How about textbooks by Google?
Summary: If you read my post on the new Kindle DX yesterday, you know that I'm generally irritated with the entire idea of the Kindle at this point. I'd take fellow ZDNet blogger, Jason Perlow's, request for Amazon to "bring down its wall" a step further and suggest that the Kindle, with its proprietary format and general approach to DRM is not actually in the best interest of education, educators, or students.
If you read my post on the new Kindle DX yesterday, you know that I'm generally irritated with the entire idea of the Kindle at this point. I'd take fellow ZDNet blogger, Jason Perlow's, request for Amazon to "bring down its wall" a step further and suggest that the Kindle, with its proprietary format and general approach to DRM is not actually in the best interest of education, educators, or students.
While I suggested yesterday that we simply need an open standard for textbooks and a solid app to access them, I think it's time for Google to release a Kindle-killer in the educational space. The best application with which to access textbooks is a web browser (assuming you're not a dead-tree, flip the pages, sell your used books purist), and while there are plenty of companies who could deliver this, I can't see any better qualified than Google.
Google has massive book projects, extensive experience with delivering applications in the cloud, and a great platform that lots of K-12 schools and universities have adopted for sharing, collaborating, documenting, and publishing on the web (Google Edu Apps). Why not add "Google Textbook" to it?
Obviously, publishers need to get on the bandwagon, too, but the same is true if Amazon really wants to break into this space with the Kindle. Google Textbook, as a framework for accessing textbooks in the cloud would be a free part of Google Apps, but I have no doubt that the publishers and Google could find plenty of ways to monetize the content.
Look at what the Nature Publishing Group has done with social learning and bringing extensive educational resources to the web. Look just at how far Google Docs has come in terms of a CSS-driven platform for documentation. The tools are already in place and a fundamental shift has already happened in terms of the way we access and interact with information.
It doesn't have to be Google Textbook. It could be Zoho Textbook, or IBM BlueText (I just made that up, but it's catchy, isn't it? IBM certainly has the hardware and the wherewithal to take this on). It really doesn't matter, although I see Google easily being able to integrate this into their existing Edu Apps platform pretty easily. The point is that it's time for a change. The Kindle isn't the answer. The cloud definitely is.
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Talkback
More nonsense from our friend "The Educator"
to do, why were companies like Google or ZoHo
waiting to do that until the Kindle arrives?
Your attitude is something like: "Hey Mom
(Google), I hate the Kindle, please release
some Kindle-killer and I'd be happy".
Welcome to reality: Amazon had a good idea and
it's putting it to work. Up to now it seems
it's going fine. Even the "visionary" Jobs
didn't think of that because, according to
him, "people doesn't read anymore".
Just accept the fact that your netbook and
your iPhone suck as ebook readers. It's
difficult to read for long periods of time
with those devices (yeah, yeah, I know, Apple
zealots, their granny and neighbor have 'no
problem' with that, sure, stop drinking the
Koolaid), and the battery life is inadequate.
Isn't a notebook perhaps the best video and
music player out there? And do you see
carrying the damn thing on their ears when,
e.g., jogging? Don't you see many people on
the bus using DVD players instead of netbooks?
Perhaps there is something more convenient in
using an iPod to listen music, and other
devices to watch videos. If you want' to use a
mainframe to listen to music or read ebooks,
fine go for it, but it's silly you think
that's the best way of doing it.
If Amazon does it right and delivers an
outstanding ebook platform with the large
Kindle, it'll be awesome. For instance, I want
the ability to easily create annotations,
highlight text with different colors, create
my own cross references to other parts of a
book or other books, and of course a great
screen I can look on hours (or days) without
draining my battery constantly. Oh, and let's
not forget that Amazon is providing a big
selection of titles, not just out of
circulation books few people read.
It's a shame you are the guy of ZDNet
education. You are still living in the world
of the command line text, and the one-size
fits all device that can do everything and
please everybody and things like that.
