Ebooks - Past, Present and Future - Essay Example

E-Books: Past and Future 2009 E-BOOKS: PAST AND FUTURE Introduction The history of printed book is inseparably linked to the of Johannes Gutenberg, a German who invented the printing press in the end of 15th century. Since that time books became widely spread over Europe, and the printing technology continued to evolve making printed sources less and less costly and, therefore, more and more popular. At the first glance, the recent emergency of e-Books bears much resemblance with the printing revolution. Particularly, the cost of electronic texts is lower than that of conventional paper books, and also digital sources are characterized by increased accessibility: printed books still continue to play a highly significant social role, but these features of electronic formats seem to have impressive potential for becoming the typical format for transferring knowledge and information in the long run (Lebert 2009). The onset of digital technology and electronic books inspired many experts to predict the decline of conventional media and their full replacement by the new rival. A bright example of such predictions is the following statement made 17 years ago by a well-known scientist: "By the turn of the century, paper will satisfy less than 5 percent of the total commerce in information. Although education and entertainment have their own migratory paths and rates, the objective will be the same: paper is going to be replaced with electronic media" (Kounta, 1992, p.39). However, the developments that have occurred up to now suggest that there are still many uncertainties regarding whether the potential of e-Books as replacement of printed sources will ever be fulfilled. History and Current Developments in the e-Books Technology Although e-Books are commonly perceived as one of the newest developments in computer and information technology their history can be traced to the early 1970s. In the beginning of 1970, Michael Hart who worked at the Materials Research Labs at the University of Illinois adopted the belief that the true value of computing devices would not be in storage, retrieval, and searching of libraries instead of mere computations. In order to foster the process Hart started to create electronic versions of famous texts: the first electronic book created by him was the Declaration of Independence (Hart, 1992). Thus, Hart laid the foundation of the famous Project Gutenberg, the first publisher of e-Books that exist up to now as one of the largest and most popular free e-Book libraries. In the 1970s, when even television was still a developing technology Hart's idea seemed too futurist, but twenty years later when the Internet started its spread across the world it became reality and led to emergence of numerous stores and libraries offering various electronic texts online. Many companies working in the market of printed media invested seriously in the new segment giving new life to the predictions that digital matters would soon replace conventional printed sources (Kozak, 2003). However, in the beginning of this decade the potential of e-Book technology was put in question due to bankruptcies of many large companies that invested substantially in electronic publishing with netLibrary and Reciprocal being the most known among them. Furthermore, unacceptably low sales of e-Book readers as well as electronic texts forced many experts to claim the e-Book technology was rapidly approaching collapse (Reid, 2002). However, despite seemingly bleak perspectives, many publishers and developers still maintained the belief in great future of e-Books and continued work in this direction. As a result, very soon profits and sales started to rise noticeably. For example, in 2001, Palm Digital Media, a large e-book publishing company, reported 180 thousand plus sales of e-book downloads, representing a 40% increase in unit volume from the previous year (Kozak, 2003). Similarly, Fictionwise.com, another large publisher of electronic texts, reported more than 100 thousand sales of e-book downloads, huge increase in the number of members (from little more than 10 thousand in 2000 to almost 33 thousand in 2001), and a four-time increase in profits (Evans, 2001). A certain cultural shift was also noticed in the beginning of this decade. Despite strong psychological and sociological attachment of readers, scholars and educators to the traditional printed sources, several studies conducted in 2001-2002 demonstrated increasing gradual adoption of electronic texts in various areas. Several US universities and research institutes began purchasing e-Book equipment and installing it in libraries and classrooms. Thus, the Electronic Text Center at the University of Virginia initiated a pilot project providing two groups of students with e-Book readers containing the full course material in digital format. The outcomes of such experiment were positive with the majority of participants intensively using the e-Book devices (though certain difficulties also emerged largely due to imperfect functionality of reading devices that were still developing at that time) (Kozak, 2003). Traditional libraries also supported the shift toward electronic sources investing seriously in procurement of reading devices and digital texts. The largest US libraries and the Big Ten universities joined together for a large project meant to help transfer thousands of classic scholarly sources in the digital format in order to make them more accessible from different locations and by different users (Young, 2002). A series of other projects and efforts, such as the History E-Book Project at the University of Michigan undertaken by American and European universities contributed immensely to the current success of e-Book technology (Kozak, 2003). Several major publishing companies such as McGraw-Hill, MacMillan, Random House, Newsweek, and The Wall Street Journal launched serious project to further develop and reinforce the e-Book segment of their