Flatworld Knowledge – Open Textbooks
In continuation with our series on open textbooks, I am very excited to introduce you all to Flatworld Knowledge. If you have yet to hear about this organization, let me tell you, it is a BIG deal! Like other sites we have discussed before, its model is similar, to make textbooks freely available to all. What makes Flatworld Knowledge different, however, its level of organization, and ambitious goals.
Between Jeff Shelstad and Eric Frank, over 30 years of experience in higher education publishing is brought to the table. These guys know how to get information out into the world. These guys know how to find and develop content, they know the world of both the student and the writers. Jeff Shelstad and Eric Frank know how to make open source a reality.
Other open source text sites, like those we have promoted before are great, really and truly. However, it seems, at least to me, that they cannot even be considered in the same breath as what is proposed by Flatworld Knowledge. I say “proposed” because as of this point in time, Flatworld Knowledge is still setting up shop, but a little more on that later. I believe that Flatworld’s philosophy is best stated on their site, where it reads:
“We preserve the best of the old – books by leading experts that are rigorously reviewed and developed to the highest standards. Then we flip it all on its head. Our books are free online. We offer convenient, low-cost choices for students – print, audio, by-the-chapter, and more. Our books are open for instructors to mix, mash, and make their own. Our books are the hub of a social learning network where students learn from the book and each other.
Flat World Knowledge. Because great minds are evenly distributed. Great textbooks are not. Until now…”
So right from the outset, Flatworld has a clear plan or acquiring material and developing it in the same manner as it would be if it were to be made into a commercial text. This model answers a lot of criticisms of traditional Open Source thinking regarding the quality of information. Then this material is made available for free online. Here though, is were Flatworld starts to get really interesting, from the word “go” Flatworld will be able to offer on demand printing (in black and white, or color for slightly greater cost) for students who would still prefer to have a hard copy of the text. Also, Flatword has previsions for students who would like audio versions of the text. On top of this is the social networking component, which effectively links anyone, anywhere who is studying the same topic, and provides a system by which these people can share are learn from each other.
So, Christmas for student, right? If your an instructor, don’t feel left out, that big present hiding behind the tree is all yours. Two words, “Adopt It.” After you (the instructor) have searched Flatworld’s data base, and found material pertinent to your course, you can “adopt it” and from here do with it as you wish. Add, subtract, edit on a word by word basis, find all associated supplements, order print off or have your unique version sent to the printers and made into books; make it your own.
So now, like me your saying, “This is amazing, it will change everything! How do I start!” Sadly, this is were I must deliver the devastating news that Flatworld Knowledge is not open to the public. Yet. January 2009, that is when Flatworld Knowledge goes live, and the revolution begins. That said, you can be assured that we will provide a comprehensive review at that time.
Until January, I strongly encourage you to visit Flatworld Knowledge, watch the videos on the main page, explore the site, and I guarantee you will see what has me so excited, and why I think Flatworld will be like nothing we have seen before.
In the future, the world is flat.
Open-Source Text Books – OpenTextbook.org
Several weeks ago, I wrote a blog about Open-Source learning, primarily focusing on its nuts and bolts, as described by Dr. Baraniuk’s talk given at a TED conference.
As mentioned at the end of that blog, the EDC will be starting a series of posts highlighting various Open-Source textbook sites and services. That said, here is the first “installment,” as it were:
OpenTextbook.org is a great site that not only hosts a variety of material, found in over twenty different categories, but also serves as an information center for the goings-on of the Open Source text world. This site does not require registration of any kind, simply click on the topic of your choice and see what there is to see! Boasting regular updates and a slick interface, OpenTextbook.org is a great place to begin ones search for open source material.
Open-Source Learning
Open-Source Learning is a topic, which is gaining considerable traction in the educational community. However, many teachers and students alike, my self included, have not enjoyed a clear and succinct explanation of what Open-Source Learning is, until now.