Any discussion of the kindle without mentioning DRM...
response
RE: How about textbooks by Google?
Dead Wrong
I want an appliance that is the same form factor as a paperback novel, for novels, the same size as a textbook for textbooks, and as a tabloid newpaper for newspapers.
Scrolling sucks. There is a reason the DVD replaced VHS and HDD backups are replacing tape drives. Sequential access sucks.
The browser, or browser-like apps are not well suited to long documents. Period.
Maybe, maybe not
I've got copies of the core D+D rulebooks on my computer, and if you've ever played, you'd know how unwieldy and textbook-like those books are. You'd THINK they'd fall prey to the same problem as your textbook problem. The only thing is, whoever uploaded them covered them with bookmarks of all kinds, organizing these bookmarks very well, and now they are a million times easier to navigate and much better to use than a paper textbook and I find myself wishing that textbooks were like that.
All it would take to make the digital textbook worthwhile is for the publisher to send an editor through the final copy of the PDF, marking bookmarks for each chapter and section.
mmm... pdf's would still suck
ummm
All of the others allowed random text searches. They included manufacturers data sheets, military specifications, and a PDF version of a powerpoint presentation.
RE: How about textbooks by Google?
here:
http://www.DIDASknol.it
Yes, it's time for change.
The Cloud is the answer. Definitely !
Silverio Carugo
Rector
DIDASCA -The First Italian Cyber Schools for Lifelong
Learning
Why is the cloud...?
Ya buy the "book" stick it on a iis server and let the students have at it. You could even let the students access the "book" after hours from home (via the web) if you want. Thats when the bandwith is freed up. Go a step farther and show the students how to copy the book to their thumb drive (if your licensing allows)
This just aint rocket science folks...
Well, Christopher's blogs anymore would indicate
Let Google place textbooks online, and for the right fee, schools can access them via the Internet.
But in that chance that the Internet is down, be sure to have purchased the Google equipped local server to offline the text books onto.
Or just go with your idea, something we have been doing (quite easilly) for the past six years.
That's how Microsoft would do it.
To Late
brilliant
Home brewed
with display flipped 90 degrees and using Opera with
"fit to width" activated. Presto, reading html text
with portrait orientation. Page Up/Page Down or
scroll to move through the text. Notes function is
built into the browser. You can fully access the
internet, which the Kindle doesn't, and it costs less.
Of course, it would be nice to have the touchpad
change orientation to match the screen, if anyone
wants to write a utility to do that. A quick way to
switch screen orientation for typing in some notes
would be ideal. If you can't get used to the touchpad
disorientation, use an external mouse to control
browser functions.
It is also a bit heavy to prop in a convenient
position, but still lighter than most textbooks.
Some of the Project Gutenberg html texts have a book-
like appearance, so you can tinker with the html to
improve readability. Wikitexts show what can be done
with academic content.
Amazon and the textbook publishers have a vested
interest in bleeding as much money as possible from
students and the public, so you can expect opposition.
Web advertising can't match the profits of having a
captive audience of students.
Be interesting to see how it plays out.
RE: How about textbooks by Google?
This would make me so happy!
ever! I was actually thinking about this just the other
day:
http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2009/04/google-
book-search-settlement-will.html
The long comment.
RE: How about textbooks by Google?
evolved to
reading large amounts of text on a tiny backlit
screen, but not now. Especially if the text is
describing a complex algorithm or philosophical
argument.
Kindles are too expensive - I think of them as
Amazon's payback for all the years of providing
me
with esoteric discounted books, shipped free of
charge
to a rural area in a rural state. They are
light,
easy to operate, and easy on the eyes.
If only some company would "harden" an ereader
so that
kids could drop it without damage schools would
snap
them up - even at $500+. Have you ever been in
a K-12
school and noticed the man-hours that go into
distributing and accounting for gov't purchased
texts?
Amazing, plus they're mostly all out of date!
Forget
saving trees.