tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9200808769555430311.post1483340017947304597..comments2024-03-22T17:41:31.183+11:00Comments on Literacy, families and learning: The electronic book: The death of the book?Trevor Cairneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10743409298855125040noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9200808769555430311.post-58974364350562643042008-06-15T20:51:00.000+10:002008-06-15T20:51:00.000+10:00A great response George and I hope you're right on...A great response George and I hope you're right on all counts. Like you I think the picture book will last much longer and can see the great benefits of the ebook if it can provide access to the corpus of all great works. I'm also sure that the price will come down. For me the most nagging doubts relate to the longevity of digital material, especially given the evidence of the last 20 years with textual material and some of the great blunders that we've seen with archiving of even film and video over the last 50 years. NASA's losing of the 1969 moon landing HD images and the large proportion of television program, newscasts and films that have been lost, don't leave me feeling quite as confident as you that digital data will last as long as clay tablets and paper. We'll have to get better at storage and digital compatibility. I also hope that access to digital data remains open and equitable. In short, I hope you end up being right and my minor doubts are proven to be wrong. Thanks again for your excellent comments.Trevor Cairneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10743409298855125040noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9200808769555430311.post-18333180395418170222008-06-15T16:06:00.000+10:002008-06-15T16:06:00.000+10:00My feeling is that something like the Kindle will ...My feeling is that something like the Kindle will eventually, substantially, replace books (there will always be room for collectors and retro-chique). <BR/><BR/>When the price of an ebook comes down to around $100 ($350 is just ridiculous) that's when the paper-book (pbook?) will start to feel the heat. There will be a period (decades?) of co-existence - much like the CD and the MP3 today. But sooner or later...<BR/><BR/>The real potential of the 'ebook' is not as a book substitute – rather, the 'ebook' offers the chance to access an 'eLibrary'. Imagine having tens of thousands of 'books' on the size of something not much larger than a pocket calculator. <BR/><BR/>Imagine the Project Gutenberg available to all for not much more than the price of 3 new books (under the $100 ebook scenario). That's knowledge and information transfer. That's access - and that's equity. Further, the prices of new ebooks will be considerably cheaper than paper books as production/distribution costs will be so much less. Then there’s always piracy… piracy is the great leveller in this eAge. <BR/><BR/>Funnily enough, I think that children's picture books will be safe for a lot longer than other paper-books. I can't see how the ebooks of today (or tomorrow) will replicate the large size format and vivid colours that make children's books so attractive. Yep, I can see picture books being the last redoubt!<BR/><BR/>One final thought... I'm sure there was a time, long, long ago, when cuneiform scribes stood around discussing the 'feeling' and sensation of that sweet, sweet smelling clay squishing beneath your stylus... and how could papyrus ever hope to replace this? Papyrus! So dry and ‘dead’ with that scratchy nib and always having to make up new supplies of ink! Inconvenient! Clean, fresh clay… almost alive! And furthermore, once the clay had been fired... ah, nothing like reading Gilgamesh on a good, solid tablet... so much more tactile, it was a real experience! You really ‘knew’ you were doing something worthwhile – and very good for the arm muscles! Finally, that papyrus - so flimsy, so impermanent! When you're writing on clay - you know you're writing for the ages! Papyrus, the slightest breeze and whoosh! It's gone! Forever! If the Library of Alexandria had've stocked tablets, we'd probably still have that knowledge. <BR/><BR/>Cuneiform lasted around 3000 years, and the tablets are still being read 2000 years later. The pbook with its paltry half-millennium… it’s still a youngster. <BR/><BR/>The format will change but the written word will always be there and the beauty of the words will remain as well. <BR/><BR/>Damien.George O'Junglehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02690986538392833544noreply@blogger.com