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Bye Bye Books? Now everyone will know what an eBook is. Thanks Gov. Schwarzenegger

by George Wright
73 replies
Hi All,

Ask your neighbors and local business owners. "Do you know what a pdf eBook is?" and chances are they will say, "No."

This will soon be a thing of the past in California at least.

Gov. Schwarzenegger just said on a newscast that he wants to do away with school text books and put them all on the Internet as PDFs.

He said this will save hundreds of millions of dollars.

The news report went on to say that school kids could read their text books online, download them and read them from a computer or print them out.

Also, they can be updated as often as needed and students won't be reading outdated information.

Get ready for the new text books. EBOOKS.

Of course this is not new to us.

George Wright
#ebook #good #gov #news #schwarzenegger
  • Profile picture of the author Star Riley
    Amazing thanks to the Awnauld we no longer will be looked at as ecrap peddlers but the fore runners to the new back bone of American Education...

    What !

    That may not be such a good thing :-)
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  • Profile picture of the author Harvey Segal
    Originally Posted by George Wright View Post

    he wants to do away with school text books
    It's true - he wants to terminate them

    Harvey


    .
    Signature
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    • Profile picture of the author George Wright
      Harvey, Harvey, Harvey.

      Originally Posted by Harvey.Segal View Post

      It's true - he wants to terminate them

      Harvey


      .
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    • Profile picture of the author ripsnorta2
      Originally Posted by Harvey.Segal View Post

      It's true - he wants to terminate them

      Harvey


      .
      He has detailed files... or he will when he PDFs the text books.
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      • Profile picture of the author Kevin Riley
        Hmmm? What will we do when the machines take over? No books, no resistance, no John Connor.

        I'm hoarding books now. I've surrounded myself with an impenetrable wall of pulp fiction. They won't get me ..........
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        • Profile picture of the author astaga
          Originally Posted by Kevin Riley View Post

          Hmmm? What will we do when the machines take over? No books, no resistance, no John Connor.

          I'm hoarding books now. I've surrounded myself with an impenetrable wall of pulp fiction. They won't get me ..........
          Mushi mushi Kevin,
          You crack me up.... "hoarding books"? did you see the movie "The Day after Tomorrow"?
          There was a scene where the great freeze was about to envelope these kids who happen to board themselves up in the library (I think). They had to burnt paper to generate heat, and on this scene, one of the young chaps said something akin to ".. wow, I've found lots of great bound volumes of Tax legistrature (or materials) to burn..."
          Man, that was really funny.....

          To a more important point, everything about the internet changes so fast that it's the doers that separates the readers. So much info, so little time, and even then, the ever rarer action doer. Am I making sense?
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    • Profile picture of the author jimmytron
      Banned
      [DELETED]
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      • Profile picture of the author Kay King
        Do we want to raise a generation that can only read if there's a computer in front of them?

        The textbook industry is a big money company - and their job is to sell "new" textbooks every year. The reason it works is because local school boards and school administrators buy into it - just as newbies buy WSO's here one after another. The money is throughout the industry - textbook sales reps selling books into schools make great money in commissions.

        What irritates me to no end is that history is rewritten in one new textbook after another to reflect the current politically correct view of "what happened". The push for more textbooks, newer and costlier textbooks as resulted in students learning wrong information from poorly written books in recent years. Adopting a new textbook every year or two in English, math, history, arts etc is just a stupid decision.

        Too many homes have no books in sight. Will we raise children who never learn the joy of having a book in their hands? Will "the power went out" or "my batteries died" be the new "I didn't do my homework because...." excuse?

        kay
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        • Profile picture of the author tommygadget
          Originally Posted by Kay King View Post

          Do we want to raise a generation that can only read if there's a computer in front of them?

          The textbook industry is a big money company - and their job is to sell "new" textbooks every year. The reason it works is because local school boards and school administrators buy into it - just as newbies buy WSO's here one after another. The money is throughout the industry - textbook sales reps selling books into schools make great money in commissions.

          What irritates me to no end is that history is rewritten in one new textbook after another to reflect the current politically correct view of "what happened". The push for more textbooks, newer and costlier textbooks as resulted in students learning wrong information from poorly written books in recent years. Adopting a new textbook every year or two in English, math, history, arts etc is just a stupid decision.

          Too many homes have no books in sight. Will we raise children who never learn the joy of having a book in their hands? Will "the power went out" or "my batteries died" be the new "I didn't do my homework because...." excuse?

          kay
          Even now, almost all my tech. manuals are on my desk. I just can't seem to absorb the information as well as when I am holding a book. This coming from someone who works 14 hours/day in front of a computer.

          TomG.
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    • Profile picture of the author kf
      Harvey - Your quick wit really slays me.

