Second Generation Amazon Kindle expected to be introduced next week

According to a posting on The New York Times Bits blog, the second generation Amazon Kindle could be introduced at a news conference hosted by Jeff Bezos on February 9. The Amazon Kindle webpage has also been updated and now explains that new purchases are “Expected to ship in 4 to 6 weeks.” As noted in a previous posting, when the first generation Kindle sold out before Christmas, the expected ship date was 11 to 13 weeks. Some speculate that those who purchased Kindles over the holidays or put their name on the waiting list for the first generation Kindle will actually receive the new model. If the leaked photos that appeared on the Boy Genius Report website are accurate, the new model will have a similar look but will include round buttons and smaller side buttons to correct the design flaws of the first model. The new model is also expected to use the Broadsheet microchip from Epson and E-Ink which is currently used in the Sony Reader 700. The technology provides a more responsive screen with faster screen refreshes.

“Should technology change the way we read?”

The Harper Studio blog had a thought provoking post recently asking the question, Should technology change the way we read? The posting references a site created by a faculty member at the University of Texas at Austin to help students interact with Dante’s Divine Comedy. The professor’s site is designed to complement the original work and enhance the student’s reading experience. The posting also references another book created by a German author that incorporates Google Earth illustrations. It is considered a “geo novel”, with pages accompanied by a satellite view of the current location of the story. Such evolutions of technology and reading raise some interesting questions on what the future of reading (and course materials) might be in the future as e-book technologies evolve.

Soybits map of publishing trends for 2008

Soybits, a Spanish blog that focuses on publishing trends recently created an interesting subway map visual of the publishing trends for 2008. Such maps are becoming more common, with several examples out there for web traffic in general. This one is of interest because it shows more of the digital content and publishing space. For those that do not speak Spanish, you may not be able to read portions of the map but you can see how e-book readers, publishers, authors, blogs, technology platforms, and formats among others, impacted the publishing industry in 2008 and the connections that were established between each. The map provides an interesting insight into the evolution of technologies and organizations involved with changing the e-book environment. As the Princeton University Press blog noted: “The best part is, both industry insiders and outsiders can glance at an image and take away from that image what is universally understood about maps: there’s more than one way to get there.”

Universities in Europe to pilot open content learning

According to a recent article, universities in Europe are interested in making more content available to students through open content learning. With the combined efforts of the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) and the Higher Education Academy, open content pilots will soon be initiated. The pilots will include individual professors, subject areas, and institutions in an effort to explore the impact of the learning method and understand how to contextualize existing online material. Several universities across the world already participate in open content learning and David White, co-manager of technology-assisted lifelong learning at Oxford University, believes that students will benefit from the learning style. He explains that the role that professors and students play in the classroom is changing with the advances in technology and students need to learn how to communicate in a variety of forms including: collaborating a distance, managing multiple streams of information, and leading online discussions. In turn, professors are likely to transition into a facilitator role for this process. Additionally, students will be more in control of their learning because they can enroll in one school while participating in online forums at other schools worldwide.

The open content model is also gaining attention here in the states. Initiatives like Connexions and Flat World Knowledge offer open access textbooks. The most recent issue of EDUCAUSE Review (Jan/Feb 2009) EDUCAUSE Review Magazine (January/February 2009) had several commentary articles on open access textbooks. Open access textbooks was also the topic of two panel discussions at the SPARC-ACRL Forum on Scholarly Communication at the American Library Association meeting in Denver this past weekend. If open access is here to stay, stores must consider their role when the content itself is free. Our opportunities lie in providing locally printed versions when students request them, or in providing other educational resources that add value to the core textbook to promote student success. The complexity of our environment in the age of digital just got a little more challenging.

Sony to offer OCLC NetLibrary collections for e-reader

According to a recent press release, Sony has partnered with OCLC NetLibrary to give library patrons the opportunity to check out Sony PRS-505 e-Readers for use with collections of NetLibrary e-books. Currently, there are five collections of e-books available including: Career Development and Business Self Help, Management and Leadership, Popular Fiction, Romance, and Young Adult Fiction. When patrons wish to check out the devices, librarians will use the library’s PC to download the e-books from the NetLibrary website to the e-Readers. Depending on the library policies, the e-readers may be checked out for onsite or offsite use.

Patrons at participating libraries will now have a great opportunity to try out the e-reader and e-book technology. Susan Hildreth, State Librarian of California explains, “In an era of diminishing time and resources, libraries can provide valuable convenience and flexibility for their patrons with downloadable books and the opportunity to read them electronically. Twenty-first century libraries are successful when they offer content in the widest variety of formats."

College stores are also investigating sale of SONY Readers – providing an opportunity to add value to the library-based collections and for the college store. Joint marketing or advertising campaigns could help both groups, and companies like Sony, better leverage the device, the content, and the retail opportunities – while reducing costs for students in content and device acquisition.

Atiz Innovation unveils the BookDrive Pro scanning system

Last week, at the American Library Association Meeting, Atiz Innovation, Inc. unveiled their new book scanning system called the BookDrive Pro. The new system is an enhanced version of their previous model, the BookDrive DIY and designed to support the movement to digitize books. Both models use digital SLR cameras and a v-shaped book cradle to eliminate page curvature issues and damage to the book spine. To create the BookDrive Pro, Atiz worked with its library customers to resolve the weaknesses associated with the BookDrive DIY. The Atiz website provides comparison diagrams of the enhancements to the new model which include: a more ergonomic design, automatic camera positioning, double security locking mechanism for cameras, LED lighting panels for more even light distribution, and an Auto Capture Switch to automatically initiate scanning when a page has been turned. According to the press release, there are currently 500 BookDrive units in place across the world and Atiz expects to double their sales in 2009.

The continued digitization of library collections provides some interesting opportunities and challenges for college stores. On the one side, there are new opportunities for libraries and college stores to work together and share revenue, for instance, creating print-on-demand versions of items that have been scanned (where copyright allows, of course). As an example, McMaster University Titles Bookstore has created such a partnership with their library and is producing copies of some scanned, first edition classics that were signed by the original authors for resale, with a revenue share between the store and the library. What if as a collection of institutions (libraries and stores) we could share such collections in digital format, allowing the content to be sold through any store? As more books are digitized by libraries, and often made available through Google, what will be the impact on book retailers? What are the other opportunities for stores under these new business and content distribution models?

November 2008 e-book sales statistics

E-book sales statistics for November 2008 have been released by the Association of American Publishers (AAP) via IDPF. Trade e-book sales were $5.1 million for November 2008, a 108.3% increase over November 2007. IDPF reports calendar year to date revenue is up 63.8% for the year. Note that these figures represent the 13 trade book publishers who have been willing to supply their data to IDPF.

Cleveland Public Library becomes first to offer e-book rentals via epub format

Last week, the Cleveland Public Library along with the 29 other libraries in the Clevnet Consortium became the first library in the nation to offer e-book downloads via epub format. According to a recent article, the library has been offering e-book downloads in a variety of formats since 2003 but with epub, the text is reflowable and therefore compatible with an increased number of devices including PC and Mac computers and the Sony Reader. Currently, the library offers 143 epub titles through the OverDrive powered download website and plans to expand the collection daily. Readers can choose to check out the e-books for 7, 14, or 21 days and after that time, the files will automatically expire. Additional libraries in New York and Chicago are expected to receive books in epub format within the upcoming months.

“From the Typewriter to the Bookstore: A Publishing Story”

If you are looking for a good laugh, the Digital Marketing team at Macmillan recently produced a funny video to show viewers how books are “really” published. Enjoy!

Sony’s prototype for future e-reader

Last week at the 2009 International CES consumer technology tradeshow, Sony’s exhibit featured a video demonstration of the Sony Contrast Flex OLED Reader. The video is now available online via Sony Insider. As you can see in the video, the e-reader is very thin and made of a flexible material. To flip the pages, the user bends the device which creates a similar experience to reading a paper book. According to the blog, Sony is creating a prototype of the e-reader and it could be available in five to ten years, assuming that Sony continues to pursue OLED technology at that time.