activities. Unfortunately, better progress in proliferation of e-Books can hardly be achieved without further investments. Thus, money constraints substantially affect the process of decision-making regarding procurement of electronic sources for libraries. Limited funding of libraries often makes the choice very difficult. E-Book Standards Variety of hardware used to read electronic texts stresses the need of designing a uniform standard to cover e-Books otherwise no compatibility will be achieved between the existing devices and formats. Currently, many different formats are used to encode electronic texts. Each of these formats has certain advantages and shortcomings, and no standard has been developed up to date to ensure the best quality and compatibility for encoding e-Books. The most popular formats currently found in the e-Book segment are the following: eBooks, Microsoft Reader, Adobe reader, Mobipocket, Palm reader, Zinio Reader, HTML, Libris, and Instant ebook. For example, the eBooks encoding format is designed specifically for dedicated reading devices, Microsoft Reader, Mobipocket, and Palm reader formats are normally used to read electronic texts on desktops and laptops. Some of these standards have been designed for mobile phones and Java enabled devices (Mutawa, 2006). The most serious attempt to devise a uniform standard and thus facilitate transition to more convenient advanced e-Book technology is embodied by the Open e-Book Publication Structure Specification. This specification describes a uniform format for e-Books publications, and its developers closely cooperated with all parties concerned, namely publishers, users, and software and hardware developers to receive the approval of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) (Lebert 2009) Types of Electronic Books With the help of intermediate software applications, existing electronic files and documents can be converted into electronic texts that can be loaded onto e-Books for reading (Morgan, 1999). Two major types of electronic books currently exist, and the third format continues to develop. The first type, online books, is an electronic text that can be accessed for viewing or downloading via the Internet with the help of personal computer connected to the Internet or any other device that provides such connection, and specific software to view encoded texts (Lin, & Hubbard, 2000). The second type of e-Books, Palm books, can be read using a handheld battery-powered device. Electronic sources of this type can be viewed and read without any internet connection: they are stored in the memory of reading devices (Lin, & Hubbard, 2000). And finally, the third type of e-Book that is still in the development phase employs so-called electronic ink (E Ink) to display content of electronic sources. Lucent Technologies (formerly Bell Laboratories) designed this technology which involves flexible plastic paper containing electronic ink almost 10 years ago, but further improvements are still needed to ensure acceptable reliability of devices that use electronic ink. Reading Devices The growth of e-Book popularity throughout the 1990s stimulated serious transformations in the field of reading devices. Initially, desktop computers and laptops were used to read electronic texts. Majority of potential readers already had either desktop or laptop and did not have to make any extra purchases to take advantage of using the e-Book technology. However, the disadvantages of using such non-dedicated devices to read electronic texts became apparent immediately. Firstly, the quality of text display hampered normal reading: low resolution and small screen size often made reading difficult. Secondly, dependence of desktops and laptops on external power supply imposed significant mobility-related limitations. Readers did not have any other choice except for sitting in front of their desktop computers. Laptops with short battery life were a hardly better choice than desktops; besides, their dimensions, coupled with the need to provide a 'lap' for a laptop also did not facilitate reading (Eisenbraun, 2005). These significant limitations of desktops and laptops embarrassed many potential readers, and starting from the late 1990s several pioneer companies launched projects to create more convenient and user-friendly reading devices. The most prominent among these newly created readers was the Rocket eBook designed by NuvoMedia, an American company based in California (Lebert 2009). The fact that the major investors of this project were large publishing companies (namely Barnes & Noble and Bertelsmann) clearly demonstrated that future potential of e-Book market did not remain unnoticed. A series of other similar project financed by major publishing companies were launched approximately at the same time. Thus, the SoftBook Press project sponsored by Random House and Simon & Schuster created a highly ergonomic and user-friendly SoftBook device designed specifically to facilitate reading of voluminous electronic texts. The SoftBook Network containing large amount of e-Books was also created to ensure quick and easy access to information (Lebert 2009). The Millennium eBook reader designed by Librius, a large company involved in ecommerce, in the late 1990s also provided access to thousands of books and periodicals stored in the World Bookstore library (Lebert 2009). Recently, one of the latest developments in the area of e-Book reading devices was presented by Amazon on November 19, 2007 (Amazon, 2009). Amazon Kindle is a platform based on specific software and hardware designed specifically for reading electronic texts offered by LAB126, a subsidiary of Amazon.com. Currently, this platform is supported by the initial Kindle device and Kindle 2, the next generation of the same device. Both versions have an electronic paper display with high-quality visualization; the content can be downloaded via the Sprint EVDO network from Amazon Whispernet for free (Amazon.com, 2008). When the Kindle technology was initially