Me

We are continuing our discussion of The Shallows, by Nicholas Carr. Check out what has already been discussed in the Prologue.

*Spoiler Alert—I’m about to give away the ending of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. Stop reading now if you don’t know how the movie ends!

“Dave, my mind is going.” Those are the words HAL 9000 (Hueristically programmed ALgorithmic computer—aka the sentient computer of the spacecraft in the movie) speaks as his memory chips are shut down by the surviving member of the crew. Carr likens this to what has been happening to his own brain as the technology he’s owned begins to change the way he thinks.

His main points:
• As technology has evolved, our consumption for the next machine, the next breakthrough, the next gadget has driven us to read things faster, understand less and remap our brains to process the written word in a completely new way.
• This is happening to everyone {except for the group of people who do not use the internet , something I will comment on later.}
• People know they are sacrificing something important, but they are also unwilling to go back to way things used to be.
• Carr quotes Joe O’Shea, a former student body president at Florida State University as saying college students today are “skilled hunters” online—as soon as they find the pertinent phrase, quote, etc., they move on to the next document.
• This has led to professors despairing that anyone is reading whole books anymore.
• Ultimately, the Internet has made our brains “hungry” for information all the time—even when we are away from it, we feel like we have to check email or see a news headline. Essentially, the technology has changed our brains.

Carr makes some interesting points in this chapter. Comparing his brain to HAL right off the bat definitely sets a certain spooky tone. Let’s not forget that when 2001: A Space Odyssey came out, the big “reveal” that the computer was the villain was revolutionary.

I think there are some things that are spot on about Carr’s conclusions: I do find myself always wanting the next gadget, the next whiz-bang thing that is supposed to make my life simpler, more connected, easier to control. And yet…what it’s really done is made me more connected at times when I really don’t want to be connected to anyone but my family.

The one area that I really wish Carr fleshed out more in this chapter were the people who do not have access to the Internet on a daily basis. He has one line about this and then moves on. But I would like to know if these people are also thinking differently…because the people around them are doing so. It also makes me wonder if there is once again a division of populations happening and how that will impact education, work , and general interactions.

Next week-Chapter Two-The Vital Paths. If you know something about brain chemistry, philosophy and psychology, this is the chapter for you!

E-Reader Review

I found this article posted on the Huffington Post Books today. It compares all the different reading apps you can get for the iPad and seems pretty useful.

http://ptech.allthingsd.com/20100915/finding-the-best-way-to-read-books-on-an-ipad/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Gender Issues in Publishing

Though not strictly related to e-publishing, an article in today’s PublishersWeekly examines why publishing is now a primarily female-dominated field and just how this affects the industry. Do women dominate the field because they typically grow up reading more than men do? Does the lower entry-level pay base deter men? Are “causes” such as these really legitimate, or are they merely self-perpetuating stereotypes? How does a lack of male perspectives affect what gets published and how it's marketed, if at all? These and other fascinating questions are considered.

Where the Boys Are Not

-- Heather Walrath

Goodbye, Cruel Words

An entertaining column from Sunday's Washington Post about poor editing in newspapers and on the news here.

E-books Do Not Change Publishers Protocol

The once slow paced facet of publishing, electronic books are now growing steadily in the market place. It is a great debate on whether or not e-books will surpass cloth or physical print copies of books. The incline of e-books sales is a telling sign of where the industry is headed. There were several questions posed by Professor Arnie Grossbaltt on just that fact. He wanted to know should publisher actively look at e-books differently. Such as considering the key function list given in reading of figure 1.3 in John Thompson’s book Books in the Digital Age in regards to digital publishing. The questions asked: What, if anything is missing from this list; are there any activities that no longer apply? With respect to the list of value-add activities for traditional print publishing, what areas are most affected by a transition to digital publishing? Can you rank or score the value-add areas by degree of impact from the transition to digital publishing? Consider your responses above in light of different market segments. How would your ratings above change if you were focusing on each of the market segments below in turn: trade publishing, scholarly publishing, reference publishing, professional publishing, and educational publishing?