Northwest Missouri State University expands e-textbook program

Last semester, Northwest Missouri State University began an e-textbook pilot program which allowed professors in four disciplines and about 250 students to test out Sony PRS 505 e-readers loaded with McGraw Hill electronic textbooks. This semester, the university has expanded the program by purchasing e-textbooks for about 500 students that can be downloaded onto their laptops while an additional 3,000 students will have the option to purchase the e-textbooks. Additionally, a smaller group of students will test out the newer version of the Sony e-reader the PRS 700. According to a recent article, the university decided to focus this semester’s pilot on laptops because they currently provide more interactivity than the e-readers. However, students could see an improvement this semester because the Sony PRS 700 offers increased interactivity compared to the earlier version. A second article explains that the university plans to expand their program to eventually eliminate all printed textbooks and expects that this will occur in about three year’s time. Dean L. Hubbard, President of the university commented, "We’ll move as fast as the industry moves and they’re moving very rapidly." Jeffrey Ho, a product manager for McGraw-Hill Education noted, "Right now, digital products account for a small percent of our higher education business, but it is growing at a rate that is breathtaking."

Sales projections for the Kindle

A recent article from The New York Times provides some interesting projections for the Amazon Kindle if it were to follow a similar sales trajectory to the Apple iPod. The article suggests that if the second generation Kindle can quadruple sales just as the second generation iPod did, then Amazon could sell 2.2 million Kindles this year. If every Kindle owner then bought two books a month for $10, with a 15% margin on sales, the Kindle earnings could reach $330 million, resulting in 27 times the expected earnings for the Kindle.

If Amazon also releases a student version of the Kindle this year and can tap into the $5.5 billion annual United States college textbook market, what will sales look like then?

“21st-Century Skills”

An interesting article from U.S. News & World Report discusses the concept of “21st- century skills.” The argument by elected officials, educators, and leaders is that there is too much focus on teaching content in the classroom when there are new and necessary skills that students must acquire to be successful in today’s economy including: communication, collaboration, critical thinking, problem solving, media literacy, and global awareness. Therefore, the focus in the classroom should be on “how to know instead of knowing.” However, Andrew Rotherham, author of the article, points out that while there are some new skills required due to technology, for the most part these skills are not unique to the 21st century and learning content is still very important. “What’s new today is the degree to which economic competitiveness and educational equity mean these skills can no longer be the province of the few. This distinction is not a mere debating point. It has important implications for how schools approach teaching, curriculum, and content.” Rotherman explains that content and critical thinking complement each other and to actively engage in critical thinking, the content must first be understood. He suggests that the movement will be most valuable if it leads to the teaching of content augmented with the advanced skills. Additionally, strategies must be created to make the school system more equitable so that all students are given a chance to learn these skills. Rotherman notes that there are many challenges that must be overcome and changing the school system will not be easy, “If they want to genuinely transform teaching and learning, proponents of 21st-century skills must be as deliberate about how their idea is approached and implemented as they want schools to be about teaching these skills.”

As we think about 21st century skills and learning, that most likely means an evolution in course materials to 21st century formats. Given directions in accreditation and learning assessment, publishers are responding by developing tools that confirm learning outcomes are achieved. Those new learning tools will most likely be in digital format. 21st century course materials are not a century away. Retailers must think about their role in delivering these new course materials and learning formats if they are to remain viable in the future.

Will Apple introduce a large screen iPod touch in fall 2009?

Rumor has it that Apple plans to release a large screen iPod touch with a 7 or 9 inch screen in fall 2009. According to a TechCrunch report:

“Apple has been experimenting internally with large form tablet devices for years, one source says, but there was concern that users wouldn’t like the device. The difference now is the iTunes app store, which has thousands of games and other applications that are perfect for a touch screen device with an accelerometer. Apple says more than 300 million applications have been downloaded since the App Store launched in July 2008. Combine the App Store, iTunes and a browser and you have one heck of a device.”

There have been similar rumors regarding a new device for some time now however this report claims that sources have actually seen the device and that Apple is in discussions with OEMs in Asia regarding mass production.

If these rumors are true, then combined with (a) other rumors or stories about the number of e-books being sold or distributed to iPhones/iTouches, (b) the capabilities of iTunesU, and (c) the number of academic institutions interested in trying out not just e-readers, but working with companies like Apple, what are the implications for future course materials. Any Apple device is almost certain to be full-color, something other e-reader devices currently lack. That would create some distinct market differences when it comes to the types of course materials that could be delivered over such devices. The challenge then might be the critical mass of educational content. Would open-source content spring up to fill the gap among the traditional textbook publishers for born-digital content suitable for such a device? Would faculty be willing to adopt such content in sufficient volume to make a difference in the marketplace? We can hypothesize about the answers to these and other questions. The question remains though whether stores or publishers will be any better at predicting the effects of such technologies than the music industry was just a few years ago.

Library of Congress receives 20 suggested exemptions to the DMCA

In October, the Copyright Office of the Library of Congress announced the start of their year long review process to consider exemptions to The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). As a reminder, the DMCA was passed in 1998 and prohibits the circumvention of technological measures that control access to copyrighted material. Since then, the exemption review period has occurred every three years with the most recent review in 2006. In order for exemptions to be considered, petitioners must prove that they are or likely to be, “adversely affected in their ability to make noninfringing uses due to the prohibition on circumvention.” Since the announcement in October, the Library of Congress has received 20 suggested exemptions. Several were submitted by universities and academic associations including: University of Pennsylvania, Duke University, University of California at Berkeley, Temple University, and the Library Copyright Alliance and Music Library Association. As noted in a recent article from Inside Higher Education, the exemption proposal of most interest to higher education is one submitted by Peter Decherney from the University of Pennsylvania along with other film studies scholars, which builds on the exemption that they submitted and won in 2006. The proposal asks that the exemption which allows film studies professors to reproduce clips from DVDs be changed to allow film studies students to use the material as well and allow for the use of audiovisual material in any university library, not just the film studies department library. The authors explain that the law is affecting students’ ability to progress in the discipline just as media studies professors were previously affected. The other proposals submitted by universities and academic associations ask to expand the exemption to include K-12 teachers and professors in all disciplines.

Internet surpasses print newspapers as preferred source for national and international news

According to a recent survey conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, 2008 marks the year in which the internet surpassed print newspapers as the preferred source for national and international news. The survey included 1,489 adults and found that television continues to be the main source for news at 70%, followed by the internet at 40%, and newspaper at 35% (participants were allowed to choose multiple responses). However, these results do not actually indicate a decline in newspaper popularity but rather a sharp increase in internet popularity as a news source. Compared to the 2007 results, the newspaper percentage increased 1 percentage point from 34% to 35% while the internet jumped 14 percentage points from 24% to 40%.

When comparing the results of people between the ages of 18 and 29, the percentages for both television and internet are actually the same this year. In fact, when compared to the 2007 results, the television percentage actually decreased 9 percentage points from 68% to 59% while the internet increased 25 percentage points from 34% to 59%. While the presidential election, economy, and other events that occurred in 2008 may have contributed to the increase in internet usage as the preferred source, the results provide another signal of the tipping point from print to digital.

iTunes becomes DRM-free

On Tuesday, at Apple’s annual MacWorld Expo it was announced that the entire iTunes catalog will become DRM free, meaning that users can now move their songs among Apple and non-Apple computers, phones, and music devices as they wish. As of today, 8 million of the iTunes songs are available without DRM and by the end of the quarter the remaining 2 million songs will be added. This news comes two years after Steve Jobs posted an open letter on Apple’s website encouraging the music industry to drop DRM.

