I should have pointed out that the ebook version of our textbook is
available to students for $20 per semester (essentially rented).
Though there are several suppliers, the only effective one is
WebAssign, a computer homework system for which Ruth and I created a
suite of questions from our textboo
To truly grasp the magnitude of the problem, you have to add a couple of zeros
to the numbers of books being sold. The $200 into biology book will sell tens
of thousands of copies a year in the US while a high school text may sell
hundreds of thousands of copies if it is adopted by states like C
Dear Earthlings of the United Federation
What kind of society do you live in where in a population of 300
million people and speaking only about 3 or 4 languages you have print
runs of 50-100 for educational books costing US$200 each ?
On my planet we have solved the problem through Section 32A o
History: We wrote what is now volume 2 on electromagnetism completely
on our own, to use with our own students and a few interested
colleagues. Wiley heard about it and decided to publish it,
essentially as a service to the physics education community, not
expecting that it would ever be widely use
Thanks Ed, interesting. And wow Bruce, Apple is being draconian yet again.
Unfortunately, their sell is that the books will not become obsolete ..
presumably that is a promise to the K-12 school system that they will
upgrade for free or reasonable price. Maybe!
However, it seems the key problem
The contract is pretty amazing. I can't believe any author would agree to the
terms. My experience is mostly with college books but most of the issues are
similar. The book market for high school and grade school books involves a lot
more money and is highly politicized with publishers working v
And be sure to read
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/bott/apples-mind-bogglingly-greedy-and-evil-license-agreement/4360?tag=content;siu-container
for which there's a link on the page shown below, but you don't want
to miss it. The Apple contract just blows one's mind.
Bruce
On Wed, Apr 18, 2012 at 9:1
See
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/mobile-news/why-the-apple-textbook-program-will-never-work/6526.
A sample: "My colleague Ed Bott has done a thorough job tearing apart
the Apple licensing agreements and technical details that turn the
iBooks textbook program into a “mind-bogglingly greedy and evil
li
Oops, forgot: Apple is getting into text books big time .. here is their ad:
http://www.apple.com/education/ibooks-textbooks/
They know its going to take a long time, transitioning to a new media,
dealing with legal and authoring issues. They are working on an IDE for
books, so to speak .. so
How do we deal with fair author protection? Certainly the current business
model doesn't work. As prices soar, so does piracy.
We have several authors on the list. Have you insights?
-- Owen
Just FYI: If you'd like to see the titles of the now-defunct russian site
of 80,381 text books: ht
I was curious as to the reaction of this group to what I took to be the
main point of the article:
the global demand for learning and scholarship is not being met by the
contemporary publishing industry. It cannot be, not with the current
business models and the prices.
I personally agree w
I'll preface my laundry list of links here by saying that I'm working on a
book about how technology can dramatically bring down the costs of
education -- if we only let it do so.
There's a lot of government investment in free/open educational materials
-- both textbooks and curricula sets. See h
Is your interest is the piracy angle? If so, there are lots of free and
open ebooks for just about any topic you might care about! But on the
other hand, they may not be the best suited to the class being taught.
Amazingly enough, many profs are migrating to open/free sets of notes that
are equi
A sociology colleague and I have been working on a project related to
PowerPoint use in the classroom, specifically looking at professor's use of
citations in their classroom presentations. Aside from our project getting a
good rise out of our colleagues, it is legitimately anticipating an upcoming
I don't think it's hyperbolic, it's the business model: convert a piece
the collective human intellect into property, collect rents, parlay a piece
of the action into enough money to change the laws of property to protect
your rents.
-- rec --
2012/4/17 glen e. p. ropella
> Joseph Spinden wrot
Joseph Spinden wrote at 04/17/2012 09:21 AM:
> http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/02/2012227143813304790.html
"This is so much the case that it can't be long before reading a book -
making an unauthorised copy in your brain - is also made illegal."
Sure, it's hyperbolic. But I like th
I came across an article I found interesting. I was curious about the
reaction of the members of this group, if there is an interest.
Joe
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/02/2012227143813304790.html
--
"Sunlight is the best disinfectant."
-- Supreme Court Justice Louis D.
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