E-Book Online Presentation IV Joel D. Carter

Introduction The electronic book is a portable device that can hold several thousand pages of text that it displays on an LCD screen This technology could be applied to the academic environment to facilitate the exchange of information in the classroom Group project web site

Overview Conventional Textbooks –Expensive (Average student spends about $800 per year) –Cumbersome (Manual searching of information) –Heavy (Compared to digital counterpart) Electronic Textbooks –Not bound by the same limitations

Background Cost –Standard books are an average of 30% more expensive –E-book device (NuvoMedia Rocket Ebook) is currently $270

Background, cont. Ease of Use –Finding a particular piece of information in a textbook can be difficult –The search and hyperlink capabilities of e-books aid in finding information –A companion dictionary must be used for finding the definition of unknown words

Background, cont. Ease of Use, cont. –The built-in dictionary in e-books can be used for quick definitions of any word within a given text –Notes in a textbook must be written to and referenced from a separate book –Notes in an e-book can be made by a built-in annotation function and can be accessed whenever the text is

Background, cont. Ease of Use, cont. –A companion dictionary must be used for finding the definition of unknown words –The built-in dictionary in e-books can be used for quick definitions of any word within a given text

Background, cont. Ease of Use, cont. –Notes in a textbook must be written to and referenced from a separate book –Notes in an e-book can be made by a built-in annotation function and can be accessed whenever the text is

Background, cont. Ergonomics –Every textbook required means added weight to carry –There is no added weight associated with added electronic texts

Project Goal To provide a Computer Science class with an e-book device, an electronic textbook, and instructor-provided notes within the next academic year

Functional Specifications Group project web site

Schedule

Budget and Resources See group web site

Profit Estimate Conventional textbook cost and consumption –$50 (per book avg.) x 20 (approx. books per year) = $800 to $1,000 (per student, per year) * figures result of independent survey –There are 11,000 students attending ODU per semester or 22,000 per year * source Campus Relations

Profit Estimate, cont. Conventional textbook cost and consumption, cont. –This comes to an approximate figure of $17,600,000 spent by students on textbooks per year –If the project tapped 15% of those sales, that would be $2,640,000 in textbook sales.

Profit Estimate, cont. Electronic textbook cost and sales forecast –The student would automatically save an average of 30% per title on the corresponding electronic editions of those books * source barnesandnobles.com –The projected sales for electronic texts would then be $1,848,000

Profit Estimate, cont. Assuming a conservative resale percentage earning of 10%, it would mean $184,800 returned to the project organization Subtract the long term expenditures from the budget of $169,140 and this means a small profit of $15,660

Summary The electronic book is the learning tool of the future Electronic books are free of many of the restrictions inherent to conventional textbooks There is an initial investment in hardware associated with using electronic books, but the savings eventually return this start-up cost

Summary, cont. The electronic book also has features that can be exploited to benefit education The use of electronic textbooks reduces the weight a student must carry Why would you want to continue using conventional textbooks?

Major Risks with Solutions All publishers may not adopt electronic book technology –As the popularity and standardization of this format increases, publishers will have to recognize this market

Major Risks with Solutions, cont. Most publishers are worried about digital rights management (DRM) –Microsoft is leading the way in the Open E-Book standard which covers standardization of the format with encryption to ensure protection of publishers’ materials

Major Risks with Solutions, cont. Students may choose not to use e- books –Familiarity with conventional textbooks may discourage choosing a new approach, but people evolve with technology –Initial cost may discourage someone from using e-books, but as popularity increases, the cost of the e-book device and texts will decrease

Support Electronic Books The potential in utilizing electronic textbooks for education is evident This project needs your approval to continue Thank You!