According to an article from The New York Times, the decision to go DRM-free is actually a compromise between Apple and the major music labels – Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, and Warner Music Group. In order to remove the DRM restrictions, Apple had to agree to let the record companies set a range of prices for songs in the iTunes store. By allowing a range, the companies hope to make more money on the best sellers and draw attention to the older hits. However, it is not clear why the record labels and Apple suddenly agreed to the compromise. Some speculate that the record companies held out the past few years in an effort to help strengthen competitors but now with the tough economy and declining music sales, it was time to compromise.

What does this mean for Apple’s competitors? And perhaps more importantly, what does it mean for education? Higher education institutions have been grappling with content piracy, including music, for some time now. Will DRM-free content reduce or increase this challenge? How will this shift ultimately affect movies and other content with DRM? A posting on Teleread says it best, “Well, if Apple can do it with the music industry, how long will it take publishers to wake up and notice that the playing field has changed? If past history is any example, too long, I’m afraid.”

Will 2009 be the year of the e-book?

There is a great posting on Gutenberg.com which provides 20 reasons why 2009 could be the year of the e-book. The posting is well worth a read and includes many reasons to take note of:

• Less than 1% of people who use the internet have personally experienced E Ink technology. Once people try out e-readers and see that the screens are not backlit and that E Ink technology makes reading easy on the eyes, their opinion of the devices will likely change.
• It is a great time for companies to enter the e-book industry and establish their place in the high growth market. Companies that choose to wait a few years until the industry is more developed will pay significantly higher costs of entry.
• When iPods were first introduced to the market it took about two years to sell a million devices. E-readers are following a similar sales pattern with half a million e-book readers sold and half a million people using devices they already own for reading such as the iTouch/iPhone.

What is your opinion? Can you think of any other reasons? Do you think 2009 will in fact be the year of the e-book?

Abilene Christian University creates classroom response system for the iPhone

According to a recent article, during the fall semester, Abilene Christian University became the first university to provide iPhones and iPod Touch devices to the entire incoming freshman class. Since then, programmers at the university have created several applications for the devices to connect students and teachers in more ways in and out of the classroom. Some examples of the applications include: attendance, calendars, campus maps, and weekend activities. Another useful application is similar to a classroom response system or “clicker” because it allows professors to poll the students during class to gauge how well they understand the topic. The application developed at the university is more advanced than other systems because it allows for free-form response questions rather than just true/false and multiple choice. According to William Rankin, an English professor at the university, by including this application on the iPhone, the disadvantages often associated with response systems are taken care of including the need for students to purchase a separate device and remember to bring it to class. Since students carry their phones with them for communication purposes, they are more likely to always have it with them in class. This may help resolve the problem of multiple clickers in the classroom. Students could download a clicker app rather than buy a whole new clicker. Thus, the new clicker market, and secondary market for clickers – both which arose just within the past couple years – could disappear just as quickly. There is a concern though – what happens to students who cannot afford an iPhone/Touch, or institutions that can not provide iPhone/iTouch to every student? Will the cost of not doing so be greater than the upfront investment? Or will such devices be required in the way that many institutions now require a laptop?

Minnesota students endorse textbook affordability campaign

A recent article discusses how several colleges in Minnesota are implementing initiatives to decrease textbook prices for students. Some initiatives include: book rental programs, expanding the selection of ebooks in the college store, and purchasing more textbooks to keep on reserve at the library. Another cost saving approach implemented by biochemistry professors at the University of Minnesota involved selecting five textbooks that could be used for the course and then asking publishers for bids. The professors then chose the lowest priced textbook. However, faculty are not the only ones involved in the effort, students are also taking the lead and implementing their own initiatives. This month, the University of Minnesota Student Association endorsed a textbook affordability campaign designed by the student-led Minnesota Public Interest Research Group (MPIRG) which asks professors to do the following: consider the cost when selecting textbooks, tell students if older versions of the book can be used instead, and publish materials online. Ryan Kennedy, chair of the University of Minnesota's Student Senate and an MPIRG leader explained, "The goal ... is to start affecting departments' actual purchasing policy. That's the long-lasting, systemic change we're looking for." The group plans to speak with professors at several private colleges this spring to inform them about the campaign.

Student groups across the US and Canada are becoming more active at promoting actionable steps for reducing textbook prices. They are also addressing or targeting communications more directly at faculty members to change their behaviors. This presents opportunities and challenges for college stores. We have seen several stores take a proactive approach towards student relations in this area. A great example would be the Canadian Roundtable on Academic Materials (CRAM). In addition to sponsoring meetings, CRAM has drafted a set of principles, a “be booksmart campaign” for students and instructors, and other resources. Stores that are more proactive in working with students and faculty are likely to be better positioned for the future. NACS has developed some materials in the campus relations toolkit that may help stores with these conversations. The campus relations toolkit is available to members through the NACS website.

Projections and Innovative Ideas Wanted

As 2008 comes to an end and we look forward to 2009, we can’t help but wonder what changes will occur and what innovations will be introduced in the coming months. A comment from one of our readers provides some interesting questions to think about as we enter the new year. Will 2009 be the year a winner is declared in the digital content race? Will the next migration be from print to a next generation Kindle/Sony/iPhone or will it be from laptop to Kindle/Stanza device? Or should we really be concerned with the digitization of the supply chain and the fact that digital content for the e-readers is delivered primarily from the e-reader retailers? Some other questions you might think about include: Where does open source fit in the realm of the textbook’s future? Will the publishing industry follow in the footsteps of the music industry? What role will wikis play in the textbook of the future?

What are your projections for 2009? What ideas or technologies would you like to see reported on more here?

Happy New Year -- and Thank You!

Happy 2009 to all of our readers. In the past year we have covered a number of topics and stories -- from developments with e-readers to innovations in education. We are approaching our 300th blog posting. Since we began tracking number of visits back in April we have had over 8500 visitors to the blog representing 110 countries from around the world. We hope that you have enjoyed reading this blog as much as we have found it enjoyable to produce. 2009 is looking like it will be an eventful year in the digital content space.

We are interested in hearing from you about developments or innovations related to digital content, course materials, and education. If you are doing something interesting in this space, or have recently come across an interesting study, please share!

Best wishes for a happy, healthy, peaceful, and productive New Year-
Mark (NACS Digital Content Strategist) &
Liz (NACS Digital Content Analyst)

“Universal access to all knowledge is within our grasp”

There is an interesting video on the TED website titled, "Brewster Kahle: A digital library, free to the world." The video is a presentation by Brewster Kahle, a digital librarian and inventor, who is working on building a digital library of every book, movie, and strata of web history in an effort to make everything that was ever meant for distribution available to anyone in the world. In the video, Mr. Kahle discusses his vision and argues that “universal access to all knowledge is within our grasp” and if accomplished it could be “one of the greatest achievements of all time." Mr. Kahle provides a look at the technological, political, and social aspects of achieving such a vision, and discusses his current scanning and internet archive initiatives. He also raises some interesting questions to think about as we enter into the new year. As we go digital, what is the role of public vs. private? Do we really want to live in a world where the public domain is locked up? How do we ensure that we will continue to live in a world where both publishing and libraries exist to benefit individuals, as they do today? For readers of this blog, we might add some of our own questions, such as: How do we ensure that we will continue to live in a world where retailers, such as college stores, exist to benefit individuals as they do today? What is the college store’s role in an environment where the content could be increasingly “free”? These are not questions we can wait to begin answering in 2-3 years time.

