Ereaders, a Librarian's Rant - School Library Journal

Though this librarian's rant may be premature, it is a validating article based on some current ACU Mobile Learning proposals.

I think he has been hanging around CIRCL - "Picture a device that’s more a social access mechanism through text than a simple display."

Some great main points:

1. "The next evolution of the ereader should go beyond the artifacts of learning to engage the act of learning itself. Not textbook knowledge but what is derived through reading. . . Where printers once produced cheaper illuminated manuscripts, we now have a whole new beast with its own conventions."

2. "Why, for instance, do I have to finish writing a book? I could release it as I am writing it and continually add to, edit, and prune it. I could open it up for you to do the same. Is it still a book? Why wait for editions when I could use wiki-style edit histories?

3. "And throw away the bookshelf and replace it with a tabletop where I can make piles of books I like and ones that I hate, and let me share those stacks with my social network. Give me a way in the new bookstore to assemble “course packs” of books and materials tied together with a multimedia lecture and an online discussion. Let me show my friends and my students not only what I am reading but why and how these elements relate. . . . imagine engaging in conversation with the author . . . as you’re reading."



go here for the full article - http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6723753.html?desc=top...
Kenny Jones