MCH multimedia is convinced that the models discussed here have many advantages. There is the efficiency; the greenness; the lower costs;
ease of delivery of electronic material; the use of multimedia and the integration of books with the WWW. In all ways, eBooks trump hard copy texts. If you are an author
and have a text book written in, say MS Word, or you have the copyright for an out-of-print text you still believe should be in press, we are well set up to take your documents; to create the final
eBook; provide copy protection; and market it in our on-line shop. We would develop the SEO and adword campaigns for your book and give you 30% of gross sales. Authors can
log on at any time to check the progress of sales and stats.
Use of electronic media for education text books
Revolutions in education follow technological advances. The printing press lifted us out of the dark ages. Then came the typewriter; Morse code;
the telephone; radio; telex; TV; mainframe computers; personal computers and the Internet. With increased ease in communication at each step
along the way, educational material kept pace. Today there is a glut of material out there and educators are attempting to find the best model
to bring high level and accurate information to everyone on the planet.
There is no question that educational material of the future will not include hard copy text books. Indeed today, much of the developing world
simply does not have the resources, both natural and financial, to purchase paper. In contrast, computers in schools with Internet access bring
educational material into all corners of the Globe. There is no question that poverty is linked to lack of education. Poverty also drives up the
population. Electronic Educational material improves quality; is easily accessibility; obviates the need for shipping; and saves tones of trees.
The Internet makes the world a Global Classroom, just as the media has made the World a Global Village.
Hard copy text books cannot last.
For years large book companies have monopolized the text book industry. Over the last decade or so, many have disappeared or been amalgamated
with other book companies. The book company model is to hire teachers and professionals to write the material and then hire copy editors, graphic
artists and others to coordinate the development. The final version is sent to a printer who, for a standard book
of under 1,000 pages in two colors charges about $20 each to print a batch of about 2,000. Add to this the salaries and overhead,
the cost climbs to about $80 a book. Then the authors must get Royalties of about 15%. Add to this shipping, markup in bookstores and sales
tax, and it in not difficult to see that a text book can easily cost $150.
In addition, book companies now provide web sites which have replaced the earlier CD added to the
back cover of a book. These web sites provide teacher and student resources but add to the price of the book.
Information Technology, or IT, should be developed by educators who directly liaise with the computer experts, because educators understand
the material. This is not to say that teachers and professionals should spend more time than they did in the past when writing hard copy book.
Rather their time should be used differently.
First, when writing the text material for a new book, authors should not be concerned with formatting. They should simply have headings and
text in a document that is provided by the computer team, as a simple template. For images and graphs they can be simply snagged from known
resources on the web, or sketched out using simple drawing tools. These can be changed into a standard style by computer graphic artists who are trained in this area; are efficient;
and are cost effective. These and the text material can be transformed into eBooks using modern techniques that allow for the automation of styles.
There are two main ways to go: Adobe Acrobat pdfs and Flash formats. Although Adobe owns both Acrobat and Flash, it seems
certain that pdfs will win the battle of the best way to present material. The second is Flash first developed by Macromedia, later bought
out by Adobe. Flash is much more flexible than pdfs, but requires more programming skills.
In summary then, educators write according to a template; organize the graphics; and storyboard any interactions. These are
given to developers who convert the material into pdf or Flash formats. It is also possible to give links to good and relevant sites on the
Internet. In other words, an ebook is integrated into the WWW so that students have all the information at their fingertips.
In addition it is straight forward to take existing hard copy texts and convert them to electronic format. One approach is for the authors
to take back the copyright from the publishers. This is always possible when a book goes out of print. After that the copyright reverts to
the authors. If they believe their text book is still worthy, they can purchase the electronic form of the book from the book company, such as
in Quark or other publishing language. From these, conversion to pdf form is quick and inexpensive relative to hard copy production.
Marketing is discussed below.
Electronic media that engage the user
The power of the electronic media is not in static text and graphic material, but in the ability to engage the user with interactions,
voice and visualizations. Although it is improving, people who read at a computer retain about 70% of those who read from hard copy.
This number is changing and young people in particular have developed the ability to read effectively at computers. none-the-less it
would be a disservice not to use the full power of computer, but at the same time be aware of its limitations in terms of human nature
(essentially the desire for a quick fix in learning whereas in most cases, learning material requires concerted effort).
