Even though electronic books have been around since Project Guttenberg in 1971, consumers are finally adapting to the concept of e-books. E-books are evolving into much more than a book that can be read but into an interactive experience. E-readers are in the hands of consumers have the capabilities to much more than being a reading device, but a device that increase productive in reading and other functions.
Electronic books are becoming a commercial success but, according to the 2011 Horizon Report, the adoption by the academic world is lagging. The lack of scholarly titles and the ability to maintain scholarly work holds back academic institutions from embracing this technology with open arms.
Electronic text books have started to move forward again in the industry for the simple fact of portability. There are numerous e-readers available, not just device driven but as application on a variety of devices such as smart phones. This opens up new avenues for e-reading not applicable before with much more portability and interactivity.
Electronic books will continue to grow and develop as the rate of adoption continues to increase with ease of accessibility. With increased accessibility, a wider rate of acceptance will develop especially in the academic field.
Reference
Johnson, L., Smith, R., Willis, H., Levine, A., and Haywood, K., (2011). The 2011 Horizon Report.
Austin , Texas
What about the audio?
ReplyDeleteI agree the ebooks are great and they are growing in demand because of their portability, size, and weight but what about the audio piece to it. I am surprise that audio books haven't gone very far in the last couple of years as they can speak to students with learning disabilities for sure. I guess it comes down to the academic literature not being published in these formats and thus the school systems must maintain the big textbooks.
Sherry-I agree that eBooks have made huge wave lately, especially since prices have dropped into somewhat reasonable price ranges for people. College students can now see paying for that device because it is within their budget to make the purchase rather than purchasing the actual textbook. Often, the dilemma many face is whether they can subside from their usual flipping of the pages for pushing of buttons and viewing of a screen. Maria does make an excellent point about the audio though. I am actually shocked they haven’t introduced ebooks with audio because this would appeal to a much broader range of readers, especially those readers with impairments. I wonder how much more expensive that may be and if that is the reason for the hold up? Especially because I am certain the capability is there with all of the children’s learning books that have been sold on the shelves that provide audio like the Magic Tree House audio books for example.
ReplyDeleteThanks-Brandy