Richard Baraniuk of Rice University recently gave a talk on the topic of Open-Source Learning at a TED conference, an organization who’s credo is “Ideas worth spreading.” In this talk, Dr. Baraniuk provides a great explanation of Open-Source Learning. Below is a summary (my impression) of Dr. Baraniuk’s talk; however, I strongly recommend you to watch the presentation for yourself by clicking here.
Dr. Baraniuk describes our current educational climate, in relation to learning resources, as a one-way relationship. The authors of text books often have no, or very little, interaction with the students or instructors who use these books during their studies. Baraniuk would have us imagine Open-Source Learning to be a institution where an open relationship exists, where instructors, other authors, experts and anyone else who wishes to add to the body of knowledge on a given topic is free to do so. This system has a multitude of advantages, such as the creation of “Super Textbooks” where instructors would be able to pick and choose as they see fit, essentially producing a custom tailored textbook for their course. Also, instead of a new edition of a book being released on the order of every two or three years (often longer) a new edition on any topic would become available on the order of every twenty to thirty seconds. That said, students and the academic community would consistently find themselves on the cutting edge of knowledge. Additionally, as these “Super Textbooks” are digital, through new innovations they would become interactive, allowing students not just to see, but to do.
While there are many other advantages, the final one pointed out by Dr. Baraniuk which I will discuss here is the issue of textbook cost. Taking precedence from my personal experience, a textbook for an introductory course may cost up to $170 (this has been the upper limit in cost I have enjoyed for a first year course). Now, in a course, which is not my major, this situation provides a very difficult Visa slip to sign. Imagine now, if instead of $170, I could have bought my book (remember, that this book would consist of the absolute most recent knowledge in the subject and be custom tailored to fit my Professors teaching objectives) for $20; cost reflecting only the production and distribution cost. At $20, the reach of this book has been dramatically increased to included a vast population who’s pursuit of knowledge had been previously curtailed by fiscal limitations. This is the power of Open-Source Learning. Dr. Baraniuk goes into some detail explaining why this is the case and I will refer you to his presentation for this.
As a final note, I do wish to briefly address possible the most glaring concern over the above explanation of Open-Source Learning. Stated above, is that essentially anyone is free to add to, play with or modify any of the content. As everyone knows, this is how many other online knowledge databases, such as wikipedia function, and can, from time to time, create problems. Dr. Baraniuk has there for suggested that Open-Source Learning function under a system of peer-review, just as how all academic journals currently do.
This system of peer-review in place to safe guard content, Open-Source Learning represents a powerful and evolutionary shift in how, when, and where learning can take place as well as who is able to do the learning. This concept represents the ultimate integration of knowledge and educational technology. With Open-Source Learning, the knowledge of the world can be made available to the world, entirely and freely.
Watch Richard Baraniuk on “Open-Source Learning”
Also, check back soon, as our team at the EDC is working to compile a list of Open-Source text books, resources, and related sites!
Kindle’s New Textbooks
Back in November we wrote an article about Amazon’s new dedicated e-book reader Kindle. It looks likes the academic world has starting to catch on to it as the Princeton University Press announced it would be releasing several hundred books for the system come fall. This, however, isn’t the only university press to begin releasing books for Kindle; both the Oxford and Yale University Press already release many titles for Kindle.
This may provide a well needed option for students looking to save a bit of money on textbooks as most Kindle e-books sell at approximately 20% of the regular price. Apart from the reduction in price, having all your textbooks stored on the same device can eliminate the back-breaking job of carrying your books to school to study.
Some of the drawbacks is that these many university presses don’t feel that all their books will benefit from being on Kindle. Many of the books that rely on illustrations will not be available on kindle due to the fact that Kindle doesn’t support illustrations well enough. Another drawback of Kindle is that it is quite expensive and until the prices for the books decreases more it will take a while for students to recover their costs.
All this being said the idea of putting your textbooks in a single electronic location is a needed step in the right direction.
[via Inside Higher Ed]
PhD Career Advice?
It’s not often that we venture into the realm of professional career advice here on the EDC Blog (and far be it for me to be dishing that out), but an interesting item came in off the STLHE listserv this morning. Apparently a new book on just that topic is now available for PhD graduates.
