<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1">
</head>
<body bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000">
<style><head>
<style><head>
<style><head>
<style><head>
<style><head>
<style><head>
<style><head>
<style><head>
<style><head>
<style><head>
<style><head>
<style><head>
<style><head>
<style><head>
<style><head>
<style><head>
<style><head>
<style></style>
<title>OPLIN 4Cast</title>
<style>
.headerTop { background-color:#FFFFFF; border-top:0px solid #000000; border-bottom:1px solid #FFFFFF; text-align:center; }
.adminText { font-size:16px; color:#0000FF; line-height:200%; font-family:verdana; text-decoration:none; }
.headerBar { background-color:#FFFFFF; border-top:0px solid #333333; border-bottom:0px solid #FFFFFF; }
.title { font-size:20px; font-weight:bold; color:#000000; font-family:arial; line-height:110%; }
.subTitle { font-size:11px; font-weight:normal; color:#000000; font-style:italic; font-family:arial; }
.defaultText { font-size:12px; color:#000000; line-height:150%; font-family:trebuchet ms; }
.footerRow { background-color:#FFFFCC; border-top:0px solid #FFFFFF; }
.footerText { font-size:10px; color:#996600; line-height:100%; font-family:verdana; }
a { color:#0000FF; color:#0000FF; color:#0000FF; }
</style>
<table class="backgroundTable" bgcolor="#ffffff" cellpadding="0"
cellspacing="0" width="100%">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td align="left" valign="top">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="border-top: 0px solid rgb(0, 0, 0);
border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(255, 255, 255);
background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-align:
center;" align="center"><span style="font-size:
10px; color: rgb(96, 96, 96); line-height: 200%;
font-family: verdana; text-decoration: none;">Email
not
displaying correctly? <a
href="http://www.oplin.org/4cast/"
style="font-size: 10px; color: rgb(0, 0, 255);
line-height: 200%; font-family: verdana;
text-decoration: none;">View
it in your browser.</a></span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border-top: 0px solid rgb(51, 51, 51);
border-bottom: 0px solid rgb(255, 255, 255);
background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<center><a href=""><img id="editableImg1"
src="cid:part1.06060406.00040806@oplin.org"
title="OPLIN" alt="OPLIN 4Cast" border="0"
align="middle"></a></center>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table style="width: 763px; height: 877px;"
bgcolor="#ffffff" cellpadding="20" cellspacing="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
line-height: 150%; font-family: trebuchet ms;"
bgcolor="#ffffff"
background="http://www.oplin.org/4cast/wp-content/themes/4cast/images/kubrickbgwide.jpg"
valign="top">
<p><!-- Make sure you modify the 4Cast title in this section -->
<span style="font-size: 20px; font-weight: bold;
color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial;
line-height: 110%;">OPLIN 4Cast #226: eTextbooks
are different</span><br>
<!-- Make sure you modify the date of the 4Cast in this section -->
<span style="font-size: 11px; font-weight: normal;
color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-style: italic;
font-family: arial;">April 20th, 2011</span></p>
<!-- Begin copy of Web Source here -->
<p style="text-align: justify; font-size: 16px;
font-family: arial; line-height: 110%;"><a
href="http://www.oplin.org/4cast/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/etextbooks.png"><img
class="alignleft size-full wp-image-1835"
title="etextbooks"
src="cid:part2.02080403.00020908@oplin.org"
alt="" height="166" width="130"></a>We have
certainly written a number of <a
href="http://www.oplin.org/4cast/?tag=e-books">posts
on this blog about e-books</a> in the past, but
this post is about a specific kind of digital
book: "eTextbooks." These textbook e-books differ
in important ways from the novel e-books we've
posted about previously. Reading a textbook often
involves highlighting sections of text for later
review and taking notes, things which few people
reading novels do. This difference in the reading
activity leads to an interesting difference in the
preferred hardware for eTextbooks: the reading
device needs to have either a touchscreen or
touchpad, like a tablet or laptop computer. Most
novel e-book reading devices, like the Kindle,
lack this. And because tablets and laptops are <em>computers</em>,
they can do more things than just displaying text,
things which are, in turn, beginning to drive
changes in the way eTextbooks are written and
marketed. Will students begin to expect similar
features when they read a novel e-book? </p>
<div> </div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li style="text-align: justify; font-size: 16px;
font-family: arial; line-height: 110%;"><a
href="http://singularityhub.com/2011/04/07/etextbooks-and-educational-apps-ipads-enter-the-classroom/">eTextbooks
and educational apps: iPads enter the
classroom</a> (Singularity Hub/Whitney Ijem)
"High school, college and graduate students
alike are making use of eTextbooks from
companies like <a
href="http://www.inkling.com/">Inkling</a> and
<a href="http://www.coursesmart.com/">CourseSmart</a>.
