HERALD EDITORIAL: Online textbooks are the way of the future, or are they the way of the present?

School supplies are expensive.  Beer is also expensive.  Sometimes we have to choose between the two.  Sometimes we make the wrong choice and sometimes books are the wrong choice.

Fortunately, as universities become more attuned to the needs of their students and technology advances into the textbook space, we may not have to pander to textbook publishers for long.
It is clear that physical textbooks will be challenged by e-books in the very near future.  Schools like Northwest Missouri State are already working to test the efficacy of new technology and intend to utilize e-books as much as possible.

E-books will reduce costs to students as they will only have to pay an access fee for a specified period of time.  The days of buying a book for $150 and selling it back for $15 are coming to an end.
E-books are a great idea but for those of us in a course with a traditional textbook it doesn’t really help us out, but file sharing may be a little more useful.

Sites like thepiratebay.org offer user exchange of all kinds of files.  More and more users are scanning textbooks and uploading them as .pdf or .djvu files.  The book you bought for $180 may already be accessible through the magic of the Internet.

These torrent file transferring servers operate a little like the original Napster.  An originator may make files available and others can download the content.

Textbooks can be scanned and are increasingly being saved as déjà vu (.djvu) files to decrease file size and reduce transfer time.  Scanned files are basically picture files and can become very large when dealing with something like a textbook.

Conversion programs are available for free on the Internet to convert a .djvu file to a more accessible .pdf file.  People accessing files through torrent programs will need to download a file sharing program like LimeWire to actually save the files on their computers.

It should be noted that there are risks involved with file sharing.  Viruses are commonly distributed through sharing platforms, especially in archive formats like .zip files.
When the downloader decompresses the file, a virus is released and can infect the computer.

Sometimes a user will decompress a file they think is something they want and find that it is a big collection of porn.  Archived files certainly impose the risk of not knowing what you are getting.
And then there are copyright infringement issues.  These can be a hassle.  In 2007, a federal court in Minnesota convicted an individual on copyright infringement and sentenced her to pay $222,000 in fines.

Allegedly she illegally downloaded 24 songs from the site Kazaa.  The Draconian penalty was designed to send a message from the music industry that people need to buy their music.

The thing is, the times are changing.  Our generation is fully aware of their ability to access information anytime, anywhere from a phone or lap-top or darn near anything else.

The allure of file sharing can be a little irresistible.  One of the strongest opponents to file sharing, Lars Ulrich, drummer for Metallica, has admitted to downloading; even if it was his band’s music.
Sure, it is his album but we never hear about MADD mothers taking shots and driving around their neighborhood to see what all the hype is about.

Part of the problem existing in the textbook space is that the publishing industry is still largely dominated by our parents’ and grandparents’ generation.  They are disconnected from what we actually want and will probably hold on to the tangibility of physical textbooks as long as possible.

The environment surrounding intellectual property has changed and publishers will have to adapt or fail.

They may classify us as slackers with ADD but if they want to stay in business they better start offering e-books at about a quarter of the cost of traditional textbooks.
After all, beer is delicious and the last thing slackers want to spend money on is a textbook we don’t intend to open.

Short URL: http://www.westernherald.com/?p=4919

Posted by HeraldAdmin on Mar 18 2009. Filed under Editorial, Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

Cody Kimball
Web Manager: I'm a Communication Student at WMU, a SCUBA Diver, Boater, Ordained Minister, Notary Public, Web Designer, Film Maker, DJ, and of course a Journalist. Born and raised in Port Huron, MI and a graduate of SC4. http://www.codykimball.com