      I'll be back. []

      Originally Posted by Harvey.Segal View Post

      It's true - he wants to terminate them

      Harvey


      .
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  • Profile picture of the author NakMuay
    I don't understand why this hasn't been considered far earlier. It's astonishing how many college friends I have who purchase thousands in textbooks each and every semester, only to find out that they're outdated by the end of the semester, and worth nothing when they try to get cash back.

    We all know where the money flows with the outdated textbook publishing model. All of the constant updates/revisions are largely unnecessary, simply because our education model is OUTDATED.

    Just take a look at how everyone learns here. Education is a social accomplishment, and textbooks don't contribute to that. I really think it's up to IM'ers to take the reins on altering the misconceptions of learning and education. This is how it's done. Can we prove it to the world? I truly believe so...
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    • Profile picture of the author Johnathan
      Actually -- it's not that they are 'outdated' by the end of the semester -- it is that it is a good revenue stream for professors. All they have to do is make a couple "revisions" (change an equation here and there), then can charge full price for next years students. It's an "easy" extra $10-$20k/year for the prof.

      Originally Posted by NakMuay View Post

      I don't understand why this hasn't been considered far earlier. It's astonishing how many college friends I have who purchase thousands in textbooks each and every semester, only to find out that they're outdated by the end of the semester, and worth nothing when they try to get cash back.

      We all know where the money flows with the outdated textbook publishing model. All of the constant updates/revisions are largely unnecessary, simply because our education model is OUTDATED.

      Just take a look at how everyone learns here. Education is a social accomplishment, and textbooks don't contribute to that. I really think it's up to IM'ers to take the reins on altering the misconceptions of learning and education. This is how it's done. Can we prove it to the world? I truly believe so...
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    • Profile picture of the author George Wright
      It's mind boggling,

      1. Hold seminars for Teachers. Teach them how to create supplemental material. I personally know school teachers who will be out of work this summer as many have been laid off for for summer school. A friend of mine told me the management staff will be teaching summer school this year.

      It will probably be next to impossible to get personal eBooks on the approved list but who cares?

      Approved text book= U.S. History by....

      Supplement eBook= How to get an A+ in U.S. History Study guide by....

      2. Freelance writers, ghost writing for educators for pay or for sharing profits.

      3. A+ students writing How To "How I did it" eBooks

      4. - 1000. ??????

      George Wright

      Originally Posted by NakMuay View Post

      I don't understand why this hasn't been considered far earlier. It's astonishing how many college friends I have who purchase thousands in textbooks each and every semester, only to find out that they're outdated by the end of the semester, and worth nothing when they try to get cash back.

      We all know where the money flows with the outdated textbook publishing model. All of the constant updates/revisions are largely unnecessary, simply because our education model is OUTDATED.

      Just take a look at how everyone learns here. Education is a social accomplishment, and textbooks don't contribute to that. I really think it's up to IM'ers to take the reins on altering the misconceptions of learning and education. This is how it's done. Can we prove it to the world? I truly believe so...
      Signature
      "The first chapter sells the book; the last chapter sells the next book." Mickey Spillane
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    • Profile picture of the author ragnartm
      Originally Posted by NakMuay View Post

      I don't understand why this hasn't been considered far earlier. It's astonishing how many college friends I have who purchase thousands in textbooks each and every semester, only to find out that they're outdated by the end of the semester, and worth nothing when they try to get cash back.

      We all know where the money flows with the outdated textbook publishing model. All of the constant updates/revisions are largely unnecessary, simply because our education model is OUTDATED.

      Just take a look at how everyone learns here. Education is a social accomplishment, and textbooks don't contribute to that. I really think it's up to IM'ers to take the reins on altering the misconceptions of learning and education. This is how it's done. Can we prove it to the world? I truly believe so...
      + Investing in companies that produce glasses will be a nobrainer. Spending too much time reading on a computer screen over a long period of time will get you glasses in no time. Well it was 10 years for me but still. Long term investment with 2x payback, unless they go bankrupt before the industry goes skyhigh
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    • Profile picture of the author Sam101
      Banned
      Originally Posted by NakMuay View Post

      I don't understand why this hasn't been considered far earlier. It's astonishing how many college friends I have who purchase thousands in textbooks each and every semester, only to find out that they're outdated by the end of the semester, and worth nothing when they try to get cash back.

      We all know where the money flows with the outdated textbook publishing model. All of the constant updates/revisions are largely unnecessary, simply because our education model is OUTDATED.