These companies work with textbook publishers to
provide digital versions of the cumbersome
textbooks we are so used to lugging around.
There are also apps available that aid in note
taking and information gathering. Older students
aren't the only ones with iPads. In some
schools, children as young as 5 are using iPads
to learn the basics."</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; font-size: 16px;
font-family: arial; line-height: 110%;"><a
href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/1_in_4_college_textbooks_will_be_digital_by_2015.php">1
in 4 college textbooks will be digital by 2015</a>
(ReadWriteWeb/Audrey Watters) "An oft-cited
study by the <a
href="http://www.hackeducation.com/2011/01/07/survey-finds-college-students-prefer-their-textbooks-in-print/">Book
Industry Study Group</a> found that 75% of
college students say they prefer print
textbooks. But Xplana [<a
href="http://blog.xplana.com/reports/digital-textbooks-reach-the-tipping-point-in-the-u-s-higher-education-a-revised-5-year-projection/">report</a>]
says that rather than take that study as a sign
that students will refuse to use digital books,
we should instead marvel that, at a time when
only 1% of college textbooks are available in an
electronic format, that already 25% of college
students say they prefer to study this way."</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; font-size: 16px;
font-family: arial; line-height: 110%;"><a
href="http://venturebeat.com/2011/03/23/inkling-funding-ipad-textbooks/">Publishers
back Inkling’s iPad textbooks</a>
(VentureBeat/Anthony Ha) "But he [Inkling CEO
Matt MacInnis] argued that everyone else is
basically adding limited features to a PDF of
the textbook and that these e-books are
basically developed by the publishers' business
divisions without much input from the original
textbook creators. Inkling, on the other hand,
wants to publish apps that feel like they were
truly built for the iPad, which usually means
working with the books' authors to create new
content. 'It only gets interesting when the
content itself changes and begins to respond to
your fingertips,' MacInnis said."</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; font-size: 16px;
font-family: arial; line-height: 110%;"><a
href="http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/24/textbook-renter-chegg-becomes-more-social-embargo-until-w/">Textbook
renter Chegg becomes more social</a> (New York
Times Bits blog/Miguel Helft) "CourseRank, which
Chegg acquired in August, lets students see
reviews of courses and professors written by
other students. Students can also see when a
class meets so they can plan their schedule
online. They can also see who among their
friends have signed up for a given course, the
distribution of grades (is this class going to
be hard or not?) and of course, what textbooks
are required. (Yes, they can then rent them from
Chegg.)"</li>
</ul>
<div style="text-align: left;"> </div>
<p style="text-align: left; font-size: 20px;
font-family: arial; line-height: 110%;"><small><strong><em>Licensing
fact:</em></strong></small><br>
</p>
<div style="text-align: justify; font-size: 16px;
font-family: arial; line-height: 110%;">Students
often don't purchase eTextbooks; they "subscribe"
to them for a term long enough to cover the class
term, usually 180 days. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;"> </div>
<!-- End paste of web source here --> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="" solid="" background-color:="" rgb(255,=""
255,="" 255);="" >=""
background="http://www.oplin.org/4cast/wp-content/themes/4cast/images/kubrickbgwide.jpg"
valign="top" width="760"><span style="font-size:
10px; color: rgb(96, 96, 96); line-height: 100%;
font-family: verdana;">
<hr><!-- Begin standard subscription verbiage -->
<div style="text-align: justify;">The <strong><em>OPLIN
4cast</em></strong>
is a weekly compilation of
recent headlines, topics, and trends that could
impact public
libraries. You can subscribe to it in a variety
of ways, such as: <br>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;"> </div>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><strong>RSS
feed.</strong>
You
can receive the OPLIN 4cast
via RSS feed by subscribing to the following
URL:
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.oplin.org/4cast/index.php/?feed=rss2">http://www.oplin.org/4cast/index.php/?feed=rss2</a>.
</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Live
Bookmark.</strong>
If you're using the Firefox
web browser, you can go to the 4cast website
(<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.oplin.org/4cast/">http://www.oplin.org/4cast/</a>) and click on the
orange "radio wave" icon
on the right side of the address bar. In
Internet Explorer 7, click on
the same icon to view or subscribe to the
4cast RSS feed. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><strong>E-mail.</strong>
You
can have the OPLIN 4cast
delivered via e-mail (a'la OPLINlist and
OPLINtech) by subscribing to
the 4cast mailing list at
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://mail.oplin.org/mailman/listinfo/OPLIN4cast">http://mail.oplin.org/mailman/listinfo/OPLIN4cast</a>.
</li>
</ul>
</span> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border-top: 0px solid rgb(255, 255, 255);
background-color: rgb(255, 255, 204);"
background="http://www.oplin.org/4cast/wp-content/themes/4cast/images/kubrickfooter.jpg"
valign="top" width="760"> <br>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</body>
</html>