VisorCentral.com - This may sound crazy but...

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Posted by cml on 09-06-2002 11:36 PM:

This may sound crazy but...

When you're a student (like me) it can be tough to drag books to all of your classes. How about digital books?

A big Visor unit, like the RCA eBook (about the size of a paperback) with a 500 x 500 pixel 16-bit touch-responsive color screen, 8 MB of memory and a decent processor.

It would run Palm OS (for the amount of programs already out there). The Home, Menu, Calc and Search buttons would be permanently on the screen, but the Grafitti would be virtual.

I see the key being Springboards: it would include 2 or more Springboard slots. This way the books would not have to be downloaded, but be on Springboard modules. They could be used in regular Visors but that would defeat the purpose of the large screen (for easy reading).

This would save me from dragging books to class, breaking my back bringing books home and allow me to stay organized and informed with the Palm OS programs I already use (Due Yesterday, Date Book +, Mail, AvantGo).

It could be a winner for Handspring!

Posted by 4Wheeler on 09-09-2002 10:05 PM:

Re: This may sound crazy but...

quote:
Originally posted by cml

It could be a winner for Handspring!

So would

14-22-35-39-46 and the PowerBall(tm) 18

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Posted by EJSHUMAK on 09-10-2002 03:59 AM:

Not gonna happen but---

Actually the Springboard is a good idea--It allows copy protection that is very difficult to defeat,
I think we will gert something like this -- on maybe CF or SD cards--

Then the books could be used both in PDA(s) as well as PC(s).

Posted by Madkins007 on 09-10-2002 04:48 PM:

Actually, you are making it a lot more tech-oriented than it needs to be.

Textbooks are already an anachronism, but schools are so tradition-bound they have not realized it yet. I was already learning about better ways to do this some 20+ years ago in classes I was taking to be a teacher.

Instead of textbooks, most classes would be better off with a basic reference booklet or chart, reproduceable/shareable articles on the topic at hand and worksheets tailored to the real task at hand. Most laptops and handhelds are already enabled to recieve and use this sort of thing.

Textbooks as such are bulky, usually poorly set up to act as a reference or to really explain anything, and are quickly out of date. A surprising number of textbooks are also biased in some ways and contain errors and typos.

Most subjects already have well-organized and very compact reference charts or booklets available, and there are literally millions of articles out there on the net, in periodicals, etc. that teachers can use that sould be far better than the lessons in most text books.

I took a class in college where the teacher did this, and another class that the teacher did this out of desperation when books were late, and ended up liking this system better. In both cases, I think I got more from the handouts than I have ever gotten out of text books.

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Posted by alight on 09-10-2002 05:15 PM:

This drags up an old dream ... an then word of the Franklin eBookman began to circulate. Oh, I got my hopes up. Then, bombs away.

How come its the users who get ignored? It seems there's a lot of market research wanting. Instead of introducing eight models in one year (ala Sony), why not ask a few different groups what they're looking for. Seems like everyone tried to guess at the business market and, golly shucks, lots of wrong guesses there.

We're not all corporate users and we're not all gamers, mp3 collectors, and digital camera buffs. No matter how they try to push all that stuff ... it is just not going to happen.

Users get cranky!

Posted by EJSHUMAK on 09-11-2002 06:19 AM:

MONEY

They're makin' too damn much money off students and the Universities get kickbacks and or completely control the books via bookstores inhouse---

Posted by Madkins007 on 09-11-2002 03:12 PM:

Re: MONEY

quote:
Originally posted by EJSHUMAK
They're makin' too damn much money off students and the Universities get kickbacks and or completely control the books via bookstores inhouse---

That IS, of course, a huge part of the issue in universities and even some high schools- but most schools make nothing from textbooks, and indeed have to dedicate a big chunk of their budget to them, even if they are in some sort of 'sharing' or 'leasing' program.

My high-school and college age daughters just got their books a couple weeks ago and I was appalled at the bill- several hundred dollars for under twenty books total- and most of them were used!

When they resell them at the end of the year, they will a.) probably have really used less than 1/2 of the content in them, and b.) get less than 1/2 of what they paid for them back. Some will not be accpeted at the buy-back because of reduced demand or condition.

Now, they have to carry some thirty pounds of books virtually every day because they need about 100 pages total out of all of them to study and do homework on.

If you could not tell, this is a hot-button for me. The more I think about it, the stupider the whole thing is.

A laptop with a few CDs would be lighter, more cost-effective, and useful. For even less, you could do a PDA with a memory chip, a keyboard, and still have money left over for a printer and software packs.

Give either option a decent internet access, e-mail, and a dedicated website fo the class, and we could practically eliminate books and paper!

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Do what you can, with what you have, where you are at!

Posted by Yorick on 09-11-2002 04:33 PM:

Re: Re: MONEY

quote:
Originally posted by Madkins007
A laptop with a few CDs would be lighter, more cost-effective, and useful. For even less, you could do a PDA with a memory chip, a keyboard, and still have money left over for a printer and software packs.

Give either option a decent internet access, e-mail, and a dedicated website
fo the class, and we could practically eliminate books and paper!

I recall reading recently (tho cannot recall where) that many teachers and administrators complain about using ebooks and the like, mainly because the students don't undersand how to use them ...

Posted by Madkins007 on 09-12-2002 03:47 PM:

Re: Re: Re: MONEY

quote:
Originally posted by Yorick

I recall reading recently (tho cannot recall where) that many teachers and administrators complain about using ebooks and the like, mainly because the students don't undersand how to use them ...

I can believe that!

In an ideal world (let's all dream together!), 'computer classes' would actually teach something about using the computers for real-world things- such as e-books, shared files, on-line homework, etc.

However, in the 'no mo' textbooks' model, e-texts are not needed, either, but are just one option. The articles and worksheets could be made available in several formats- both real and virtual.

The simplist model has the teacher print out an electronic file for distribution, and students that wish to download the file in some e-format do so off the 'Net on their own.

An interesting side benefit of this system is that the files are available to a wider range of students with special needs, with almost no additional effort from the teacher or school. The student can reformat the e-document with larger fonts, convert it to a 'text to speech' device format, load it to a specialized reader, and so forth to meet their needs.

The primary weakness of this model is that it takes a while to build and convert a document library- if you are doing it on your own. However, most teachers are constantly on the watch for this kind of stuff anyway, so it is not too big a stretch!

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Do what you can, with what you have, where you are at!

Posted by javabird on 09-12-2002 04:13 PM:

Re: This may sound crazy but...

quote:
Originally posted by cml
When you're a student (like me) it can be tough to drag books to all of your classes. How about digital books?

It's a wonderful idea! It will just take some innovative educators to get caught up with current times. Since getting my Visor, I have time to read novels again, since I always have some with me.

The idea of technical ebooks is catching on--My library offers technical books online, and so does O'Reilly

So maybe colleges could offer the books both online and for download, and charge a "use fee."

Posted by Alslayer on 09-12-2002 10:45 PM:

Ever since reading my first book on my visor deluxe I thought that ebooks are such a wonderful thing. Most books I read are just text so a black and white pda felt perfect.

I have been in college for 5 years(2 more and you can call me Van Wilder) and boy the worst thing about college is the books. They are huge, expensive, and heavy. Backpacks are a must and I see people who drag their books in luggage with wheels. I would love to see the perfect tablet that is 8.5x11 full color, cheap, light, and thin. With just 128mb of storage all of the books could be in it with the charts and everything to go with it. It would save my back a lot of trouble.

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