      Just take a look at how everyone learns here. Education is a social accomplishment, and textbooks don't contribute to that. I really think it's up to IM'ers to take the reins on altering the misconceptions of learning and education. This is how it's done. Can we prove it to the world? I truly believe so...
      That's because it is difficult to change an established mindset/model. Essentially, we are trying to teach 21st century technology using a 17th century technology (classroom, physical teacher & presence, physical books, etc).
      For the first time I daresay the Terminator has come up with a high IQ statement.
      Of course, I have a vested interest in this, I sell e-learning courses (not just ebooks but courses with full interactive flash based animations, videos, graphics-the whole nine yards of it).
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  • Profile picture of the author George Wright
    How's this for a quote? "
    "Schwarzenegger: Digital textbooks can save money, improve learning

    San Jose Mercury News - ‎Jun 6, 2009‎
    So why are California's public school students still forced to lug around antiquated, heavy, expensive textbooks? California is home to software giants"

    Here is the full article. http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_12536333

    George Wright
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  • Profile picture of the author GarrieWilson
    John Reese was talking about the new Kindle and how colleges should move to it on Twitter last week.

    For high schools, its a bit more of a challenge though.

    Many of them don't have computers and if you print everything, it will be just as costly.

    They need to partner w/ a company to buy portable readers. Much like the Channel 1 station puts TVs in classrooms. Then they could give them readers loaded w/ the semester books and when it's turned on, a 30 second ad is played or something.

    It would also save on required reading for English classes as most of the books they use are available in the PD.

    Plus it will save trees.

    They will need to find a way to stop/limit piracy though. I guess the companies could license the "books" per district. But they would still want $10-30/student/book.

    Garrie
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    • Profile picture of the author bgmacaw
      Originally Posted by GarrieWilson View Post

      John Reese was talking about the new Kindle and how colleges should move to it on Twitter last week.
      What a coincidence, Kyle Reese was recently talking about how we shouldn't trust machines.
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    • Profile picture of the author Mark Brian
      Originally Posted by GarrieWilson View Post

      John Reese was talking about the new Kindle and how colleges should move to it on Twitter last week.
      Funny how the name John Reese is related to Arnold.
      If we look in to it, John Connor's name should have been John Reese and not John Connor because his father was Kyle Reese. LOL.




      Anyway....

      This is a major leap in the eradication of humanity, I can foresee Skynet emerging through this digital PDF revolution you speak of.
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    • Profile picture of the author John Rogers
      Originally Posted by GarrieWilson View Post

      John Reese was talking about the new Kindle and how colleges should move to it on Twitter last week.
      My first thought when I saw the subject line of this thread was the Kindle.

      As the Kindle (or a competing reader) becomes more popular, and the price of the device drops, there will be a significant shift to paperless books.

      Colleges moving to Kindle could be the tipping point.

      John
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      • Profile picture of the author John Henderson
        Originally Posted by John Rogers View Post

        Colleges moving to Kindle could be the tipping point.
        I don't know if you know this John, but Duke University in North Carolina has been giving iPods to its freshmen for a few years now...
        Duke Gives IPods to Freshmen
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  • Profile picture of the author Tonytsports
    The ink cartridge manufactures must be doing cartwheels.
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  • Profile picture of the author Edgar Moreno
    Most homes if not all already have computers and internet at home. This would definitely help to cut down costs and spare some trees.

    The only problem I foresee with this concept is if there are mulitiple children in school but only one computer at home. They would have to rotate homework time or something.
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  • Profile picture of the author Chaiwriter
    You know... this is slightly off topic but another thing that schools should do is distance learning. Have one school teacher teach a class and then cybercast the class into a 3 or 4 other schools. Then just pay a teacher's aid to be in the classroom with the students who are in the distance learning classrooms.

    You can even tape the class and show it whenever it's convenient for the students.

    Actually, at a small rural school I taught at for 4 years it's how our kids learned sign language and AP classes. And it worked pretty well too.
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  • Profile picture of the author LADWebDesign
    I believe the education world is finally catching on to the internet. Half of my son's classes may be taken online - and the textbook companies are finally starting to put textbooks online. If he doesn't bring his book home, he can usually log in somewhere and access his homework.
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  • Profile picture of the author George Wright
    There are a whole lot of people on this forum and in Internet marketing in general that should start positioning themselves as the "go to guy/gal for a lot of things."

    eCover design
    eBook page templates
    Security issues
    Distribution sources

    Established Big Business (publishers) will probably corner the market on mainstream PDF distribution, having said that I think educators including professors and facilitators will now jump on the bandwagon when WE teach them how to self publish, make their "book" look just as good or better as mainstream material and provide them with other tools they need to be in business for themselves.

    I personally know a lot of teachers and they are worried about the economy as much or more than anyone else and will welcome other "legit" sources of income.

    George Wright
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  • Profile picture of the author GeorgR.
    cheezzz....

    the US has problems rolling out hidef TV because not everyone can afford a digital set-top box for hidef television.

    What about the poor people who cant afford computers to read their books?