The book, entitled What They Didn’t Teach You in Graduate School, is written by Paul Gray and David E. Drew (recent graduates themselves). The proposed goal of their book is helping steer new and forthcoming PhDs around professional hurdles. They recommend, for example, changing your career every seven years, avoiding joint appointments and asking the PR department to publicize achievements (click here for other examples, or here for a detailed description about the book and the authors).
The reason that the posting caught my eye is because it draws attention to an area that is often overlooked in post-secondary education: the professional side of the job. PhD candidates are not often told what they can expect professionally from their first appointment (grants, politics and committees), although faculty mentoring programs can also go a long way to help ease the initial acclimatization process.
So after examining Gray and Drew’s advice, what do you think? Is their advice sound…or do these recent graduates still have more to learn? And can their advice be applied across the board, or should it be taken with a grain of salt considering they specialize in information systems and education at the same school?
Developing a 21st Century Research System: Zotero + Google Books
I have been finding some web research tools that are built to harness the interactivity, searchability and flexibility of doing research online.
1. Zotero (screenshot from the official site): A flexible and connective Endnote competitor. Oh, the admiration I have for this app – it seems too good to be true! It requires you to use Firefox since it is an extension of the browser. It takes a bit of getting used to – helped by video screencasts to walk you through the basics. And what does it not do?
- Automates the tedious process of saving references. By clicking one button it will generate a full bibliographic reference in its interface (and store full PDFs or webpage “screenshots” locally). If the abstract is available, it stores that as well. See image above for an indication of that process.
- Out of date websites become a thing of the past since whenever you save a website Zotero takes a snapshot stored as a local copy which you can then highlight and annotate for your own use.
- All notes and annotations stored in Zotero about each reference are taggable and searchable.
- Organize references into folders and collections. References can be in more than one collection.
- Integrates with your word processor. Here’s a short, eye-opening video for how it works with Word.
- Automatically generates properly formatted bibliographies in major formats.
- Free and open source.
- For easy portability: install Portable Firefox on a USB drive with Zotero installed so that you can have a speedy research-ready browser with all of your local stored research wherever you happen to be.
2. Google Books‘ My Library: Google Books recently came out with My Library, a way to personalize your profile on Google Books with all of the books you own. Search for books in your personal collection, add them to Google Books, and there you have it. Your personal, available physical book collection – now searchable. Meaning that instead of having to plough physically through all of your books for one reference, you can search easily and virtually through Google’s system first.
Oh, and of course Zotero has found a way to work with Google Books and other Google Tools.
Three Tidbits: Edublog Awards, Definr, and a New Invention
1. The 2007 Edublog Award Finalists have just been announced! The award system has been set up by Edublogs.org – an extensive blog hosting service for educational weblogging of various ages and grade levels. Check out all of the amazing finalists for some great examples of educational blogs well worth reading.
2. Definr: A new, speedy online dictionary! It’s really fun to use since it works at a much faster speed than many existing online dictionary services.
Update: via Lifehacker, apparently it’s also great with translation:
Translate words and phrases easily with online dictionary Definr. The dictionary attempts to autocomplete your word as you type and pumps out results quickly with synonyms and antonyms (if applicable). While Definr is missing some translations, it performs very well (and fast, as promised) and has potential to become a handy alternative for the Google define search operator.
3. Remember when we told you about Amazon’s new Kindle? Well I just read about an invention that rivals it over at the Four-Eyed Technologist:
With all respect to Kindle, there is an even greater piece of “new” technology: The B.O.O.K.
Announcing the New Built-in Orderly Organized Knowledge Device, Otherwise Known as the BOOK!
It’s a revolutionary breakthrough in technology: no wires, no electric circuits, no batteries, nothing to be connected or switched on. It’s so easy to use even a child can operate it. Just life its cover. Compact and portable, it can be used anywhere–even sitting in an armchair by the fire–yet it is powerful enough to hold as much information as a CD-ROM.