Author Seth Godin’s perspective on the publishing industry

A posting from The 26th Story blog features an interesting interview with Seth Godin, author of several bestselling marketing books and the recently published title, Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us. In the book, Mr. Godin explains that tribes or groups of people connected to each other, an idea, and a leader are the best achievers of lasting change. However, tribes can become “stuck” when they accept the status quo. “Every one of those tribes, though, is a movement waiting to happen, a group of people just waiting to be energized and transformed. A movement is thrilling. It’s the work of many people, all connected, all seeking something better. The new highly leveraged tools of the Net make it easier than ever to create a movement, to make things happen, to get things done. All that’s missing is leadership.” In the interview, Mr. Godin explains that book publishers are currently “stuck” and there is great opportunity to take the lead and become “unstuck.” “You're not in the printing business. The life and death of trees is not your concern. You're in the business of leveraging the big ideas authors have. There are a hundred ways to do that, yet book publishers obsess about just one or two of them. Here's the news flash: that's not what authors care about. Authors don't care about units sold. They care about ideas spread. If you can help them do that, we're delighted to share our profits with you. But one (broken) sales channel--bookstores--and one broken model (guaranteed sale of slow-to-market books) is not the way to get there. If you free yourself up enough to throw that out, you'll figure out dozens of ways to leverage and spread and profit from ideas worth spreading.” Mr. Godin suggests that publishers need to determine what it is, that is holding them back from taking the lead. Mr.Godin goes on to provide an interesting perspective on the topic of free content and the lessons that can be learned from the music industry, noting that he is pessimistic that the book industry will learn from the music industry.

College stores should be concerned about one of the above comments: "But one (broken) sales channel--bookstores--and one broken model (guaranteed sale of slow-to-market books) is not the way to get there." Like publishers, there are opportunities for stores to take the lead and become “unstuck.” It gets back to the fundamental question (again) of what business are college stores in? If it is just pushing paper textbooks, then we as a channel are indeed broken and probably not the way to get to the future. Part of the message here also relates to multi-channel strategies. Most industries have moved toward multi-channel strategies, and so we must expect that a future fact of the retailer’s existence will involve a multi-channel approach – providing new competition, and new opportunities for stores.

To think about this challenge to lead and become "unstuck", Mr. Godin has a posting on Squidoo, which is worth a read. There, Mr. Godin provides a list of 93 tribe building tactics that can be used to engage others and create connections. Many of these ideas would be easy for college stores or the industry to implement. In fact doing so is probably something of an imperative. It is a place to start and take action.

ScrollMotion signs deals with several major publishers to bring new titles to Apple iPhone

According to a posting from the Wired Blog, ScrollMotion has signed deals with Houghton Mifflin, Simon & Schuster, Random House, Hachette, and Penguin Groups USA, to turn newly released and best selling e-books into applications for the iPhone. The ScrollMotion product differs from Stanza and other e-book reading applications currently available for the iPhone for a few reasons: each book is a stand-alone application that uses ScrollMotion’s Iceberg reader, each book keeps the same pagination as the print book and allow the reader to zoom/scroll to view, and the books include newer in-copyright titles and best sellers. The Iceberg reader is linked to FairPlay iTunes DRM and therefore Apple will receive a percentage of each book sale. ScrollMotion co-founder Josh Koppel commented, “This is a business model that works on their business model.” In the future, ScrollMotion has plans to release e-reading applications for the Blackberry and Android platforms.

E-books turning the page...

An article in the New York Times Technology section this week reports that sales of e-books via e-reader devices are on the rise. Among others, some interesting quotes from the piece:

For a decade, consumers mostly ignored electronic book devices, which were often hard to use and offered few popular items to read. But this year ... the e-book has started to take hold.

The perception is that e-books have been around for 10 years and haven’t done anything ... But it’s happening now. This is really starting to take off.

And as we come close to the end of 2008, these quotes are significant ones. The article provides many other examples and provides a good summary of e-books across the spectrum of devices, and some sampling of sales trends. The message seems to be that e-books are coming close to jumping the adoption chasm and are on the verge of becoming more mainstream. Booksellers that are not thinking about how to sell content in an increasingly digital world may find themselves less and less the "go-to-first" option for readers.

Merry Christmas & befriend a geek

Happy holidays everyone. For those of you who celebrate Christmas, but still find yourselves compelled to visit your favorite blogs on Christmas day, here is the site for you:

http://www.befriendageek.com/

The site includes a short video, which can also be found on YouTube.

Happy holidays!

iPod Shuffles assist Intensive Reading students

According to a recent article, the North Port High School Library in Florida has found that using iPods Shuffles can assist Intensive Reading students. In October, the school invested in 40 iPod Shuffles in an effort to improve student’s reading skills and encourage them to read more. Since then, the students have been using the iPod shuffles to listen to audio books while following along in a printed copy which is a strategy to help improve the rate at which a person reads. As a result, teachers at the school report that the program has been popular with students and they have even been taking the books home to read on their own. The library hopes that the positive outcome from the testing phase will allow them to invest more and upgrade to iPod Nano’s. The Nano version includes a screen which will make it easier for students to find the place in the book where they left off.

RIAA to discontinue mass lawsuits for illegal file sharing of copyrighted music

An article from The Chronicle of Higher Education explains that the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has decided to discontinue filing mass lawsuits against groups of students for illegal file sharing of copyrighted music. This news comes after hundreds of people were sued on college campuses throughout the past five years. Instead, the RIAA will pursue a new strategy of working with Internet-service providers to send e-mail warnings and if necessary suspend accounts of individuals when copyright infringement occurs. Although mass lawsuits will no longer be issued, the RIAA will continue pursuing the outstanding lawsuits and has reserved the right to sue people who continue to participate in heavy file sharing or those who ignore repeated warnings to discontinue use. The RIAA believes that the past litigation helped to raise awareness but the marketplace has changed in recent years and the new strategy will help prevent piracy by reaching more people. Mitch Bainwol, RIAA Chairman explained, “Part of the issue with infringement is for people to be aware that their actions are not anonymous.”

The Future of Media Consumption

An interesting article from The Wall Street Journal, discusses a variety of new innovations that will soon change the way we watch movies. In the future we will be able to send movies wirelessly from iPhones to TV’s, talk with others via the TV screen while watching the same movie, and experience advanced digital projection and 3-D movies at the theater. Another feature that will become more advanced is movie distribution via kiosks. Companies such as Blockbuster and MOD Systems are in the process of scheduling and conducting pilots while our own NACS Media Solutions/Polar Frog Digital pilots are set to begin in the first two weeks of January. The idea behind all of the kiosk solutions is to offer convenience and choice to the customer by allowing them to choose a movie from a selection of thousands of titles and make it available to them in minutes. While Blockbuster is currently testing out kiosks that burn movies onto Archos portable movie players and then hook up to TV’s, MOD Systems is working on kiosks that burn movies to SD cards that can be used with select TV’s and DVD players. As noted in a previous posting and press release the NACS Media Solutions/Polar Frog Digital pilot will place kiosks in college bookstores and allow students to create “Burn to Own” DVDs. During the second phase of implementation, “Burn to Rent” DVDs and a web-based download delivery option will also be available.

Follett Digital Resources signs eBook agreements with four publishers

On Thursday, Follett Digital Resources announced that they have signed new eBook distribution agreements with four publishers: Nova Press, Oxford University Press, Temple University Press, and Zed Books Ltd. According to the press release, Follett’s e-commerce websites will now offer over 51,000 public library and K-12 titles.

University of Wisconsin-Stout to provide 14,000 HP laptops to students

According to a recent article, the University of Wisconsin-Stout has signed an agreement with Hewlett-Packard to distribute 14,000 HP laptops to students over the next four years. HP will also provide support and services to the school, and the technology will be upgraded each model year. The new initiative is part of the university’s e-Scholar program which provides a digital environment for students and faculty members by giving them the tools they need to be successful at the university.