    Laptops for free for the ones who dont have one? <--
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    • Profile picture of the author Gabe77
      Originally Posted by GeorgR. View Post

      cheezzz....

      the US has problems rolling out hidef TV because not everyone can afford a digital set-top box for hidef television.

      What about the poor people who cant afford computers to read their books?

      Laptops for free for the ones who dont have one? <--
      I think that part about not everyone has a computer at home should be taken into consideration. Would the state provide notebooks to kids who don't have one at home? Or perhaps subsidize or lend it for the school year?
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    • Profile picture of the author George Wright
      Hi George (nice name)

      Believe it or not almost everyone has a PC in the house, if not Everyone.

      The public libraries have computers. All the schools have them.

      I ride public transportation a lot and ALL the kids have cell phones. I don't mean simple cellphones, A young man showed me his PDF collection on his Cell.

      And yes, the $199 notebooks are showing up all over the place.

      George Wright

      Originally Posted by GeorgR. View Post

      cheezzz....

      the US has problems rolling out hidef TV because not everyone can afford a digital set-top box for hidef television.

      What about the poor people who cant afford computers to read their books?

      Laptops for free for the ones who dont have one? <--
      Signature
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  • Profile picture of the author Joseph Then
    Originally Posted by George Wright View Post

    The news report went on to say that school kids could read their text books online, download them and read them from a computer or print them out.
    That's where the paper will be wasted.

    I remembered years ago where the business world is promoting the 'paperless office' by using emails, digital copies.

    They ended up using MORE paper.
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    • Profile picture of the author George Wright
      Very True Joseph,

      In our Insurance office we had to buy new file cabinets because now we not only needed room for the paper applications but now we "had" to save copies of all printouts.

      I put "" around "had" because we really didn't have to. There is something about humans, we don't trust that the info will be on the harddrive forever but a nice ream of paper in a manila folder will last forever. Of course its all a mind game, not reality because the company had so much redundant back up and back ups of back ups.

      We won't truly be in the IT information age until we simply refuse to print out everything and trust the save button.

      One way to cut down on waste of paper in the schoolbook issue would be to charge for the paper.

      George Wright

      Originally Posted by Joseph Then View Post

      That's where the paper will be wasted.

      I remembered years ago where the business world is promoting the 'paperless office' by using emails, digital copies.

      They ended up using MORE paper.
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      • Profile picture of the author Joseph Then
        Originally Posted by George Wright View Post

        We won't truly be in the IT information age until we simply refuse to print out everything and trust the save button.
        We can't. We are all trained for decades to see things on paper.

        One prime example: Would you believe if your boss send you an email saying "You are promoted!"

        You'd print that email out as 'proof' right?
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        • Profile picture of the author George Wright
          In the year 3000

          Originally Posted by Joseph Then View Post

          We can't. We are all trained for decades to see things on paper.

          One prime example: Would you believe if your boss send you an email saying "You are promoted!"

          You'd print that email out as 'proof' right?
          Signature
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        • Profile picture of the author Gabe77
          Originally Posted by Joseph Then View Post

          We can't. We are all trained for decades to see things on paper.

          One prime example: Would you believe if your boss send you an email saying "You are promoted!"

          You'd print that email out as 'proof' right?

          You're right. We cannot totally eliminate paper. Reduce, maybe.
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  • Profile picture of the author Wakunahum
    I've always thought it was weird that with a department of education certain subjects don't have free multi-authored text books.

    Take math for example. How often do algebra problems change?

    Most subjects wouldn't have to be updated too often, and when there were updates college graduate assistants, school teachers, and professors could submit changes as needed.

    Not only would American families and school districts save money, but kids across the world could benefit as well who don't have access to good materials could learn from them as well (i.e. the kid who invents the next such and such that might not have w/out an education).
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  • Profile picture of the author JamesFarias
    This is definitely not new to us...the funny thing is that the majority of my class texts in college were online back in 2003...I am glad that the country is moving in this direction!
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  • Profile picture of the author Theone24
    So is it a good thing or a bad thing? Now everyone will be on the band wagon (writing e-books) but more people will know about buying ebooks to learn from.
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    • Profile picture of the author George Wright
      If you think it's good or if you think it's bad you are right. So it goes with the whole of Internet Marketing and life in general. For every 1000 "can't be done" there is a doer making book.

      I don't think I can make money with CPA but there are others who are doing it. Someday when I think I can I will.

      George Wright

      Originally Posted by JELL View Post

      So is it a good thing or a bad thing? Now everyone will be on the band wagon (writing e-books) but more people will know about buying ebooks to learn from.
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    • Profile picture of the author Joseph Then
      Originally Posted by JELL View Post

      So is it a good thing or a bad thing? Now everyone will be on the band wagon (writing e-books) but more people will know about buying ebooks to learn from.
      Just to bring out another important point: With ebooks, it is harder to control which book has legitimate teachings.