Here’s how it works: each BOOK is constructed of sequentially numbered sheets of paper (recyclable), each capable of holding thousands of bits of information. These pages are locked together with a custom-fit device called a binder which keeps the sheets in their correct sequence. By using both sides of each sheet, manufacturers are able to cut costs in half.
Each sheet is scanned optically, registering information directly into your brain. A flick of the finger takes you to the next sheet. The book may be taken up at any time and used by merely opening it. The “browse” feature allows you to move instantly to any sheet, and move forward and backward as you wish. Most come with an “index” feature, which pinpoints the exact location of any selected information for instant retrieval.
An optional “BOOKmark” accessory allows you to open the BOOK to the exact place you left it in a previous session–even if the BOOK has been closed. BOOKmarks fit universal design standards; thus a single BOOKmark can be used in BOOKs by various manufacturers. Portable, durable and affordable, the BOOK is the entertainment wave of the future, an many new titles are expected soon, due to the surge in popularity of its programming tool, the Portable Erasable-Nib Cryptic Intercommunication Language Stylus…
The BOOK is Courtesy of IFLA
The future of books (textbooks)?
Today Amazon.com announced Kindle, a dedicated electronic book reader. Looking at the product documentation and the demonstration videos, I get the feeling that this might be first e-book reader that might actually get consumers interested in moving away from paper based books.
While E-books have been around for a relatively long time (since about the mid 199o’s), consumers haven’t embraced them. This is in large part because devices used to display e-books can’t replicate the convenience, feel and look of paper. This may have changed with Kindle. It uses a new type of display: electronic-paper. I saw this type of display a couple years ago at the Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas and it certainly is very readable. The other feature which makes it interesting is dedicated free wireless access. This means that the user can quickly access new content easily (books, newspapers, blogs and even web pages).
Kindle or a Kindle-like device could change the way academics read and conduct research with journals and books. Many students complain bitterly about the high cost of text books (Intro Biology texts often sell for over $100.00; more specialized books can be much more). Prices can be so high that instructors can feel guilty requiring a text for the class.
Costs for e-text books should be substantially lower than print based books and I suspect publishers will embrace electronic distribution as it lowers costs significantly and virtually eliminates the used book market.
Possibilities for e-texts could include the ability to access rich multimedia content, adding interaction to problem sets (i.e. quick answers to problems sets, rather than flipping back and forth), better indexing and navigation, advance searching, updating and corrections to errors, and more content.
I can see a Kindle-like device starting to replace text books in about 3 years. The speed at which publishers release e-text books as well as the price of the devices themselves will determine how quickly they are adopted.
I am not sure I’d want to be in the business of being a brick and mortar campus bookstore in 10 years.
Culled from the Blogosphere: Several Interesting Articles
Since I am in the middle of writing articles for our upcoming newsletter, I thought I would share some interesting pieces from the blogosphere:
At Ed Techie: “Blogs easier to read than formal publications.” “Stunning new research (okay, ten minutes by me this morning) has shown that blogs are much easier to read than formal academic publications, even when they are covering the same topics.”
At Infodoodads: “Facebook Pages for your Business, Library, or School.“ A new feature in Facebook, Pages, allows you to a create a representative page where users can indicate themselves as “fans” and get updates in their news feed about those organizations.
At Google’s Librarian Central: “Explore the World Through Books.” Within the growing Google Books database, some books now have Google maps that have locations flagged by quotations from within the book.
At Online Sapiens: “Educause 2007 Conference – Empowerment by Sharing: Tools for Today’s Classroom.” A slideshare powerpoint presentation about the importance of web 2.0 and engaging with today’s students.
Again at Infodoodads (such a great blog!): “Pronetos, The Professor’s Network.“ “While it might look like yet another social networking tool, Pronetos has big plans to bring the read/write web to peer review and scholarly publishing. Calling themselves “the social network for scholars” Pronetos is set up to link you with others in your discipline, and to allow you to share your research and comment on the research of your colleagues in a way that is both transparent and open.”