Mapping the future of digital education

A recent article from Education Week discusses the initial findings from a digital education project known as the American History and Civics Initiative. The project is funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and is an effort to map the future of digital education by comparing historical thinking tools to 21st century skills. Many of the findings presented in this article support conclusions that NACS has been pointing out for the past two years in various presentations on the future of digital course materials. For example, the initial findings indicate that the future for digital education will be based on interaction and engagement, and simply converting traditional content to a digital version will not work. The CPB project also points out an interesting framework of conditions and elements that must be in place for digital course materials to truly affect student learning in a positive way. For example, the article notes that certain conditions will need to be met including: learning environments that keep students engaged, designing content that connects with other sources and allows students to learn through the media of their choice, using content layering to motivate students and help build skills, and using technology to implement project-based learning techniques. Once the digital content has been created to meet the conditions, there are three other elements that must be achieved for effective digital learning including: a distribution system which does not restrict access to technology, learning platforms which monitor student’s performance against standards, as well as preparing teachers for the digital future. Achieving these elements may not be easy because standards, policies, and teaching methods that have been in place for years will need to be reviewed and reworked. For example, the researchers speculate that statewide policies regarding the use of traditional textbooks in the classroom will need to be revised because textbooks will play a different role in the future than they have in the past. Additionally, technology polices will need to be reviewed, “Most schools demand that their students drop back half a century when they enter: no cell phones, intermittent Web access, copied worksheets, prescripted paper-based content. Building 21st-century skills means having 21st-century schools, places that encourage open exploration and require collaboration, that engage by design instead by a teacher’s singular efforts.” The recent YouTube video entitled “A Vision of K-12 Students Today” also emphasizes some of these points. The empirical data CPB is collecting are something stores should take note of and factor into future plans for course materials. Others in higher education should also pay attention, as it has implications for faculty development and other institutional investments as well. We look forward to learning more about the findings as the study progresses.

Chegg.com receives additional funding

On Wednesday, Chegg.com, an online service for renting and selling textbooks, received an additional $25 million in funding from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), Foundation Capital, and existing investors Gabriel Venture Partners and Primera Capital. According to the press release, Chegg.com has initiated an aggressive growth strategy and the funding will be used to help grow the site, and increase the textbook rental catalog. The company believes that their business model could be very successful due to the current economy and the rising costs of higher education. Ted Schlein from KPCB commented, “We believe there is strong potential for growth and success for the textbook rental market as parents and students look for new ways to save on the costs of a higher education.”

October 2008 e-book sales statistics

E-book sales statistics for October 2008 have been released by the Association of American Publishers (AAP) via IDPF. The most recent data continues the upward trend in trade e-book sales with sales for October at $5.2 million, a 73% increase over October 2007. IDPF reports calendar year to date revenue is up 57.7% for the year. Note that these figures represent the 12 to 15 trade book publishers who have been willing to supply their data to IDPF.

Ingram Digital and McGraw Hill partner to offer e-books and digital learning opportunities to higher education in Latin America

Earlier this month, Ingram Digital and McGraw Hill announced that they will partner to deliver e-books and digital learning opportunities to higher education in Latin America. According to Ingram’s news release, the partnership will combine McGraw Hill’s Spanish language educational content with Ingram’s VitalSource e-book platform in an effort to help reduce the current digital content gap between the United States and Latin America. William Chesser, Vice President and General Manager of Ingram Educational Solutions further explained the initiative, “E-books have been available in the U.S. for a while, and though the Latin American market may not have moved to digital as early, we are seeing real acceleration now. As a recognized leader in Spanish-language education resources, McGraw-Hill was in an enviable position to capitalize on this emerging market. Our existing relationship with McGraw-Hill, and the strength of our feature-rich VitalSource e-book delivery platform, allowed us to provide them with a low-risk opportunity to tap a new revenue stream.” The companies report that the colleges have been very receptive to the initiative and they are currently working on deals with the top 15 universities in Latin America.

“Pirates of the Amazon”

Last week, two students from the Piet Zwart Institute in the Netherlands released an add-on for the Firefox web browser called “Pirates of the Amazon.” The add-on provided users with a “Download 4 free” notification when digital books, music, or movies they searched for on Amazon were also available for free on The Pirate Bay, the world’s largest bittorrent tracker. However, the website was not up for long before Amazon threatened legal action and soon after the student’s referred to the project as a parody and an experiment on their website, “Pirates of the Amazon was an artistic parody, part of our media research and education at the Media Design M.A. course at the Piet Zwart Institute of the Willem de Kooning Academy Hogeschool Rotterdam, the Netherlands. It was a practical experiment on interface design, information access and currently debated issues in media culture.”

A posting from the Bits Blog explains that parodies are protected to a degree under the United States copyright law. The student’s course director, Florian Cramer, also insists that the project was legal, as explained on the Nettime mailing list, “In our point of view, the legal grounds for that are contestable since the add-on itself did not download anything. It only provided a user interface link between the web sites Amazon.com and thepiratebay.org.”

An article from the Washington Post, comments on the timing of trying to take on the world’s largest online retailer during the busiest shopping season and when piracy is consistently making the news in recent headlines. The students maintain that they are surprised by the reactions and they continue to use their website to record press coverage and collect documentation for their course.

Penguin 2.0 web initiative

Last week, Penguin Group announced the creation of a new suite of digital and print services known as Penguin 2.0. According to the new blog created for the initiative, “The purpose of Penguin 2.0 is to make our website the hub for a number of new digital and print-based features, all of which will feature some aspect of a Web 2.0 world.” The new initiative includes two programs called Penguin Mobile and Penguin Personalized that are available this month and additional services will be rolled out in 2009. Penguin Mobile is a free application for the iPhone that gives user’s access to Penguin content and news while Penguin Personalized allows customers to create personalized editions of particular Penguin books which are then printed via print-on-demand. According to an article from the New York Observer, next year a service that allows users to create customized books from a collection of stories, essays, and text will also be available. The successful iTunes concept provided inspiration for this service but Jeff Gomez, Penguin's senior director of online consumer sales and marketing notes that he “would never want to break apart an entire book” and allow the full-length version to become obsolete.

Hewlett Packard and Arizona State University introduce new paper-like display

On Monday, Hewlett Packard and Arizona State University introduced the prototype of a flexible, unbreakable paper-like display. According to the press release, the display is made mostly of plastic, consumes less power, and uses about 90% fewer materials making it a great achievement in the effort to create a mass market for high-resolution flexible displays. Additionally, the display was created using self-aligned imprint lithography (SAIL) technology which enables more cost effective production and could therefore help lower the costs for computers, smart phones, and electronic devices. Principal Analyst, Vinita Jakhanwal discussed the future for electronic displays, “Flexible electronic displays are playing an increasingly important role in the global high-tech industry, serving as the crucial enabling technology for a new generation of portable devices, including e-readers and similar products designed to combine mobility with compelling user interfaces. We expect the flexible display market to grow from $80 million in 2007 to $2.8 billion by 2013.”

Random House and Lexcycle partner to offer free full-length e-books for the iPhone

On Monday, Random House Publishing Group and Lexcycle announced that Random House and Ballantine will be the first major book publishers to offer consumers free full-length e-books via the Stanza book reading application for the iPhone. This announcement follows last week’s news of a partnership between Fictionwise and Lexcycle to make 40,000 new eBooks available for the iPhone. According to a press release on Lexcyle’s website, the initial offering will include books from author backlists, as well as excerpts from new novels published in 2009. Avideh Bashirrad, Deputy Director of Marketing for Random House commented on the use of free content to market new books, “Stanza has clearly tapped into an audience that's hungry for content, and we're happy to modify our traditional marketing methods to make use of the new technology available to readers today.”