launched in 2007, the Kindle Store offered around 90 thousand titles in the electronic format, and the number continues to increase steadily (Levy, 2007). Despite relatively high price (the initial offer was USD $399) the first batch of Kindle devices offered by Amazon was sold out in less than six hours and the demand still exceeds the proposal (Sorrel, 2008). On February 9, 2009, Amazon officially announced the second version of Kindle device, Kindle 2. Although the new device incorporated a number of substantial improvements in comparison to the first generation of Kindle, the price was reduced by USD $40, which was an encouraging sign: price of reading devices has traditionally been considered arguably the most essential drawback of the e-Book technology. The Kindle also attempts to achieve as much compatibility with different formats as possible. Given the variety of existing formats of encoding, importance of this feature must not be underestimated. Thus, Kindle 2 supports the Kindle (AZW), TXT, Audible (formats 4, Audible Enhanced (AAX)), MP3, unprotected MOBI, PRC, PDF, HTML, DOC, JPEG, GIF, PNG, and BMP (through conversion) formats (Amazon, 2009). The current generation of reading devices is forecasted to be replaced by a new generation approximately in two or three years. The new readers will have several innovative features such as better resolution, better display colour and improved multimedia/hypermedia characteristics and will probably take advantage of the E-Ink technology that is still developing these days. For example, Plastic Logic Company that have recently emerged as one of the key players in the e-Book readers market is planning to launch a reading device of next generation in 2010. The key features of new reader will be the following: exceptionally thin and flexible screen, advanced plastic electronics and the electronic ink technology (Lebert 2009). Serious financial and human resources invested by Plastic Logic in development of the new project suggest that their plans will probably materialize resulting in further strengthening of the e-Book technology positions. Advantages and Disadvantages of E-Books E-Books have several essential features that distinguish them from conventional printed books and periodicals. The majority of these features are inherent in the nature of digital books and electronic devices used to read them (Lin, & Hubbard, 2000). There are several clearly distinguishable advantages of e-Books that became evident immediately after the onset of this digital information technology. The first major advantage of e-Books technology is speed. Text in the electronic format is easy to create, distribute and access from virtually any location worldwide via the Internet. Information can be published electronically almost immediately while in case of conventional articles or books the author has to wait for weeks or months for an opportunity to publish it in a journal or book (Brown, 1997). This feature makes the information in electronic forms more up-to-date that the information that appears in traditional paper format (Neal, 1997). Secondly, e-Books provide incomparably better opportunities in terms of searchability than conventional printed sources. This feature is especially important for researchers and educators who often waste much time finding appropriate pieces of information related to new research (Hitchcock et al. 1998). Thirdly, e-Books provide much better accessibility than the conventional printed sources stored in libraries. Information in the electronic format can be instantly accessed from virtually any place worldwide, and such access is way cheaper for users than, for example, subscription to paper journals or purchasing conventional books. In this regard, e-Books offer a noticeable increase in accessibility, especially for those users located outside easy access of conventional libraries (Hitchcock et al., 1998). Besides, any text in the electronic form can be accessed and studied/read by numerous users simultaneously which is impossible in the library. Granting different levels of access to electronic sources can also be beneficial on many occasions (Hitchcock et al., 1998). Fourthly, e-Books are incomparably more portable than conventional printed sources. A DVD or e-Book readers with increasingly expanding capabilities can hold thousands of sources in electronic form, and the tendency is that soon portable reading devices that weigh several ounces and occupy insignificant place will contain entire libraries (Lin, & Hubbard, 2000). Fifth, although the debate regarding the amount of saving that can be made through the use of e-Books is still ongoing, it is beyond any doubt that it is substantial to say the least. The economic benefits associated with e-Books are apparent because the overall publication and distribution costs are significantly lower than costs of using traditional printing materials. This feature benefits both publishers, who suffer less expenses publishing online and readers, for who the cost of downloading or viewing the document is also lower than the cost of subscription or buying a book (Hayes, 2000). Sixth, electronic technology provides publishers with the opportunity to add value to electronic texts by adding interactive images and charts, animation, and hyperlinks to abundant supportive data (Lebert 2009). The links are especially useful for researchers, students and educators who pay much attention to the bibliographic section of work in order to make accurate judgement regarding credibility and relevance of electronic source. As Boyce (1997) believes, the value of links in this case may be almost the same as the value of source itself. Other advantages of e-Books listed in the classic literature are environmental safety (no paper and chemicals are needed as in the conventional printing process); e-Books can be updated, revised, expanded or customized easily; e-Books do not wear over time as paper sources do; and finally, such features of reading devices as adjustable displays