Spending too much time peering into the window of your web browser? Is your ceiling-to-floor bookshelf about to collapse under its sheer load?

E-books allow you to break free of your desktop computer and dusty hardcover problem. Store your books on disk; take a stack of them with you wherever you go. Have dozens of your favourite titles on hand on one paperback-sized reading device. You can even read in the dark - just switch on the backlight. And they're likely to have a dramatic effect on how we teach and learn and deploy online materials.

From Print to Digital Culture
The printed book was invented in the middle of the 15th century. By the beginning of the 16th century books were commonplace. Eventually human culture was recorded in print in its entirety. It's no secret that the effects on education were fundamental.

Four centuries later the Web was invented. A little beyond the beginning of the 21st century nearly every school and home in the First World has access to computers and the Web. A major shift, similar to that which took place 400 years ago, is occurring now as the digitisation of our entire human culture progresses. We speculate that just as with the invention of the printing press, education will be fundamentally affected by this shift.

Connected workstations, small, handheld digital devices such as mobile phones and increasingly pocket computers that can display digitised content, are becoming standard appliances. At the same time electronic books are growing in importance as we slowly shift from a print-based to a digital-based culture. The Web gives us access to a vast, global library of digitised content - mainly in HTML format. Significantly however electronic books are beginning to take hold.

E-books Lore
An e-book is short for "electronic book," a digital version of a book that can be displayed on a computer screen, handheld device such as the Pocket PC, Palm Pilot and any of a growing range of dedicated e-book reading devices. Several dominant e-book formats have evolved over the last year or so. These formats depart from HTML (Hypetext Markup Language). Right now each format is proprietary requiring dedicated reader software, which can be downloaded for free. Significant advances to consolidate the look, feel and structure of e-books between vendors have recently been achieved with the release of the OEF (Open E-book Forum) specification.

The strength of e-books formats lies in their ability to display an entire book (rather than single hyperlinked documents) as a compact unit. The books are easily transferred over the Web and can be stored and displayed on your desktop or notebook computer. Providing you own a mobile reading device, books can then be easily moved, allowing for convenient portability. Thus consumers have the freedom to read while lying in a hammock under a shady patio vine, can take their e-books along on that long plane trip or even to their place of study. Most mobile reading devices allow the storage of numerous books, possibly hundreds, all on one paperback sized appliance.

Many mobile e-book device and pocket computers also offer:

• Audio capabilities (they play back MP3 music and audio books)
  
• A backlight that illuminates the text in dark conditions
  
• Integrated diary, calendar, dictionary, address book

The Reading Experience
E-books enhance and improve the overall reading experience that we are used to from print in a number of ways. All formats offer some form of dictionary functionality to look up unknown words as well as the ability to insert bookmarks and personal annotations into the book that you are reading. Screen display is optimised for text with resolution closely resembling print, thereby reducing eye stress associated with computer screens. Navigation is more powerful than with print books. Pagination is even easier. Features such as jumping to the last page read is automatic and quick searching for specific text further enhances reading pleasure. E-books can also display high quality graphics.

Some e-book reader formats offer innovative features such as a text-to-speech engine, providing a synthetic voice that automatically reads out the text as well as offering interface 'verbosity', whereby book navigation is voice driven - a tremendous plus for readers with disabilities.

Publishers, authors and online vendors are embracing e-books because of inbuilt copyright protection that e-book formats provide. Strong encryption limits the amount of devices on which each book can be read. The publishing industry is hoping to avoid piracy and random dissemination of books as has been seen recently in online music.

Content Creation and the Way Into the Future
Many e-book formats offer freely downloadable software that allows anyone to create an e-book and to take advantage of the features they provide. Authors, teachers and trainers who wish to self publish listen up - these are exciting times!

For those of us in the VET sector who have been involved in developing web-based course materials, the question of ownership, remuneration and copyright has always been a red herring. Most of us 'operating' in the sphere of online delivery are providing our intellectual property freely, motivated by enthusiasm/idealism alone. The technology required to roll out protected, personal training products, such as learning guides, manuals, photo essays, art sample collections, audio lectures, music samples, dissertations and textbooks has arrived. The inbuilt commerce capability that e-books offer have just changed the rules.

Uptake of e-books has been tremendous with online book vendors scrambling to convert their print products. The use of handheld the devices such Pocket PC, Palm Pilot, e-bookman, Rocket e-book is gaining momentum particularly amongst school leavers and university students. It is only a matter of time until such devices become as common as the mobile phone.

The digitisation of our culture is moving on at breakneck pace. E-books are an important part of the process. It is therefore expedient to include them in our overall online delivery strategy.


Further Resources:

E-book Formats/Reader Downloads

Microsoft Reader - http://www.microsoft.com/reader

Adobe E-book Reader - http://www.adobe.com/products

Palm Doc - http://www.the-gadgeteer.com

Franklin E-book man- http://www.franklin.com

Hiebook- http://ebookad.com


Portable Reading Devices

Pocket PC - http://www.microsoft.com/mobile/pocketpc

Palm Pilot - http://www.palm.com

E-book Man - http://www.franklin.com


Open E-book Forum

http://www.openebook.org


A Small Selection of Online E-book Vendors

http://www.amazon.com

http://www.barnesnoble.com

http://www.cyberread.com

http://www.previewport.com

http://www.penguin.co.uk

http://shop.efollett.com