Amazon Kindle out of stock for Christmas

According to a recent article, Amazon may have underestimated the demand for the Kindle this holiday season because the device is now sold out through Christmas. As noted in a previous posting, search traffic for the Kindle soared to 479% when Oprah endorsed the Kindle on her October 24th show. The Amazon Kindle webpage explains that new purchases are “Expected to ship in 11 to 13 weeks.” So did Oprah’s praise really drive sales much higher than Amazon anticipated? An interesting article from Motley Fool speculates that Amazon may have actually intended for the sell-out and delay on new shipments because their next generation Kindle is due to hit the market in the first quarter of 2009 or in about the same time frame as the expected ship date of "11 to 13 weeks." This could mean that Amazon is trying out Apple’s tactic of decreasing shipments in anticipation for the next release. However, whether or not the sell-out was planned, Amazon is sure to miss out on some holiday revenue. The article notes, “The company's timing is terrible, of course. It should have hit the market with these puppies in October, when Bezos was on Winfrey's show. Instead, it lets rival Sony’s Reader, and smaller niche players, carve up market share over the holidays. Amazon got the market pumped about e-books last month, and now it's the one company that isn't delivering the goods. Ouch.”

Recording Industry Proposes Taxing Students Instead of Suing Them

The Techdirt blog last week unveiled a new approach to addressing content piracy by students. Both Techdirt, and subsequently The Chronicle’s Wired Campus, noted that Warner Music Group is negotiating with several universities to conduct an experiment in “voluntary blanket licensing.” Under the program, colleges would charge and collect a flat rate fee/tax, for a nonprofit organization managed by the recording industry. That nonprofit would distribute the revenues to artists. The Techdirt site includes a PowerPoint presentation on the proposed program produced by EDUCAUSE. The Techdirt blog does raise some interesting concerns: such as whether the tax is truly voluntary or not, and whether the model would stifle other innovations that may prove to be better solutions for students, institutions, and artists. The posting notes:

There's obviously something appealing about ending the lawsuits and letting people file share freely. But, it's quite problematic to add an effective "tax" when none is necessary. Plenty of other business models, such as those we've outlined here and elsewhere can suffice to fund the creation of music. The presentation says that a nonprofit has been set up to handle the money, claiming that it's "to be clear we intend to operate with good intentions and not profit as a motive," but given the way the industry has acted in the past, that's difficult to take at face value. Also, this isn't really a license. It's a "covenant not to sue" -- meaning that lawsuits could still result.

As a colleague of mine is fond of saying, “nonprofit is a tax status, not a business model,” meaning, that nonprofits do not have to run in the red. They can derive revenues that exceed their costs, i.e., make a profit. If such is the case, will there be a refund back to the institutions and students, or will that excess profit go back to the recording industry? There is nothing wrong with the recording industry profitable. It is necessarily if the industry is to survive and prosper. The concern would be that an involuntary tax be employed to students, when not all students may take advantage of the service. There are other potential business models developing in and around higher education that could also work. Institutional licensing has some other risks, such as long-term costs versus the initial cost ramifications.

A final observation, made by another colleague of mine, is that at the end of the EDUCAUSE PowerPoint presentation there is a note that how this model could lead to all other content following a similar model – including text. In the library space we hear claims of a “serials crisis” brought on, in large part, by the growing licensing costs associated licensing fees applied by the content holders. Perhaps different groups in higher education should fund a study or policy paper review to evaluate the true implications (costs and savings) to students and institutions presented by content licensing over both the short and long terms.

Ohio State University College of Medicine uses Apple iPod Touch to enhance education

According to a recent article, The Ohio State University College of Medicine is the latest school to offer hand-held technology to their medical students to enhance their education and improve patient care. As noted in previous postings, the University of Louisville recently partnered with Sprint to offer pre-loaded Smartphones to students and Harvard Medical School began using the Kindle to improve medical education. Over the next two years at the OSU College of Medicine, each medical student will receive a free iPod Touch preloaded with medical software programs. Dr. Catherine Lucey, vice dean for education at the college comments, “The iPod Touch has the potential to positively impact both medical education and the care provided to patients at the bedside. The personal digital assistant puts a wealth of information at the fingertips of our students. They can study when they want and where they want. If they are seeing a patient and a question arises, they can find the answer instantly, to share with them." Additionally, the iPod Touch will provide students with the ability to instantly view: high quality images, detailed photographs, videos of medical treatments/surgical procedures, and lists of medications and potential drug interactions.

“eBooks, 10 years on (formats, technology, market place)”

There is an interesting posting on author Adrian Graham’s blog titled “eBooks, 10 years on (formats, technology, market place)”. The posting provides a look at the author’s experience with eBooks and the associated technology. Additionally, the author discusses his predictions for the future. He notes, “It’s weird when an apparently obscure technology you know and use and enjoy the benefits of turns from being perceived as ‘pointless’ to being ‘cool’ and then ‘the norm’. I think eBooks are a little bit of all three at the moment but soon they will be ‘the norm’.”

Textbook Accessibility for Disabled Students

A posting in yesterday's Wired Campus discussed an interesting new initiative to make it easier for institutions to meet the different format needs of students with disabilities: the AccessText Network. The network will be a clearinghouse of content created by the Association of American Publishers and the Alternative Media Access Center, part of the University System of Georgia. The idea is to "facilitate and support the nationwide delivery of alternative files for students with diagnosed print-related disabilities." AccessText will be a conduit for information about what is available and in what formats and allow students to order the content in the format that meets their needs. This initiative should help reduce the cost of textbooks for disabled students and institutions, while improving access.

Other resources on digitized books for the disable include a blog posting from last year that mentions Gooogle's efforts to make Google Books more accessible. That posting is based on an article from about the same time that discusses some of the issues and opportunities associated with technology and students with visual impairment.

Finally, check out Bookshare.org which offers books for free in different formats for the disabled. Their site also has other information on this topic.

There may be opportunities for college stores to work with some of these initiatives and reduce the costs to institutions for providing the materials to students.

Fictionwise and Lexcycle partner to make 40,000 new eBooks available on the iPhone/iTouch

On Wednesday, Lexcycle, creator of Stanza, the favorable book reading application for the Apple iPhone and iTouch partnered with Fictionwise, a leading independent eBook publisher and distributor. According to a press release on Lexcycle’s website, the agreement brings 40,000 new titles to the Stanza application. Customers can now access and download the titles via the Stanza Books by Fictionwise ebook store which is accessible through the Stanza application. An article from GalleyCat notes that the partnership also provides Stanza with Fictionwise’s DRM technology. Lexcycle COO, Neelan Choksi commented, “To date, every conversation we've had with a publisher has the question: 'What's your DRM story?' For the first time, we have a DRM story. It's a necessary evil for publishers. Now they can feel secure that their content is protected." According to some reports, the Apple devices are already selling more ebook units than the Amazon Kindle. Increasing the available inventory is sure to have a positive effect on that progress. How long will it be before Apple decides that people do still read and creates a device that is a little more reader-friendly? I would gladly consider a device with the iPhone/iTouch capabilities, but with a slightly larger screen to work with – particularly with all of the apps available for these devices now. Of course, power consumption for such a slightly larger device could be problematic, and it would create some concern and challenges for traditional booksellers.

New Digital Education Blog

Recently Education Week created an informative new blog called Digital Education which provides coverage of technology topics and trends in the K-12 space. A link to the blog has been added to the Blogroll on the left.

The new Espresso Book Machine 2.0

Last week, On Demand Books announced that their new and improved Espresso Book Machine will be rolled out to select college stores for testing in early 2009. According to a posting on the company’s website, the Espresso Book Machine 2.0 has many advantages over the previous versions and has been specifically designed for commercial use. The new machine’s advantages include: smaller size (now the size of a photocopy machine), lower price, and quicker speed.

With the machines latest improvements and lower cost, it could prove to be a much more viable print-on-demand solution for college stores. Two college stores, the McGill University Library in Montreal and the University of Waterloo Bookstore in Ontario have already signed on as test sites while the University of Pennsylvania Library is also being considered.