In respect to the six key functions of a publisher formulated in Thompson’s book Books in the Digital Age there is no add -value activity missing for digital publishing transition . Here brings in the conundrum of e-publishing things have to be looked at in different terms. All activities need to be looked at carefully though transition has happened. Whether a physical or electronic book a book is still a book. Now things are done cheaper because of low overhead for manufacturing costs unlike with physical book. Though all protocol is the same key functions switch places for e-publishing.

Undoubtedly the add value list is changed, but for a solvent use for e-publishers. Content development most definitely is most changed. Content development step number three is less valued due to the fact the, “an author is in excellent condition and needs very little input” (25). But, the determining factor is if the original gatekeeper (i.e. acquisition editor of original publisher) do enough to make book a viable e-copy. It would be less creating content, but cultivating content to adhere to electronic guidelines. The point of sale would be different once turned into an e-book it less intermediaries to get book to last point of the publishing chain as shown in figure1.1 (20). This would then differentiate marketing strategies. Ranking the functions are as follows 1. Content Acquisition 2. Financial 3.Management 4. Quality Control 5. Development of Content 6 Sales and Marketing. The position change only because the cost of and e-book cost is more on the front of the publishing process that is why more management is needed. Taking in account subsidiary rights and production process of e-book. All different types of publishers use different models of key publishing functions.


In reference to all other areas of publishing such as these: trade publishing, scholarly publishing, reference publishing, professional publishing, educational publishing add value list are fortified more in various parts. Take trade publishing for instance in financing it is books more front end of the publishing process (pre-press cost). Trade publishing is on the high end of giving higher advances to authors and quality production exclaims Thompson. Where as in college textbook the more money put in to content development, “ moreover, major college text book publishers have relatively high overhead costs, since they commonly support large sales forces, among other things.” The publishers of college text draw on big number of prints to solidify investments and make GPM. Scholarly publishing has low cost for manufacturing which it makes it more profitable on returns. All other publishing market segments such as reference publishing, professional publishing, educational publishing, will most definitely be changed as well. As Thompson states, “While the basic economics of book publishing are common to different sectors of the industry, the details vary great deal from one type of publishing to another” (27). So whether e-publishing or any other publishing schema the key functions stay same it is where publisher put dollars that change. It could be in acquisitions or marketing, the add value list is still sufficient for any book life cycle.

Pandigital® Novel 7-in. eReader

(Anyone heard of this?)

Here's a quick snapshot of a different kind of e-reader, the Pandigital® Novel 7-in. eReader. It brags being lightweight, having an SD slot, and a color screen.

It does, however, have that backlit LCD screen that makes reading in sunlight difficult.

Out for Work Conference (September 25-26, 2010)

For those of you who are looking (or looking again) for a job, there's a national conference for LGBT professionals and their allies. Workshops, forums, and lectures, as well as mock interviewing and instant feedback. It's 45 bucks for an individual rate for current students, recent grads, and grad students, including all conference materials and meals.

http://www.outforwork.org/conferences/2010/national/default.asp

There's also a session on building better resumes.

Best Buy Becomes One-Stop E-Reader Shop

The following Publishers Weekly article, which I also posted to Diigo, discusses Best Buy’s plan to start selling the Kindle, becoming a “one-stop shop” for consumers who wish to compare e-reading devices. The chain's offerings also include the Nook, iPad and Sony readers.

Best Buy to Sell Kindle In Stores, Enhance E-Reader Displays

-- Heather Walrath

Focusing Strategies

I recently read an article on Gawker about how people have diminishing attention spans and focus. What I read of it was pretty interesting, and I think it is relevant regarding what we discussed tonight in class about how we read now. It also offers different strategies to improve. I thought the best part of the article was that it begins by saying, "Most people who click on this article won't finish reading it." Unfortunately they were right about me, I did not finish it.

http://lifehacker.com/5596964/how-to-rebuild-your-attention-span-and-focus

-Carrie

(For some reason, my user name is from a project I did in school a couple years ago- disregard that!)

Revolutionary Technology

I thought we all could appreciate and get a laugh out of this...

