June 6th, 2008
"Everything gets delivered in an electronic form" - Textbooks, too?
Steve Ballmer told the Washington Post yesterday that,
In the next 10 years, the whole world of media, communications and advertising are going to be turned upside down — my opinion.
Here are the premises I have. Number one, there will be no media consumption left in 10 years that is not delivered over an IP network. There will be no newspapers, no magazines that are delivered in paper form. Everything gets delivered in an electronic form.
I’m inclined to agree and, obviously, he’s in a position to have some influence and insight in this matter. My question, though, is can we finally spell the death of textbooks? Monstrously expensive, tree-killing, petroleum-based ink using, quickly out-of-date, freshmen back-breaking textbooks?
I’ve talked about using a Kindle-like device for students if they can get color down. Certainly, the moderate amount of textbook content available online is growing, and can handle color and images remarkably well. The ability to link to a variety of content outside the published text is hugely attractive. I’m just wondering if this particular paradigm can actually shift in the way that multimedia and other print content is shifting.
It sure makes sense, but it really comes down to publishers, doesn’t it? If they don’t make the content available online at a lower price (or using some subscription model), then there isn’t much incentive (or availability) to switch. Perhaps a better question is how can we as educational content consumers drive the shift to delivering textbooks over the IP framework that Ballmer sees taking over.
It’s one thing for him to watch “Lost” online or for his kid to play XBox Live (both examples he gave). It’s another to kill a multibillion dollar publishing industry. Anyone want to write a textbook with me and post it as a Wiki?
Follow Chris Dawson on Twitter! Christopher Dawson is the technology director for the Athol-Royalston School District in northern Massachusetts and a member of the Internet Press Guild. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations, but always keep in mind that the opinions expressed here are his own and not those of his daytime employer, even if he talks incessantly about his day job.
Subscribe to ZDNet Education via Email alerts or RSS.
