November 12th, 2008 by Robin Green
In a previous blog I said that the rights of online courseware developers, authors and publishers need to be protected by eBook readers. However, this needs to happen as part of a new business model for distributing reading material.
As it is now, eBooks are still too expensive. EBooks shouldn’t be sold at a price comparable to their paper-bound cousins–after all, publishing an eBook costs almost nothing. Many people get their reading material second hand, or find open source online courseware or public domain works, or borrow resources from the library, for free.
Of course, reading material writers, online courseware authors and publishers need to earn profits. But they also should take into consideration the fact that people will not pay as much for eBooks as they will for paper-bound ones.
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Coggno.com provides high-quality online training.
November 12th, 2008 by Robin Green
In addition to the basic ones outlined here, there are some additional features that will separate the wildly popular eBook readers from the just popular or unpopular. These include text-to-speech, annotation tools, the ability to size up the font for when we get older, and expandable storage using an SD or CF card. What other features would you like for your ideal online courseware reading experience?
The future of the eBook reader in online courseware is bright, as long we we keep imagining. True, the readers available on the market–the Sony Reader, the Iliad and the Kindle among them–aren’t quite up to snuff. In order for eBook readers to make their way into the hands of all book lovers, LMS users and online courseware students, there will need to be some creative thinking and brainstorming.
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Coggno.com offers a wide variety of premier online courses.
November 12th, 2008 by Robin Green
One essential eBook reader feature that goes especially well with online courseware users is a built-in wireless connection. For example, Kindle’s wi-fi access makes buying and reading books simple and convenient.
EBook Readers with wireless technologies allow content to be loaded faster, an important feature for online courseware users with busy lives. Knowledge Center analyst J. Gerry Purdy predicts that the future eBook reader will have multiple wireless technologies, like Wi-Fi and cellular capabilities, as well as wireless wide area networking (3G and WiMax).
But let’s not forget some very practical features. Besides having indoor and outdoor screen readability, eBook readers of the future should have a nice long battery life. What’s portability if you need to constantly recharge? Pages that are easy to turn are also important. And for online courseware users who stay up studying at night, a back-lit screen is a must.
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Coggno.com provides high-quality e-learning.
November 11th, 2008 by Robin Green
The shortcomings of today’s eBook readers will need to be overcome in order to secure their place in the online courseware world. One feature that eBook readers will need is integrated animation and video. In regular books, photos are sometimes designated to the middle of the book, where they’re bunched together to save on reproduction costs. But in eBooks, including photos and videos shouldn’t be pricey. Creating more interactive eBook readers will be essential to keep up with increasingly engaging online courseware.
Suitable digital rights management and intellectual property protection are aspects that will also need to be ensured in eBook readers. Purdy suggests providing an open standard for eBook publishing that’s “cross-device, cross-publisher and includes DRM–all at reasonable prices…then people will gladly pay for the privilege of enjoying reading that really good story.” The rights of online courseware developers, authors and publishers will thus be protected.
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Coggno.com offers world-class LMS courses.
November 11th, 2008 by Robin Green
Say you come across an unfamiliar word in your online courseware, or a newspaper article, or a novel you’re reading. With online courseware, of course, you have the internet at your fingertips as a vocabulary resource. But maybe you’re commuting to work and passing your time on the train with a good book. Have you brought a pocket dictionary and/or thesaurus along for the ride? Probably not.
A convenient eBook reader capability that will, as Purdy suggests, make the readers “better” than a regular book is easy access to the dictionary and thesaurus. All you’ll have to do is highlight a word and the definition will pop up.
Another feature that eBook readers should possess is functionality on all networks, unlike cell phones, for example. Subscribers should be able to go to any book or online courseware material distributor and get the book they want.
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Coggno.com offers world-class online training.
November 11th, 2008 by Robin Green
Another feature that will help move eBook readers into the future of online courseware is a high-contrast, high-resolution color display. Imagine: it’s a bright, sunny day and you’d like to do some reading by the pool. With a high quality eBook reader, you should be able to study your online courseware material both indoors and out.
Since online courseware material usually contains not only text but audio, photos and videos, a perfect eBook reader will have high storage capacity, 10 GB being a minimum and 50 GB or more being ideal. Another basic feature a reader should have is random access; you should be able to select a chapter or bookmark and be taken instantly to that place in any of the eBooks you’re reading.
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Coggno.com offers a wide variety of premier online training courses.
November 11th, 2008 by Robin Green
Will eBook readers become an integral part of the future of online courseware as well as traditional education systems? It all depends on the usability of the readers. According to Knowledge Center analyst J. Gerry Purdy, successful eBook readers will have to offer a number of features that make them preferable to the printed page. One important feature will be the size of an eBook reader. A good size would be a 6-inch by 8-inch diagonal display, and very thin like the iPod touch.
A successful eBook reader should also able to turn instantly on and off, unlike traditional online courseware material which is available to users only after booting up a computer, loading a website, etc. An ideal reader should also have a natural, sensible user interface that doesn’t require a user’s manual. Online courseware learners using eBook readers should ideally be able to pick up the reader, turn it on and start reading.
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Coggno.com offers a wide-variety of premier online training courses.
November 10th, 2008 by Robin Green
Ebook readers like the iLiad and the Sony Reader are ideal not only for online courseware students, but for everyone who likes to read. Of course, an ebook reader is just that–a reader–not an actual book. It is simply a device that can store and display text in an easy-to-read manner.
However, not all ebook readers are created equal. When choosing one to help make your online courseware more readable, make sure it’s compatible with your ebook format. The Kindle, for example, comes with “Whispernet,” a data connection over the cell phone network, allowing you to buy pleasure reading, cookbooks, online courseware material, or whatever you’re looking for from Amazon.com and have it seamlessly delivered to your reader.
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Coggno.com provides high-quality online training.