According to an article from Book Business, even the earlier version has proved to be very successful for The University of Alberta Bookstore. Todd Anderson, director of the bookstore explains, “When we first looked at the Espresso, we looked at our business to determine how we would use the machine. We came up with three very distinct business opportunities that we could use the Espresso for and 14 different lines of business within those strategies: cost savings for students, for-profit publications and library usage. Since turning the Espresso on in November of 2007, every single one of these lines of business has occurred, some more than others."

The next few years will certainly be an important time for the Espresso Book Machine as additional publishing and retail partners are brought on and more college stores seek print-on-demand solutions.

Additionally, the On Demand Books website features a great video of the Espresso Book Machine 2.0 which shows the complete print-on-demand process.

Random House to make thousands of titles available in electronic format

According to an article on Yahoo News, on Monday Random House announced plans to make roughly 7,000 more books available via electronic format in the upcoming months. Random House CEO Markus Dohle explained the new initiative by saying, “more people everyday are enjoying reading in the electronic format and Random House wants to extend our reach to them with more of our books." With the addition of the new e-books, the company will increase their e-book library offerings to approximately 15,000 titles. The e-books can viewed on the Random House website and then purchased in a variety of formats from 18 retailers including versions for the Amazon Kindle and Sony Reader.

Current happenings in K-12

This month’s Digital Directions newsletter by Education Week provides a few interesting articles on the current happenings in K-12. One article, discusses a small study known as SMART which is testing the use of Mathematical Markup Language (MathML) for students who have disabilities that interfere with the ability to read print. MathML is a digital language that is often used to display formulas and notations in mathematical software but is not commonly used for creating digital textbooks for K-12. For the study, Prentice Hall digitized one of their math books using MathML. The information was then loaded onto a flash drive along with MathPlayer software to allow the equations to display in Internet Explorer and Read & Write 8 Gold software to add text to speech functionality. With the combined technologies, the flash drive provided students with a digital textbook to speak the words in the book and even highlight the words as they were spoken. The study is now in its second year of testing with improvements being made based on first year observations. The initial findings from the study indicate that students using the digital textbook learned more than those using the printed version. The article also notes that MathML is being considered for addition to the technical specifications of the National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard (NIMAS). If approved, publishers would be required to include MathML in digital textbooks in order for schools who receive federal funding to purchase them.

A second article, discusses a recent panel discussion on “disruptive innovation” in K-12 education. The discussion was led by Clayton Christensen of Harvard Business School, lead author of, Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns. The book is based on a principle which Christensen originally applied to business but one which can also be applied to education. The idea is that new technologies can easily come into the market and evolve to displace the established leaders. The author predicts that this could soon happen in education because children’s need for individual instruction will drive students out of public schools and into customizable online learning programs. While the theory has its critics, the book should be an interesting read for college store managers. In particular, the book has an entire chapter on how instructional materials (i.e., textbooks) could be replaced through disruptive innovations.

LCTCS to offer mobile education opportunities

Earlier this month, the Louisiana Community and Technical College System (LCTCS) announced a new program known as LCTCSOnline which offers students a customized online learning solution by providing access to course materials via the computer or other mobile devices. According to an article posted on the college’s webpage, the school is developing solutions to improve access for students with travel restrictions or scheduling conflicts. LCTCS President, Dr. Joe May commented, “We believe the ability to do some of their course work through the cell phone will be a major draw for individuals. Presently, of the 4.2 million individuals that make up our state’s population, 25% have Internet access while 68% have cell phones. That means there are a large number of individuals to whom we can offer an opportunity to take courses, earn a degree, and have better quality of life in a more convenient way.”

According to the press release on Pearson’s website, Pearson Custom Solutions worked with the faculty at LCTCS to create a customized solution that brings together portions of Pearson’s education offerings. The entire platform including hardware, software, and help desk support, will be managed by eCollege while CourseConnect will deliver the content and online learning. The press release also offers a link to a video which provides a great overview of the program offerings. A third article notes that Pearson will be compensated via a portion of the student enrollment fees.

Texas State University Bookstore video advertisements

The Texas State University Bookstore has created two great video advertisements for their store which can be accessed on the bookstore’s webpage. The first video, How to Buy Your Textbooks walks viewers through the book purchasing process with reminders regarding refund policies. A bit of humor is inserted into the video, which makes it worth watching. The second, The New Bookstore Commercial, has less humor involved, but reminds students that money made from purchases at the college store stays on campus to benefit students.

September 2008 e-book sales statistics

E-book sales statistics for September 2008 have been released by the Association of American Publishers (AAP) via IDPF. The most recent data continues the upward trend in trade e-book sales with sales for September at $5.1 million, a 77.8% increase from September 2007. IDPF reports calendar year to date revenue is up 55.2% for the year. Note that these figures represent only a portion of the trade book publishers who have been willing to supply their data to IDPF.

Coastline Community College offers replacement textbooks to students affected by recent California wildfires

According to an article from University Business Magazine, the college store at Coastline Community College has offered to replace textbooks that were damaged as a result of last week’s California wildfires. The Coastline Foundation Executive Board will cover the associated costs in an effort to help students continue in their classes without interruption. In order for students to participate in the offering, they must be enrolled in the fall semester and show proof of residency at a location affected by the fire.

Judge tentatively approves Google Book Search settlement

According to an article in Yahoo news, a NYC judge has tentatively approved the Google Book Search settlement. The initial approval of the settlement was put into record on Monday and the final hearing has been set for June 2009. As a reminder, if approved, Google will pay $125 million and establish a Book Rights Registry that will provide revenue to rights holders via a 63:37 spilt with Google.

PC Magazine to end print edition

PC Magazine is the latest publication to announce that after 27 years in print, it will move to online only in January 2009. In recent years, the print version of the magazine has become increasingly less popular as readers have shifted to the internet for comparative electronic reviews. Earlier this year, Ziff Davis Media, owner of the magazine, reduced the print version from biweekly to monthly and has now decided to focus efforts on PCMag.com and the electronic version of the magazine called PC Magazine Digital Edition.

In a letter to readers on PCMag’s website, Lance Ulanoff, Editor-in-Chief of PCMag Digital Network explains, “While we are energized by the endless possibilities of the digital format, I assure you that the decision to stop producing a hard-bound copy was not an easy one. But the reality is that the ever-growing expense of print and delivery was turning the creation of a physical product into an untenable business proposition.”

The magazine’s move to digital provides yet another example that electronic forms of reading are gaining popularity as readers shift away from traditional print for various reasons. As noted in a prior blog posting, Christian Science Monitor also recently announced the end of their print edition. What does this shift among magazines and newspapers mean for the future of other print forms, such as digital textbooks?

Hewlett Packard and Timsons partner to produce new printing system for book production

Earlier this month, Hewlett Packard and Timsons announced that they have joined together to produce a new digital inkjet printing system for book production. According to Hewlett Packard’s press release, by joining efforts the companies will be able to offer, “A new solution designed to take digital book production beyond niche applications to mainstream production.” An article from Book Business Magazine reports the printing system is designed for short to medium run book production and will be available for commercial purchase in mid to late 2009. When released, the technology could offer new opportunities for publishers, printers, and possibly college stores to participate in print-on-demand solutions.

President of Florida Community College at Jacksonville to meet with Amazon

In an effort to make textbooks more affordable for students at Florida Community College at Jacksonville, the school’s president has come up with a proposal for Amazon. According to an article in Jacksonville’s The Daily Record, President Dr. Steve Wallace will be meeting with Amazon to discuss creating a purchasing arrangement that would provide students with Kindles that include materials produced by the college’s faculty. The school currently owns the materials produced by their faculty and therefore the materials could be added to the Kindle software without the need for licensing arrangements. It will be interesting to see if Amazon agrees to a purchasing arrangement and also if they agree to provide localized materials via the Kindle. If arrangements are made for one school, other schools will surely be interested.