      I mean, if any students can just obtain PDF for a fee, I bet there will be a ton of Internet Marketers will create a new salesletter teaching student "How to pass Geography with flying colors... Government Verified!" type of garbage.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jagged
    Woooooshhh.... thats the breeze created by the mad rush of everyone racing to get educational related domain names......lol
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    • Profile picture of the author George Wright
      Jagged, I wasn't going to say that till I got mine. Thanks a lot.

      George Wright

      Originally Posted by Jagged View Post

      Woooooshhh.... thats the breeze created by the mad rush of everyone racing to get educational related domain names......lol
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  • Profile picture of the author Theone24
    That's an exellent point Mr Wright. Although the best and also the scariest thing about the net is that things can change very easily and very quickly. I don't want things to change for another 3 years-not untill i get my foot firmly in the door.
    Sometime it worrys me that more and more people are using the net for business. In 10 years time who knows where we will be...Google will own all...
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  • Profile picture of the author Norma Holt
    Recently I posted a thread about the loss of libraries. My daughter is doing a technical course involving psychology and psychiatry and there is no library at the college. She is totally lost without books to reference.

    Many in here said that books will always be around but the trend might be that we are heading into a paperless society as the environment and costs take precedent over the comfort of reading a book. But then again just heard a news report on the effect of cyber sabotage on businesses. Guess it will be the same on students if this happens.

    Norma
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  • Profile picture of the author Josh Bartlett
    Its all part of his evil plan for machines to take over the world
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  • Profile picture of the author ken_p
    i am not so sure about feelings towards this news. since, i dont want my child to spend (his developing years)in front of the computer. I guess i am pretty torn in two about this. I mean, i could just imagine , the paper we are going to save, if we do away with printed textbooks..
    :-P
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    • Profile picture of the author Harvey Segal
      Originally Posted by Mark Brian View Post

      Funny how the name John Reese is related to Arnold.
      If we look in to it, John Connor's name should have been John Reese and not John Connor because his father was Kyle Reese. LOL.
      I'll tell you something even more mysterious

      Look at this

      Originally Posted by Josh Bartlett View Post

      Its all part of his evil plan for machines to take over the world
      I was thinking that even the mighty Schwarzenegger couldn't do this

      So I started playing around with the phrase
      "even mighty Schwarzenegger"

      Look at the name I extracted from those letters

      . . . Steven Wagenheim


      Harvey


      .
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      • Profile picture of the author thetwooldladies
        What is the world coming to......I'm old school and new school and still like to cozy up to a good old book now and then.
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      • Profile picture of the author Mark Brian
        Originally Posted by Harvey.Segal View Post

        I'll tell you something even more mysterious

        Look at this



        I was thinking that even the mighty Schwarzenegger couldn't do this

        So I started playing around with the phrase
        "even mighty Schwarzenegger"

        Look at the name I extracted from those letters

        . . . Steven Wagenheim


        Harvey


        .
        Holy shit, I knew it! It's all a big conspiracy. LOL.
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      • Profile picture of the author Kevin Riley
        Originally Posted by Harvey.Segal View Post

        I'll tell you something even more mysterious

        Look at this



        I was thinking that even the mighty Schwarzenegger couldn't do this

        So I started playing around with the phrase
        "even mighty Schwarzenegger"

        Look at the name I extracted from those letters

        . . . Steven Wagenheim


        Harvey


        .
        I knew it! The Wagenheim is evil. But not to worry. I have already dispatched a crack team of Ninja Hamsters to take out this evil man. No longer will we be subjected to his singing on You Tube or his long posts with big words and no pictures.
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        Kevin Riley, long-time Warrior living in Osaka, Japan

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        • Profile picture of the author Harvey Segal
          Originally Posted by Kevin Riley View Post

          I knew it! The Wagenheim is evil. But not to worry. I have already dispatched a crack team of Ninja Hamsters to take out this evil man. No longer will we be subjected to his singing on You Tube or his long posts with big words and no pictures.
          Alas, even when he himself promises never to post at the forum again
          you know what he's thinking ==> I'll be back.


          Harvey
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  • Profile picture of the author Igor Kheifets
    Wow,

    that's a great leap forward for the California community
    and I think the rest of the world should and will follow eventually.

    Igor
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  • Profile picture of the author tommygadget
    Kindles for everyone! YAY, quick buy Amazon stock!

    TomG.
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  • Profile picture of the author Tyrus Antas
    Great! Now all kids can start developing myopia at 6

    Tyrus
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  • Profile picture of the author funky_budha
    this could mean, a lot of trees will be saved, from being cut down, to make paper. or am i thinking too far ahead?
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    Chill Out Venture
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  • Profile picture of the author Thomas
    SInce we already know sitting in front of a computer all day tends to turn adults into fatties, I wonder what the effects will be on still-developing children?