Something Called B-O-O-K

Article: Amazon.com Now Selling More Kindle Books Than Hardcover Books

This was mentioned in Dr. Faherty's class, but I'm not sure whether a link was circulated. It certainly applies to this class as well:

Kindle Device Unit Sales Accelerate Each Month in Second Quarter; New $189 Price Results in Tipping Point for Growth

Discussing "The Shallows" by Nicholas Carr, Prologue

Back in August, Dr. Grossblatt asked if anyone was interested in reading a relevant book on E-Publishing and blogging about it afterwards. I offered to do it for The Shallows-What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains.

I volunteered to read The Shallows and lead the online discussion basically because I really do want to know—is the Internet destroying the way I read and taking away my joy in reading? I’m not sure this book will answer that question but maybe it will help preserve the excitement of reading by showing a new way to appreciate the written word.

Each week I’ll be posting on a chapter—Carr’s main points and then my personal takeaways from the reading. (All quotes are taken from The Shallows by Nicholas Carr, Copyright 2010).

Prologue-The Watchdog and the Thief
• The Medium is the Message—“in the long run a medium’s content matters less than the medium itself in influencing how we act and think.” Carr states that over the years critics have become so overwhelming focused on content that they have completely overlooked what the actual media platform itself is doing to the way people think and interact. He asks the question: are we in control of the medium or is the medium in control of us?

It is an intriguing thought to begin the book—when we take content out of the equation (and all of its various polarizing viewpoints) does the way we get that content influence the way we think and act. If we apply this question to digital publishing directly, how does a book or article impact us differently by reading it on different platforms?

I was thinking about this very question when we were discussing the books that influenced us during our first class. One of the books that influenced me most was called Where the Red Fern Grows. It was the first book I read that elicited a strong emotional response from me. I suddenly “got” why reading was such an amazing thing and became a life-long reader because of that book. I don’t think, at least with the way e-books are produced right now, reading this book on the Kindle or iPad would have caused as great as a response emotionally from me as it did in hard-copy form. Does a digital devise turn something off in my brain so that I'm not as emotionally involved in the stories that I'm reading on it? Hard to know but interesting to think about.

Next week: Chapter One- Hal and Me (If you've never seen 2001: A Space Odyssey this chapter may not make complete sense....)

Monday Monday

Hey all - a little Lit geek humor to get you through your Mondays...

http://betterbooktitles.com

See you all in class!

On the Frustrations of e-Book Shopping

I watched this podcast that Dr. Grossblatt posted, and I completely resonate with the frustrations faced, and I recently had a discussion with the publisher of one of my journals, Soil Science, and the editor-in-chief, about the advancements, including e-reader access to the journal articles.

With the short attention span that most humans have (e.g., me) and in the way everything these days needs to be fast, immediate, and most important, intuitive, e-book shopping should be just as easy as shopping for clothes: We're familiar with the shopping cart icon, our eyes magnetize to the keywords "checkout" and "view my cart" and the like, and so, as a consumer, the inability to be able to find a link to checkout or to purchase an item may result in loss of business. A user should be able to find what he or she is looking for (especially if the site claims to have it) and not look elsewhere. Having to go to the iTunes store, as in the clip, is the result of a failure on the Yale University Press Web site gurus.

Keeping the Consumer on the Web Site
One of the strategies that companies have used is when linking sites, always code the link so that it opens into a new browser window rather than the present browser window, so that the consumer (purchaser) does not have to find alternate means for getting what he or she wants (even inadvertently). It should be a one-stop shop.

Enabling Easy Access to Content
The Web site in the video clip was on the right track by showing both the ability to acquire an e-copy of the otherwise unavailable book and the price. The comment on the e-price being just as expensive as the hard copy may suggest that the hard copy has more value (even though you'd get the copy in the mail in at the very least 1 day versus immediately electronically). What does that say about what we value more--speed, price, tangibility of a book in one's hands.