The mantra for those writing books is “Show don’t tell.? Not doing this does not make proper use of IT. In this case the educator must
storyboard interactions. This is best done by the use of a storyboard template which allows the computer technicians to know exactly
what to do. Good examples of such interactions can be found at sites for Interactive Simulations at the secondary and post secondary Chemistry,
physics and biology:
The examples found on these websites "show" rather than "tell". Although clear instructions are needed, the student can interact with the
simulations that effectively get the most important ideas of science across.
In order to create these interactions it is usually necessary to hire experts in the technology. In the past, the choice of many was
Macromedia’s Authorware Professional. This program avoids most detailed programming and requires the user to find or create resources,
such as movies, figures and sounds, that Authorware integrates into executionable programs. However when Adobe bought out Macromedia,
they decided not to keep up development of Authorware, now in its final version 7 (the author started using Authorware in 1993 at version 2).
It is not certain that subsequent OS will run such files and then a vast body of expertise, as well as volumes of Authorware products will be
lost.
Use of Java and Applets is also common. as well as Flash. In fact Flash has become the standard for most developers of educational multimedia.
Flash is edited more in the form of a movie time line, but with many options. Flash expertise abounds, so the best
approach for teachers is to learn how to storyboard, and then to hire experts (such as the institution's Instructional Communication Services)
to put pixels on pages. It is much better that the teachers communicate directly with the computer technicians and be the ones to vet the material they produce.
Marketing the published book
Equally important is marketing. To this end it is possible to give the pdf files to
Kindle. or some other on-line seller that provides sales.
Pdfs run in
Kindle.
However today it is possible to create your own shop. The set up and protocols have become quite standard so hosting an e-commerce site is a
possibility, such as this web site. none-the-less there are maintenance, ecommerce and development costs involved.
Book companies, as mentioned above, rarely give royalties of more than 15%. MCH presently offers about 30%. As electronic media, eBooks can easily
be updated and kept current. Because of copy protection, it is not necessary to come out with new editions to maintain sales. Updates are easy with electronic media
and corrections and the addition of new material can be done when it is necessary, rather than being motivated by sales statistics.
Delivery is best by downloading, although for those who like something solid, CD or DVD delivery is also available.
In the marketing it is vitally important to pay attention to two features: Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Adwords (from Google, Overture
(Yahoo) etc.). This is necessary to drive people to your site. If you use adwords and these have not been thought out well, you can waste a lot of
money by targeting the wrong people. It is much better to hire experts such as
BrandByte Media Inc.
The story of MCH ebook development
In developing our text book, Physical Chemistry by Laidler, Meiser and Sanctuary, we approached the problem in the following way:
After Houghton Mifflin stopped publishing the text, the authors asked and received a legal transfer of the copyright.
Houghton Mifflin did not provide us with the text layout, but rather sent us the text book without figures, in MS Word format.
-Take the hard-copy figures and re-do them as jpgs with a consistent style.
-Convert all the word docs to pdf format and integrate the figures.
-Provide extensive linking using bookmarks and develop navigation protocols.
-Integrate multimedia files that popup on different pages of the pdf eBook when clicked. These were developed by
MCH multimedia Inc. and are written using Authorware. In the future, these interactions will be converted to flash.
-Develop a no-hassle copy protection. This is essential for continued sales. Without copy protection, research shows that sales essentially
end after 18 months. This is the major problem that hard copy text books face. The re-sale market is huge (Amazon, eBay, on-line book companies) and these
kill a current edition. It is primarily for this reason more than the need to update the material, that new editions are commissioned by text book companies. Without new editions,
a text book will not last more than two of three years with sales decreasing each year. Our copy protection uses a propriety browser designed to prohibit
saving, copying and printing. It is locked onto a customers computer and will remain for the lifetime of that computer even if they change OS. Of course the programs can be
uninstalled.
Although some feel that everything on the Internet should be free, this fails to understand that software development is expensive and without copy
protection and continued sales, development costs and decent royalties cannot be maintained.
Summary
The future of educational material is in eBooks and, most likely, on the pdf platform. It will not be long before hard copy text books become
obsolete.