    That said, there probably is great money-saving potential (not that that should be the only concern when it comes to children's education). Here, the entire curriculum is set by the Department of Education... since tax-payers have already paid for them, PDFs of every subject could be simply e-mailed to schools to do with what they please.

    For example, they could use the to supplement text books, rather than replace them: kids could keep their text books at home (eliminating the need for a home computer) and the teachers could print-off a chapter (or even part of a chapter) at a time for use in class, thus also eliminating the need for kids to carry around a ton of books with them to and from school every day.

    Alternatively, the profits from printing them could go to the (chronically underfunded) schools instead of the publishing companies. If the schools had a PDF of the text-book, you can be sure that, since they would require several hundred (or even several thousand) at a time, that a local printer would offer a very good rate, meaning they could probably be sold at reduced cost to parents/students while still turing a profit for the school. And, since the cirriculum is set by the State (at least in Ireland), you wouldn't have anyone in the schools changing a little bit here and there to justify another print-run.

    Hey, I just talked myself into liking the idea...

    Tommy.
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  • Profile picture of the author Gail Sober
    This is all going way too fast for me.

    1st, a guy sent back from the future is governing California and now this.

    It just makes my head spin
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  • Profile picture of the author GuruGazette
    I love books - of all kinds. Our house has tons of print books, some of them dating back into the 1700-1800's.

    I also have an extensive EReader library of ~100 books stuffed onto my Palm Pilot and my Tablet PC.

    And I've got who knows how many PDF ebooks - also on the Palm Pilot, Tablet PC, and desktop computer.

    My husband has a bunch of PDF books on his little Pepper UMPC, and on his Archos too.

    I'm drooling for a Kindle and I have published a small library of Kindle books already too.

    For me personally, I'd LOVE a Kindle device that also had handwriting recognition like the Old Newtons and my Tablet PC. That would be the ultimate in size, weight, portability, reading and writing comfort so I'd be able to have all my books as well as my journals and my own ongoing writing projects in a lightweight easy to carry and use device.

    I agree though there are pros and cons to going this route with school kids. I've seen lots of experiments over the years with Palm Pilots and Tablet PCs in schools and colleges, but so far nothing has taken off in a really widespread manner.

    Unfortunately kids seem to be reading less and less over the years and for many people reading a book on a computer is even more difficult/uncomfortable to do, so it could cause them to avoid it even more. Worse though, is that it's likely to lead to more video based teaching: games, movies, cartoons, etc. These work well for kids but the more visual mediums are put into place, the less they'll be reading. And over time I think that's a bad way to go.
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  • Profile picture of the author Bounderby
    Did those of us growing up watching Star Trek TNG/DS9 ever doubt those hand-held digital clipboard things would become reality?
    The advent of e-ink and the Kindle WILL explode the ebook market, and the technology WILL develop and converge at a rate at least equal to the cell phone/digital camera/MP3 markets.
    One thing I am certain of is that, although books may co-exist with their electronic counterparts for the foreseeable future, the printed newspaper industry is over. Circulations have been in decline for years, can anybody really see them surviving? How can it be viable producing print editions seven days a week, with the news out of date compared to dynamic news websites as soon as they come off the press? GAME OVER!
    The future is now, and I for one rejoice.
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  • Profile picture of the author HeySal
    I agree, Kay. What happens when "edits" become the custom to keep citizens in line with the latest greatest new dictator wanna be. From what I read they are already changing the definition of "fascism" in webster's. Digging through ancient - or even just old - text has been of major importance in revealing true histories, true conspiracies, and information about past knowledge and social structure.

    Schools are banning many books that we grew up considering classic -what happens when all that needs to be done to ban information is click a button?

    On the other hand, no paper helps save trees and our environment is in some wild danger right now.

    Perhaps the correct answer might be to have a mandatory number of solid texts available so the public can stock these books to have for future reference in case the new versions start to get "funny" with the updates. Also to keep people working. Online still means some jobs, but production people still need to work.
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    • Profile picture of the author Barry Walls
      Originally Posted by HeySal View Post

      I agree, Kay. What happens when "edits" become the custom to keep citizens in line with the latest greatest new dictator wanna be. From what I read they are already changing the definition of "fascism" in webster's. Digging through ancient - or even just old - text has been of major importance in revealing true histories, true conspiracies, and information about past knowledge and social structure.

      Schools are banning many books that we grew up considering classic -what happens when all that needs to be done to ban information is click a button?

      On the other hand, no paper helps save trees and our environment is in some wild danger right now.

