E-readers Get Heavier With More E-books- It's true

The Science section of the NY Times has a story that claims the more e-books you load on your Kindle the heavier it gets. Really, it’s true.   John Kubiatowicz, a computer scientist faculty at the University of California, Berkeley, explained that a Kindle with thousands of e-books weighs a billionth of a billionth of a gram more than a factory fresh Kindle.

New CDF digital format on the rise

From my archives of items to post:
According to  an article in the Library Journal earlier this year, there is a new digital format that will challenge the PDF. The CDF, or Computable Document Format, is a new standard that was released on July 21st by Wolfram Research, and it enables users to “interact with online documents, input their own data, and generate results, live.”

Comparatively, CDF allows interactivity and motion in a document, whereas in PDF, documents are static and unchangeable. CDF files behave more like apps than documents, and they allow users to make their own “knowledge apps”, of which more than 7,000 have already been created by researchers, educators, and students using an early version of CDF. CDF documents can currently be created using Mathematica 8 and distributed for free using the Wolfram CDF Player, which is required to view the CDF document. Currently, there is a beta CDF in an e-textbook currently on the market: Briggs/Cochran Calculus, and many other publishers are showing great interest in the technology. The CDF technology is on its way to changing the way that online documents and e-textbooks allow users to access, and interact with, information.

It will be interesting to see if this format can stand up to other developments, such as those around Epub3.

Follett Sees Growth in Both Rental and Digital

PR Newswire reports that Follett saved students close to $90 million in three months mainly due to their Rent-A-Text program.  According to the article, Follett textbook rentals doubled in 2011 compared to 2010 and expects to see saving of up to $200 million for the 2011-2012 academic calendar.  Follett also saw digital textbook sales double in 2011 compared to 2010.

We have heard other anecdotal information that digital sales, where the inventory option exists, doubled in sell-though this fall, growing from 2-3% up to 5-6%.  This data has not yet been verified or examined across a larger pool of stores. 

Google eBooks come to College Stores

The Canadian Campus Retail Associates (CCRA) and Independent College Bookseller's Association (ICBA) announced this week that they have completed an agreement and integration with Google eBooks to distribute ebooks through college stores in Canada and shortly in the U.S.  This is similar the arrangement that the American Bookseller's Association (ABA) has with Google to distribute ebooks via Indie Commerce. This brings yet another option for college stores to provide customers with opportunities to discover, read and buy digital books on a range of devices and at competitive prices.   
 
Chris Tabor from the CCRA noted that "This is our first step with the potential of the Google ecosystems. Google is an incredible company to work with.  We learned a lot and are looking forward to more."


18 Canadian stores are participating in the initial launch, and other stores will begin to have access within the next 60 days.  Roughly 200 college stores are expected to be live with Google ebooks soon, as this service is offered to all CCRA and ICBA members, as well as stores currently participating in the Digital Content Platform initiative which is also co-sponsored by the two organizations.
 
Disclaimer:  Some folks who read this blog may know that NACS Media Solutions (NMS) did work with CCRA and ICBA on the digital content platform initiative and related pilots.  While we were aware of this pending development in advance from our prior participation, at this time NMS has no direct financial stake or active engagement in this initiative other than a sincere desire to see this initiative and others like it be successful within the college store industry.  Any questions about the current and upcoming offering should be directed to either CCRA or ICBA. 

Blackboard Allows Sharing of Content

The Chronicle reports that Blackboard will add a “Share” button that will allow faculty to share course materials free and open to nonregistered students.  This is a big win for the Open Education Movement and for schools since they will  not be charged extra for additional viewing.  Blackboard’s “Share” initiative is partnering with Creative Commons where faculty will have the option to attach a Creative Commons license to the content.  Cable Green, director of global learning for Creative Commons, says his “goal is to have this kind of option in every commercial learning-management system and also open-source ones,” according to the article.

Study Suggests "App Gap"

Common Sense Media surveyed parents of U.S. kids ages zero to eight conducted to understand children's patterns of use for TV, reading, music, computers, video games, and mobile digital media.  Among the report’s key findings suggests that there is an “App Gap” occurring perhaps contributing to the digital divide.  Some of the data include the following:

·   14% of lower-income parents have downloaded new media apps for their kids to use, compared to 47% of upper-income parents.

·   Among lower-income children, 27% of parent have a smart phone, compared to 57%  for higher-income children.

·   2% of lower-income children have a tablet device such as an iPad at home, compared to 17% of higher-income children.

·   38% of lower-income parents say they don’t even know what an app is, compared to just 3% of higher-income parents.

Online University Adopts CourseSmart for Digital Textbook Delivery

Online universities continue to see some of the largest adoption of digital course materials.  Such institutions have distinct advantages for this shift, due to standardized curriculums, centralized course decisions, and primarily distance/commuter population to name a few.  These advantages also make it easier for institutions whose classes are primarily online to negotiate institutional licensing arrangements for content--something that is more complicated and much higher risk for traditional academic institutions. 

A recent article in Campus Technology underscores this pattern, reporting that Western Governors University, a well-recognized institution with largely online classes, has started to adopt digital textbooks into their curriculum.   Like many of their for-profit counterparts, the cost of the digital course materials is included in student’s tuition and fees charged by the university.  Students can then access digital titles through their existing university accounts.  Approximately 15,000 students have used about 130 distinct e-texts through CourseSmart, and half of the university’s 350 courses are currently using the new delivery service according to university officials.