by David Lee King on September 28, 2011
The fine folks at Information Today/Plexus Publishing just emailed and told me … my book is now an ebook! Sweet!
So – my book, Designing the Digital Experience: How to Use EXPERIENCE DESIGN Tools & Techniques to Build Websites Customers Love, is now in ebook format at these fine publishers:
If you haven’t yet purchased it (or if you have the burning desire to have my book in ebook format and didn’t download a rogue copy), please go buy it!
And one more slightly vague, mysterious plug for my upcoming book – it’s in editing mode at the moment. I have some touch-up work to do on it before sending it back. There are a few more steps after that, too – publishing a book is definitely a multi-step process.
The new book (tentatively called Face2Face) focuses on the nuts and bolts of using emerging web tools to connect with customers. There are tons of books on emerging web trends, but honestly not too many that include practical “how to” tips for actually using those tools to connect with customers, patrons … and people. So I thought I’d write about that.
Look for it next year!
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by David Lee King on March 29, 2010
I was a panelist at PLA 2010′s Top Tech Trends session, and talked about ebook readers and the ipad as a top tech trend to watch in 2010. Here’s my outline for the session:
Ebook Readers and the iPad:
- ebooks have been around wince 1971! that’s when the gutenberg project started!
- 1998 – first ebook readers appeared
how many different models are there?
- at least 20 different manufacturers
over 2 million free ebooks
- 15 different file formats!
- kindle, txt, epub, html, pdf, etc
- epub
- open free format – not proprietary
- css, xml styling
- default standard, not everyone (ie., kindle) uses it
Operating Systems on ebook readers:
- linux
- android
- windows mobile/win ce
- iphone OS
size
- most are 6-8 inches or so
- mobile version – iphone is an ebook reader, other phones
e-ink or LCD
- e-ink – imitates the look and ease of readability of print while consuming little power
memory
- most are in gigabytes
- holds hundreds of books
connectivity
- wifi
- cellular networks
- price – 150 to 750
still sorta like the 90s with cell phone or PDAs
why did I pick this for a top tech trend when they’ve been around for so long?
Apple likes to change things
- Mac – changed the computer industry – mouse and GUI were pretty obscure untilt hat first mac came along in 1984
- ipod – changed the music industry – pricing, formats, size, etc., mp3 players
- iphone – changed the cell phone industry
- touch screen
- more than just a cell phone – games, internet, browsers, ipod, movies, calendar, email, twitter, facebook, etc, etc, etc
- many copycats
iPad will do the same thing – but to what industry?
- gaming and movies
- will probably change the ebook industry
- better ebook reader
- more like a book – flip the pages by touch
- color
- great screen
- turn the thing to flip the screen
- accessibility built in
- and 5 of the 6 largest publishers are already on-board.
why?
- money – they’ve seen itunes and the app store and want in
What might we have by end of 2010?
- The iPad ships on April 3
- iPad will be on version 2-3 by the end of 2010
- will have made millions of publishers millions of dollars, Apple even more
- price will have probably dropped
- more publishers will be using the epub format (and wanting into itunes store)
- copycats will start to appear
Issues for libraries to consider:
our patrons will start buying iPads soon.
- does it work with Overdrive?
- does it work with our catalogs?
- can patrons plug them into your PCs?
staff issues
- can your staff use them to help patrons who own one?
library stuff
- can patrons check them out?
- can your library buy them for patrons to use/check out?
- battery life -do you charge the battery before handing them out to patrons? Do you have a place for multiple devices to be charged behind the circ desk (or wherever you might keep them)?
bigger issues
- content licensing and DRM
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