RE: [school-discuss] Digital textbooks

Hi Evan,

We would be keen. Would it be possible if we can skype

Thanks

----------------------

Alvin Teo

aVenture Academy Pte Ltd

Tel: +65 67885702, Mobile: +65 97825029

Co. Reg. No. 200209954K

email: alvin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

skype: twtalvin

From: owner-schoolforge-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-schoolforge-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Evan Leibovitch
Sent: Sunday, July 12, 2009 11:34 PM
To: schoolforge-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [school-discuss] Digital textbooks

Silverio Carugo wrote:

Italy is the first nation in the world to have switched from paper to digital textbooks.

I am pleased to inform you that the first digital textbook entirely
written by teachers (and their students) is titled 'DIDASknol' and can be seen here.

http://www.DIDASknol.it

DIDASknol is based on the Google Knol technology and is considered an outstanding example of knowledge sharing

I have been doing substantial research on the issue of e-books and ebook readers, especially the standards-based answer to the Amazon Kindle.

The Kindle is technologically a good step forward, but it is should not and cannot be used for a number of reasons:

1) It's a proprietary format
2) DRM is mandatory
3) Only available in the US
4) All book distribution must flow through Amazon

I have been working for many months on the "epub" format, which is an open standards-based alternative to the Kindle that is supported by a number of companies including Sony, Google, Adobe and others. The most popular Kindle alternative is the Sony ebook reader but there are alternatives.

Why use the epub format instead of PDFs?

Ever tried to read a PDF on a smartphone? PDFs have a fixed format that only allows you to zoom and scroll. Epub documents reformat and optimize themselves for your reading device.

Anyway.... I have invested a large amount of time on epub documents, and I have already started to produce some academic texts in this format for a homelessness research project at my university. I would love to talk to anyone else here who may have an interest in this method of book production and distribution.

Evan Leibovitch
Open Source Architect
York University
Toronto