Because of the current Canadian / US exchange rate, our services are especially cost-effective for U.S. firms. You will get top quality work from our Canada-based development team for a fraction of your regular costs. Contact us for details!
e-Books opinion piece
Cyri Jones is the President of Vancouver-based, Zoom eLearning Networks Inc., an e-Learning course development and consulting firm (www.zoomelearning.com).
“e-Books” Opinion Piece (January 31, 2001) by Cyri Jones
I’m Cyri Jones in Vancouver. What’s going on in the e-world? NASDAQ is on a free-fall, Luddites are smugly proclaiming “I told you so” as the day traders slink back to their former day-jobs – the so-called-Internet bubble has burst. The timing might not be right to talk about the wild future of e-books but that’s exactly what’s in order as we’re on the verge of the “real” Internet revolution – one based on the free-flow of knowledge and information rather than selling pet food in cyberspace – one that will make Gutenberg look like a warm up act.
There’s something about reading a traditional, paper-based book that makes it appear immune to technological upheaval. Think again. I admit it – paper novels won’t disappear anytime soon but you will find yourself buying them in the most unusual places.
Need that latest Margaret Atwood novel – you could drive across town to the Chaptigo chain bookstore but that’s so passé – it’s easier to place your order from your cell phone and drop by the local 7-Eleven around the corner for a copy or maybe pick it up from the McDonalds drive-through along with a Big Mac and Coke. The cover isn’t quite as shiny but it looks and feels pretty much like the old books before print-on-demand machines started popping up everywhere.
Margaret Atwood’s happy – she gets a bigger piece of the publishing pie, McDonalds is happy – “would you like a book with your fries” and the fiction publishers? Well, whoever said capitalism was kind?
But these are the small changes. Where you’re really going to see the extinction of the paper book dinosaur is in the educational and technical publishing sector. It will be e-publish or perish.
It won’t be long before we can access every textbook, training manual and newspaper article ever published in the world and create our own ubiquitous, searchable, personal digital libraries for the cost of bus fare. Think it’s cool walking around with a dozen digital music files in your MP3? How about being able to electronically access every book every published from your PDA. Stuck in a meeting where the techies are talking LANs, WANs, and VANs. Simply download “Internet for Dummies” and glance at your Palm Pilot pretending you’re checking your schedule.
Okay, so maybe it may take a little while for the older folks brought up in the Old Economy to wean off the paper books – the monarchists and the anti-metric crusaders will be islands of paper – but the kids raised on video games, hacking and environmental protests will totally “get it” and be happy to ditch their knapsack load of scoliosis-causing papyrus.
Get ready for the Age of the E-Book! Because it offers real functionality and cost-savings, it will score bigger than Lemieux’s comeback streak. If you’re a Luddite, enjoy the market downturn while you can – another Great Leap Forward is just ahead – and this time, it’s for real.
For todradio.com, I'm Cyri Jones in Vancouver.
“I am Cyri Jones at Vancouver… There is a new wave of technology coming and this time is for real. Get ready for Digital Texbooks.
I'll tell you why you will be able to carry your university's library with you in the palm of your hand.”
To learn more, contact us today: Email: info@zoomelearning.com Tel: 1-604-408-2302 Fax: 1-604-408-2311 Toll-free 1-877-722-6825 (within North America)