      Perhaps the correct answer might be to have a mandatory number of solid texts available so the public can stock these books to have for future reference in case the new versions start to get "funny" with the updates. Also to keep people working. Online still means some jobs, but production people still need to work.

      Sal...I was thinking about this the other day. What if....the plan all along was to digitize everything, get rid of all paper copies and then flick a big switch to a controlled, rationed and censored internet 2?

      The biggest book burning in history in a milisecond.

      I think Hitler would have loved the internet for its ability to centralize and dump when the time is right.

      All the best

      Barry

      PS- Must disagree with the "keep stuff so people can work". Lets just get rid of fractional reserve banking and the monetary system instead. Then no one would have to work if they didnt want to.
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    • Profile picture of the author Barry Walls
      Its always the editors editors bosses boss you have to watch out for...
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  • Profile picture of the author GuruGazette
    Hmmmmmm... Things could actually get REALLY interesting...

    http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/01/te...ref=technology

    Grr... the board didn't put the title there like it usually does. From The New York Times: "Preparing to Sell E-Books, Google Takes on Amazon"
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  • Profile picture of the author MoneyWizard
    With the power problems now and in the future, if the electricity goes out for extended periods an ebook is not an option.
    Kind of nice to have a plain old fashioned book to grab and read by candlelight and/or flashlight to pass the time until power is back up.
    Of course, if power goes out for longer than a couple of days, reading may not be so high on the "to do" list.
    Kindle by candle anyone?
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    • Profile picture of the author Joseph Then
      Originally Posted by MoneyWizard View Post

      With the power problems now and in the future, if the electricity goes out for extended periods an ebook is not an option.
      Kind of nice to have a plain old fashioned book to grab and read by candlelight and/or flashlight to pass the time until power is back up.
      Of course, if power goes out for longer than a couple of days, reading may not be so high on the "to do" list.
      Kindle by candle anyone?
      I'll sell water batteries that will power these devices.
      Japanese inventor touts water-powered battery
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  • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
    Banned
    Is the guv also going to personally buy a computer, paper, printer and ink for every school kid who doesn't have them?
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  • Profile picture of the author Diane S
    Moshi, Moshi Kevin! Gotta love your sense of humor! I don't remember Osaka being beautiful....must have missed that section of town when I whooshed by on the Shinkansen on my way to places South..... Eat some Okonomiyaki for me, watashi no tomodachi.
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  • Profile picture of the author Barry Walls
    Originally Posted by George Wright View Post

    Hi All,

    Ask your neighbors and local business owners. "Do you know what a pdf eBook is?" and chances are they will say, "No."

    This will soon be a thing of the past in California at least.

    Gov. Schwarzenegger just said on a newscast that he wants to do away with school text books and put them all on the Internet as PDFs.

    He said this will save hundreds of millions of dollars.

    The news report went on to say that school kids could read their text books online, download them and read them from a computer or print them out.

    Also, they can be updated as often as needed and students won't be reading outdated information.

    Get ready for the new text books. EBOOKS.

    Of course this is not new to us.

    George Wright
    Don't laugh...wait till you have a heart attack and this is your only medical treatment.

    Or when you have a break in and you have to call these guys...

    Front line services being cut is about to get serious...and unlike Arnie...they won't be back.
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  • Profile picture of the author Norma Holt
    Its interesting the differing views in this thread. Just 10 years ago people would never dream of having to own a computer to get an education for their children and yet now just about every home has one. It is this factor that is driving the bookless education trends. But there are others.

    Books need space for storage, are prone to collect dust and, therefore, dust mites which is a health hazard. They are expensive to produce and beyond many people's budget to have on hand. I went without essential books when at university because they were just too darn expensive.

    Lecturers have long taken extracts from academic publications and produced the so-called 'bricks' from them for student who can, therefore, buy them for a fraction of the cost and have the necessary references for their courses. But, it seems. even this is being phased out.

    Our PM has just put out a budget to give every student in our schools their own computer, which I believe they are allowed to take home. Courses at the Australian National University (my old haunt) encourage the use of computers in lectures for note taking in faculties such as law.

    Guess us oldies have to get with the times. In 1966 we underwent changes with the old counting system changing to decimals and miles went to kilometers while temperature gauges went from Fahrenheit to Celsius. It was the end of the world for those of us who were educated in the old way. Now our kids have no idea of what we mean when we still refer to things in inches, miles, or acres.

    Computers are here to stay and books are going. It is not such a bad thing for authors who spend a fortune presenting books for publication to publishing house after house to no avail. Now they can do it online and get paid adequately for their work.

    Think that Swazzeneger is just copying the general trend and doing what educators want. After all it will make their life a lot easier. I still shudder at the memory of one of my lecturers whose office was full of papers and books stacked to the ceiling almost with no time to sort them out. You almost had to push them aside to get in.

