File:522-ass't2.doc

Ereaders

What is the potential influence of the mobile technologies, such as the iPad, Kindle etc. on the publishing industry and consequently post secondary education?

Do e-readers have the potential to create a paradigm shift in the publishing industry that will impact students at post secondary institutions? What are the potential influences of e-readers (ebooks) on libraries in post secondary institutions?

An e-book is an electronic device that is primarily designed for the purpose of reading digital content – books, magazines, new papers, journal articles etc.In 2001 Bell University launched an experimental research project to determine the uability of e-reader technology in a learning environment. They had students use e-books for course work as well as write quizzes. In short, a 100% of the students that used the black and white version would not recommend a e-reader to friends and 50% of those that used the colour version would not recommend it to a friend. The research team made the observation that the students could not be blamed for their perspective because the text representation was a poor quality (Bellaver, & Gillette). What has changed since 2001?

http://www.upassoc.org/upa_publications/upa_voice/volumes/5/issue_1/ebooks.htm

‘’’Future of E-book readers’’’

• Sony revealed that 300,000 Sony Readers had been sold globally since device launch in October 2006 as of December 2008
• At Amazon on a title by title basis of the 130,000 titles available on Kindle and in physical form, Kindle sales now make up over 12 percent of sales for those titles (July 2008)
• iRex Technologies is doubling iLiad (iRex eBook reader) sales every 12 months (January, 2009) (van der Velde & Ernst, 2009)
• Since the introduction of Amazon Kindle 2007 devices have become more durable, more colorful, and multifunctional (Kho, 2010)
• Kindle DX can hold more than 3500 titles
• Google Editions (coming soon)

E-readers are now coming into main steam and demonstrating significant potential to fundamentally change the publishing industry, especially those targeting post secondary institutions. Joe Murphy, Yale University science librarian in the context of discussing the influence of mobile technologies stated “the only time print is relevant is when it’s not yet available digitally”(Hardo, February 2010) Do you agree with this statement?

Influence of e-readers

• There has been an increase in consumer demand for digital content both periodicals and books
• Association of American Publishers announced ebook content sales increased by 180.7% revenue increase; January 2008 – October 2008 46.6 million and by January 2009 – October 2009 it increased to 130.7 million; (not including professional markets such as libraries and educational institutions
• Predictions have revenue potentially reaching 500 million in 2010
• Amazon with its Kindle DX is targeting college/university students; it has signed deals with three of the largest text book publishers totaling approximately 60% of the market. Five large American universities, including Princeton, have established a partnership with Amazon to test the device. Students at these institutions received the ereader in courses whose content was available to be used by the device (Reyes, July 2009).
• Changing business models. Student may be able to rent a book for a semester rather than buy one, only to try and sell is second hand.

Will ereaders enjoy the same rapid adoption as MP3 devices?

Not so according to Jack McKeown, [Director of Business Development for Verso Digital [[1]]

Influence on Education Publishers

• Mc-Graw-Hill 95% their offerings are available electronically though the focus remains on printed though it plans to expand its digital presence through e-books
• Mc-Graw-Hill revenues from ebooks is small but rapidly growing revenue in the higher education market (Baumann, May 2010)
• Elsevier – health professionals division claims to be committed to supplying content in as many formats as makes sense for the end users.

===What are post secondary students reporting to want from e-books?===

A British academic consortium whose goal is to support the spread of digital content to post secondary institutions gathered data from students over 2 years; Methodology: interviews, focus groups, and surveys that generated more than 52,000 responses.

Results

• Ebooks –students’ primary goal is not depth in learning but speed (Baumann, May 2010, pg44)
• 85% users of ebooks spend less than 1 minute on each page
• Only 5.5% of students read the entire book
• Only 7.7% of professors were reported to read entire books.
• Students used the ebooks to extract facts as needed rather than spending a lot of time in the books.

Benefits of e-reader/e-book

• Quick access to the books – don’t need to wait for them to be returned to the library
• One can find relevant content much quicker through key word searches
• Ereader - stores hundreds of books on one device that reads like paper.
• Reading from a PDA or computer screen is difficult so in these cases print material is preferred. Dedicated ereaders address this problem because they have better readable screens (van der Velde, et.al., 2009).

What does this mean for publishers of educational ebooks?

Spending a lot of resources on bells and whistles – such as video clips, links to websites, and more sophisticated pictures and graphics may investing unnecessary resources if the students want efficiency (Baumann, May 2010).

Flat World Knowledge – (a digital academic publishing company) based on their interaction with students claim the following: students didn’t want the rich media, including gaming and simulations. The text book was too expensive. They weren’t looking for publishers to making their learning more engaging. They wanted efficiency so they could learner quicker so they could spend more time doing other things, such as playing with a Wii (Braumann, May 2010).

===[[What are librarians and publishers thinking about e-books? HighWireEBookSurvey2010.pdf‎ (1,275 × 1,650 pixels, file size: 603 KB, MIME type: application/pdf)

[www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWYKI5ZeWGo] Blog by Sue Polanka, head of references at Wright State University Libraries [www.libraries.wright.edu/noshelf] BusinessWeek article discussing the concerns of publishers [www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_02b4162050103172.htm]

Total Cost of Ownership

Questions:

Do you think e-reader devices will result in more digital content being sold than physical content?

Do you agree with the position that the proliferation and enhancement of mobile technologies, including reading devices such as smart phones, is causing a fundamental shift in the publishing industry through consumers’ expectation for digital content?

References