with backlighting, coupled with availability of different font sizes enable users read texts in darkness and customize appearance of the text to facilitate reading (Mutawa, 2006). At the first glance, such immense advantages of e-Books over conventional printed materials suggest that the latter have no future and will soon be fully replaced by digital equivalents. However, the e-Book technology also has some essential disadvantages that must be overcome. At present these disadvantages do not allow e-Books decisively win the competition with their paper rivals. In one of the latest surveys conducted by the Publishers Communication Group in the United States librarians have expressed serious concerns relating to the level of familiarity with sophisticated technology and especially comfort the readers associate with e-Books. The problem is that this technology entirely transforms the manner in which written or printed sources have been perceived and read throughout history of human civilization. Thus, one must have an intermediate device to read an electronic source. This, in its turn, requires availability of power source to read an electronic text: reliability of reading devices and power source are perceived as the key issue in the debate over e-Books versus traditional printed media. Therefore, surveyed students and faculty members felt reluctant to read electronic sources for a long period of time expressing preference for conventional printed editions. According to the survey authors' belief, the shift to overwhelming use of e-Books requires serious cultural transformation as well as exceptionally reliably reading technology (Publishers Communication Group, 2008). Another recognized disadvantage of e-Books is that electronically displayed text has lower quality than text printed on paper. Resolution of computer displays and specific reading devices is substantially lower than resolution of printed text. Therefore, many readers express concern about the screen glare and eye strain caused by continuous reading of electronic sources (Lebert 2009). And finally, prices for e-Books and reading devices readers remain rather high which scares away many potential users of the new technology. For example, the Kindle 2 device still represents a relatively serious cost (USD $359), and what is exceptionally important in light of the mentioned psychological and sociological attachment of readers to conventional printed sources does not apply when one deals with printed books. Consumer Perception and Attitude toward E-Books Although e-Books still remain a relatively new resource despite long history of use, awareness about this technology is rather high. Thus, last year study carried out by the Springer foundation revealed that up to 84 percent of respondents at randomly selected educational and research institutions know that e-Books can be obtained in their libraries, and up to 80 percent of respondents at least once used this technology. For example, at University of Turku, 84 percent of respondents were aware that impressive number of e-Books was available for use at their library, and 73 percent of them took advantage of this technology at least once during their stay at the University (Springer, 2008). Springer's results on the public awareness of e-Book technology are fully in line with another recent study carried out by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) in the UK. This study showed that approximately 60 percent of respondents used e-Books at least once, and 46 percent of this number obtained the last electronic text they read through their local library and almost the same number (43 percent) used the Internet to obtain the book (Springer, 2008). A study conducted by the Springer foundation less than two years ago explored usage metrics within Springer's own e-Books program. Outcomes of the study proved that the user adoption of the new technology is on the upward trend. Another survey carried out by the same organization a year ago revealed what users perceive as the most critical problem relating to e-Books: lack of awareness of electronic resource that can be obtained in the respondent's local libraries. Fortunately, libraries have sufficient resources to eliminate this obstacle: improving the ease of locating necessary electronic texts as well as educating users about the available stock of resources seems to be the most reasonable ways of doing so (Springer, 2008). Behavioural Impact of E-Books The ongoing proliferation of the e-Book technology involves serious behavioural and cultural shifts. Electronic publishing and distribution of texts offers an entirely new philosophy of dealing with information and knowledge and implies, together with huge opportunities, numerous challenges for authors, publishers, and libraries. Evidently, this situation requires all parties involved in the process transform their traditional behavioural patterns. However, these changes are not evident today, and no studies are available to describe their nature and effects on individuals and society in general (Lebert 2009). By contrast, the cultural change, caused by the onset of digital technology in general and e-Books in particular was noticed by many experts and scientists long time ago. Thus, Landlow, a well-known researcher of information technologies and their impact on the social domain claimed more than 10 years ago that, "In many ways, we have, for better or worse, already moved beyond the book. Even on the crudest, most materialist standard involving financial returns, we no longer find the book at the center of our culture as the primary means of recording and disseminating information and entertainment. The sales of books and other printed matter, for centuries the centre of our technology of cultural memory, have now fallen to fourth position behind the sales of television, cinema, and video games" (Landlow, 1996, p. 23). Only time will show how such change in our culture may affect social aspects of human life. The Future of e-Books Despite