With Soil Science, we've recently started e-copies for electronic readers (http://journals.lww.com/soilsci/pages/default.aspx). I think it's set up well, but the icon for e-reader, for example, could probably be made bigger and more readily seen. E-copies are extremely important for us, and the target link of "NEW! Articles on your e-reader" is informative and prevents frustrations for making a purchase. There's even a cute little video that shows you what's up, how to get it, and what's compatible. It's interactive and dynamic and leaves the listener with a link. See the video here: http://journals.lww.com/soilsci/_layouts/1033/oaks.journals/whatsnew.aspx

Increasing the Speed of Acquiring Deliverables
Take, for example, how Amazon now has a PassPhrase for easy checkout with a preselected method of payment, shipping location, etc. Also, many sites have teamed up with PayPal so you don't have to create a new log-in and such. Those who are familiar with bugmenot.com know it is a good (albeit often unreliable) source for already-created log-ins, which are useful for sites that require user IDs/passwords before proceeding. I'm convinced that the faster the process, the more likely for return customers.

E-Publishing & Book Fairs

With preparations underway for this month’s National Book Festival, which will take place Sept. 25 on the National Mall, I’ve found myself pondering the entire concept of book fairs in general.

As a child, one of the biggest highlights of the new school year was going to the annual book fair set up in our small elementary school library, where I eagerly scanned the tables in search of the one special book that most struck my six-year-old fancy. In retrospect, it’s clear that events like these largely contributed to what would become a lifelong love of reading.

As electronic publishing continues to increase, what effect will this have on traditional book fairs, like those I remember so fondly? In all honesty, I just can’t imagine my childhood experience having been reduced to merely sitting at a computer screen and clicking through a long list of titles, without the joy of actually feeling each book in my hands as I passionately debated the literary merits of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.

Have book fairs played a role in your life, whether as a child or as an adult? Do you see e-publishing as a threat to these types of events?

-- Heather Walrath

(Graphic Credit: National Book Festival)

E-Publishing & Literary Journals

For some literary journals, at least, e-publishing has become their lifeblood. Just two years ago, the idea of mailing out submissions was exciting and couldn't compare with sending an e-mail. There was something about the tangibility of an envelope, prose or poetry on hard copy, and a 40-some-cent stamp. Now, it is just as exciting -- or I'm made to believe it is exciting -- that submissions can be transmitted online, saving that envelope, printout, stamp, trip to the post office, etc.

It seems like more and more literary journals are certainly heading in the direction of online submission managers, tiny and simple albeit effective powerhouses that enable editors to sort and weed out a slush pile with a few clicks of the mouse rather than opening physical envelopes, labeling submissions, and separating cover letters from manuscripts to yield blind submissions. Some journals, such as the prestigious Black Warrior Review (http://bwrsubmissions.ua.edu), allow only online submissions. Others highly encourage it.

I bring this up mostly because as we become more and more imbibed by the digital and electronic age, there is, similarly, more and more of a focus on doing everything via the Internet, kind of like how e-mail is almost always preferred to "snail" mail (as it is now the term to describe letters sent by the U.S. Postal Service).

This is kind of like the book "versus" e-book discussion we'd had in class. The question, then, is, will certain forms stop existing, eventually? Will regular books stop being published? Probably not. But the way the term "book" is perceived will likely evolve -- ABC books for children might show an image of a Kindle or iPad under "B" for "Book" (or, better yet, under "K" and "i," respectively, for "Kindle" and "iPad"). How do we resolve the co-existence and tug-of-war between e-books and print books?

From the perspective of someone having recently exited the creative writing field, those few literary journals that are online only were largely looked down upon (at least when I was in the program at ND). The high-end journals that had a print issue are what everyone vied for when sending submissions. A print version was equated with substance, with value, with something that can be brought to readings and panels rather than a printout of, say, a PDF.

In light of all that, I wonder whether certain entities need to exist first in print to build a foundation of initial value and credibility (such as a journal shifting from publishing actual copies versus publishing online only) before it can just exist online only. Given that so much is published online (any John or Jane can publish a blog, or Tweet, or whatever, that it's sometimes hard to separate out quality material from hogwash). Fromthefishouse (http://www.fishousepoems.org), for example, only appears online, and it is regarded as a valuable resource for oral poetry, but then again, most of the writers who appear on the Web site have appeared in prominent print journals. If the names of the big-name journals were omitted, would it still retain its esteemed status?