Innovate - E-Books: Why They Matter for Distance Education—and How They Could Get Much Better:

Just to prove I do read the occasional journal article (by the way Innovate - the Journal of On-line Education is well worth tracking). In this article Donald Rothman says: "If ever a promising technology existed for education—and distance learning in particular—it would be e-books." I think he is right but Rothman himself raises the problems - poor screen quality on reading devices, lack of standards, DRM and a lack of context and place with electronic books as opposed to paper versions.

I think we can assume that screen will get better and the new OpenReader standard may sort out that issue. So what about the other issues. I can't see digital publications totally replacing paper based books - just as television and now video has not killed the cinema. But I can see very big advantages for e-books in education.

For one thing they are easy to update and potentially much cheaper than paper copies. Furthermore there is huge potential for teachers and learners to produce and share custom publications. The problem is the DRM. One of the joy of books is they can be shared. I often give away for swap or lend novels which I have read. Sometimes I just leave them behind at airports in the hope someone else will pick them up. DRM stops this. Ironically the e-book industry - in its obsessive pursuit of DRM - may be preventing the development of the media.

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