McMaster University purchases Espresso Book Machine

According to an article on TheSpec.com, McMaster University’s Title bookstore is now one of the nine owners of an Espresso Book Machine. The bookstore received their machine last week and since then employees have been learning how to operate it, as they prepare for a large showing of customers at their January launch. When the machine is in full operation, consumers will be able to choose from over one million public domain-books whose copyrights have expired. Additionally, the university plans to buy the rights to publish chapters of textbooks which would allow students to save money and create an opportunity for professors to combine material from multiple sources. Local authors in the community could also benefit from the university’s Espresso Book Machine because it will allow them to publish their books one copy at a time via an initial fee followed by a per page copy fee. McMaster University is the second college store to acquire an Espresso Book Machine, with the other being at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada.

Google Book Search Settlement

An article from Book Business Magazine offers some insight into how the U.S. publishing industry could be favorably affected by the Google Book Search agreement. Rights holders will see the benefit from the establishment of a Books Rights Registry that would provide them with revenue from sales, advertising, subscriptions, and per-page printing via a 63:37 split with Google. While consumers could benefit from the ability to search the full text of copyrighted books and then choose from purchasing options such as digital, hard copy, and by page. Schools and libraries would also benefit from Google’s subscription service offerings. What is perhaps less clear is how this will affect booksellers that occupy the retail space – from the local college store to Amazon, this could be a potential challenge to handling retail transactions. Others also see this agreement as potentially disrupting competition. According to an article on Bookseller.com, the UK Booksellers Association warns that if the agreement is brought to the U.K. it could create “a de facto monopoly” by removing competition from the market and denying customers a choice. The association adds, "This recent agreement, if ever adopted in the UK and Ireland, would have a hugely damaging effect on the publishing and bookselling industry and, consequently, for authors and the public as well."

American University creates best practices guide for using copyrighted material in the classroom

An article from The Chronicle of Higher Education discusses a new guide called “Code of Best Practices in Fair USE for Media-Literacy Education.” The guide was created by American University’s Center for Social Media and provides educators using media literacy in the classroom an interpretation of the copyright doctrine of fair use. The document does not offer the limits of fair use rights but instead it describes how the creators of the document and their counsel believe rights should apply in certain recurring situations based on prior cases and legal interpretation. The authors of the guide hope that their work will help professors understand their rights better under current law. The document appears to encourage a more broad interpretation of fair use based on a set of five principles. There is an associated video that explains the purpose of the guide that is worth viewing to understand the perspective from which the guide was written. Many might not agree with the broad interpretation of the fair use doctrine, but that, in part is the point of this report and why it was created. Fair use is a concept that is arguably not well understood by faculty or students. In an increasingly digital context, where media literacy is a critical competency for future citizens, the bounds of fair use lack clarity and are open to a myriad range of interpretation. This report provides a stake and attempt to clarify fair use rights from one perspective. It will be interesting to see what happens next – particularly as course materials themselves become increasingly digital.

The Pirate Bay tracks over 20 million users

According to an article on Torrent Freak, The Pirate Bay, the world’s largest bittorrent tracker has reached a new milestone and now tracks more than 20 million users-- a gain of 14 million users in one year's time. Last November, it was reported that the site was tracking about 6 million users and a year before that 3 million.

Pirate Bay co-founder Peter Sunde, credits the increase to the continual software and hardware improvements and notes that lack of budget is the only thing hindering the amount of users that can be tracked. “I wish we had lots and lots of money so we could just buy like 10 servers and another gigabit.”

The site aims to increase the amount of users to 24 million by Christmas eve while other torrent sites such as isoHunt and Miniova are also breaking visitor records each week.

Study reveals that educating students on P2P could reduce illegal file sharing

An interesting article posted on Inside Higher Ed discusses preliminary findings from an in-depth study of student’s downloading habits. The study is funded by the Digital Citizen Project and involves monitoring the Internet use of students living on campus at Illinois State University. The students were monitored for three separate months and to date only data from the first month has been analyzed. One finding from the study reveals that many students are simply not aware of the difference between illegal and legal peer-to-peer file sharing which leads researchers to believe that the true issue with file sharing is lack of education.

Warren Arbogast, founder and president of Boulder Management Group and member of Digital Citizen Project’s management team said, “The one thing we do know is that we cannot assume the students know more than they know.”

Arbogast went on to say that file sharing should not be thought of as a technological issue that can be solved by installing the right monitors because that mindset leads to a race between students and the industry to outdo one another with new and innovative ways to share music and video. Arbogast noted, “I think the bottom line for me is that this ... now is less an IT issue than it is an education issue. We’ve got a problem with theft, and I think the question is do we want to try and do something about it?”

Once all data from the study has been analyzed, the findings could provide insight into the types of interventions that could be used to reduce illegal file sharing.

University of Louisville partners with Sprint to offer pre-loaded Smartphones to medical students

According to a recent article, the University of Louisville has entered into an agreement with Sprint to provide medical students the option to purchase discounted pre-loaded Smartphones to enhance their education and improve patient care. The Smartphones will provide the students with many benefits including: fast access to medical information and drug reference guides, a virtual library of textbooks and medical references, as well as the advantage of carrying one all-encompassing device rather than multiple devices such as a phone, pager, etc. The article notes that the use of wireless technology in the medical field is growing rapidly and this program will help prepare the students for the future.

Edward Halperin, dean of the School of Medicine noted, "We believe it is worth investigating whether or not giving medical students these tools and technology will enhance their knowledge and sharpen their decision making. Ultimately, our graduates will require these skills as outstanding physicians. It is important to assess the role of technology in the acquisition of clinical skills."

Search traffic for Kindle soars after Oprah’s endorsement

According to an Advertising Age report, since Oprah Winfrey’s endorsement of the Kindle on October 24 there has been a significant increase in Kindle interest. The article reports that after the show aired, search traffic for the word “Kindle” went up 479% that day and even more the following day. Additionally, traffic from Oprah.com to Amazon.com increased a remarkable 15, 458% from October 23 to October 24. Traffic to Amazon.com was also up 6% compared to the previous Friday and given that Amazon is one of the top 20 internet sites, a 6% increase can mean hundreds of thousands of visitors. Amazon has not released sales numbers for the Kindle however if the search volume and web traffic figures are any indicator, it looks as though Oprah’s endorsement could significantly boost Kindle sales this holiday season.

E-book experiment at CSU-Monterey Bay

A professor at CSU-Monterey Bay is conducting an e-book experiment with the help of Sony in an effort to encourage students to read more. According to an article from the Monterey Herald, Sony has donated 30 digital book readers to be used in a first-year seminar at the university. Half of the students in the class will use the digital book reader and the other half will read printed copies of a novel. The students will then be tested on their reading comprehension. Data from the testing will be analyzed to find out whether the digital book enhances reading skills. Professor Juan Gutierrez hopes that a digital reading device will be what it takes to stimulate students that are growing up in an increasingly digitized world to read more. Gutierrez commented, “We need the students to read more, and we need the students to read better.”

Lenovo introduces new mini-notebook for education market

On Tuesday, Lenovo introduced a new mini notebook designed as an introductory mobile computer for grades K-12 and as a secondary device for higher education. Lenovo’s IdeaPad S10e netbook weighs less than three pounds and will be the first netbook to feature an instant-on platform giving users immediate access to basic functions such as e-mail, web browsing, and word processing. The netbook also offers hardware, educational software, and warranty options allowing schools to customize the computers to meet their needs. Could this be the start of a race between Ultra Mobile PC’s and e-Readers?

E Ink’s New Display

On Thursday, Teleread posted an article with an impressive YouTube video demonstrating E Ink’s latest enhancements in the AM 300 developer’s kit. The new technology features fast animation that could be used to animate advertisements in e-newspapers or graphics in textbooks. In the future, if this technology becomes available in e-textbooks, students are sure to benefit from animated demonstrations that further explain the text.