What we need from e-books

Gizmodo did a nice comparison between the Kindle.app and iBooks on the iPad. In addition, they talked about what we need, to really flesh out the potential of e-books.

What no one is doing is trying to figure out how all this stuff can be combined to help create better learning environments around digital text; though, some of what Gizmodo says is directly or indirectly related. The idea of integrating social networking into a text is great. But note-taking is missing. What students need are tools to help them learn:

• A way to create a glossary of terms on the fly with words and definitions and examples coming straight from the text;
• A way to ask a question of a teacher or classmates, straight from the text (quoting the part they don't understand);
• Analysis that will help students see over arching themes between notes taken between differing books...I just threw this one in...not sure how it will hold up after thinking about it more.

Anyway, good review. Check it out.

Emerging technology and the way things were

In yet another blog entry on iPad, the folks at Gizmodo did a quick review of the effects on ebooks and the obsolescence of book covers. In particular, the effect of this on the market place seemed well placed related to learning:

"Yes, people who would have purchased a book because they saw three people reading it at Starbucks may not purchase said book in an ebook world. But they might purchase another book, because they saw it on their buddies' Twitter feeds, or because iTunes spat out some kind of automated recommendation for them that's actually grounded in data, beyond their 20-person, Dan-Brown-biased coffee shop sample group. More to the point, the loss of this totally unquantifiable benefit to publishers is probably—and probably massively—offset by the fact that all these secretive ebook enjoyers are now, at all times, just seconds away from tapping into a vast digital bookstore, which delivers books in a matter of seconds." (Source)

Similar arguments are directed to learning, and yes the new technology in the old environment can be problematic...but it's the new technology in the new environment where things get exciting.

Keeping with the theme

The iPad release is imminent (April 3), and I'm still trying to figure out if I want to get one or wait until second generation, however, Gizmodo made me think of some uses that I had not thought of yet. Yes, there is talk about the iPad revolution of magazines, and comic books, and games, and the "intimate" nature of the iPad, but the one that got me:


How cool would it be to be able to carry your music with you, and have it in a format that you could actually use, and help organize as you were playing along. I wish I had this when I was in band.

iPads for All New Students

In a post from ReadWriteWeb, Frederic Lardinois reports that two colleges, Seton Hill University and George Fox University, have announced plans to give all incoming students a choice between a MacBook or an iPad. This may be a premature endorsement of the iPad considering it hasn't been tested enough yet and it is not yet apparent whether the iPad will suceed where Kindle hasn't with the textbook market. It remains to be seen whether textbook publishers will be able to leverage the iPad's interactive capabilities to bring new value to students and educators.