Virtual Stores and QR Codes

This is a great video of how one retailer is taking itself to the consumer using QR codes.   The video shows people shopping while waiting for the subway in South Korea where the virtual displays and the merchandise is identical to what a customer would see in the store.  By using smartphones a shopper can scan the products QR codes and place it in the basket and the grocery bags are delivered to their home.  Essentially, for busy South Koreans, they can shop while they wait.   This is the wave of the future for virtual stores and QR codes and for retailers who are contemplating whether to open another brick and mortar they should consider following the trend being set by the most connected people in the world.

Video: IPads for Textbooks in Singapore

An interesting video detailing the adoption of iPads to replace textbooks at a school in Singapore:

E-book industry to be regulated in China

According to a recent report, China’s General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP) has released a regulation to guide the development of the e-book industry in China. The regulation seeks to resolve some of the current issues in the industry. One of the issues is that the e-books are published in a variety of formats and the e-reader devices only support specific formats. This is also an issue in the U.S. and can be challenging for both consumers and publishers. The regulation will help resolve this issue by establishing standards for format, quality, and copyright. The regulation also includes tasks such as: establishing a pool of reading material for e-books, nurturing big e-book brands, and improving the quality of digital transformation of traditional publications.

E-textbooks in South Korea schools

For the past few weeks, Jeff Young from The Chronicle has been traveling through Asia to observe how digital technologies are changing teaching, research, and university experiences. Mr. Young recently stopped in South Korea and observed four classrooms at an elementary school that is participating in the e-textbook pilot run by the government. An interesting article written by Mr. Young provides an overview of the classroom experience and includes comments from students and faculty about the learning experience.

As with other e-textbook pilots, the comments show that there are advantages and challenges to using the technology in the classroom. Some of the advantages include: the wide range of real world material that is available compared to the paper text and that the students are performing better in math class with the digital textbooks. While some of the challenges include: self guided quizzes that do not give detailed feedback and difficulty accessing the materials from home. Teachers at the school also say that they have difficulty finding and producing multimedia content to incorporate into the digital textbooks.

Mr. Young summed up the article by pointing out the e-textbooks provide an interactive and engaging experience but at this point seem to be high maintenance.

You can read more about Mr. Young’s travels on his College 2.0 column.

British Library to digitize thousands of newspapers

According to a recent press release, the British Library has entered into a 10-year partnership with Brightsolid, an online publisher, to digitize 52,000 local, regional, national, and international newspapers. Within the next two years, a minimum of four million pages of newspapers will be digitized and within ten years, it is hoped that 40 million pages will be digitized.

In addition to the out-of-copyright newspapers, the partners are seeking to digitize in-copyright material after negotiations with rightsholders. The project aims to “build a critical mass of material for researchers – particularly in the fields of family history and genealogy.”

The digitized material will be available for free to users while on-site at the British Library.

Singapore e-reader allows access to 900,000 free e-books

This week a company called iCell released an e-reader that will allow users to access over 900,000 free e-books from Singapore’s National Library Board. The device is called the KeyReader and it is the first e-reader device to be made in Singapore.

Korea moves toward more e-books in education

Korea is quickly moving forward to a future where e-books in education are the norm. They distinguish between e-textbooks (essentially the .pdf version of the printed text) and digital textbooks (as the more interactive, multimedia version of a textbook). A recent news story in JoongAng Daily discusses the plans of Korea's Education Ministry for digital textbooks in elementary through high school over the next two years. The country will be moving to a more flexible model for textbook pricing, and at the same time encourage greater adoption of digital course materials. The plan calls for printed textbooks at school and digital versions for home, beginning with select subjects such as literature, language, and mathematics.

“Electronic Schoolbags” in Taiwan

An article from The China Post says that the Ministry of Education in Taiwan has chosen five schools to pilot “electronic schoolbags.” The schoolbags are laptops that include electronic versions of textbooks and handouts. According to Chen Hsuan-mou, principal of one of the pilot schools, the pilot has been positive because the kids typing skills and ability to use search engines has improved along with their moods during class. However, some parents fear that the students are spending more time with the computers and less time playing outside. The article notes the positive and negative impacts of the pilot will be assessed before more classes are incorporated.

Google Edition to launch in Japan

In October, Google announced that its Google Edition program that will let publishers sell in-print digital books directly to consumers will launch in the U.S. and Europe in June 2010. According to MarketWatch, the program will also launch in Japan by the end of next year. It is hoped that 10,000 e-books will be available when the service launches. The article notes that leading publishers in Japan are wary of the program due to the controversy surrounding Google Book Search.

Spain's first e-book fair to be held in November

An article from the Publishing Perspectives site says that Spain’s first e-book fair will be held this November in Madrid. In June, e-books were banded from the Madrid Book Fair so two companies, Bubok and e-Cultura, have joined forces to create the Digital Book Fair or Feria del Libro Digital. The fair will include workshops and exhibits to let attendees experiment with e-book technologies. The organizers of the Fair hope that it will encourage the development of sustainable business models for all players in the industry.

Booktopia book vending machines

According to a posting from Inside Retailing, next month the Booktopia book store will launch book vending machines in Australia. The company plans to roll-out 200 machines over the next year in such locations as malls, hospitals, and hotels. The machines will include a range of bestsellers and discounted books. Book vending machines are also successful in the UK where they can be found in various locations such as subway stations.

Growing competition in Taiwan’s e-book market

According to an article from PC World, there is growing interest and competition in Taiwan’s e-book market. Taiwan’s largest telecommunications service provider, Chunghwa Telecom, has teamed up with several partners to build an e-book business for Chinese language materials. Some of the partners include: Microsoft, Taiwanese magazines, news groups, publishers, and smartphone producer High Tech Computer. Chunghwa Telecom plans to work with the partners to launch an online e-book store and develop e-reading software for smartphones and e-readers. Far EasTone Telecommunications, a competitor to Chunghwa Telecom, has also announced a partnership with Eslite Books, Taiwan’s largest book store.

Digital Textbook program in Korea

Several years ago the Korean government embarked on a digital textbook research project to determine effective ways to digitize school textbooks and utilize the textbooks in the classroom. The project is now in its second phase with 20 pilot schools in operation for a total of 2,637 students in 81 classes using digital textbooks. To learn more about the project, a presentation and paper can be viewed on the UNESCO Bangkok website.

e-books in France

An article this week in France 24 reports that Sony's e-reader is soon to be released in France, adding another country with access to e-reader devices. The article discusses some of the perceived benefits and weaknesses of e-books for the French market, and how some booksellers are preparing. The comment provided near the end about how there will need to be a "serious reflection on the issue of royalties" for authors and publishers was interesting.

Question on college stores in other countries...

With readers of this blog now coming from over 85 different countries, and having heard from stores in about 5 or 6 countries, I would like to pose a question. What are college stores like in other countries? Are you grappling with digital textbooks yet? What other issues do you have? What things are happening in college stores in your country that you believe is innovative or unique?

These questions came to my mind, not just as I was looking at the blog traffic reports this week, but as I prepare to make a couple trips to Russia and some other countries. We will be spending some time in Yeketerinburg, home to over a dozen academic institutions. So I began to wonder if those inistitutions had college stores or not. Anyone know the answer or like to share their experiences of college stores and/or textbooks in other countries?