the growing recognition of the e-Book technology and reading devices, full replacement of the conventional printed books and other media by their digital competitors still remains the question of remote future. The new technology does offer numerous features that can be reasonably considered substantial advantages over conventional books, but at the same time the shortcomings of electronic media are substantial too. The most essential among these are relatively high price for reading devices and e-Books, lower quality of displayed text as compared with text printed on paper, and, of course, psychological attachment of potential users to the conventional paper carriers. At the same time, some features offered by the e-Book technology are too important to neglect them, at least in several areas such as education, research, etc. Results of the latest Springer foundation survey demonstrate that public is perfectly aware that e-Books may be a much better option for scholars who carry out narrow research and students who have to locate specific information needed for their studies. For example, at the University of Muenster, 53 percent of respondents reported they would have no problems using both printed books and periodicals and electronic texts, while 35 percent stated they would prefer reading printed materials with only seven percent of respondents claiming they would prefer e-Books over conventional books (Springer, 2008). Most likely, such findings suggest that the e-Book technology in its current form is better suited for those involved in specific research while the average readers express clear preference toward conventional paper books and periodicals. Another study carried out by CIBER foundation made an attempt to evaluate perspectives of the e-Book technology in the long run. Particularly the situation in electronic libraries by 2017 was explored. According to the study findings, inevitable rise of electronic sources and virtual libraries is predicted for the next decades; this process will be accompanied by noticeable decrease of conventional printed media sales. Therefore, CIBER claims that in approximately ten years e-Books will turn into the default format for academic literature, student textbooks, and reference works (Springer, 2008). However, despite such inspiring perspectives no claims have been made as for full replacement of printed media by electronic rivals. Conclusion The onset and rapid development the e-Book technology as a key element of the information experience requires libraries adopt different approaches to meeting the needs of their clients. While e-Books are not likely to replace print books in the coming years, users are quickly adopting them as complementary to printed sources. Convenience and ease of access associated with e-Books is evidently the most important reason for their quick adoption. Conventional libraries can expand the use of e-Book an even larger group of users via improving their awareness of e-Book availability and making sure that content of e-Book facilitates easy user-friendly usage (Springer, 2008). Apparently, e-Books will become a success only when they incorporate all of the characteristics of print sources simultaneously providing readers with advanced and enhanced technological capabilities. The technology underlying e-Books should remain transparent and constantly improving in terms of usability and other features. It is still a difficult task for many people to imaging a world where e-Books fully replace printed books. Therefore, it is likely that the conventional printed sources will remain, as the situation with electronic journals brightly illustrates, but surely the way society handles knowledge and data will be transformed substantially by e-Books. Although the majority of potential readers feel interested in more intensive use of the e-Book technology, it is also clear that the attitude toward electronic texts remains suspicious. One possible explanation for such controversial attitude is that the usability of electronic sources still leaves much to be desired and unless a genuine technological breakthrough happens, e-Books will only supplement the conventional sources. In other words, as soon as the technological features of e-Books reach certain level, the most essential factor determining their adoption by reader will definitely be their usability. Highly attractive features, coupled with the power and control offered by advanced technology will clearly engage increasing numbers of readers. The promise made by several key players in the field regarding new generation of reading devices might be the first step in this direction. References Amazon, 2009, "Amazon.com: Kindle 2: Amazon's New Wireless Reading Device (Latest Generation): Kindle Store", retrieved March 12, 2009 from http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00154JDAI. Bindra, A., 1999, 'Printed 'electronic paper' takes a step closer to reality', Electronic Design, 47(24). Boyce, P., 1997, 'Electronic publishing in astronomy', retrieved March 12, 2009 http://tiepac.portlandpress.co.uk/books/online/tiepac/session1/ch3.htm. 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Publisher Communication Group, 2008, 'E-books in 2008 Are librarians and publishers on the same page' Publisher Communication Group: Cambridge Reid, C. 2002, "E-book users surveyed online, in college", Publishers Weekly, 249(36), p. 12 Sorrel, C., 2008, "Amazon's Kindle Back In Stock", Gadget Lab, retrieved March 12, 2009 from http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/04/amazons-kindle.html Springer, 2008, "E-Books - The End User Perspective", White Paper M7309 EB-06 B [available online at http://www.springer.com/cda/content/document/cda_downloaddocument/e-Books+-+the+End+User+ExperienceSGWID=0-0-45-608298-0] Young, J. R., 2002, "Consortium of 12 Universities Begins Project to Deliver Academic E-Books", The Chronicle of Higher Education, January 23 [available online at http://chronicle.com/free/2002/01/2002012301t.htm] Read More