Curious-- What Do Writers Think of This?
Friday June 12, 2009
I've done some work for textbook publishers in the past, and it's one of the jobs that I most appreciate. I saw a story come across my desk indicating that California governor Arnold Schwarzeneggar is looking to switch all classroom textbooks to electronic media.
I think he's riding the cutting edge wave, and I think eventually most reading will go to this. But I'm not sure it's the cost cutter he thinks it will be. At least right now.
From a writer and editor's perspective, I could go either way. The production is already almost 100% digital. Although I've occasionally edited galleys on hard copy, most editing is now electronic.
What do you think?
I think that in reality even though it may not save money, if California can push this now as an economic solution then as long as it doesn’t loose any money they are golden.
Going electronic is the way of the future, so why not now?
It doesn’t seem like that great of a money saver, so as far as that goes it doesn’t matter either way. The problem I have is that reading and studying off of a computer is not as easy as it sounds. It strains your eyes, your neck, your back, and you are limited to only being able to use your school books when you have a computer in front you. So it would end up costing California a lot more because they would need computers in every class. There’s no way they can excpect elementary or even high school kids to all have laptops. I hated carring around books in school, and I’m in college now, and still hate carring around books, but it’s just part of the deal.
Unfortunately, California is not in a position currently to be suggesting costly new programs. That being said, the idea of transitioning to a completely electronic classroom holds serious potential. Textbooks are incredibly expensive, and if the state could partner with a private company to get electronic book readers at a reduced price, textbooks could almost entirely be avoided. All of a student’s books could be held on the device, making it easy to get the most updated version at a fraction of the cost.
The public school system is in need of some changes. I think that electronic media is an excellent idea, but I would go a step further. I would establish cooperative homeschooling. The state of Pennsylvania will provide a computer and internet access to any child that wants to attend cyber school at home. What if groups of children and their parents joined together in home schooling. Smaller groups with focused learning and positive socialization would negate some of the rising concerns in public schooling and prove to be a fruitful combination in regard to the quality of the education that children receive.
It seems there’s some confusion between “freelance” and “independant contract” writers here.
A freelance writer has the idea, writes the content, sells the content and keeps the intelectual property rights (unless otherwise agreed before the deal closes).
An independant contractor (IC) is hire to write content the employer wants. The IC doesn not retain any intelectual property rights to the content (unless otherwise agreed before the deal closes).
Doubts? Verify by reading Section 101, Copyright Act of 1976 (USC 17 §101).
I think it’s a horrible idea. There are many people, myself included, who are more tactile and need to have a book in front of them and need to be able to turn pages, highlight things and mark up pages. I can’t follow as well reading things electronically, and I’m sure many kids — especially those learning to read — will have more trouble doing so.
I’m sure that California’s finances are like the rest of the countries and yes electronic text books are the wave of the future. Implamenting such a thing can be done in stages. But what about students that don’t have access to the internet or a computer outside of school, this would be one of the biggest problems.
Call me old fashioned but I think we should stick with good old fashioned text books that we can hold in our hands. I would be the best thing for children leaning to read and for those with limited electric access.