    Oh well GHU, the times they are a changing.

    Norma
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  • Profile picture of the author blogginvixen
    Not only would they be using more paper, but can you imagine how much poorer students' eyesight would be -- heck, their posture too? I mean don't they spend enough time in front of a computer as is?

    Also, who is to say that every student has access to a computer?

    Another Terminator idea that hit the dust like his movies!
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    • Profile picture of the author George Wright
      Originally Posted by blogginvixen View Post

      Not only would they be using more paper, but can you imagine how much poorer students' eyesight would be -- heck, their posture too? I mean don't they spend enough time in front of a computer as is?

      Also, who is to say that every student has access to a computer?

      Another Terminator idea that hit the dust like his movies!

      Fraid not.

      Many moons ago I used to sell World Book Encyclopedia. I got in to it just as PCs were starting to show up in households.

      The Encyclopedia sales force were trained to overcome all the objections.

      "Snuggling up with your little girl with a World Book open to her favorite subject will never be replaced by a Computer."

      Of course for the most part the only place you see the World Books today is at school and in the library.

      You can get a World Book disk for 10 bucks with the whole set on them and people are hard pressed to spend $1 - $2k for a set of books that need to be updated every year with year books.

      At the library, I said to the reference desk librarian, "I used to sell those," pointing to the pristine set of WBs." "Do the kids still use them?" His answer was, "Why would they?" As he pointed to the 100 PCs and Lap Top ready tables complete with Ethernet cables and wireless. And this was only one out of several Computer areas. PCs, Apples and laptop connections must equal 150 stations at least.

      As far as wasting paper Some High School kids and more-so college students buy one book between a study group and photocopy the book for all the others in the group. I'm stating what I've seen with my own eyes and not what I "think."

      Here is one for the books (pardon the pun) The downtown local library had only one copy of a certain book. I was there when rather than checking it out the students were in the copy room paying 15 cents a page to make copies. I even remember the book, it was Ishmael. I believe this was not an anomaly.

      In California most students do have computer access. (really I think all do but I won't say that since I don't know for sure) If there are any left who don't, a small notebook is cheaper than one set of books. They will find a way to place a computer in the hands of everyone.

      While there may be health problems associated with PCs, it is balanced out when I see middle school students hunched forward walking by my house with backpacks full of heavy books. Some even have roller cases. It used to be thought that reading books in dim light would harm your eyes. Not so.

      Personally my old eyes see the PC text better than a book. And don't forget you can always enlarge the print. And there are screen filters.

      George Wright
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  • Profile picture of the author Robin E. Anderson
    I don't know ...some of he arguments here make sense. But as an avid reader and a teacher, I get queasy thinking of doing away with books. Sitting and staring at a screen will never equal holding a real book in your hand. Besides, my eyes get tired staring too long at a computer screen. I like to turn pages.
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  • Profile picture of the author Robin E. Anderson
    A lot of these arguments make sense, but as an avid reader and a teacher, I can't imagine life without the pleasure of books to hold, pages to turn, and bookcases to grace my home. Besides, my eyes get tired looking at a computer screen.
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    • Profile picture of the author George Wright
      Hi Robin,

      Not to worry. They won't do away with books in this century. I'm just saying school text books are going to be the "in" thing in California and there will be a big market for eBooks and related material teaching others how to make their own eBooks. Of course in the future generations from now who knows. Clay tablets.... Scrolls..... Books..... eBooks..... Cranial information chip implants.... ???

      My excitement comes not from from losing "real books," but the fact that I don't think the public at large including teachers know much about eBook creation.

      How many desire to write a book but are thwarted by the process of getting published. Vanity presses have boomed but they cost a lot. eBook publishing does not cost. Imagine a site like EzineArticles but catering to professionals who want to be published. Till now eBooks were not considered "real books." The California Gov's new project might change that perception.

      Look how many computer savvy people ask questions like, "How do I make a PDF eBook?" "How do I make my links clickable?"

      Also the market for templates will grow. Especially custom made templates. How about a template generator? Feed it some information and it makes a template for you.

      George Wright

      Originally Posted by Robin E. Anderson View Post

      A lot of these arguments make sense, but as an avid reader and a teacher, I can't imagine life without the pleasure of books to hold, pages to turn, and bookcases to grace my home. Besides, my eyes get tired looking at a computer screen.
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      "The first chapter sells the book; the last chapter sells the next book." Mickey Spillane
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  • Profile picture of the author George Sepich
    Next Arnold will discover the concept of Master Resale Rights text books, and shortly thereafter, unrestricted PLR textbooks, where the students will have the right to change any of the content. I can see it now on the PLR History Textbook. John Belushi was the 40th President Of The United States. Food Fight!

    George
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